Best Notetaking Apps

248+ iOS apps curated and reviewed

4.8 avg rating
20 free apps
Updated September 2026

From beginner-friendly picks to power-user tools, our notetaking list covers 248+ iPhone apps updated through September 2026. Compare ratings, prices, and screenshots in one place.

Compare top Notetaking Apps (September 2026)

#AppPriceRatingAdsIn-App PurchasesUpdated
1Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDFGoodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDFFree4.7★ (453K)NoYesSep 2026
2Notability: AI Notes & PlannerNotability: AI Notes & PlannerFree4.8★ (456K)NoYesSep 2026
3Microsoft OneNoteMicrosoft OneNoteFree4.7★ (1.1M)NoYesSep 2026
4Freenotes®: AI Notes TakingFreenotes®: AI Notes TakingFree4.7★ (60K)NoYesSep 2026
5Notion: Notes, Tasks, AINotion: Notes, Tasks, AIFree4.8★ (90K)NoYesSep 2026
6Google Keep - Notes and listsGoogle Keep - Notes and listsFree4.6★ (29K)NoNoSep 2026
7Noteful: Notes & PDF MarkupNoteful: Notes & PDF MarkupFree4.8★ (23K)NoYesSep 2026
8Otter Transcribe Voice NotesOtter Transcribe Voice NotesFree4.8★ (76K)NoYesSep 2026

Top Picks for Notetaking

Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF#1

Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF by Goodnotes Limited

Note taking, Planner & Journal
Editor's Choice
📊 Productivity
4.7😊(453K ratings)
FreeIn-App Purchases
#75in Productivity
Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF screenshot 1
Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF screenshot 2
Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF screenshot 3
Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF screenshot 4
Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF screenshot 5
Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF screenshot 6

Capture ideas, enhance productivity, and unlock insights with advanced AI features. This app offers tools for professionals, students, and creatives, including infinite whiteboards, AI-powered transcription and summarization, and customizable digital notebooks.

What We Love

  • 🚀 Excellent note-taking experience
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Smooth writing with Apple Pencil
  • 📁 Powerful organization with folders and notebooks
  • 🖼️ Ability to annotate PDFs and documents
  • 🌈 Customizable paper styles and covers

Room to Improve

  • 🐛 Glitches and crashes
  • 🔍 Syncing and iCloud issues
  • 🔍 Lack of flexibility with text input
  • 🔍 Limited eraser and highlighting options
  • 🔍 Subpar performance on Mac app
Notability: AI Notes & Planner#2

Notability: AI Notes & Planner by Ginger Labs

Daily notebook & study journal
Strong Contender
📊 Productivity
4.8😊(456K ratings)
FreeIn-App Purchases
#71in Productivity
Notability: AI Notes & Planner screenshot 1
Notability: AI Notes & Planner screenshot 2
Notability: AI Notes & Planner screenshot 3
Notability: AI Notes & Planner screenshot 4
Notability: AI Notes & Planner screenshot 5

Capture, organize, and enhance your thoughts with a versatile digital notebook. Seamlessly blend handwriting, typing, and multimedia to annotate documents, record lectures, and generate summaries. Ideal for students and professionals seeking to boost productivity and learning.

What We Love

  • 🚀 Great app for note-taking
  • 👍 Smooth handwriting experience
  • 📝 Excellent organization and file management
  • 🎙️ Useful audio recording feature
  • 🔍 Handwriting recognition and search
  • 🌈 Customizable colors and themes

Room to Improve

  • 🐛 Sync issues with iCloud
  • 🔍 Limited search and organization options
  • 🖍️ Frustrating highlighter behavior
  • 🔒 Concerns about subscription model
  • 🔧 Buggy after recent updates
Microsoft OneNote#3

Microsoft OneNote by Microsoft Corporation

Capture Notes, Ideas and Memos
Worth Considering
📊 Productivity
4.7😐(1.1M ratings)
FreeIn-App Purchases
#65in Productivity
Microsoft OneNote screenshot 1
Microsoft OneNote screenshot 2
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Microsoft OneNote screenshot 4

Capture thoughts, ideas, and plans in a digital notepad. Organize, search, and secure your notes, memos, and sketches. Sync across devices for access anywhere, anytime. Collaborate with others on shared notepads.

What We Love

  • 🚀 Simple, works well
  • 👍 Great for planning
  • 👍 Powerful note-taking app
  • 👍 Invaluable tool for note taking
  • 👍 Used for years, couldn't be without this app
  • 👍 Helps keep up with college
  • 👍 A+ for getting life organized
  • 👍 Best app to get organized
  • 👍 Excellent across ALMOST all platforms
  • 👍 Excellent for work and school
  • 👍 Wonderful app (better than Evernote)
  • 👍 Paperless uni student
  • 👍 EVERYTHING in one place & mega easy to find
  • 👍 Amazing. Especially since it's free
  • 👍 Awesome app
  • 👍 Using it for years

Room to Improve

  • 🔨 Could be better
  • 🔨 Formatting issues on mobile app
  • 🔨 Buggy widget, no dark app icon
  • 🐛 Glitchy, crashes often
  • 🐛 Terrible sync speeds
  • 🐛 The drawing tool switches to text tool without being selected
  • 🐛 Crashes since iOS 17
  • 🐛 Dude, please fix scrolling issue
  • 🐛 Bugs, lots of bugs
  • 🐛 Terrible on iPad, very slow
  • 🐛 Glitchy af now
  • 🐛 Strokes vanish randomly when writing with Apple Pencil
  • 🐛 No easy way to select large amounts of only highlighting
  • 🐛 Unbelievably unreliable
  • 🐛 Wildly inconsistent syncing
  • 🐛 Very glitchy, too risky
  • 🐛 App crashing

More Notetaking apps to explore

FAQ about Notetaking

What are the best notetaking apps for iPhone?
Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF tops our notetaking apps ranking as of September 2026, with a 4.7-star average from 453K App Store ratings, and it's free to download.
Yes — 20 of the top notetaking apps we rank are free to download, including Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF and Notability: AI Notes & Planner.
Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF has no ads and offers in-app purchases, according to its App Store listing as of September 2026.
We track 248+ notetaking apps on the iOS App Store as of September 2026, ranked by rating, recency, and analysis of real user reviews.
Goodnotes is a digital note-taking and organization app that helps users capture ideas, enhance productivity, and unlock insights. It offers features like AI-powered transcription, summarization, infinite whiteboards, and customizable digital notebooks for professionals, students, and creatives.
Key features include AI-powered audio transcription and summarization for meetings and lectures, an infinite whiteboard canvas for brainstorming and diagramming, digital notebooks with customizable templates, and Study Sets for active recall flashcards. It also supports real-time collaboration and presentation mode.

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