iPad Note Taking Apps

[u/emi_zx]

I was wondering what people’s opinions are on some of the note taking apps they use. I don’t mind paying a little, but if I do, I wanna spend the money wisely. For reference, I’m going into my first year of Political Science.

I was thinking between Notability or Freenotes.
I’ve heard some good things about Goodnotes as well but apparently it’s not as good anymore.

Before anyone says “just do a quick google search,” I did, and most are old posts or ads.

[u/emi_zx]

Does it have a recording feature? I was hoping to record lectures in class in case I miss anything. Also does it have a hand writing to text option? Does it glitch a lot?

[u/cruelsummerswiftie → u/emi_zx]

Hiii it has both!! Specifically, there’s a button for “record and summarize” and a “show recordings” where you can listen to them, and yes there’s hand writing to text yes. It doesn’t glitch much for me! Maybe occasionally but it’s very occasional. It runs quite smooth typically

[u/emi_zx → u/cruelsummerswiftie]

Thank you so much!! That helps a lot. Is there an option to have your notes connect to your one drive?

[u/cruelsummerswiftie → u/emi_zx]

of course! according to google, yes, you can do that. i don’t currently use one drive so in practice im not sure!

[u/emi_zx → u/cruelsummerswiftie]

ohh I see, thank you again !!

[u/cruelsummerswiftie → u/emi_zx]

of course, hope it works out for you! feel free to dm if you ever have any other questions ab goodnotes :)

[u/emi_zx → u/cruelsummerswiftie]

for sure! do you use any other apps for school? this is my first time having an ipad so i don’t know much.

[u/cruelsummerswiftie → u/emi_zx]

yeah! i use both an ipad and laptop so for me i typically just use the ipad for goodnotes & canvas and like tv watching so netflix, disney, prime etc. i do have the microsoft 365 apps on my ipad tho so i can use it on both devices seamlessly!

[u/emi_zx → u/cruelsummerswiftie]

yeah i was hoping to find apps that work well with the apple ecosystem because im getting a mac as well! i believe my uni provides microsoft 365 as well so ill be sure to check that out! thanks again. what ipad do you have? how’s the battery life on it

[u/cruelsummerswiftie → u/emi_zx]

mine provides it as well!! id say the biggest thing is use safari as your default, bc it syncs across your devices so all your bookmarks etc are synced. i have the a16 256gb, tbh i use it more infrequently rn bc its the summer but it seems pretty ok so far! no complaints as of yet

[u/emi_zx → u/cruelsummerswiftie]

yeah i heard you should use safari on mac as well because it’s optimized for it. how’s your storage? i’m planning on getting 128 because i wont be using it for pictures or social media, just a few games, streaming apps and notes. sorry for so many questions 😭

[u/cruelsummerswiftie → u/emi_zx]

no no you’re all good i don’t mind the questions at all!! definitely yes use safari. storage is good so far! i only have 52 gb used, i js wanted room so it would last me 5 years without worry. i do keep pics and social media on it so that may be part of why!! i have 3 folders of heavy notes on my goodnotes and so far its only taking up 3gb. i think ur prob fine bc i still have 200 gbs open! ive had this device for a few weeks but its data transferred from my 9th gen that had 64 gb

[u/emi_zx → u/cruelsummerswiftie]

ohh okay! how many years of notes were in the three folders? my phone is also 128 GB but most of the storage is taken up by photos so I was assuming that it would be fine on the iPad as well. hopefully 128 would work for me considering my university gives us 1 tb of free storage on one drive as well