GoodNotes vs Notability - Best iPad Notes App For Apple Pencil Users
**The Best Handwriting-Driven Notes Apps for iPad: A Comprehensive Comparison**
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**Introduction**
Today’s video is brought to you by *Paper-like*, an innovative accessory that enhances drawing and writing on your iPad, making it feel more like paper. Whether you're a student, a professional, or someone who enjoys taking notes on the go, this video dives deep into the world of handwriting-driven note-taking apps for iPad. Specifically, we’re comparing two highly-regarded apps: *GoodNotes* and *Notability*.
The goal is to help you determine which app suits your workflow best. We’ll explore features like design, handwriting quality, tools, typing capabilities, search functions, and more. Additionally, we’ll touch on cross-platform compatibility, alternatives, and the unique aspects that set these apps apart.
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**Why These Apps?**
There are countless note-taking apps available for Apple users, but not all of them fully leverage the iPad’s unique capabilities, especially when it comes to handwriting and Apple Pencil support. While some apps prioritize typing as the primary input method, others are designed specifically with handwriting in mind.
For this comparison, we chose *GoodNotes* and *Notability* because they are both highly-rated and consistently referenced as the top options for iPad users who prefer handwriting-driven note-taking. These apps offer a wide variety of features, including support for handwritten text, diagrams, sketches, typed text, audio recordings, web clips, PDFs, and more. Additionally, a powerful search function is essential for organizing notes effectively.
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**Design & Interface**
When it comes to design and interface, *Notability* stands out with its clean, modern approach that embraces the digital canvas. In contrast, *GoodNotes* aims to replicate the look and feel of a physical notebook, which may appeal to those who prefer a more traditional paper-like experience.
One significant difference is how these apps handle scrolling versus adding new sheets. *Notability* offers infinite scrolling within a note, giving you unlimited space to write without interruption. On the other hand, *GoodNotes* requires users to add new sheets when they run out of room. While this can be functional, it may slow down your workflow if you prefer writing horizontally, as the app defaults to vertical orientation for new sheets.
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**Handwriting Experience**
The feel and realism of digital ink are crucial factors for anyone who takes handwritten notes. Both apps perform similarly in terms of handwriting quality, but *GoodNotes* edges out *Notability* with slightly better-looking and feeling digital ink. However, the difference is subtle, and it’s something you’d notice only after extended use.
A major drawback for *GoodNotes* is its inability to convert handwritten text to typed text accurately. During testing, even simple words were converted into garbled gibberish, which is a significant limitation for those who rely on this feature. In contrast, *Notability* excels in this area, converting both text and bullet points with ease.
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**Main Tools & Features**
Both apps offer a variety of pen options and tools for customization. *Notability* provides two pen types: one with an even stroke and another that’s more tapered. *GoodNotes*, on the other hand, offers three pen options—a fountain pen, ball pen, or brush pen—along with multiple sizes and colors.
For highlighting, *GoodNotes* takes the lead by placing highlights behind written text, preventing them from obscuring your notes. This feature makes it easier to read highlighted sections compared to *Notability*, where highlights sit on top of text.
Erasing is another area where these apps differ significantly. *Notability*’s eraser tool is quick, smart, and precise, requiring only a touch to erase entire lines. In contrast, *GoodNotes* forces users to manually erase every pixel, which can be time-consuming despite offering three eraser sizes.
Both apps allow you to draw perfect shapes, but *GoodNotes* has a dedicated button for this purpose, making it more convenient than *Notability*, which only supports perfect circles and lines.
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**Typing & Additional Features**
While both apps are primarily handwriting-driven, *Notability* offers superior typing features compared to *GoodNotes*. Its typing capabilities are more powerful, with better-looking text and support for outlines and checklists. This makes *Notability* the better choice for users who occasionally need to type within their notes.
Search functionality is another critical feature for note-taking apps. Unfortunately, *GoodNotes* struggles with searching handwritten texts, often returning no results when attempting to index handwriting. On the other hand, *Notability* excels in this area, delivering accurate and useful search results despite not being able to read 100% of the text.
Audio recording is a standout feature in *Notability*. The app allows you to record audio while taking notes, with playback options like speed adjustment and ten-second rewind. It even offers an "Instant Replay" feature that animates your notes as they were written during playback—a feature that’s currently on *GoodNotes*’s roadmap.
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**Unique Features & Alternatives**
Beyond the basics, *Notability* offers several unique features that set it apart from *GoodNotes*. One of the most notable is its multi-document view, which provides a split-screen dual note interface. This allows users to multitask by referring to one note while creating or editing another. Additionally, *Notability* supports themes, including a dark mode, and offers thoughtful little features like importing PDFs by selecting specific pages rather than the entire document.
While *GoodNotes* doesn’t have a Mac app, it does offer unique features like custom paper templates and notebook cover designs. However, these advanced options are likely not essential for most users.
