Comparison

eSign vs Handwritten Digital Notes

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

eSign

Easily sign documents on your iPhone without printing or scanning. Create custom signatures, add text, and export flattened PDFs privately. Ideal for everyday signing needs like leases and offer letters.

Highlights
  • Draw or generate handwritten-style signatures
  • Scan or import existing signatures
  • Sign PDFs with text, dates, and checkmarks
  • Private, local-first document storage
  • Export flattened, signed PDFs
  • Optional Face ID lock
Features
Read full description

Signing a document shouldn't mean printing, scrawling, scanning, and emailing it back. Signed lets you do the whole thing on your iPhone in under a minute — and keeps every document private to your device. Make a signature you're proud of - Draw it with your finger on a smooth, natural canvas. - Generate one with AI — type your name, pick a style, and get a real handwritten-style signature. - Scan or import one you already have. - Save your favorite as the default and reuse it everywhere. Sign any PDF in seconds - Import a PDF from Files, Photos, or another app. - Drop your signature, initials, name, date, text, or a checkmark exactly where they belong. - Your name and today's date fill themselves in, so the common stuff is one tap. - Export a clean, flattened, signed PDF and share it anywhere. Private by design — this is the part that matters Signed is local-first. Your documents, your signatures, your initials — they're stored only on your iPhone. We never upload them, we can't see them, and there's no cloud copy on any server. The paperwork you sign is nobody's business but yours. Made to feel good to use - A calm, clean design that gets out of your way. - Optional Face ID lock for an extra layer of privacy. - Dark mode from day one. Signed is for the everyday signing life — leases, NDAs, offer letters, school forms, waivers, the form your landlord just emailed. Fast, beautiful, and yours alone. What your subscription includes Signed Pro is a subscription — it unlocks everything above: AI signature generation, saving signatures and initials to your library, and signing and exporting unlimited PDFs. You can create your first signature free during setup; an active subscription is required to keep using the app. The subscription auto-renews until you cancel — manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://trysigned.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://trysigned.app/privacy

About

Handwritten Digital Notes

Capture thoughts, journal memories, and organize study notes with a variety of writing and creative tools. Personalize pages with stationery, stickers, and photos. Sync across devices and secure individual notebooks.

Highlights
  • Handwriting and typing tools
  • Customizable page stationery
  • Photo and sticker integration
  • Keepsake jar for saving pages
  • Folder and tag organization
  • iCloud syncing
  • PDF annotation
  • Notebook locking
Features
Read full description

A little space for your thoughts. A beautiful home for your memories. Digital Notes brings writing, journaling, and creative note-taking together on your iPhone and iPad. Capture a quick idea, decorate a diary page, organize study notes, or keep a moment you want to remember. Make every page yours with cozy stationery, lined paper, grids, and more. Write with Apple Pencil or your finger, or type with a choice of fonts, sizes, and colors. Add photos and cute stickers, then move, resize, and rotate them to create a page that feels like you. Save meaningful pages in your keepsake jar. Watch your paper fold and tuck itself inside, then open it whenever you want to revisit that memory. Choose a sage, rose, or lavender jar to match your mood. Keep your notebooks together on one simple Home screen. Use folders, tags, favorites, and search to find what you need. Archive older notebooks and restore notes from Trash when you change your mind. Keep your notes close with iCloud syncing. Sync notebooks, photos, stickers, and audio recordings across your iPhone and iPad using the same iCloud account. Syncing is on by default, and you can manage it anytime in Settings. Your notes stay available locally for offline writing. With Digital Notes, you can: - Draw and highlight with handwriting tools. - Turn typed text into pages with handwritten fonts in Studio. - Import PDFs and annotate them. - Scan paper documents on supported devices. - Attach audio recordings to your notebooks. - Share notebooks as PDFs or individual pages as images. - Export and restore notebook backups. - Lock individual notebooks with Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode. Locked contents require authentication to open; titles remain visible. From everyday lists to letters to yourself, Digital Notes gives your thoughts a place to belong. Privacy Policy: https://digitalhole.github.io/DHPrivacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

eSign4 screens
Handwritten Digital Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Handwritten Digital Notes at none against eSign's 9. eSign's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment, update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. eSign sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Handwritten Digital Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

eSign ships an update fortnightly, Handwritten Digital Notes every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 19, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
eSign versus Handwritten Digital Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametereSignHandwritten Digital Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (18 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings18 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size67 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWorth A Try LLCArima Jain

Customer experience

eSign

All ratings18 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Handwritten Digital Notes

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

9 purchases

eSign

Subscriptions5
  • Signed Weekly$3.997 Days
  • Signed Weekly$7.997 Days
  • Signed Monthly$9.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Signed Annual$19.991 Year
  • Signed Annual3 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time4
  • Lifetime$9.99
  • Lifetime$19.99
  • Lifetime$39.99
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime$49.99
None

Handwritten Digital Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is eSign free?
eSign is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Handwritten Digital Notes free?
Handwritten Digital Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do eSign or Handwritten Digital Notes have ads?
Handwritten Digital Notes shows ads; eSign does not.
Which is updated more often, eSign or Handwritten Digital Notes?
eSign ships an update fortnightly, and Handwritten Digital Notes every 2 weeks. Most recently, eSign was updated on October 19, 2026 and Handwritten Digital Notes on October 19, 2026.

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