Did you know that note-taking dates back to the ancient Greeks? From ancient Greeks to students and working professionals, taking notes has become integral to our lives. However, the method of recording notes has evolved over the years.
While manually writing notes remains charming, a far more superior and efficient method has also emerged: note-taking apps. Whether writing meeting minutes or making grocery lists, note-taking software meets all your demands and needs.
You will find many note-taking apps, all with different features and depth. However, two exceed all expectations—Apple Notes and Notability.
Today, we’ll review these two apps and help you determine which app takes the lead by comparing their features, pricing, and more. We’ll also explore an alternative that’ll prove to be a game-changer!
Choosing the Right Note-Taking App: Apple Notes vs. Notability
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat is Apple Notes?
Developed by Apple Inc., Apple Notes is a note-taking app compatible with macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and VisionOS. You can also access the online version through your browser. It is well-secured; protect it with a FaceID, TouchID, or password.
Apple Notes is incredibly easy to use since it is built into Apple devices. It also syncs automatically with iCloud, so you don’t have to worry about losing your notes. Your notes will appear when you access it on your PC or Chromebook.
Apple Notes features
Apple Notes offers features like tags, search, written notes, adding quick notes, document scanning, and sharing. You can even integrate notes with Siri! Let’s look at its major features:
Search option
Finding a note you created a few weeks ago can be a task, especially if you use your notes as a digital journal. Apple Notes’ powerful search features take care of that.
You can search text or images in your notes, and the feature will check the body of notes, attachments, drawings, handwritten sections, image content, and scanned documents. Moreover, you can limit your search to a specific note, some of your notes, and all accounts.
Create smart folders
Apple Notes allows you to create smart folders using tags and other criteria. It is a quick and flexible way to categorize your notes. The best thing about these folders is that they automatically add any note that contains the tag you used to create the folder.
When creating or editing a note, you can type # and write the tag name, and your note will be automatically added to the folder.
Secure notes
If you record sensitive information in your notes, you can secure it with Apple Notes’ top-notch security options. You can add a custom password, use your device’s login password, or use Face ID. Once you’ve locked a note, you can only open it using your authentication method.
Add sketches
You can draw sketches using your finger or the Apple Pencil in Apple Notes. The app offers a variety of drawing tools, such as pencils, markers, and colors. You can also change the thickness and opacity of your drawings, make the drawing space large or small, and move the sketch around.
Scribble
If you’re writing down your notes quickly using Apple Pencil, the Apple Notes’ Scribble feature automatically turns them into typed text. The feature is highly intuitive. Using the pencil, you can scratch a word to remove it, select text by underlining it, and more.
Scan documents
Apple Notes also supports scanning documents or photos. So, if you want to add a document to your notes, you can directly scan it and save it in the notes. You can also mark the document and add your signature.
Apple Notes pricing
Apple Notes is free.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat is Notability?
Notability is another popular note-taking and productivity app that is compatible with all your Apple devices. Ginger Labs created it as a notes app for professionals and students.
The app has a clean and intuitive user interface, a built-in toolset, and many features that make it easy and convenient. Whether you want to type, draw, or write your notes, Notability does it all. You can also annotate your PDFs, record audio, and use it for math conversion.
Notability features
Notability has many features that make it a tough competition for Apple Notes. Let’s take a peek:
Notability Notebooks
With Notability, you can create a notebook from scratch or use the digital notebook and community template to create one. Notability allows users to customize the template by changing the color, orientation, grid spacing, and more.
Writing tools
Notability offers a wide range of writing tools like a fountain or ballpoint pen—choose what works best for you. Moreover, you can make your notes easy to comprehend by using highlights, colors, and erasers.
And if you have limited space, you can easily add small notes using the zoom feature.
The edit options are limited in the free version, but you can access the complete list on Notability Plus.
Math Conversion
The math conversion feature of Notability allows you to convert handwritten equations into high-resolution images. It supports all the common mathematical expressions, rules, and elements. However, the feature is only available in Notability Plus.
Audio transcription
With Notability, you can turn your audio into text within your notes. The app provides automated, time-stamped transcripts of recordings. You can search the transcripts using keywords and phrases, edit, annotate, and share them.
However, the feature is only available in Notability Plus.
Combine all content types
One of the best things about Notability is that you can put all your content in a single note. So, add your texts, images, audio, GIFs, stickers, scanned documents, and handwritten notes—Notability allows it all. Like Apple Notes, your Notability notes also sync with iCloud.
Presentation mode
Notability ensures that actions in the app are not displayed on the screen if you present and share your notes in class or meetings.
