UnivNote vs OpenNotes

UnivNote — Smooth PDF Note App UnivNote makes the fundamentals — writing, reading, and organizing on PDFs — fast and reliable, instead of leading with AI. Write on textbooks, slides, papers, and books with iPad and Apple Pencil, and keep working on the same notes on iPhone and Mac. Memorize with the masking highlighter, review on schedule, and collect missed problems in Mistake Notes — your whole study flow in one app. ▶ What Makes UnivNote Different · Fast writing with lower heat Pen, eraser, lasso, and paste never stall, even as your notes pile up. We keep improving scrolling and note opening on stroke-heavy pages, along with heat and battery. · Cover, test, and review on schedule Cover answers with the masking highlighter and tap to check. Drag a rectangular mask with your finger to move it, or drag a corner to resize it. Right/wrong memory test results set your next review date, and the “Review” tab and Home Screen widget show today’s reviews and your weekly and monthly schedule. You can also set your own review intervals. · Layers — keep the original and your notes apart Keep handwriting, answers, and corrections on 5 layers per note and hide them with one tap. Edits touch only the current layer, so ink on the others stays as it is. · Views built for workbooks Choose Vertical scroll, Horizontal page turn, Horizontal scroll, or Two-page view, and keep your place with Lock Zoom and Lock View. Extend page margins on all four sides to make room for working out problems. · Shapes you can re-edit anytime 30+ shapes, from lines and arrows to 3D shapes like cylinders, cones, and spheres. Keep fine-tuning their form with handles after inserting. · Lecture recording and class notes Audio recording with handwriting-synced playback, laser pointer, reading mode, and gesture shortcuts. Recordings are kept even if the app quits unexpectedly. ▶ Main Features · Pen, pencil, highlighter, fountain pen, eraser — widths, colors, line styles · Lasso and rectangle select — move, resize, rotate, copy, duplicate, move to layer · Apple Pencil double-tap and squeeze actions, favorite pens, per-note tool memory · No-Pencil mode — finger writing, two-finger scroll · Masking highlighter, right/wrong memory tests, Review tab and widget · Mistake Notes — collect lassoed problems and jump back to their page · Page links and backlinks · Shape insertion, image paste and crop, text boxes · Text recognition (OCR), word-aware highlighting on PDF text · Unified search — PDF text, text boxes, note titles · Sidebar table of contents — detects and edits PDF outlines, Build Contents with AI · Import EPUB ebooks and Office documents, “Translate with Your AI” · AI Connection — your AI reads your notes to help organize and review (needs UnivNote for Mac) · Import folders and .zip files exported from other note apps in one go · Bring in PDFs and photos from other apps via the share sheet · 90+ design templates, note covers, infinite notes · Study clock — stopwatch and timer, exam countdowns per subject · Folder library — nested folders, grid view, hide, lock · Page manager — add, delete, duplicate, rotate, multi-select · iCloud sync, WebDAV import, Auto Backup (folder or WebDAV) · “Help” guide in Settings, 27 languages ▶ Pricing · Free for up to 20 notes · Unlimited Notes is a one-time lifetime purchase · No subscription · No ads · Family Sharing supported · Early Supporters automatically get Unlimited Notes ▶ Privacy · No note data is sent externally · Notes stay on your device or your own iCloud ▶ Recommended Setup · iPad + Apple Pencil recommended; iPhone and Mac supported · iPadOS 18 or later, optimized for 13" and 11" iPad Pro / iPad Air

OpenNotes is a simple, free, open-source notes app built for handwriting, PDFs, and focused organization. Create notebooks, import PDFs, write with Apple Pencil, add images or text, organize notes into folders, and export your work when you need it. OpenNotes is local-first and privacy focused. There are no accounts, no analytics, and no tracking. Your notes live on your device, with optional backup to your own iCloud so they survive a lost iPad or a deleted app. Nothing is ever sent to us — your notes stay in your Apple account, readable by no one else.