VelNotes vs Lemon Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
VelNotes
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Take handwritten notes, annotate PDFs, and turn lecture recordings into text on your iPhone and iPad. Start without creating an account. • Math mode: Write 2(3+4)= with your finger on iPhone or Apple Pencil on iPad, and we'll handle the rest. Tap the green line with your finger, then Solve: 14 lands beside the = in your own ink. Something misread? Edit what we picked up. • Beautify while writing: Lines you scrawl in a lecture turn clean and readable as you write. Pick one of 19 handwriting styles or a neater version of your own. • Cramped PDFs are no problem in VelNotes: Widen the page or add workspace beside it, so every note, solution, and sketch fits. ONE APP FOR IPHONE AND IPAD • On iPhone, write with your finger or type on Phone screen pages that fit without zooming • On iPad, write with Apple Pencil or turn on Finger Writing Mode • Planners on iPhone: start from 12 templates or make your own, with the dates already on the pages. Tap a line to type, a checkbox to check it off • Two notebooks side by side on iPad, each with its own toolbar • Video window on iPad: watch a lesson video beside your notes WRITE YOUR WAY • Write and highlight naturally; Snap to Straight Line and Hold for a straight line keep lines neat • Type text, draw shapes, and use a ruler, brushes, labels, and sticky notes, plus a laser pointer on iPad • Capture typed notes fast with Quick Text, then save them as a notebook • Move or resize selected handwriting, convert it to text, or scribble over strokes to erase • Choose paper styles, custom colors, daily and weekly layouts, 360 stickers, and colorful folders WORK WITH PDFS AND MEDIA • Import PDFs, including password-protected ones; PDFs over 300 pages import in parts • Write, draw, and place text, photos, scans, stickers, and shapes over PDF pages • Add GIFs, keep notebooks open in tabs, and choose A4, Letter, or custom page sizes • Add images from Photos, Camera, or the built-in document scanner • Export notebooks as PDF or images with multiple quality options RECORD AND TRANSCRIBE • Record lectures, meetings, and ideas; if the app closes mid-recording, your audio is kept • Create on-device transcripts in the spoken language you pick, when supported by the device, system, and language • Import local audio or video and turn speech into notebook text with Pro REPLAY AND CREATE • Replay how a page was written and drawn with Time Travel, and export it as a 9:16 or 16:9 video • Turn photos into cutout stickers locally with Sticker Studio PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Notebooks are stored on this device first • When iCloud Drive is available, notebook sync across your iPhone and iPad and an automatic private safety backup are on by default; restore an earlier copy, turn either off, or export your data at any time • VelNotes does not upload your notebooks or raw recordings to a VelNotes server FREE AND PRO Free includes up to 3 notebooks at a time, plus 3 planners on iPhone (synced and trashed ones count; delete one for good to start a new one), recordings of up to 15 minutes per session, and one free use of live transcription. Time Travel video export is free and unlimited for everyone. Weekly, monthly, and yearly Pro plans and a one-time lifetime purchase unlock the same features: unlimited notebooks (and planners on iPhone), local audio/video import for on-device transcription, longer recordings, and unlimited live transcription on supported devices. One Pro covers your iPhone and iPad with the same Apple Account. Transcription and handwriting recognition can contain errors and depend on device, operating-system, and language support. Math mode works with numbers only: no variables, unknowns, or equations to solve. The app interface is available in English, Turkish, German, Spanish, and French; other device languages use English. Privacy Policy: https://velnotes.com/privacy/en Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Lemon Notes