For those exploring alternatives, *Wink* is worth mentioning for its sleek design, though it lacks features like OCR and handwriting search. *NoShell 2* is another contender with excellent pen tools, but it’s more of a competitor to Apple Notes due to its focus on typing.
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**Cross-Platform Use & Alternatives**
While both apps are excellent, they have their limitations when it comes to cross-platform use. *GoodNotes* currently only offers iOS support, while *Notability* is also available on the Mac App Store for an additional $9.99. This makes *Notability* a more versatile choice for users who want seamless integration across devices.
For those looking for alternatives, *Paper by WeTransfer* is not directly comparable as it’s primarily designed for sketching rather than note-taking.
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**Conclusion**
After testing both apps extensively and weighing their features, the verdict is clear: *Notability* comes out on top. While *GoodNotes* has its strengths, particularly in handwriting and digital ink, *Notability*’s design, user interface, additional features, and overall functionality make it the superior choice for the host.
However, if you’re someone who prefers a more traditional paper-like experience and doesn’t mind sacrificing some of the advanced features offered by *Notability*, *GoodNotes* could still be worth considering. Ultimately, the best app for you depends on your personal preferences and workflow needs.
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**Final Thoughts & Community Interaction**
Before wrapping up, the host encourages viewers to engage with the video by leaving comments and suggestions. He also hints at future content, including a deep dive into Apple Notes and updates on upcoming features like multitasking videos and vlogs.
The video concludes with a promotional mention of *Paper-like*, an accessory that enhances the feel of writing on your iPad, especially when used with apps like *Notability* or Procreate. Those interested in purchasing can find more information in the description below.
Thank you for watching, and we’ll see you in the next video!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entoday's video is sponsored by paper-like which makes drawing or writing on your iPad feel more like paper hey it's Chris and coming up on this highly requested video on which is the best handwriting driven notes app for the iPad good notes five or notability I'll be talking about which features to look for in a good I pad Notes app whoo these apps are for in the first place why I chose to compare these two apps in particular and then we'll get to the part of the video that I think most people are here for that's going to be the most interesting which is comparing specific main features and I'll tell you which ones I like the best for each thing so I'm talking about the design the handwriting the main tools typing search organization all that stuff then I'm gonna cover something you definitely want to stick around for which is which features make each app different or unique and what really sets them apart and I think you're gonna find that section pretty eye-opening finally we'll wrap things up by talking about cross-platform use the best alternatives to these particular apps and which one I'm gonna be using between these two for handwritten notes from here on out also this happens to be the perfect time to be uploading this video because Apple just announced two new iPad models the new iPad Mini and the new iPad air which both happen to have Apple pencil support which is perfect for the subject of this video if you're a subscriber make sure to stick around to the end of the video because we've got some subscriber only business to be talking about this is gonna be a fairly long video again so I've linked up everything that I'm gonna be talking about down in the description with timestamps so feel free to skip around otherwise let's dive in there are a ton of note-taking apps available to Apple users but they don't all make the most of the iPads unique capabilities many note-taking apps are designed to be typing first apps like typing is the main input method the best note apps for iPad though take into account handwriting and the capabilities of the Apple pencil their handwriting first apps for some people's workflow I can definitely see that it's gonna work for them to have two different note-taking apps one that is specifically for handwritten notes and one that is specifically for type notes it's really just gonna come down to your personal preference but aside from Apple pencil support you'll also want to be able to combine a wide variety of elements such as handwritten text diagrams and sketches typed text audio recordings web clips gifts PDFs and more you're also gonna want a powerful search function otherwise what's the point of creating amazing notes if you're never able to find what's inside customizability is also a big deal so being able to change the paper type or the way things are organized that kind of thing because it's nice to be able to set things up the way that you want as opposed to the way the app wants you to of course you're gonna want a clean interface and design and also a way to sync your notes across multiple devices for added convenience and those are exactly the kind of features that you're gonna find in both of these apps which is one of the reasons why I chose to feature them along with the fact that they're both highly rated and are consistently referenced as the two best let me just say something really quick about Apple notes which I originally wanted to include in this video but didn't end up having time to do so Apple Notes does a really good job of trying to balance being a typing and a handwriting app but at the end of the day I'd still probably label it a typing first app I actually recently made a really great video on how to get the most out of Apple notes because it does a lot more than most people realize so since I don't have the time to include Apple notes in this video I'll link it up down in the description for you to check out when you're done with this all right so let's get to the good stuff the main features and how they compare now the way that I tested things was by creating several similar notes in each app and then kind of comparing and contrasting the features that I use to make those and just picking a favorite for each thing first up the design and interface and here I definitely prefer notabilities clean and modern design which makes the most of the digital canvas compared to good notes which has a skew morphic design which tries to replicate the look and feel of a real physical paper notebook personally I just think that the digital landscape gives us an opportunity to reinvent things notebooks are kind of a thing of the past and notability embraces that while good notes hangs on to it for dear life and there's some real consequences for instance notability gives you infinite scrolling within a note so you never run out of space