Leave the pen and paper at home with one of the best note-taking app for iPad for college students that let you take, short, and share notes easily.
When you are at college, you’ve to take several notes, starting from professor lectures to the exam timetable. What makes college life fascinating is that there are so many things to do and enjoy.
Hanging out with friends, going on road trips, and just bunk the class, all of these moments make college life memorable.
With all of this fun, a human mind can easily forget important news, dates, or other things. So, it becomes crucial for you to take notes and use them when you need them.
Best note-taking apps for iPad for college students make it easier for you to take handwritten notes from class, remind you of the due date of an assignment, schedule your time, and many more.
Having reliable note-taking apps installed on your Ipad is a crucial part of staying productive and always staying ahead. Moreover, the best note-taking apps let you sync all your notes across all your devices so you can easily access them.
App Store is filled with this kind of app, so we decided to come up with a list of the best note-taking apps for iPad for college students that lets you take notes easily and creative way.
Best Note-Taking App For iPad For College Students In 2021
1) Notability
Crafting our list for note-taking apps and not to mention Notability will make our pick insufficient and dull. Recommended by Apple itself and used by pro content creators Notability is the best note-taking app for iPad.
This elegant app captures your thoughts by combining handwriting, photos, and typing along with customizable illustrations. The app provides a wide range of tools that make your note stand out on the go.
And the best part, you can easily sync your notes across all your devices. If your room is filled with Apple environments then this app might be a top-notch choice for you. Notability is a specially designed app for only Apple users, so it gives an immense note-taking experience no matter what type of note you want to make.
Further, Notability can easily work with an Apple Pencil or a Stylus, so you can create beautiful and elegant bullet points, handwriting, drawing, and much more.
Personally, I like handwritten notes into text features. It also supports audio files and allows you to listen to what was said at the time you made the note. If Notability On your side you can truly fall in love with note-taking.
Key features
- Easily converts handwritten into text
- Multi-note supports so you can work on two notes side by side
- PDF annotation
- Scan both handwritten and text by the integrated search function
- Easily customizable colors and shapes
- Easily drag and drop various files
2) Noteshelf
Noteshelf is one of the best note-taking apps for iPad for college students that offers a wide range of tools and functionality along with simple navigation. It comes with features like natural handwriting capture, virtual pens, and highlighters that a good note-taking app requires. Besides this, it also offers side-by-side notebooks.
The Noteshelf enhances your note security by providing digital security like Face ID, Touch ID, and Passcodes.
Noteshelf is supported on both iPad and Android devices but I find it more compelling towards iPad along with the Apple Pencil. While many note-taking apps don’t provide perfect shapes, with Noteshelf you can easily draw perfect shapes without drawing a dull sketch.
Moreover, the app allows you to Annotate PDFs & presentations, sign contracts, highlight your notes, review documents, and much more. You can also work simultaneously with 2 notes side by side.
Noteshelf is a premium and stylish note-taking app that is likely to be the best choice for college students and creative pros.
Key Features
- Multiple security options
- Attractive Zoom features
- Emoticons
- Great audio taking notes
- Easy to customizable
- Bookmarks with Labels for easy search
- Customizable UI keeps unused features our the realm
- Auto publish features to Evernote
- Auto backup to various cloud platforms including Dropbox, Google Drive & OneDrive
3) GoodNotes
GoodNotes helps you to transfer your iPad into a digital paper by providing some beautiful and attractive note creative methods. With the help of this app, you can easily annotate PDFs and PPTs without highlighting actual PDFs. and highlights every detail you need to.
It allows you to organize notes in your way and if you like to create separate folders for every note, it is just one step away from you.
GoodNotes offers a wide range of pre-customized templates and covers so you can easily create notes on graphs, dots, or lined paper. The focal point, it’s a quick note that allows you to create instant notes during college lectures, conferencing, and meetings.
Moreover, the app allows you to read notes on one side and take notes on another side by easily drag and drop text, elements, or illustrators. The sharing buttons allow you to share your notes with friends, professors, or anyone.
Goodnotes is well designed, easy to navigate, and a full solution of digital notes that a college student requires.
Key Features
- Exceptional Drag and Drop support
- Flexible Scrolling direction
- PDF hyperlinks
- Document tabs
- Easy to sync
- Read and take notes at the same time
- Instant notes
- Personalize your notebooks
- Easy to search handwriting
4) Apple Notes
The Apple notes that come with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch have always been easy, quick, and convenient ways to make schedules, keep records, and take notes. In our experience, Apple notes is a simple app and is mostly useful for taking text notes.
However, some modern functionality like Gallery view, checklist, and random features make it a great choice for college students. Apple notes can organize notes effectively, so you can easily find them whenever you need them.
It allows you to add notes using Siri. For notes security, you can Lock Notes by your preferred password and keep them safe without compromising your details. One downside of Apple notes is that it doesn’t allow you to draw or create handwritten notes effectively, it is only for text notes or simple image notes.
Although it’s not as great as Notability or Goodnotes, it’s still ideal for taking short-term notes, reminders, and scheduling your time.
Key Features
- Great Formatting Options and Shortcuts
- Pin Note
- Organize notes in Folders
- Share links and Text to Notes App
- Lock Notes
- Make a table and share a note
- Add notes using Siri
5) Microsoft OneNote
Many folks assume that OneNote only supports Windows OS, but it’s not true. Yes, it’s designed for Windows users, but it’s supportable on iOS devices also. Crafted by Microsoft designers and comes with a broad range of features that the best note-taking app for iPad for college students requires. You Can download it from the App Store.
Onenote features OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to import images and handwritten notes. It can easily take notes from Recorded Audio and VIdeo. The security advancement of the OneNote makes it a great choice for not just students but also for Professors and academics.
