CollaNote: Note, Journal & PDF vs MiniNote – Write Quick Notes

100 stars ⭐️s I’m not really a journaler or a serious note taker. I scribble on posts-its and index cards so I thought it would be a good idea to get into notetaking on my iPad because I can find it easier than i can a random index card. I tried to look for an inexpensive note taking app to start off this new endeavor of keeping notes and maybe start to journal. I tried the Notes app that comes with the iPad and it lacks some pictures. And I didn’t wanna spend a lot of money on something that I might not use. Somehow I stumbled onto this app and WOW!!! It has all the bells and whistles: I can import PDFs, make my own PDFs, I can draw and adjust pens/pencils, stickers, shapes there are templates, I can collaborate, have different folders ! The potential is incredible. And all for the low price of free!!! And even the app privacy seems to be good. How? And it appears this is a one-person show! What? Anyway, I highly recommend this. Go ahead and download and use the template here or look for free bullet journal templates, or planner templates, and imported them to this app and you’ll hit the ground running. I just think this app is incredible and you will think so too. Huge thanks to the developer for your commitment and your generosity! Cheers!

- girl_with_brown_eyes

Best Notes App EVER This is truly the best app out there for taking notes and planning. There is so much customization to fit everyone’s needs and to make it feel like your writing in an actual note book. Not only is this app amazing it has a great community around it as well. People are almost always very kind and helpful and on the community notes, people love to share their drawings and express themselves. One thing that truly amazes me is that there are no in-app purchases. Everything offered is completely free. It’s great seeing other students/people wanting to help other students/people succeed without trying to, essentially, steal their money for a mediocre app at best. When you can simply download the app and have everything, if not more, than something you would pay for. And on top of that you are a part of and supporting a great community. If you’re looking for a notes app, this is it. Of course there are still a few flaws but this app is growing and becoming better with every update. You can noticeably see the changes being made to improve the app (which is really cool in my opinion). But seriously there is no notes app out there that is better than this one.

- FierceandLittle!

Great app, could have better UI This is an amazing app. I love that it has so many feature and that it uses PencilKit (the low latency is amazing). Other paid apps have not adopted PencilKit for that amazing latency. My only gripe is that the UI seems less polished than some of the other paid app. For example, the folders look less professional, especially on the edit screen. Also the icons for pens, highlighters, etc. don’t look that good. Also the turquoise color scheme for the icons does not look great. Of course, this is just my opinion, and it is amazing that the dev made this app free and is actively working on it as well. It is extremely-feature rich Once the UI is more polished, it would compete with even paid note-taking apps, and I would choose CollaNote over them. Thanks for your work, Dev! Edit: I wanted to update my review after developer response. I don’t think the UI is ugly. I simply don’t think it looks as great nor polished as apps like Goodnote and Notability. Creating a very good looking UI extremely difficult, something I am not capable of, and for a single dev to do what you have done is nothing short of amazing. This is an amazing app. Hence me giving it five stars. And yes, the UI is a matter of taste.

- JamesK543

Why do developers upgrade their applications to higher OS's as well as make them only available through the MAS, thereby making it impossible for users with older OS's to use the older versions? Developer: You have a nice app and you still have the versions that work on older OS's why not make these versions available via your website or some cloud filesharing site? The latter wouldn't cost you a penny. In addition, these people would then likely get your newest version of the app when they upgrade to a newer OS. Just provide a caveat of no support for the older version anymore.

- bbw7

I like it for what it is and for its cost. It's an easy to use and easy access notepad for taking quick notes while doing other things. I use a more comprehensive app, Growly Notes, for extended, organized note taking, but just for jotting things down on the fly, this works great. I only give it a "3" for features because it doesn't have a lot, but I don't expect a lot either for this type of note-taking app. Don't understand the complaints about cut & paste not working; both work for me. I am commenting on ver. 1.5

- bbw7

Not bad, but not that user friendly as is. requires that you keep going back to the note list manually after closing and opening again from the menubar, otherwise stays on the same page you left it, including the settings tab. Changing the font on one word changes the font on the entire database. Also a bit sluggish when changing page/tabs. Starting a new search requires highlighting and deleting of the previous word, there is no X button. Just some minor things.

- Trance