Nothing published. That is not a guarantee the app is problem-free.
No specific positive published.
From our automated analysis, 16 Oct 2026.
This analysis describes version 8.0 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-16 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 8.0, updated 2026-10-11.
Store screenshots supplied by the developer.
Write. Plan. Study. Work. Create.
Noteshelf 3 brings natural handwriting, powerful AI, PDF annotation, audio recording and planning together in one beautiful app for iPad, iPhone and Mac. Free to start.
FOR STUDENTS
• Take lecture and class notes with lifelike pens, pencils and highlighters
• Annotate textbooks, worksheets, slides and PDFs
• Record audio while you write, so you never miss a word
• Use Noteshelf AI to summarize and explain what you've learned
FOR PROFESSIONALS
• Capture meeting notes and record important discussions
• Mark up contracts, reports and presentations
• Present your notes on an external display with a laser pointer
• Export and share notes as PDFs or images in one tap…
From the developer’s store description.
For developers and the curious
The evidence, sources, measurements and versions behind every label above.
Open observations that have not cleared the evidence bar.
Trial converts to a charge: raised by 5 distinct reviewers (1.0% of 508 reviews scanned)
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
The free trial demands a payment method up front and/or rolls into a paid subscription with no usable warning.
Paywall blocks the basics: raised by 15 distinct reviewers (3.0% of 508 reviews scanned)
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
Reviewers report clear pricing: raised by 11 distinct reviewers (2.2% of 508 reviews scanned)
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
The app's own text offers a one-time or lifetime purchase, or reviewers report that the price is stated clearly.
The store privacy disclosure (6 entries) links no contact details or identifiers to the user — consistent with an app that does not require an account. Self-reported by the developer.
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
The app's own screens offer a way past sign-up — guest access, skipping, or browsing before registering — rather than gating the product behind an account. The store's privacy disclosure is checked alongside it: that disclosure is self-reported, so it corroborates this credit rather than establishing it.
Nothing was published as a thing to watch for in this assessment. That is not a finding that nothing is wrong with the app.
508 reviews read for this analysis. Each observation keeps the sample and store it was based on.
No free trial — I signed up for a free trial but was immediately charged $39.99 for a full year and Apple will not refund. Proceed with caution.
Sudden Cost — I have used Noteshelf for many, many years. I used the first, the second and the third versions. I have been very pleased with app, using it almost daily. Yesterday I opened the app and was met with a “start free trial” for…
Scammers — I’ve been using this app to take notes during meetings for work and after the free trial I have been charged $7.99/week for a subscription. I accepted it because I need a good app for my job, but this weekly thing is pretty…
Why do we have to pay for everything — Why do we have to pay for everything. I like a lot of the options but I have to pay for it. Is there options that you don’t have to pay for
I got excited😢 — I can’t do anything without paying. I got annoyed, cause it looks so cool and good to help me with my schedule, but I can’t even make a monthly schedule without paying and I can’t seem to find any free
Money! — Its good….everything costs money you have to get premium to use this and actually enjoy it like bruh i dont wanna pay for that
Great app, needs lifetime option — I have been using my iPad to take notes for several years throughout many college classes. I used Notability throughout Calculus 1, 2, and 3, and GoodNotes throughout my later physics classes. I can…
its ok — i only gave it a five star because i wanted people to read it and one of the reviews says it’s i one time payment but it’s not maybe make it i one time payment because it’s expensive for a not taking app.you responded but never…
Good app — I really like this app but I don’t want to pay on a continues basic for an app. I would like to pay a one time fee, and if there are up-date and I choose to up-date and need to pay for the up-date that would be better.
A sampled review illustrates one person’s experience. It does not establish a finding on its own.
Supporting measurements. They are not a complete list of possible harms or positives. “Not assessed” means we could not measure it — never zero, never a pass.
No package has been scanned for this app, so nothing is published about what it ships. That is an absence of evidence, not a finding.
Measurement vocabulary 1.4 · how these are measured
This analysis describes version 8.0 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-16 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 8.0, updated 2026-10-11.
Each store’s release notes, as the developer wrote them. They are the developer’s words, not ours.
Introducing Two-Page View! See and work on two pages side by side, just like an open notebook. Switch between vertical, horizontal, and two-page views anytime from the new navigation pill at the bottom left of the screen. Also new: - Choose a page zoom preset right from the navigation pill. - Drag images, shapes, text boxes, and more across pages seamlessly.
- Fixed crash faced by some users on app launch. - You can now switch languages in the Template Store to view templates in your preferred language. Browse templates in English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. More languages coming soon. - Other minor bugs and performance improvements.
- Fixed an issue with the OneDrive authentication where OneDrive sign-in failed with “Unable to authenticate” after approving the request in Microsoft Authenticator. - Other minor bugs and performance improvements. ~ Noteshelf—Take beautiful notes, effortlessly ~
Appworthy
noteshelfAssessed 2026-10-16 from 508 user reviews, the store listing and its privacy label. We have not scanned the app's package, so nothing on this page was read from inside the app itself.
What the stores publish. Store ratings are the stores’ numbers, not Appworthy’s, and are never averaged across stores.
No itemized purchase list is available for this listing.
This assessment is produced automatically. Three independent signals are read — user reviews, the store listing and the store privacy disclosure — and each candidate finding is filed under the sources that support it.
No charge stands on one kind of evidence — with one published exception. A finding is either a measured fact that anyone can reproduce (an ad SDK is in the package; every subscription bills weekly; the privacy label omits a tracker we can see), or it is an interpretation — and an interpretation needs independent sources to agree before it reaches the catch list. The exception is a harm only users can see: a charge may publish from reviews alone, as “Reported by N users”, once enough reviewers raise it to clear that charge’s own published bar. That agreement rule is what replaced the human reviewer, not a model’s confidence.
There is no overall score, on purpose. A 0–99 number was published here until 2026-09-15. It was withdrawn because it discriminated too weakly to be the instrument — 44.7% of every pair of apps tied — and because a single number is a verdict where a count is an observation. What publishes instead is a row of measurements, each of which says what was counted and, where we could not look, says that instead.
Findings under One source only are real reports we do not stand behind as findings. They are shown because withholding them entirely would hide a genuine complaint, and labelled because publishing them as charges would be an accusation off a single source.
Write to [email protected], or use the form. Name the finding, the app version and the evidence that needs correcting. Factual corrections are free and never depend on buying anything.