good notes on the other hand makes you add sheets whenever you run out of room which can kind of slow you down additionally whenever you create a new sheet in good notes defaults to the vertical orientation so if you prefer writing in horizontal like I do then you have to take some time and rotate it yourself personally I think notability has a simpler and easier to use interface and I like it better but if you love real paper notebooks then you might really like how good notes tries to replicate that experience how these two note apps handle handwriting like the feel of the digital ink for instance how realistic it is how smooth it is that makes up a huge part of whether or not someone's gonna enjoy using them for what they are the good news is that both apps perform fairly similarly when it comes to handwriting in that digital ink I did however slightly end up preferring the way that writing looked and felt in good notes over notability but slightly is the key word still it's something that I noticed consistently so that is a bit of a win for good notes a huge fail for good notes though came when I tried testing converting my handwriting to typed text which is something that both halves say they're capable of but good notes completely and utterly fail when I hand wrote some simple words and then lassoed them and hit convert good notes just gave me some garbled gibberish I mean like not even close to working right notability on the other hand was able to easily convert my handwriting into typing perfectly with no issues at all on top of that note ability even converted bullet points that I drew into actual bullet points so I'm not exactly sure what happened here with good notes but I can't imagine them saying that this was a feature if it didn't work at some point for somebody next let's go ahead and talk about some of the main tools starting off with the pin notability gives you two main pen options one with an even stroke and one that's more tapered I prefer the even rounded stroke goodnotes gives you three different pen options a fountain pen a ball pen or a brush pen and I preferred the ball both give you plenty of pen sizes and colors and if I had to choose between the two I'd probably prefer the options that notability provides now if you do a lot of highlighting I think you'll probably definitely prefer the way the good nose handles highlights because they sit behind what you've written rather than on top it doesn't obscure things like what sort of happens in notability you can still read whatever you've highlighted just fine in either app but good notes highlights just look quite a bit cleaner likewise there's a pretty big distinction between how these two different apps handle erasing here again I definitely prefer notabilities eraser tool which is quicker smarter easier and more precise and good notes you have to actually erase every little pixel for something to actually disappear but it does give you three eraser sizes to work with in notability though the eraser tool merely needs to touch a line to erase the whole thing which is just more convenient each of these note apps has the ability to draw perfect shapes but one clearly does this better than the other goodnotes has a dedicated button or tool for drawing smart shapes so if you want to draw a perfect circle triangle rectangle or line it's got you covered notability on the other hand can only handle perfect circles and lines for some reason so your triangles and rectangles are either gonna look like crap or you're gonna have to take extra time to draw more lines to actually make them now while these apps are primarily geared towards taking handwritten notes there are times when you want to type something and in those cases notability is far superior notabilities typing features are much more powerful and type text just looks better plus notability supports outlines and checklists now search is a feature that you want to be awesome in a note-taking app and both of these apps are pretty strong in this department at least in theory you should be able to search your handwritten notes type text and inside of pdfs in both apps but when i tried searching for some handwritten texts and good notes nothing came up which either means it's awful at reading my handwriting or it's really slow to index my handwriting either way not good on the other hand notability was able to find my handwritten search terms quickly and while it couldn't read everything 100% it was accurate enough to be impressive and more importantly useful now if you're somebody who finds the idea of handwriting while also recording audio nodes at the same time useful then notability is the direction you want ahead at least for now because currently that's not something that goodnotes has to offer I really like the way that audio recording is implemented inside notability just tap on the record button and then tap again to stop and then you also get some playback options like the ability to adjust how fast the recording plays back and the ability to rewind ten seconds there's also an awesome no replay feature which is very cool it's gonna be able to playback your recorded audio and animate your notes as they were written all at the same time now looking at some support responses online it does look like good notes has this on their roadmap so it could appear in a future release but at the time of uploading it wasn't yet an option when it comes to navigating between your notes each app kind of has an ace up his sleeve good notes has a really cool tab interface across the top that lets you quickly switch between different notes without having to bring up any additional menus notability has what it calls a no switcher which is a menu that you can swipe in from the left of the screen which shows you your recent notes or lets you perform a quick search and which one you like better of course is just gonna be a matter of personal preference my preference though would always be to have more screen real estate usable while I'm making a note which means I happen to prefer notabilities swipe in quick notes versus tabs taking up a little bit of extra space up at the top I think up until this point the things that we've mentioned have been fairly similar for the most part but now is what we're gonna talk about what really makes these apps different and unique and what features kind of stand out and here also in my mind is where notability really starts to kind of take a lead let's start with good notes though good notes does have a few interesting and unique features like the ability to import your own custom paper templates now let's sort of more of an advanced move that I think most users probably aren't going to need or want to do but it's they're good notes also lets you favorite your notebooks by tapping on the star icons on top which means it's easier to find and reference a group of notes that you know you're gonna want to access frequently good notes also gives you some interesting notebook cover designs which can help make things feel a bit more personalized which I think a lot of people are really