# The Best App for Taking Handwritten Notes on an iPad – The Sweet Setup  ## Introduction - The rise of the tablet has led to the development of note-taking apps that emulate pencil and paper, with the [[Apple Inc. | Apple]] Pencil's release in 2015 allowing handwriting on the [[IPad | iPad]] to truly shine. - A good app for handwriting has a unique place in the iOS ecosystem, offering features such as drawings, doodles, and margin utilization, making it ideal for students, journal keepers, and those who appreciate putting pen to paper. - The best handwritten note-taking app should provide a wide variety of options and a full set of features, with Goodnotes being the top choice due to its ongoing updates, user-centric features, and long tenure in the [[App store | App Store]]. - Goodnotes offers custom productivity templates, which can be used to transform the app into a productivity notebook or any other type of notebook replacement. ## Key Features and Selection Criteria - A free guide is available to The Sweet Setup's email subscriber community, which includes walkthroughs on creating and saving custom page templates, as well as two in-house templates to get started. - When selecting a handwriting app, key features to look for include [[Apple Pencil]] support, natural ink feel, paper options, search functionality, sync capabilities, and support for the latest devices. - Goodnotes was chosen as the top app due to its ability to meet these criteria, making it an ideal choice for those looking for a reliable and feature-rich handwriting app. ## Goodnotes: An In-Depth Look - The app is particularly useful for students taking lecture notes, journal keepers, and those who appreciate the art of putting pen to paper. - The Sweet Setup community offers additional resources, including guides, early previews, and weekly roundups, to help users get the most out of Goodnotes and other productivity apps. - The connection between handwritten note-taking apps and learning is inherent, with research showing that handwriting improves the learning process and helps commit information to memory. - The original [[IPad | iPad]], released in 2010, lacked a suitable handwriting input method, but the introduction of the [[Apple Pencil]] with the [[IPad Pro | iPad Pro]] revolutionized handwritten note-taking on the device. - The iPad, particularly the iPad Pro, has become an ideal device for learning, offering features such as Split View, Picture-in-Picture video overlays, and support for annotating PDFs, making it an excellent tool for students. - The author highly recommends using an iPad with the [[Apple Inc. | Apple]] Pencil for handwritten note-taking, citing its ability to overcome traditional learning hurdles such as searching through textbooks and taking notes with a physical pencil. - Goodnotes is considered the best hand-writing app, offering a user-friendly interface that allows users to create notebooks, folders, and study sets, as well as import digital documents and scan physical documents. - Goodnotes features a variety of paper types, including standard blank, dotted, and ruled papers, as well as specialized templates for study purposes, planning, music, and more, all available in different orientations and colors. - The app's home screen allows users to easily navigate and organize their notes, with features such as search, shared documents, and favorites, making it an ideal tool for students and individuals looking to move their notes into the digital space. - Goodnotes allows users to import custom paper types as PDFs, enabling them to create and duplicate their own planner, task list, or writing paper templates. - Users can easily create their own paper templates or search for [[PDF]] forms, paper types, and templates online, with a helpful list available from Gabe of Macdrifter. - The app offers a customizable user interface, featuring three types of pens (fountain, ball, and brush) and a highlighter, each with adjustable size and color options. - The toolbar allows users to set three quick-access colors and sizes for the main tools, while the highlighter includes a straight-line drawing feature. - Goodnotes also features a shape tool, lasso-style cut tool, photo import and camera functionality, premade shapes/stickers/stamps, and a typing tool supporting all system fonts. - Each document can be quickly navigated through swiping or using a thumbnail view, and features like search, sync, and importing documents make the app highly functional. - The search feature utilizes [[Optical character recognition | OCR]], allowing users to search for words within notes, with results categorized by note type. - Syncing is available via [[ICloud | iCloud]] or cloud services like [[Dropbox]], [[Google Drive]], and [[OneDrive]], although auto-backup is initially turned off. - Goodnotes also supports importing PDFs, enabling users to mark up documents and take notes, with OCR search making text within these documents searchable. - The app features audio recording capabilities, with recordings syncing to handwriting, allowing users to replay audio and see their notes being rewritten/redrawn. - Goodnotes 6 introduced AI-powered writing and learning tools, including spellcheck and word-complete features, making handwriting notes feel futuristic. ## Goodnotes 6: Features and Pricing - Goodnotes 6 is a top-rated app for taking handwritten notes on an [[IPad | iPad]], offering features such as automatic word correction, math equation assistance, and AI-powered tools for generating practice quizzes and translating text. - The app is free to download, but with limitations, and can be fully unlocked through a one-time $30 in-app purchase or a $10 yearly subscription. - Goodnotes 6 supports multiple languages and allows users to convert handwritten equations into [[LaTeX]] format, making it a valuable tool for students. ## Alternative Handwriting Apps - An alternative to Goodnotes is [[Notability (application) | Notability]], which offers a similar feature set but with some unique tools, such as a pressure-sensitive pencil tool and a smart [[Light-on-dark color scheme | Night Mode]] for writing in dim lighting. - Notability's basic features, including pen, highlighter, eraser, and lasso cut-tools, are comparable to Goodnotes, and it also supports adding photos, gifs, and web clips to documents. - Notability offers a $15/year subscription to unlock features like unlimited edits, [[ICloud | iCloud]] sync, and handwriting recognition. - Other contenders in the market include [[Apple Inc. | Apple]] Notes, which offers full-fledged handwriting support but lacks the advanced features of Goodnotes and Notability, and Noteful, a relatively new app that is surprisingly feature-rich despite being a one-man operation. - The article discusses various apps for taking handwritten notes on an [[IPad | iPad]], with a focus on finding the best app for this purpose. - Noteful is an appealing option due to its lack of subscription model and features such as tagging system and ultra-smooth writing experience, but it lacks [[Optical character recognition | OCR]] technology, which prevents it from being a top contender. - MyScript Nebo is a unique app that converts handwriting to text, but its conversion doesn't always work flawlessly and its use-case is too narrow to be considered the best app. - Paper by [[WeTransfer]] is more suitable as a sketching tool rather than a handwriting app, and Whink, despite its modern UI, lacks search functionality and has limited tools, making it a runner-up. ## Additional Resources and Conclusion - The article also mentions a free guide available to the Sweet Setup community, which provides custom productivity templates for the [[IPad | iPad]] and shows users how to create and save custom page templates. - The guide includes two in-house templates and is available to email subscribers, who also get access to other guides, previews, and content. - The article concludes that the iPad is an exceptional note-taking tool with the right app and Pencil, and Goodnotes is still considered the best app for most people and their workflows.