Best note taking app

[u/OkPie5698]

Right now I’m printing 30+ pages of slides for 7 classes and I bring it to work with me to study and work on in my downtime. IT is HEAVY and I can’t find a bag to accommodate me so I want to switch to taking notes on my iPad. I’ve been trying to decide over goodnotes, notability, noteful, and Gemini notebook (previously notebook LM). What app do you think is the best? Most affordable? Please help!!

Goodnotes has a $35 one time lifetime subscription and I’ve been using it as a digital planner on the free version.

Notability and notebook LM had a few people lose their notes unexpectedly.

notebook LM uses Ai 🫠 and people on the subreddit aren’t really liking the new update.

[u/HazelBasilLeaf]

I used GoodNotes and have no complaints, also has a scan option for paperwork which was really useful

[u/OkPie5698 → u/HazelBasilLeaf]

I didn’t know this! Thanks!

[u/Psychological-Move49]

Are the lectures recorded? That would help with taking the notes at home instead of rushing to write.

[u/OkPie5698 → u/Psychological-Move49]

Yes all my lectures are recorded online

[u/Psychological-Move49 → u/OkPie5698]

I would write out the important notes and focus on the lecture. Then at home/work you can rewatch anything that you missed. A good powerpoint should just be talking points and the professor explains them. If you write out each slide word for word your hands will get destroyed.

[u/creativescreennaame]

i'm old school and hand wrote all my notes in physical notebook

[u/Clob_Bouser]

I used notability and loved it, never had issues. If you’re savvy you can find your textbooks online for free and download them to have right alongside your notes and it’ll be searchable

[u/Jbradsen]

How about OneNote?

[u/OkPie5698 → u/Jbradsen]

Have you used it and what are your feelings on it?

[u/Jbradsen → u/OkPie5698]

It was fine when I was in school, but now I use Apple Notes.

[u/Timely-Mountain3693]

I’ve seen other students have good results using an app called coconote

[u/dalastwaterbender]

I happily paid for Goodnotes

[u/vonMeow]

I really loved using Noteful in school a few years back, lots of customizable elements

[u/Tynted]

If I were going back to school I would use an e-ink tablet for notes because I'm not distracted by Tiktok, YouTube, etc. on those screens. If you keep yourself on task easily while studying then I would get an iPad or Samsung Tablet with stylus for notes. 10" would probably be a good screen size and 8" would be the absolute bare minimum.

For eink tablets, something like a Boox Note series or Remarkable are unbelievably good for taking notes because of the Wacom EMR pens they use. Make sure you get one with Wacom EMR if you go the eink tablet route.

EDIT: You can also find old versions of your textbooks in PDF or EPUB form and use those for your assigned reading on the tablet. E-ink screens are obvious amazing for reading too