gonna like now as cool as some of that stuff is notability absolutely offers several more unique features which really help to elevate it above good notes in my mind like unique unique this is stuff that's really gonna elevate it above the other notes out in so many people's minds something that's so great in notability is the multi document view which gives you a split screen dual note view which is something I've been wanting Apple knows to do forever so this lets you refer to one note while you create or edit in another which means you can multitask which ultimately means you can more done faster notability also gives you themes including a dark theme which so many people are going to love something else is just gonna make you smile is the ability to add gifts to your notes and then they're just some thoughtful little features that you just run into every now and then while you're working that just make you think wow somebody put a lot of thought into this app like if you type out a date or write it out and then convert it to type and then tap on it you're gonna get some cool calendar options like the ability to create an event or show it in your calendar and when you're importing a PDF you don't have to import the whole thing you can just select a few pages and then save some space also here's a little hint for you try tapping and holding on the notability icon on your iPad you're gonna get some recent documents where as trying the same thing on the good notes icon will let you delete good notes a Notes app to me whether it's geared towards creating notes on a phone laptop or tablet should be accessible in as many other places as possible it's just a matter of utility and convenience well here's another department where good notes gets its butt kick just a little bit because it only offers iOS apps good notes does not have a Mac app notability on the other hand is accessible from your phone from your iPad and from your Mac which is nice and true the Mac app is gonna cost you another $9.99 in the Mac App Store but if you really rely on this then it's totally worth it and at least it's an option let's talk about support real quick because with premium apps that you pay for and these aren't just $0.99 apps it would be nice to get some top-notch support well both of these apps use Zendesk support pages which are kind of just like collections of help articles which we all sort of hate but I notice if you click on the little blue Help button on notabilities help page and type in a question you'll get the option to get in touch with a real person which goodnotes doesn't seem to provide both apps do seem to be pretty active over on Twitter though so hopefully you could connect with the real human for both if you needed to there so between these two apps which one would I pick to use personally well the answer is notability hands down there are things that I really like about good notes I like the digital ink and the way it writes better and that's a big important part of an eye had note-taking app experience but at the end of the day I really like notabilities design and user interface better and it really has so many more cool features above and beyond just the handwriting you know in a review like this I tend to cover just the biggest features but there are a lot of little nuanced things that get left out but all those little nuances also add up to me liking one over the other so I guess you could say I kind of feel like notability has a bit of an X Factor to help set it apart so while I think that good notes and notability are both excellent apps and certainly are the forerunners in this category there are a few other apps that are at least worth checking into that I want to briefly mention just so you can wrap your head around it wink spell WH I NK is such a well designed notes app I mean designers and people who just like clean design are going to love the way that this looks and works the only real problem with wink is that it's fairly basic it's missing some of the features that would really make it a heavy hitter in the category like converting text to type OCR and handwriting search and stuff like that but Wow does it look gorgeous if all you need is a beautiful place to straight-up store your handwriting then wink should definitely be your go-to no shell 2 is a very interesting competitor in this space without a doubt I like its pen and writing tools the best better than notability or good notes the pen tools are just super authentic and the most realistic feeling and looking out of any of these note apps by far and it has a couple other great features like audio recording notebook is a sleek app that's pretty full-featured for sure but in my mind is really more of a competitor to Apple notes than to notability or good notes because it's focused primarily on typing but also has some hand writing tools as well I don't really consider paper by wetransfer to be a competitor here because it's really more for sketching even though I do love it and use it so if you're looking for a new iPad pro then check out today's sponsor paper-like which is an accessory that makes it feel and sound like you're writing on real paper when you're using an Apple pencil paper like actually gives you more control when you're writing or drawing thanks to the paper like resistance that it offers and yeah it really makes a big difference plus it reduces glare and thank goodness fingerprints as well because the new iPad pro shows those like crazy paper like is great for anyone who uses abs like notability or procreate and when you place an order you'll get two paper like covers plus application accessories with free worldwide shipping and a 100% satisfaction guarantee you can pick one up using the link down in the description okay before we shut this video down let's have a little bit of an after show here there's a few things that you as subscribers and I need to talk about like number one we need a name for this community for you guys like what can I call you in the past people have suggested like daily tech but that kind of makes me cringe I hate it so there has to be something better you guys give me some suggestions leave them down in the comments also in the next 12 - maybe 18 months as daily tech starts to think about hiring some full-time people if you're a creative person I want you to get on our radar so connect with me on Twitter on Instagram if you're a videographer if you're an editor even if you're a designer shoot me your work and let's talk finally I'm gonna respond and react to a few of your recent comments oh it's gone Gutierrez says do you add anything to your nitro cold brew it depends I like it straight it's very strong or sometimes I'll add in like an alternate milk alternative milk I don't like real milk I haven't since I was a kid like I got held in from recess once at the daycare because I wouldn't drink my little cup of milk and they finally let me go cuz I wasn't gonna drink it but yeah it just depends on the mood usually I like to switch things up I get bored of the same thing over and over and over so some soy