OneNote is a one-stop digital notebook that allows you to use endless folders, sections, and subsections to keep track of your project or take notes better way almost better than any other program out there.
With the help of the app, you can organize notes, articles, pictures, audio, or even videos on a single note page. Further, you can sync these notes across all your device including Android, iOS, Windows, and so on.
Key Features
- Handwritten to text
- Organize data in Notebook
- Protect section with a password
- Text search
- Features OCR
6) Evernote
Evernote is the best note-taking, organizing, and task management app that allows you to collaborate with your fellow students, colleagues or anyone you won’t mind sharing the details.
Further, it allows you to create notes in various forms like text, drawing, photographs, audio, etc. Evernote’s free plan does not allow you to integrate at all and only access by one person. For collaborating you have to buy a subscription. If that’s not the case, a free plan is more than enough for you.
Every year Evernote comes with new features and updates that enhance the note-taking experience. Personally, I like it to search for text inside images. Evernote operates through both websites and apps and easily syncs your notes across multiple devices like laptop, mobile, Table, etc.
The free plan is available online and for offline notes, you need to buy a subscription. Along with basic features, Evernote offers Annotate PDFs, create custom templates, manage team and data access, and much more.
Evernote is a perfect college and business tool that features modern equipment a digital paper requires and makes it one of the best note taking apps for iPad for college students.
Key Features
- Scan handwritten notes, whiteboards, receipts, and more
- Attach different types of files
- The clip, organize and share a web page with web Clipper
- Record audio notes
- Powerful search
- Flexible Access to your notes
7) Nebo
It’s hard to take quick notes during lectures when there is no repetition at all and the need for notes is crucial. That’s where Nebo comes into play. Nebo is a simple yet effective app for note-taking.
It allows you to boost your productivity, enhance your creativity, and save your precious time. It is designed for work, study, and every other walk of life. For using this app, you need to have a pen otherwise this app won’t work effectively.
The app can easily recognize your word while writing and easily convert into text. Further, it allows you to create Diagrams, Math Equations, charts, graphs, etc with a pen. One thing that I personally like about his notes is that when you don’t know the answer to the equation, it automatically gets it for you.
The sketch part of the apps which I loved the most. It offers various colors and shapes to create beautiful pictures. Overall, Nebo is designed for everyone and takes your notes faster.
Key Features
- Pen and keyboard working in Tandem
- Easily switch between pen and keyboard
- Editable, responsive, and multimodal ink
- Supports rich content
- Import and annotate pdfs
- Best handwriting recognition
- Interactive diagrams
8) Whink
Whink is not a well-known or notable note-taking app compared to other apps but offering simple navigation, creative features, and other random things, Whink stands out in its own way.
This effective tool allows you to create notes effortlessly and make note-taking easier. It offers to handwrite and type notes, markup PDFs, add audio, shapes, photos, unlimited notebooks, and more.
Moreover, it gives you the option to create perfect geometrical shapes and colorful sketches that make your digital more elegant. The organization features of the app allow you to arrange and find notes quickly, sort your notes by section, group PDF document, and more.
Wink allows you to watch videos and take notes simultaneously. The chic gel ink pen and smart eraser of Whink allow you to markup documents neatly and make handwriting smooth and flawless.
The app is not completely free but the low price tag makes it a matchless choice out there. With Whink, you are going to experience a pleasant, smooth, and reliable note taking experience that can never be found anywhere else.
Key Features
- Admirable features
- Smooth and fast pen response
- Enable multitasking
- Great Chick gel pen and smart eraser
- Organized structure
9) Notion
Notion is the best note-taking app and team management apps that comes with a wide range of features and multiple sync options. It allows you to create your study plan, organize your study materials, and design your personal schedule, and much more.
The simple navigation and easily accessible features make it an ideal choice for college students. Notion offers free and different subscription plans for personal, team, and enterprise.
As a college student, you can go for a free plan which offers unlimited pages, syncs across devices, and sharing with 5 guests. Notion offers a far better free plan compared to Evernote plans.
Besides this, Notion offers a Journal, Reading list, and pre customized templates that help you to boost your productivity. It also allows you to import notes from different apps, web pages, local files, and cloud platforms.
Notion is a great software for creating text notes but we do not recommend it for handwriting notes. If you need to organize your study, make plan for trip or want to college your ideas in place for future needs, then Notion is the best note taking apps for iPad for college students.
Key Features
- Various import options
- Great free plan
- Allows syncs across different devices
- Journal and reading list
- Elegant templates
- Keep updated from time to time
- Great quick note and task list
- Very organizable
- Ideal for sharing and collaborating
10) Simplenote
Simplenote is integrated with modern functionality that allows you to keep notes, lists, and ideas effectively. It allows you to sync notes across all your mobile devices, computer, and laptop.
The app makes sure that users stay organized and productive throughout the day and reminds users of important tasks and things. As the name says, Simplenote makes note-taking simpler and organized.
You can see your notes everywhere, work together with your friends, and share everything at ease. And the best part, it’s completely FREE. So you don’t have to spend a single penny for premium features as other competitors are charging.
One knock against the app that it only supports text so if you prefer handwriting that avoids this app. If that’s not the case try this baby out.
As we earlier mentioned, it’s completely free, so it lacks some advanced features. Though, for simple note-taking, it’s still one of the great choices.
Key Features
- Supports across all devices
- Completely free
- Share with anyone
- Markdown support
- Weekly and monthly backup on cloud platforms
Final verdict
Even though there are numerous note-taking apps out there, these are the best note-taking app for iPad for college students available on the App store.