Some of the best note apps for iPhone and iPad can help you stay organized, whether you need to scribble down a phone number, create a shopping list, or record important meeting details.
Any one of these apps would be a great choice, as they all excel at the most crucial aspects of their respective jobs.
They allow you to begin a new note immediately and record ideas and information. At the same time, they are still fresh in your mind.
They are also proficient in that there are no reasonable constraints on the size or quantity of notes you can write.
You may write a book on one note, and numerous notes could each contain a single sentence.
One key area of differentiation is how well they facilitate the recovery of lost notes.
There are note-taking applications for any budget; some even include extra capabilities close to the basic To Do functionality.
Here is the list of the best note apps for iPhone and iPad I have made for you.
Best Note Apps for iPhone and iPad
1. Notability
Notes+ is among the best note apps for iPhone and iPad for capturing handwritten notes and doodling sketches.
The note-taking app Notability allows you to type and handwrite your notes simultaneously.
Since Apple’s Pencil is for usage with the iPad Pro, users of that device will benefit the most from the software.
However, jotting down notes by hand is simple on an iPhone or ordinary iPad, requiring no stylus.
The program allows users to input text in bullet points and checkboxes, making it easy to make lists or to-dos.
You can select input methods, such as a pen, highlighter, eraser, and lasso, by tapping the corresponding icon at the top of a note.
The camera button lets you import photos from your device’s gallery or built-in camera.
With an iPad Pro, you can draw and write on the screen with the Apple Pencil. An iPhone’s helper in the screen’s bottom right corner lets you use your finger to enter handwriting.
The helper will scroll the page so you can enter your information in a small, legible print.
Notability’s handwriting capabilities are best utilized by iPad users armed with a stylus due to the app’s slow process.
Notability allows you to record audio as well as text and handwritten notes.
There’s a handy feature called Note Replay that lets you play back the audio and the ink recordings at the same time, making it ideal for usage in lecture halls and boardrooms.
Notes and sketches you produced while listening to an audio recording will replicate their original form when you play back the recording with Note Replay enabled.
Notability’s strength as an inking tool is further used to annotate PDFs.
2. Paper by Dropbox
Dropbox’s Paper falls short when compared to other note-taking apps. You can create short notes, to-do lists, and more with the help of the app’s comprehensive text capture features, which include the standard bullet point, checkbox, and text formatting choices.
You can use pictures taken with the camera or in the Photos app, but you can’t add audio or write notes. The unique selling point of Dropbox Paper is its capacity for teamwork.
With Dropbox Paper, you can share and collaborate on documents. To invite others to a note, tap the user icon at the top and enter their email addresses.
Dropbox Paper is available on iOS, Android, and the web to access your notes from any device.
Once having an invite, users can make changes to notes and add comments by touching the New Comment box at the bottom of the screen.
Dropbox Paper uses folders to categorize notes (or Docs, as they are in the app). Like notes, you can share folders with coworkers, giving everyone instant access to the notes in a folder with just a few clicks.
Documents marked as favorites will be displayed in a separate Starred tab. You may stay up-to-date on recent note edits by clicking the Notifications tab.
3. Evernote
Evernote is undisputedly one of the best note apps for iPhone and iPad. In reality, it’s far more than just a note-taking tool; since its introduction in 2008, its growth encompasses a full ecosystem of complementary software.
Several customers believe this feature-packed strategy has produced the best note apps for iPhone and iPad. Evernote needs to be more robust for some people.
Take comprehensive notes that include files, inline photos, audio recordings, and doodles in addition to the standard text.
Use tables within your notes by hitting the table icon, linking to other notes in your Evernote account, and setting any note as a reminder by tapping the alarm clock icon (Evernote will send you a push notification on a date and time of your choosing).
If you want to work with other people on a note, you can click the Share Note option, but you cannot simultaneously work on the same note.
Evernote also excels in the department of an organization. The Notebook feature allows you to organize your notes on the platform. In contrast, Stacks allow you to organize multiple Notebooks into a single hierarchy.
Tags can be added by tapping the Info button at the top of a note. In the Shortcuts menu, you may add notes to your shortcuts for easy reference.
Searching within a note’s title, tags, body text, attached documents, and even images that include text makes Evernote’s search capability unparalleled.