or almond or oat milk that kind of stuff but just a minimum because I do like the nitro strong returning hero says Chris I love the video I really like the direction you're taking with your videos and the work you put into this one really shows keep them coming yeah um lately the videos have been changing a little bit they're getting longer they're getting more useful more informative some people don't like the rambling as they call it before getting to the video but I really like the opportunity to build community and to talk to people who aren't just here for a little tiny tidbit of information but who are actually here to be part of something who are fans so let me know what you guys think of the asked like three or four videos ever since the last Apple watch video do you guys like the direction that we're going because right now is full steam ahead in that direction okay somebody says you weren't typing anything but I read it anyways what they're talking about is I often like hide secret little funny messages or stupid messages when I'm doing b-roll so if there's a shot of the iPad like a Notes app like in this kind of a video I'll just sit there and type like weird stuff because I know people sit there and pause and like try to decipher what's going on but make sure you look at all the little details in these videos or you might miss something Trey little says peep the music from the homies Mineo words played in kb i checked out Trey's channel he's an up-and-coming rapper you should definitely go check it out link it up down below and yeah definitely representing one sixteen and that whole squad we need more positivity out in the world right we don't need more negativity we need things like hope the world is a bad enough place without hope so just like those factors plus sounding good all in one package yeah only cup some of my favorite artists down there below how wg5 one says does carplay kill your iphone battery no it doesn't actually it charges wow you are car playing alberto asks where do you get the music to use in your video edits yeah you don't want to use unlicensed music that's a bad idea what you can do is go to something like epidemic sound i'll leave the link down below and use lots of great music from there in fact so many people use that so many youtubers i've almost stopped using it because you hear the same songs in video after video after video yeah the market says if you vlog your day I think would be awesome because I think of you as a businessman well thank you actually of course I am a businessman what you guys see here in these edited videos is a very small part actually of daily tech this is like one of our end products but a lot of different kind of work goes into keeping the channel and the business in the brand not only going but growing so this is coming at some point I don't know when because it kind of means I have to film like a double video the video I'm working on and the vlog like simultaneously it's possible it's just a lot of work but it's coming so thumbs up if you want to see that BJ see he says he tied that sponsorship in very nicely thank you he's talking about the sponsorship mention on the Apple music video we do work really hard on integrating sponsored content here in a way that makes sense for everybody for us to keep the channel alive and growing for the sponsors of course we're supporting the channel and for you guys because you have to put up with it it's your way of supporting us by supporting our sponsors or at least putting up with them a B says I'm a simple man I see a daily tech video I like the video thank you for the support seriously I just want to be serious for one minute not like I haven't been serious this whole time right this is serious content but I just want you guys to know I don't take anything for granted like all the cool stuff that you have enabled me to do on a daily basis your support means a lot I keep track of all these nice comments and they motivate me like I have a folder to keep going like if things are ever tough or tricky or I don't want to film something or work on something like this stuff keeps me going so really thank you thanks for watching thanks for commenting all right that's gonna wrap up this video leave me your comments and questions for next time at the after-show I'll try to get to those again I want to recommend to you that you go watch the Apple Notes video because it's really comprehensive really cool full of lots of things you probably didn't know Apple notes could even do also don't forget to follow at daily tech spell daily PE you already know it keh keh on instagram on twitter and i'll catch you guys in the next video latertoday's video is sponsored by paper-like which makes drawing or writing on your iPad feel more like paper hey it's Chris and coming up on this highly requested video on which is the best handwriting driven notes app for the iPad good notes five or notability I'll be talking about which features to look for in a good I pad Notes app whoo these apps are for in the first place why I chose to compare these two apps in particular and then we'll get to the part of the video that I think most people are here for that's going to be the most interesting which is comparing specific main features and I'll tell you which ones I like the best for each thing so I'm talking about the design the handwriting the main tools typing search organization all that stuff then I'm gonna cover something you definitely want to stick around for which is which features make each app different or unique and what really sets them apart and I think you're gonna find that section pretty eye-opening finally we'll wrap things up by talking about cross-platform use the best alternatives to these particular apps and which one I'm gonna be using between these two for handwritten notes from here on out also this happens to be the perfect time to be uploading this video because Apple just announced two new iPad models the new iPad Mini and the new iPad air which both happen to have Apple pencil support which is perfect for the subject of this video if you're a subscriber make sure to stick around to the end of the video because we've got some subscriber only business to be talking about this is gonna be a fairly long video again so I've linked up everything that I'm gonna be talking about down in the description with timestamps so feel free to skip around otherwise let's dive in there are a ton of note-taking apps available to Apple users but they don't all make the most of the iPads unique capabilities many note-taking apps are designed to be typing first apps like typing is the main input method the best note apps for iPad though take into account handwriting and the capabilities of the Apple pencil their handwriting first apps for some people's workflow I can definitely see that it's gonna work for them to have two different note-taking apps one that is specifically for handwritten notes and one that is specifically for type notes it's really just gonna come down to your personal preference but aside from Apple pencil support you'll