Notability

With Notability, students can record audio lessons while taking notes because of the innovative audio recording feature the app offers.

There are many different variations of blank, ruled, and squared paper, all in standard portrait orientation. They can be set to 15 different colors, ranging from black to white to green polka dots. Notes can be put into a two-column interfaces, where they can be sorted into folders that are each given a different color. The toolbar contains a text box tool, pen, highlighter, eraser. and geometric shapes.

The pen and highlighter have two shapes and feature a drop-down menu that offers 12 sizes and any custom color. The app also allows you to add pictures from your gallery.

“This app is super helpful because of the feature that lets me record lessons. It lets me stay on top of what my teachers say during class and allows me to go back to in class discussions I recorded in case I forget something,” sophomore Jenna Saykhamphone said. “I also love all the tools I can use to customize my notes and make them stand out in order for me to memorize them better.”

GoodNotes

GoodNotes offers a variety of papers that are broken down into many different categories like blank, dotted, squared, ruled narrow, and ruled wide. The features they have are with columns, traditional legal paper, and Cornell note paper. There is also a planner paper, which includes multiple layouts for both monthly and weekly planning, as well as a checklist template.

The toolbar offers a pen, eraser, highlighter, shape tool, and a text box. The pen can be set to fountain pen, ball pen, and brush pen, and each of the main tools can be set to any custom color.

Everything is always indexed in GoodNotes, so it will make things much easier to find when you go back to review notes.

“Since school is virtual I decided to do my notes virtually too. GoodNotes has helped me so much because of how easily I can organize my things and sort them into digital folders,” senior Kidist Bekele said. “My favorite part about the whole app is how it can read and search my own handwriting, which makes it so much easier to find wherever I left off in my notes really fast.”