3. Notes from Apple
You already have Apple Notes loaded on your device, which is a very good app.
It used to be a joke, but now that it has been upgraded to include so many features and become so powerful, it is often regarded as among the best note apps for iPhone and iPad.
Because it is simplistic and easy to use, it is a fantastic tool for quickly taking brief notes, especially when time is of the essence.
This process is even more streamlined because of the new Quick Notes function, introduced with the release of iPadOS 15.
We can only continue to keep our fingers crossed that Apple will eventually add this functionality, which would be both helpful and efficient, to iOS at some point in the future.
The note is a free program available for usage on multiple platforms, including the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and it does not require a subscription.
You have probably already downloaded and installed the app on your devices; however, if you delete it accidentally, you can always redownload it from the App Store at no additional cost.
4. Agenda
People who are looking for something that has a lot of different possibilities will find that Agenda is an extremely powerful planning tool that comes with a ton of different features.
You can find Agenda on the website agenda.com. According to the company’s description, Agenda is a “date-focused note-writing application for planning and documenting your initiatives.”
It is an application for taking notes, but it functions on the presumption that taking notes is something that you do routinely as part of your working life.
Because of this, it places a high focus on organization and makes every effort to present you with a consolidated picture of all the activities booked in your calendar in a single location. This is done so that you may more easily manage your time.
You may download Agenda for your iOS, iPadOS, or macOS device from the App Store at no cost. Each of these computer operating systems is suitable for use with Agenda.
You can purchase one of two in-app payments, with prices ranging from $19.99 to $39.99, to access premium features for the iOS and iPadOS operating systems.
After making these purchases, you can access premium features for both the iOS and iPadOS operating systems. These are the most luxurious options that are at your disposal.
5. Bear
Bear is a flexible tool for taking notes. It allows users to encrypt their notes, use nested tags, construct to-do lists, and write in portable Markup.
Bear also can generate to-do lists. In addition, users can export their notes in many other file formats, including HTML, PDF, DOCX, MD, JPG, and many more.
Bear is one of the best note apps for iPhone and iPad that can be downloaded on your iPhone.
Even better, it comes with a companion app for the Apple Watch, which enables you to dictate new notes directly from your timepiece rather than typing them in.
This is a significant improvement over the previous option. In addition, customers can purchase premium features for a one-time price of $14.99, which adds the ability to lock and unlock notes using Face ID and Touch ID, respectively. This functionality is included in the premium features package.
6. Google Keep
Google Keep is one of the best note apps for iPhone and iPad. The company’s take on the idea is that it’s an application that can save all of your notes in one place.
Like the other ones covered earlier, it lets you take notes, paste images, create drawings, and build simple to-do lists.
Additionally, you may create simple drawings. A voice transcriber that is included allows users to jot down notes without using their hands physically.
In addition, you can share notes with others like you share folders in Google Drive or documents in Google Docs.
You can do this by clicking the “Share” button on the note you want to share.
Users don’t have to pay anything to use Google Keep, a cloud storage service that’s part of the Google product family and is available at no additional cost.
You may access it through the browser on your Mac, as well as on your iPhone and iPad, if you have either of those devices.
7. Notion
You can create notes that include pictures, built-in to-do lists, code snippets, and a wide variety of other content when using the comprehensive note-taking application Notion.
Notes authored within Notion can be exported to the internet as web pages. It synchronizes data between the client that runs in the browser and the iPhone and iPad apps.
8. OneNote
OneNote is yet another of the best note apps for iPhone and iPad that gives you the ability to make detailed notes that can include things like photographs, drawings, to-do lists, graphs, and more.
Notes can be searched for, pinned to specific locations, and protected with a password or a biometric lock.
It is compatible with Apple’s iPad, iPhone, and Mac operating systems, as are most of Microsoft’s other programs.
There is no cost to using Microsoft OneNote; however, a membership to Microsoft 365 is necessary to access extra services such as Ink Replay, Researcher, and Math Assistant.
9. Simplenote
Simplenote is among the best note apps for iPhone and iPad that’s fantastic for novices just taking notes digitally.
Users can build lists, tag notes, pin the notes they use the most, and lock material behind a passcode lock.
In addition, Simplenote is compatible with markdown, and users with a WordPress.com account can publish content straight to their WordPress sites from within Simplenote.