also want to be able to combine a wide variety of elements such as handwritten text diagrams and sketches typed text audio recordings web clips gifts PDFs and more you're also gonna want a powerful search function otherwise what's the point of creating amazing notes if you're never able to find what's inside customizability is also a big deal so being able to change the paper type or the way things are organized that kind of thing because it's nice to be able to set things up the way that you want as opposed to the way the app wants you to of course you're gonna want a clean interface and design and also a way to sync your notes across multiple devices for added convenience and those are exactly the kind of features that you're gonna find in both of these apps which is one of the reasons why I chose to feature them along with the fact that they're both highly rated and are consistently referenced as the two best let me just say something really quick about Apple notes which I originally wanted to include in this video but didn't end up having time to do so Apple Notes does a really good job of trying to balance being a typing and a handwriting app but at the end of the day I'd still probably label it a typing first app I actually recently made a really great video on how to get the most out of Apple notes because it does a lot more than most people realize so since I don't have the time to include Apple notes in this video I'll link it up down in the description for you to check out when you're done with this all right so let's get to the good stuff the main features and how they compare now the way that I tested things was by creating several similar notes in each app and then kind of comparing and contrasting the features that I use to make those and just picking a favorite for each thing first up the design and interface and here I definitely prefer notabilities clean and modern design which makes the most of the digital canvas compared to good notes which has a skew morphic design which tries to replicate the look and feel of a real physical paper notebook personally I just think that the digital landscape gives us an opportunity to reinvent things notebooks are kind of a thing of the past and notability embraces that while good notes hangs on to it for dear life and there's some real consequences for instance notability gives you infinite scrolling within a note so you never run out of space good notes on the other hand makes you add sheets whenever you run out of room which can kind of slow you down additionally whenever you create a new sheet in good notes defaults to the vertical orientation so if you prefer writing in horizontal like I do then you have to take some time and rotate it yourself personally I think notability has a simpler and easier to use interface and I like it better but if you love real paper notebooks then you might really like how good notes tries to replicate that experience how these two note apps handle handwriting like the feel of the digital ink for instance how realistic it is how smooth it is that makes up a huge part of whether or not someone's gonna enjoy using them for what they are the good news is that both apps perform fairly similarly when it comes to handwriting in that digital ink I did however slightly end up preferring the way that writing looked and felt in good notes over notability but slightly is the key word still it's something that I noticed consistently so that is a bit of a win for good notes a huge fail for good notes though came when I tried testing converting my handwriting to typed text which is something that both halves say they're capable of but good notes completely and utterly fail when I hand wrote some simple words and then lassoed them and hit convert good notes just gave me some garbled gibberish I mean like not even close to working right notability on the other hand was able to easily convert my handwriting into typing perfectly with no issues at all on top of that note ability even converted bullet points that I drew into actual bullet points so I'm not exactly sure what happened here with good notes but I can't imagine them saying that this was a feature if it didn't work at some point for somebody next let's go ahead and talk about some of the main tools starting off with the pin notability gives you two main pen options one with an even stroke and one that's more tapered I prefer the even rounded stroke goodnotes gives you three different pen options a fountain pen a ball pen or a brush pen and I preferred the ball both give you plenty of pen sizes and colors and if I had to choose between the two I'd probably prefer the options that notability provides now if you do a lot of highlighting I think you'll probably definitely prefer the way the good nose handles highlights because they sit behind what you've written rather than on top it doesn't obscure things like what sort of happens in notability you can still read whatever you've highlighted just fine in either app but good notes highlights just look quite a bit cleaner likewise there's a pretty big distinction between how these two different apps handle erasing here again I definitely prefer notabilities eraser tool which is quicker smarter easier and more precise and good notes you have to actually erase every little pixel for something to actually disappear but it does give you three eraser sizes to work with in notability though the eraser tool merely needs to touch a line to erase the whole thing which is just more convenient each of these note apps has the ability to draw perfect shapes but one clearly does this better than the other goodnotes has a dedicated button or tool for drawing smart shapes so if you want to draw a perfect circle triangle rectangle or line it's got you covered notability on the other hand can only handle perfect circles and lines for some reason so your triangles and rectangles are either gonna look like crap or you're gonna have to take extra time to draw more lines to actually make them now while these apps are primarily geared towards taking handwritten notes there are times when you want to type something and in those cases notability is far superior notabilities typing features are much more powerful and type text just looks better plus notability supports outlines and checklists now search is a feature that you want to be awesome in a note-taking app and both of these apps are pretty strong in this department at least in theory you should be able to search your handwritten notes type text and inside of pdfs in both apps but when i tried searching for some handwritten texts and good notes nothing came up which either means it's awful at reading my handwriting or it's really slow to index my handwriting either way not good on the other hand notability was able to find my handwritten search terms quickly and while it couldn't read everything 100% it was accurate enough to be impressive and more importantly useful now if you're somebody who finds the idea of handwriting while also recording audio nodes at the same time useful then notability is the direction you