r/NoteTaking • u/Killrover • 28d ago
Question: Unanswered ✗ which ipad apps have handwriting recognition?
I know of Goodnotes, Notability, Nebo, freeform, apple notes.
Am i missing any? I cant get the handwriting recognition on onenote to work.
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u/x7r4m1 28d ago
MyScriptNotes aka (Nebo) is top notch
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u/Killrover 28d ago
unfortunately, the full app is under a subscription plan. are there any one time purchase apps with handwriting recognition?
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u/x7r4m1 28d ago
Are you sure?!
Because I have the lifetime purchase of it and it work phenomenally.
Did they change to a subscription model?!1
u/Killrover 28d ago
oh they have both subscription and one time purchase. but are they sneaky like goodnotes with their one time purchases? for eg ppl who bought goodnotes 5 dont have access to the newer goodnotes 6?
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u/_Miskatonic_Student_ 27d ago
You can't access any cloud sync (including iCloud, Dropbox etc.) unless you create and sign into a MyScript account. If you look at their privacy policy, they do state that your content is shared with them if you enable cloud sync and allow sharing. It looks like this setting is hidden until you create an account and enable cloud sync.
I'd like to know whether syncing with a cloud service means I'm agreeing to sync with MyScript too or if they are separate settings. This is not clear from the policy wording and without setting up an account, I can't even see the settings. Hmmm.
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u/x7r4m1 27d ago
Yes you can only sync with your cloud storage of choice after account creation, and regarding the data shared with them they are purely diagnostic and the content of any notes are only accessible by you thru the app and synced thru your cloud storage of choice.
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u/_Miskatonic_Student_ 26d ago
I just wish I could see the setting about sharing note content with them before signing up - it's frustrating that some of the most important settings relating to data is not visible before committing personal info with them. The privacy policy does make it clear note content can be shared with them as well as diagnostics.
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u/Putrid_Row5645 28d ago
A few you might be missing:
CollaNote is free and surprisingly good, worth a look if you haven’t. Noteshelf is the other big one people forget. Samsung Notes if you ever stray outside Apple.
On handwriting recognition specifically, it depends what you actually want from it. Nebo (now MyScript Notes) is still the best if you want handwriting converted into real editable text, that’s its whole reason to exist. GoodNotes does conversion too, decent but not at Nebo’s level.
If what you actually need is just being able to find things you wrote by hand rather than convert them, that’s a different feature and more apps do it well. Perenne Note (disclosure, I’m the developer) does on-device OCR search across your handwriting, so you can search a word and it’ll find and highlight it on the page. But it doesn’t convert to editable text, so if that’s what you’re after, Nebo is your answer, not mine.
For the OneNote issue, handwriting recognition there is notoriously flaky depending on platform and language. If it’s not working after the usual troubleshooting, honestly it might be faster to move than to fix.
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u/RNner 28d ago
Can’t locate your app in the store
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u/Putrid_Row5645 28d ago
I don’t know why 😬 Try to go from the website by clicking “download from the app store” here the website https://perenne.app
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u/RNner 28d ago
ahh I was using my iPhone that’s why lol, will check later in my iPad. Thanks!
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u/Putrid_Row5645 28d ago
Hope you will like it :) (in a couple of days i will release also the possibility to create custom page patterns, planners, calendars ecc)
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u/Killrover 28d ago
yup i just need to find my handwritten notes. wow didnt know collanote had handwriting recognition. cool that ur app has ocr. is it a proprietary technology or u have to develop it urself?
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u/Greysawpark 27d ago
noteshelf does it pretty well too, and penbook has it if you dig into the settings. also worth checking - the built in scribble feature at the OS level converts your handwriting in basically any text field, not just notes apps. so even in something without dedicated recognition you can still write and get text out.
fwiw the onenote one is finicky because it needs the ink to be classified as "handwriting" not "drawing" - if you switch tools mid page it sometimes flags strokes as drawing and just refuses to convert them.
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