It also allows you to use the multi-note view to see a secondary note while presenting. Don’t worry—the secondary note stays hidden and will not be visible to the audience!
Notability pricing
- Notability Starter: Free
- Notability Plus: Price is not available
Summarize this article for me pleaseApple Notes vs. Notability: Features Compared
Notability and Apple Notes are powerful note-taking apps with unique strengths and features. Apple Notes’ thorough search features have an edge over Notability’s. However, Notability has math conversion and audio transcription features that take the lead.
It’s time to decide the winner between Notability vs. Apple Notes. Let’s compare each feature of the two to conclude.
Ease of use
A clutter-free app that helps you record your thoughts with zero hassles sounds like a dream! Let’s find out which one of the apps offers this feature.
Apple Notes
Apple Notes is well known for its clean and minimalist design. It provides a straightforward interface and seamlessly integrates with the Apple ecosystem. You can sync it across all your devices through iCloud, making it the default note-taking app on iOS and macOS.
Notability
Notability focuses more on versatility and offers a customizable and intuitive interface. You can personalize it using the templates available in the Notability Gallery.
The app also works on all devices in the Apple ecosystem, and your notes can easily be synced across devices using iCloud. However, the integration is not as seamless as with Apple Notes, considering it is not an in-built app. Another downside is that iCloud sync is only available to Notability Plus users.
Pricing
The best note-taking app must fulfill all your needs without emptying your bank account. However, with Apple Notes being completely free and Notability offering a free and paid version, the decision ultimately comes down to your needs.
Apple Notes
Apple Notes is free to use and access all its features. It is an in-built app for Apple devices and is available to all users free of charge.
So, if you plan on using notes for basic needs and don’t require advanced features, Apple Notes is perfect.
Notability
Downloading the free Notability app from the App Store is perfect for beginning your note-taking journey. However, the free version has limited features.
Notability Plus offers a variety of advanced features that make your note-taking journey a lot smoother and more fun. These include math conversion, audio transcription, iCloud sync, unlimited edits, and more.
The price for Notability Plus varies depending on the region in which you live.
Therefore, Notability Plus might be the right option if you want to use notes extensively and require advanced features.
Writing tools
Who doesn’t love a wide range of writing tools, including drawing tools, pens, highlighters, and colors? Let’s see which one of our apps offers a more comprehensive range.
Apple Notes
Apple Notes offers all the basic handwriting and drawing tools, making it an excellent option for casual sketching and note annotations. It also has basic formatting options, like bold, italics, strikethrough, and underline.
The pen selection includes monoline, fountain, watercolor, and ballpoint pens. You can also select pencils and markers. Other tools include an eraser, highlighter, the Lasso tool (to move content around the page), ruler, color palette, shapes, and more.
Plus, there’s the Scribble option, which automatically converts your handwritten notes into typed texts.
Notability
Notability has excellent writing tools, including an eraser that erases your text by pixel. Depending on your needs, you can also choose between partial or whole erasers. You can adjust color, line weight, styling, or pens. The pencil has pressure sensitivity, and the highlighter has translucent ink.
Other options include tape, a ruler, a Lasso tool, colors, widgets, and shapes. You can customize your toolbox to quickly access your frequently used tools and styles. Further, you can use gestures like a two-finger tap to undo and a three-finger tap to redo while writing.
Notability’s handwriting conversion is also convenient, except it’s not available in the free version.
Advanced features
There are features you didn’t know you needed until you used them for the first time. The same is true for note-taking apps. Let’s see which app offers the most valuable and advanced features.
Apple Notes
Apple Notes has all the essential note-taking features, including scanning documents, adding attachments, and the scribble option. You can easily add links, videos, PDFs, tables, and audio to your notes.
Its powerful search option makes it more convenient, as you can effortlessly search through all your notes and attachments using keywords.
Notability
Notability shines in terms of advanced features. It supports multimedia notes, handwriting recognition, audio recording synced with notes, and a variety of annotation tools. You can add sticky notes, GIFs, stickers, scans, photos, web clips, links, and more to your notes.
Its search option also searches your handwritten notes and provides accurate results. What’s better is that you can easily use it for drawing, sketching, and math.
It also offers multiple views, including zoom, multi-note, and presentation views. However, many advanced features are only available in the paid version.
Note organization
Organization is the key to note-taking apps. Let’s explore who does it better, Apple Notes or Notability.
Apple Notes
Apple Notes organizes your notes into folders. There are two basic folders:
- Regular folders where you can organize your notes any way you want
- Smart folders where you can use tags to add new notes to your folders automatically
Some other folders include the Quick Notes folder (which includes all the quick notes created on your lock screen) and the Shared folder (which includes shared notes).