want ahead at least for now because currently that's not something that goodnotes has to offer I really like the way that audio recording is implemented inside notability just tap on the record button and then tap again to stop and then you also get some playback options like the ability to adjust how fast the recording plays back and the ability to rewind ten seconds there's also an awesome no replay feature which is very cool it's gonna be able to playback your recorded audio and animate your notes as they were written all at the same time now looking at some support responses online it does look like good notes has this on their roadmap so it could appear in a future release but at the time of uploading it wasn't yet an option when it comes to navigating between your notes each app kind of has an ace up his sleeve good notes has a really cool tab interface across the top that lets you quickly switch between different notes without having to bring up any additional menus notability has what it calls a no switcher which is a menu that you can swipe in from the left of the screen which shows you your recent notes or lets you perform a quick search and which one you like better of course is just gonna be a matter of personal preference my preference though would always be to have more screen real estate usable while I'm making a note which means I happen to prefer notabilities swipe in quick notes versus tabs taking up a little bit of extra space up at the top I think up until this point the things that we've mentioned have been fairly similar for the most part but now is what we're gonna talk about what really makes these apps different and unique and what features kind of stand out and here also in my mind is where notability really starts to kind of take a lead let's start with good notes though good notes does have a few interesting and unique features like the ability to import your own custom paper templates now let's sort of more of an advanced move that I think most users probably aren't going to need or want to do but it's they're good notes also lets you favorite your notebooks by tapping on the star icons on top which means it's easier to find and reference a group of notes that you know you're gonna want to access frequently good notes also gives you some interesting notebook cover designs which can help make things feel a bit more personalized which I think a lot of people are really gonna like now as cool as some of that stuff is notability absolutely offers several more unique features which really help to elevate it above good notes in my mind like unique unique this is stuff that's really gonna elevate it above the other notes out in so many people's minds something that's so great in notability is the multi document view which gives you a split screen dual note view which is something I've been wanting Apple knows to do forever so this lets you refer to one note while you create or edit in another which means you can multitask which ultimately means you can more done faster notability also gives you themes including a dark theme which so many people are going to love something else is just gonna make you smile is the ability to add gifts to your notes and then they're just some thoughtful little features that you just run into every now and then while you're working that just make you think wow somebody put a lot of thought into this app like if you type out a date or write it out and then convert it to type and then tap on it you're gonna get some cool calendar options like the ability to create an event or show it in your calendar and when you're importing a PDF you don't have to import the whole thing you can just select a few pages and then save some space also here's a little hint for you try tapping and holding on the notability icon on your iPad you're gonna get some recent documents where as trying the same thing on the good notes icon will let you delete good notes a Notes app to me whether it's geared towards creating notes on a phone laptop or tablet should be accessible in as many other places as possible it's just a matter of utility and convenience well here's another department where good notes gets its butt kick just a little bit because it only offers iOS apps good notes does not have a Mac app notability on the other hand is accessible from your phone from your iPad and from your Mac which is nice and true the Mac app is gonna cost you another $9.99 in the Mac App Store but if you really rely on this then it's totally worth it and at least it's an option let's talk about support real quick because with premium apps that you pay for and these aren't just $0.99 apps it would be nice to get some top-notch support well both of these apps use Zendesk support pages which are kind of just like collections of help articles which we all sort of hate but I notice if you click on the little blue Help button on notabilities help page and type in a question you'll get the option to get in touch with a real person which goodnotes doesn't seem to provide both apps do seem to be pretty active over on Twitter though so hopefully you could connect with the real human for both if you needed to there so between these two apps which one would I pick to use personally well the answer is notability hands down there are things that I really like about good notes I like the digital ink and the way it writes better and that's a big important part of an eye had note-taking app experience but at the end of the day I really like notabilities design and user interface better and it really has so many more cool features above and beyond just the handwriting you know in a review like this I tend to cover just the biggest features but there are a lot of little nuanced things that get left out but all those little nuances also add up to me liking one over the other so I guess you could say I kind of feel like notability has a bit of an X Factor to help set it apart so while I think that good notes and notability are both excellent apps and certainly are the forerunners in this category there are a few other apps that are at least worth checking into that I want to briefly mention just so you can wrap your head around it wink spell WH I NK is such a well designed notes app I mean designers and people who just like clean design are going to love the way that this looks and works the only real problem with wink is that it's fairly basic it's missing some of the features that would really make it a heavy hitter in the category like converting text to type OCR and handwriting search and stuff like that but Wow does it look gorgeous if all you need is a beautiful place to straight-up store your handwriting then wink should definitely be your go-to no shell 2 is a very interesting competitor in this space without a doubt I like its pen and writing tools the best better than notability or good notes the pen tools are just super authentic and the most realistic feeling and looking out of any of these note apps by far and it has a couple other great features like audio recording notebook is a sleek app that's pretty full-featured