Libreto vs Inkelle
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Libreto
This app is a versatile digital studio for note-taking, planning, sketching, and PDF editing. It offers on-device AI for document analysis and summarization, with robust drawing and writing tools for iPad users and streamlined PDF editing for iPhone.
- On-device AI for PDF and notebook analysis
- Full drawing studio with layers and pressure brushes
- Customizable planners and notebook templates
- Comprehensive PDF annotation and editing tools
- Handwriting recognition and conversion
- Lecture recording with transcription and summarization
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Libreto is a full drawing studio, digital notebook, planner, and PDF editor for iPad, and a streamlined PDF editor and notes app for iPhone. Private by design, with on-device AI included, and one fair price. LEARN IT IN MINUTES A 2-minute tour on first launch, then Help & Tutorials: step-by-step guides for every part of the app, each with a Try it button that takes you straight there. LIBRETO INTELLIGENCE, ON YOUR DEVICE Ask questions about any PDF or notebook and get answers with tappable page citations; each conversation is saved for next time. Summarize a document, a page range, or a selection. Turn any document into flashcards and quizzes with spaced-repetition review, or import a deck from Anki or CSV. Record a lecture, then transcribe and summarize it on-device, and tap any line to jump the audio to that moment. Have any PDF or note read aloud, page by page. Search inside every PDF, note, and transcript in your library. All of it runs with Apple Intelligence, right on your device: nothing uploaded, nothing metered, no AI credits. Prefer no AI? One switch hides every AI button. LIBRETO EVERYWHERE Send a PDF, photo, or text file from Files, Mail, or Safari straight into your library, or drag it in from another app on iPad. Start a Quick Note from the + menu, the app icon, Siri, Shortcuts, or ⌘N. Your documents show up in Spotlight. Keyboard shortcuts for undo, find, page turns, zoom, and export. DRAW & SKETCH (iPad) A full drawing canvas with pressure brushes, layers, blend modes, and a saved color palette. Real symmetry: vertical, horizontal, both axes, or radial. Smudge actual pixels at full resolution. Pro adjustments and filters: hue, curves, gradient map, blurs, halftone, chromatic aberration, and more. Pinch to zoom, add text, import photos to trace or paint over, export as PNG or PDF. Apple Pencil Pro: squeeze for brushes, double-tap to swap brush and eraser. NOTEBOOKS FOR APPLE PENCIL (iPad) Lined, dot grid, grid, graph, Cornell, and to-do paper, or import any photo as your own. Search your handwriting and convert it to text on-device, in 20+ languages, in notebooks and in the ink you write on PDFs. Write large in the Zoom Writing window and let the ink land small and neat. Add stickers, washi tape, photos, and AI art with Image Playground. No Pencil handy? Write with a finger. On iPhone, take handwritten or typed notes; iPhone does not support Apple Pencil. TEXT DOCUMENTS Prefer to type? Text Documents with markdown, headings, and checklists you can tick in the preview. PLANNERS, YOUR WAY (iPad) Six planners: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Scheduling, Personal, and Pro, with real calendar dates and a tappable table of contents. Add habit, goal, schedule, dashboard, and journal pages. Portrait or landscape, Warm or Dark theme. Elegant cover designs you can recolor, replace with your photo, or generate with Image Playground. PDF TOOLS (iPad and iPhone) Highlights, ink, shapes, stickers, and signatures, with undo and redo for every mark. Apple Pencil Pro squeezes for the tool palette and clicks when a shape snaps. Make scans searchable with on-device OCR. Clean up photographed pages with Scan Enhance. Redact for real: the hidden text is destroyed, not just covered, across a whole document at once. Export as PDF, image, text, Word (RTF), or Markdown. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No ads. No tracking. No third-party AI. Your work stays on your devices, with optional private iCloud sync and App Lock with Face ID. MEMBERSHIP Unlock every premium feature for $19.99/year with a 3-day free trial, or $2.99/month. Prefer not to subscribe? Buy Libreto once for $59.99 and keep every feature, including future updates, forever. Terms of Use (Apple standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Inkelle
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Inkelle is a handwriting notes app built for iPad and Apple Pencil, combining the freedom of natural handwriting with powerful organization and search. NATURAL HANDWRITING • Smooth PencilKit ink with custom brush presets, pressure sensitivity, and colors • Finger/stylus toggle, zoomed writing mode, automatic shape recognition • Multi-page documents, thumbnail sidebar, page outline, and presentation mode ORGANIZE AND SEARCH • Notebooks, tags, and smart folders for flexible organization • On-device handwriting OCR + Spotlight global search • Trash and version history — recover deletions and roll back changes IMPORT AND ANNOTATE • Import PDFs and annotate them in your own handwriting • Insert photos from your library or camera, add text boxes and stickers • Template backgrounds, export to PDF or image, system share sheet AUDIO AND CALENDAR • Attach voice recordings to your notes to capture ideas on the go • Detect dates in your notes and create calendar events with one tap AI STUDY KIT (OPTIONAL) • Summaries, Q&A, math solving, and auto-generated flashcards (SM-2 spaced repetition) • AI is powered by DeepSeek with your own API key; the app always asks for explicit consent before any text is sent. AI is fully optional — when off, all notes stay on your device and in your iCloud. ICLOUD SYNC • Private sync across your devices via iCloud/CloudKit, stored in your own private container • Home Screen widget for quick access to recent notes Inkelle respects your privacy: OCR runs on-device, there are no analytics or tracking SDKs, and your AI key is stored only in the local keychain. Inkelle Pro unlocks unlimited notebooks with an annual subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. The free version includes 10 notebooks, and viewing, editing, and exporting your existing notes is never restricted. Privacy & Terms • Privacy Policy: https://inkelle.pages.dev/privacy.html • Terms of Use (Apple standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Inkelle at daily against Libreto's every 10 days. 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. Libreto sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Inkelle sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Libreto ships an update every 10 days, Inkelle daily. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Libreto | Inkelle |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | JC Mobile App Studio LLC | 晗 林 |
In-app purchases
Libreto
- Libreto Premium (Monthly)$0.991 Month
- Libreto Premium (Annual)3 Days trial$7.991 Year
Inkelle
- Inkelle Pro — Annual7 Days trial$5.991 Year
- Inkelle Pro — Lifetime$17.99








