Lucid Note vs FolikPDF
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Lucid Note
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Lucid Note is a simple note-taking app that lets you annotate any PDF with Apple Pencil. ā Write on Password-Protected PDFs Open and annotate PDFs protected with edit restrictions ā company documents, study materials, and more ā without any extra steps. Files that other apps can't open work seamlessly in Lucid Note. ā Intuitive Writing ⢠Handwriting on PDFs ā Write notes and draw diagrams directly on any PDF using Apple Pencil. Adjust pen width and color freely with the tool palette. ⢠Smooth zoom ā Pinch to zoom in and out, two-finger scroll to pan. Write comfortably even in the finest details. ⢠Easy page navigation ā Tap the left or right edge of the screen to flip pages. ⢠Stamps ā Press date frames, daily schedule frames, and task checkbox frames as stamps onto your pages. Drag with a finger to reposition them anywhere. ā Note and Page Management ⢠Create new notes ā Choose a background style (blank, lined, grid, dot grid, legal pad) and paper size (A4 / A5 / US Letter) to start a fresh notebook. ⢠Add, delete, and reorder pages ā Freely add pages to a note, or rearrange them by dragging in the thumbnail grid. ⢠Tag-based file management ā Create custom tags to organize your files. Filter by tag instantly from the sidebar. ⢠Simple file management ā Rename or delete files right from the list. ā Sharing and Productivity ⢠Export annotated PDFs ā Export a PDF with your handwriting, backgrounds, and stamps all merged in, ready to share. ⢠Handwriting recognition and search (experimental) ā Using Apple's handwriting recognition technology, your notes are converted to text so you can search by keyword. Accuracy may vary by handwriting style and language. ⢠iCloud backup ā Your imported PDFs and annotations are backed up automatically. Open a PDF and start writing ā it's that simple.
FolikPDF
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Folik is a private, capable PDF workspace for iPhone and iPad. It is completely free: no ads, no subscription, no account, and no in-app purchases. READ AND FIND ⢠Open PDFs from Files or other apps ⢠Search with contextual results and next/previous navigation ⢠Use continuous, single-page, or two-page layouts ⢠Browse thumbnails, outlines, and bookmarks SCAN ON DEVICE ⢠Capture multi-page documents with automatic edge detection ⢠Recognize text locally so new scans are searchable ⢠Keep scans inside Folik unless you choose to share them FILL AND SIGN ⢠Complete standard PDF text, checkbox, radio, and choice fields ⢠Track required fields and jump to the next unfinished field ⢠Create handwritten or typed signatures and initials ANNOTATE AND ORGANIZE ⢠Highlight, underline, strike through, draw, add notes, shapes, text, and stamps ⢠Move, resize, recolor, undo, and redo annotations ⢠Reorder, rotate, duplicate, delete, extract, or combine pages in a new copy EXPORT YOUR WAY ⢠Share the original ⢠Create an editable copy ⢠Export a flattened copy for consistent appearance PRIVATE BY DESIGN Folik processes documents, scans, text recognition, and edits on your device. It has no backend, analytics SDK, or advertising SDK. Compatibility note: Folik supports standard AcroForm fields exposed by iOS. XFA-only forms, certificate-backed digital signatures, JavaScript calculations, and vendor-specific PDF behavior may not be supported. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Folik is open source under the MIT License. https://github.com/x3n-network/FolikPDF
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: FolikPDF at every 2 days against Lucid Note's every 3 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Lucid Note ships an update every 3 weeks, FolikPDF every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lucid Note | FolikPDF |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 2 days ā better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 ā better | 18.6 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Satoshi Takezawa | JOSEPH AARON SPEARS |
In-app purchases
Lucid Note
No in-app purchases
FolikPDF
No in-app purchases







