The best notes app depends less on which pen you own than on what happens after you finish writing. Do you need to replay a lecture, turn handwriting into typed text, mark up PDFs or open the same notebook elsewhere? These five apps take different approaches. Start with the job your notes have to do, then try a real page of your own handwriting before moving everything across.
1. Apple Notes: start here if you want less setup
Notes is already on the iPad. You can write with a supported Apple Pencil or your finger, sketch with the Markup tools, and use Scribble to turn handwriting into typed text as you write. On supported models, its handwriting tools can also tidy up written notes without changing their handwritten look. Apple’s Notes guide explains the tools and model-dependent features.
Try this first if your notes are short, personal and mostly stay in the Apple ecosystem. You may not need another subscription or a new filing system to write a shopping list, meeting note or quick sketch.
2. Goodnotes: notebooks with replayable audio
Goodnotes makes sense when your notes are long enough to organize into notebooks and you often annotate PDFs. Its audio recording feature links what you write to the moment it was recorded: tap a handwritten note during review and jump to the matching point in the recording. That’s useful for a lecture or interview when your rough notes only capture half a sentence.
The app has a limited free tier and paid plans, so check the current plan for the number of notebooks, audio allowance and other features you actually need before migrating a course’s worth of notes.
3. Notability: recording and annotation in one place
Notability is another option for a class or meeting where you want to write, import a document and keep an audio record. Its plan comparison lists handwriting and annotation, audio recording, and audio playback sync, while transcription and some search or AI features vary by plan. The free Starter tier has a five-note limit according to that comparison.
Try it against Goodnotes using the same PDF and a short recording. The better choice is the one that lets you find the moment you need later, not the one with the longer feature grid.
4. MyScript Notes: when handwriting needs to become text
If handwritten drafts need to turn into editable text, put MyScript Notes on your shortlist. Formerly called Nebo, it offers notebooks, documents, boards and PDFs. Its conversion guide shows how to select handwriting and turn it into typed text; it can also clean up shapes and diagrams. Documents are especially useful if you want the final result to read more like a typed document than a page of digital paper.
Write one messy paragraph and test the conversion before committing. Recognition quality is personal: your actual handwriting is the test that matters.
5. OneNote: notebooks for a Microsoft workflow
OneNote for iPad lets you handwrite, draw or highlight with a finger or compatible pen. That makes it a practical option if your work already lives in Microsoft notebooks and you want typed and handwritten material together. There is one important limit: Microsoft says OneNote for iPad does not currently convert handwriting to typed text. If that conversion is your main goal, try MyScript Notes instead.
Which one should you install first?
For quick notes, start with Apple Notes. For a lecture recording you want to revisit by tapping your written notes, compare Goodnotes and Notability. For handwriting conversion, test MyScript Notes. For an existing Microsoft notebook setup, try OneNote. Spend ten minutes with the same sample page in two apps and see which one you can search and revisit the next day.
If the pen is the missing piece rather than the app, see our iPad stylus guide. For more app coverage, browse the apps section.
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