for sure but in my mind is really more of a competitor to Apple notes than to notability or good notes because it's focused primarily on typing but also has some hand writing tools as well I don't really consider paper by wetransfer to be a competitor here because it's really more for sketching even though I do love it and use it so if you're looking for a new iPad pro then check out today's sponsor paper-like which is an accessory that makes it feel and sound like you're writing on real paper when you're using an Apple pencil paper like actually gives you more control when you're writing or drawing thanks to the paper like resistance that it offers and yeah it really makes a big difference plus it reduces glare and thank goodness fingerprints as well because the new iPad pro shows those like crazy paper like is great for anyone who uses abs like notability or procreate and when you place an order you'll get two paper like covers plus application accessories with free worldwide shipping and a 100% satisfaction guarantee you can pick one up using the link down in the description okay before we shut this video down let's have a little bit of an after show here there's a few things that you as subscribers and I need to talk about like number one we need a name for this community for you guys like what can I call you in the past people have suggested like daily tech but that kind of makes me cringe I hate it so there has to be something better you guys give me some suggestions leave them down in the comments also in the next 12 - maybe 18 months as daily tech starts to think about hiring some full-time people if you're a creative person I want you to get on our radar so connect with me on Twitter on Instagram if you're a videographer if you're an editor even if you're a designer shoot me your work and let's talk finally I'm gonna respond and react to a few of your recent comments oh it's gone Gutierrez says do you add anything to your nitro cold brew it depends I like it straight it's very strong or sometimes I'll add in like an alternate milk alternative milk I don't like real milk I haven't since I was a kid like I got held in from recess once at the daycare because I wouldn't drink my little cup of milk and they finally let me go cuz I wasn't gonna drink it but yeah it just depends on the mood usually I like to switch things up I get bored of the same thing over and over and over so some soy or almond or oat milk that kind of stuff but just a minimum because I do like the nitro strong returning hero says Chris I love the video I really like the direction you're taking with your videos and the work you put into this one really shows keep them coming yeah um lately the videos have been changing a little bit they're getting longer they're getting more useful more informative some people don't like the rambling as they call it before getting to the video but I really like the opportunity to build community and to talk to people who aren't just here for a little tiny tidbit of information but who are actually here to be part of something who are fans so let me know what you guys think of the asked like three or four videos ever since the last Apple watch video do you guys like the direction that we're going because right now is full steam ahead in that direction okay somebody says you weren't typing anything but I read it anyways what they're talking about is I often like hide secret little funny messages or stupid messages when I'm doing b-roll so if there's a shot of the iPad like a Notes app like in this kind of a video I'll just sit there and type like weird stuff because I know people sit there and pause and like try to decipher what's going on but make sure you look at all the little details in these videos or you might miss something Trey little says peep the music from the homies Mineo words played in kb i checked out Trey's channel he's an up-and-coming rapper you should definitely go check it out link it up down below and yeah definitely representing one sixteen and that whole squad we need more positivity out in the world right we don't need more negativity we need things like hope the world is a bad enough place without hope so just like those factors plus sounding good all in one package yeah only cup some of my favorite artists down there below how wg5 one says does carplay kill your iphone battery no it doesn't actually it charges wow you are car playing alberto asks where do you get the music to use in your video edits yeah you don't want to use unlicensed music that's a bad idea what you can do is go to something like epidemic sound i'll leave the link down below and use lots of great music from there in fact so many people use that so many youtubers i've almost stopped using it because you hear the same songs in video after video after video yeah the market says if you vlog your day I think would be awesome because I think of you as a businessman well thank you actually of course I am a businessman what you guys see here in these edited videos is a very small part actually of daily tech this is like one of our end products but a lot of different kind of work goes into keeping the channel and the business in the brand not only going but growing so this is coming at some point I don't know when because it kind of means I have to film like a double video the video I'm working on and the vlog like simultaneously it's possible it's just a lot of work but it's coming so thumbs up if you want to see that BJ see he says he tied that sponsorship in very nicely thank you he's talking about the sponsorship mention on the Apple music video we do work really hard on integrating sponsored content here in a way that makes sense for everybody for us to keep the channel alive and growing for the sponsors of course we're supporting the channel and for you guys because you have to put up with it it's your way of supporting us by supporting our sponsors or at least putting up with them a B says I'm a simple man I see a daily tech video I like the video thank you for the support seriously I just want to be serious for one minute not like I haven't been serious this whole time right this is serious content but I just want you guys to know I don't take anything for granted like all the cool stuff that you have enabled me to do on a daily basis your support means a lot I keep track of all these nice comments and they motivate me like I have a folder to keep going like if things are ever tough or tricky or I don't want to film something or work on something like this stuff keeps me going so really thank you thanks for watching thanks for commenting all right that's gonna wrap up this video leave me your comments and questions for next time at the after-show I'll try to get to those again I want to recommend to you that you go watch the Apple Notes video because it's really comprehensive really cool full of lots of things you probably didn't know Apple notes could even do also don't forget to follow at daily tech spell daily PE you already know it keh keh on instagram on twitter and i'll catch you guys in the next video later\n"