Notability
Notability provides robust organization with a two-level folder system—dividers and subjects. Dividers are folders containing folders, while subjects are folders containing notebooks.
Summarize this article for me pleaseNotability vs. Apple Notes: Who’s the Winner?
Notability and Apple Notes have strengths and features that enhance the users’ note-taking experience. At the same time, they have limitations that hinder their experience.
For example, Apple Notes offers better organization and search options, making it perfect for users who love structure and create many notes. However, it only provides the most basic and essential features, limiting it.
On the other hand, Notability has many features and writing tools that cater to a broader audience. Users can customize the toolbar and use the templates available in the gallery. However, its organizational capabilities are limited.
So, deciding which app wins is a bit challenging. Notability is undoubtedly your winner if you’re an avid note-taker who loves to experiment and take comprehensive notes.
But if you’re worried about Notability’s limitations, we have Notability alternatives that will enhance your note-taking strategies and experiences.
Summarize this article for me pleaseApple Notes vs. Notability on Reddit
In our quest to find the winner in our Apple Notes vs. Notability debate, we took to Reddit, hoping to find answers from its wise users. Upon searching Apple Notes vs. Notability on Reddit, many users agree that Notability has broader and more advanced features.
Other Reddit users pointed out that while Notability has better features, it is much behind Apple Notes in utilizing the pencil function:
Summarize this article for me pleaseMeet ClickUp–The Best Alternative to Apple Notes and Notability
Apple Notes and Notability are outstanding. But do you know what’s better? ClickUp!
ClickUp is the ultimate productivity platform designed to help you manage tasks, track progress, set goals, take detailed notes, and collaborate with others on a single platform. With AI tools for note-taking, up your game and ensure you never miss out on a reminder or project, whether you’re a student or professional.
Inspiration can strike anytime and anywhere. If you have the best ideas anytime in a day—while you’re running or halfway through eating a sandwich—then second-brain apps like ClickUp are your best friend.
Take a look at the various features of ClickUp and decide for yourself:
ClickUp Brain
ClickUp Brain is a power package of three AI tools: AI Knowledge Manager, AI Project Manager, and AI Writer for Work. Use ClickUp Brain’s AI writing assistant to boost creativity, brainstorming, and note-taking. It elevates your notes by providing creative suggestions and saving you time.
With ClickUp Brain, mistakes in your notes will be a thing of the past. It improves writing quality by fixing grammar and spelling, simplifying the language, and organizing your notes.
Don’t want to read a long business case document? Ask ClickUp Brain to summarize key points in a note. You can also ask it to create templates, tables, and more.
ClickUp Notepad
If you want to quickly jot down your notes or make a list before you forget them, ClickUp Notepad is your solution. Add it to your Chrome browser and use the floating action buttons to capture a quick note.
Notepad lets you drag and drop images, GIFs, videos, and other attachments. You can turn entries into trackable tasks, create checklists, use /Slash commands to format notes and search for them using keywords.
Use ClickUp Brain to write, edit, and translate your notes.
ClickUp Docs
The dynamic ClickUp Docs allows you to create notes, checklists, knowledge bases, and more. Customize it with the innumerable styling and formatting options available.
Create and access templates, turn on focus mode while working, use notes offline and online, and archive the ones you don’t need.
And it doesn’t end here!
If you’re using notes for work, you can share them with your team members, give them the option to edit the document alongside you, convert the text into tasks, and assign them action items. You can even link tasks in a Doc to another Doc and cross-reference resources.
ClickUp Whiteboard
If you’re looking for something more collaborative that you can use for shared meeting notes and brainstorming, try ClickUp Whiteboard. Like ClickUp Notepad, it lets you use Slash (/) commands to format banners, headings, and highlights.
Add stickers, sticky notes, shapes, and text and convert them to tasks. Link tasks, files, and Documents to your whiteboard efficiently, so you never have to worry about losing important context.
The best part is that you can either build a whiteboard from scratch or use ClickUp’s pre-built Whiteboard templates!
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp Brain: Available on all paid plans for $5 per workspace member per month
Summarize this article for me pleaseClickUp: A Smarter Alternative to Apple Notes and Notability
Taking notes is highly beneficial to your academic and professional lives. It keeps you alert, engages your mind, and organizes information.
Apple Notes and Notability are among the best note-taking apps for Apple users. However, their many limitations stop users from making the most of note-taking and being productive.
This is where ClickUp comes in. It is an all-in-one productivity platform that helps you create beautiful notes and organize your thoughts with unparalleled flexibility. Sign up for free!
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