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Lemon Notes: Note Taking & PDF Annotation Turn your iPhone and iPad into a digital notebook for handwritten notes, PDF annotation, digital planning, and drawing. Capture lecture notes, organize study materials, keep a journal, or plan your week. Write with touch on iPhone or Apple Pencil on iPad, and bring your notebooks across both devices with iCloud sync. NEW IN 1.3 • New Calendar: events, tasks, exams and home screen widgets, with two-way Apple Calendar sync and quick entry that understands dates and times. • Smarter search: find typed text and handwriting in your notes and library, and jump between matches. • Your notebooks, your way: use any PDF page or photo as a page theme and design your own covers. • Six new pen tips: Chisel Nib, Coil Pen, Ribbon Pen, Wave Pen, Star Trail and Heart Trail, rendered live as you draw. HANDWRITING, DRAWING & STICKY NOTES • Write and sketch with pen, pencil, highlighter, fountain pen, watercolor, crayon, monoline, and more. • Customize colors, stroke widths, and smoothing for your writing style. • Use stroke and pixel erasers, lasso selection, copy, duplicate, resize, and move tools. • Turn rough sketches into clean geometric shapes with Smart Shape Recognition. Smart lines snap precisely to nearby endpoints to keep diagrams connected. • Organize drawings with editable layers. • Add customizable sticky notes for reminders, study tips, and ideas, with improved canvas touch controls. PDF ANNOTATION & DOCUMENTS • Import PDFs from Files to write, draw, highlight, underline, and annotate lecture slides, textbooks, worksheets, and documents. • Expand PDF margins for extra handwritten notes and bookmark important pages. • Import PowerPoint presentations and convert them into PDF notes. • Add photos, scanned documents, images, and emoji stickers. • Export full notebooks or selected pages as shareable PDFs. DIGITAL NOTEBOOKS, PLANNERS & TEMPLATES • Create multi-page notebooks for school, university, work, and personal projects. • Choose blank, lined, grid, dotted, Cornell notes, checklist, daily, weekly, monthly, habit tracker, mind map, table, music, guitar tab, storyboard, and other templates. • Personalize paper colors, spacing, line width, backgrounds, orientation, and covers. • Choose A3, A4, A5, A6, B5, Letter, Legal, and Tabloid paper sizes. • Explore 90+ creative notebook covers, organized into three categories. • Keep class notes, meeting notes, and journals organized with folders and nested folders. • Protect notebooks or folders with a password and recover notebooks from Recently Deleted. STUDY TOOLS & EVERYDAY PRODUCTIVITY • Find handwritten notes with handwriting recognition and search. • Record audio with optional live speech transcription for lectures and meetings. • Solve handwritten arithmetic with Automatic Math. • Stay focused with a stopwatch, countdown timer, and built-in calculator. • Open two notes together with split-screen editing. • Preview pages, use Reader Mode, and let pages adapt to dark mode. • Watch YouTube videos or browse the web alongside your notes. HOME SCREEN WIDGETS • Quickly create a note, reopen your last note, and access recent notes and search with sleek widgets for iPhone and iPad. ICLOUD SYNC & LEMON STORE • Enable iCloud sync to continue your notebooks on iPhone and iPad. • Back up PDF notes to iCloud Drive. • Discover more notebook templates, covers, digital planners, study sheets, engineering templates, calendars, and digital stationery in the Lemon Store. START YOUR NEXT NOTEBOOK No separate Lemon Notes account is required. Create up to three notebooks for free. One optional annual subscription unlocks unlimited notebook creation on both iPhone and iPad. Use the same Apple Account to access your purchases on both devices, and enable iCloud sync to keep your notes in sync. Purchases can be restored at any time. Privacy Policy: https://lemonnotes.site/privacy/ Terms of Service: https://lemonnotes.site/terms/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Lemon Notes at every 10 days against VelNotes's every 3 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. VelNotes sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and Lemon Notes sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
VelNotes ships an update every 3 weeks, Lemon Notes every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | VelNotes | Lemon Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 104 MB | 163 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | YUNUS ISLEGEL | NEFISE ZELIHA BAYAR |
In-app purchases
VelNotes
- VelNotes Pro Weekly$1.997 Days
- VelNotes Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
- VelNotes Pro Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year
- VelNotes Pro Lifetime$39.99
Lemon Notes
- Lemon Notes Unlimited Notes$3.991 Year





