What are the Best Note Taking Apps for iOS?

Whether you are using an iPhone or iPad, there are plenty of worthwhile productivity apps and suites that make working with text a streamlined and enjoyable experience. Today, we shall focus on note taking apps, and the number of fantastic offers on the App Store is overwhelming, so we will try to limit our list to the best of the most popular. The iPad and iPhone do have a built-in note taking app, but why limit yourself to the native apps only when the diversity is so alluring?

Evernote (Free)

Inevitably, all note taking lists begin with Evernote and there is a good reason for that – that app is mega-popular and makes an awesome addition to any iOS device. Besides a colorful and versatile UI, Evernote offers synchronization of your notes across a large number of platforms, so whatever other devices you may be using, your notes get synced and you are always up-to-date with your lists, to-do’s and memos. Windows, Mac, Android or iOS – Evernote has it all covered, and the best thing is it is free.

You can share your notes with friends and colleagues, save favorite webpages, use it whike you research for work and study projects, or even plan your trips with Evernote. If you need more allotment and enhanced security, as well as support for more file types, you can subscribe for a premium membership, or even Evernote for business.

In terms of usability, Evernote is awesome: you can record audio as you type and add images to your notes. As a result, you get a fully-fledged content-rich note with audio, text and images. You can use images from external sources, or your image gallery.
In addition, all your notes will have location data, which is very useful when you search for specific notes based on the location they were taken at. Notes can also be tagged and categorized into as much as 100 of custom-made notebooks. There is no limit to the number of notes you can create, though.

Evernote for iOS supports background audio recording and all things considered, it deserves the best praise you can give to a free note taking app.

Penultimate ($0.99)

Penultimate is a very different notebook kind of app designed to be as realistic a notebook as possible. You need to use your finger or a stylus to actually write your notes, rather than type them with the virtual keyboard.

You can write, draw and scribble your notes in as many notebooks as you want. Looks are also customizable, and you can create very neat and realistic notebooks in red, blue, green, light grey, dark grey and black ink with Penultimate. The pens available are thick, medium and thin styled while paper comes in three styles – graph, lined and plain.

Penultimate boasts of a finely crafted technology that detects your writing and wrist lines, so your notes will not have the wrist lines on them.

In terms of sharing your notes, you can email them as PDF documents. Penultimate is a delight to use and for the right user it can become a favorite notebook app.

Note Taker HD ($4.99)

Note Taker HD is somewhat analogous to Penultimate in the way it is designed to let you write on the screen instead of typing, but in addition, this app does one really awesome thing – it reduces your scribbles to a more screen-fitting size. Why this feature matters, you ask. It matters because it is often difficult to write small with apps that use this handwriting-based input. As a result, the screen gets quickly filled with just one phrase, and Note Taker HD solves that problem.

In addition, Note Taker HD offers one more outstanding feature – support for video output you can use in your presentations. Besides, it also supports AirPrint and Evernote, which makes it quite a unique blend.

Corkulous Pro ($4.99)

As the name suggests, Corkulous is essentially a cork board you can use to stick digital board notes on. As with a regular cork board, you can pin whatever you want – notes, pictures, tasks, lists, labels, contacts, links, you name it. This app does not limit you to one particular type of task you can perform with it. Besides the regular cork board, the app sports nested cork boards, passcode lock feature, export feature and a handy built-in search. You can also email your boards as PDF or images.

Creating notes with Corkulous is fun and easy, and you are not limited in the number of notebooks and reminders you can create. Basically, you can use this app for a wide variety of simple to complex tasks – from compiling shopping lists to organizing events, from keeping track of goals to making a list of movies to watch, and anything you would use a regular notebook for. Corkulous is really a gasp of fresh air among digital apps nowadays.

Awesome Note ($3.99), Awesome Note for iPad (+Todo/Calendar/Reminder) ($4.99)

Awesome Note is indeed awesome, with a load of powerful features, such as synchronizing with Google Docs and Evernote, adding drawings, images and maps to your notes and so much more. Besides notes, the app includes to-do lists, in-built calendar, email notes, passcode protection and customizable notes with a variety of fonts, themes and icons. Moreover, you can transfer your notes via Bluetooth and process them with AirPrint.

Awesome Note is easy to use when you need important things organized and controlled. You can assign categories to your notes and create separate folders for them. To-do lists are extremely streamlined with this app – you can set due dates, prioritize and set repeated tasks. Awesome Notes come loaded with features, and it is a one-stop app for many iOS users.

AudioNote - Notepad and Voice Recorder ($4.99)

If you are familiar with LiveScribe SmartPens, you will recognize a lot of features in AudioNote. This app makes audio recordings when you need them the most - at business meetings and lectures. Then, you can synchronize the audio file with drawings and text – you just tap on a word and the recording starts playing. If you end up recording large audio files and then have trouble finding the right information, AudioNote has you covered. As the app records the lecture, you can write relevant keywords as the subject evolves, so when you need to find it you simply search for the keyword and relevant recording is at your fingertips.

This tool is perfect for students and you will appreciate how easy it makes the note-taking at lectures. In addition, you can draw images and type at the same time recording takes place. For students and people who do a lot of field research, this app is a must-have.

SoundNote ($4.99)

SoundNote is similar to AudioNote in functionality – make notes as you record audio, and sync them to create content-rich and meaningful compilations. You can both type and use stylus to handwrite or draw.

The output format for audio files is M4A, and about an hour recording will cost you 25MB space. You can send/export recordings via email and use it in Evernote.

CourseNotes ($3.99)

Yet another great app for students, CourseNotes is designed around studying process and fits your curriculum perfectly, with courses, seminars and lectures you attend. You can track assignments, create to-do lists and synchronize events with your calendar app. In addition, the app supports Facebook sharing and AirPrint, as well as WiFi and Bluetooth sharing.

Again, as is the case with some other apps on our list, CourseNotes supports virtual keyboard input and stylus handrwriting, or finger writing.

It is a great app for students to keep track of their projects and research.

Notability ($2.99)

Notability is an ambitious project, with synchronizing audio recordings and written text. Customization tools are powerful in Notability – you get a gallery of fonts, sizes, styles and colors. You can add images, webpages and figures to your notes – the text embraces embedded objects in a natural manner.

It is a great time saver, featuring a smart PDF output format you can upload to your Dropbox. AirPrint is supported, too. Overall, Notability is a quick and nifty app that does the job f taking notes flawlessly.

WritePad ($4.99), WritePad for iPad ($9.99)

While the iPad version of this app is the most expensive on our list, it certainly deserves your attention. WritePad implements written text recognition and transcribes your scribbles into typed text. The level of text recognition is pretty high, and the app supports AirPrint and fast app switching.

You can, of course, use regular virtual keyboard input. As with other text or speech recognition software, WritePad needs some time to learn your individual writing style and patterns.

Moreover, you can assign gestures and shortcuts to perform some frequently used tasks and speed up navigation.

If you want to transfer your handwritten notes to typed text, WritePad is the right choice.

And to conclude this long list with a question, what are you using for your iOS notes taking?