4.4 Immersive Mode: UI folds; one capsule for Read / Write / Recall. Recall blurs excerpts; tap to reveal after recall. AI Hint can run on Apple Intelligence on-device.
MarginNote is the PDF study tool for deep readers. One excerpt is a PDF highlight, a mind map node, and a flashcard — one capture, three places. This is the Card Axis architecture, so you stop ferrying content between a PDF reader, a notes app, and a flashcard tool. A decade of iteration. 188K+ App Store ratings.
【Four Featured Mechanics】
▸ Card Axis — One excerpt, three renders. Document highlight, mind map node, and flashcard are the same card seen from three angles.
▸ Title Link — Old notes auto-surface in new documents. When a familiar concept appears in what you're reading, your past annotation lights up on the page.
▸ Extended Note — Long-press anywhere on a PDF to open writing space. No anchored text required; three display modes (inline / margin / collapsed).
▸ Immersive Mode (4.4) — Three-state toggle: Read / Write / Recall. UI folds away. Recall blurs excerpts with Gaussian blur — tap to reveal only after you've actually recalled.
【AI Capabilities (introduced in 4.2)】
AI book breakdown · AI OCR templates · AI translation · AI Q&A · AI flashcard generation
Our stance is AI as assistant, not replacement — every suggestion can be saved as your own thinking node, never thinking for you.
【Apple Intelligence (iOS 26+)】
Recall Mode hints can run on-device via Apple Intelligence — pick "Apple AI" or "cloud LLM" in Settings. With Apple AI selected, three tiers of help — Neighbor Coordinate · Reasoning Prompt · Key Distinction — are generated by Apple Foundation Models right on your device: no network calls, no AI credits used, your notes never leave your device. Even if you've selected cloud LLM, going offline auto-falls back to Apple Intelligence (provided your device supports it) — so libraries, planes, and exam-day silent rooms never break your hint loop.
【Full Workflow】
Fast OCR · Study Sets (PDF / EPUB / video / audio) · direct read from Zotero / cloud drives / USB · 10 mind map styles · book recomposition · dual-document compare · concept maps · handwriting layers
【FSRS Spaced Repetition】
Built on the open-spaced-repetition project's algorithm (paper accepted by ACM SIGKDD; Anki has used FSRS as its default scheduler since v23.10). Push short-term memory into long-term.
【Built For】
Anyone re-reading a single document until it sticks — med school (USMLE / MCAT) · law school (LSAT / bar exam) · grad prep (GRE / GMAT / CFA) · researchers · language learners (IELTS / TOEFL) · serious readers.
【All Apple Platforms】
iPhone + iPad + Mac under one Apple ID. iCloud syncs Study Sets, notes, and review progress. Native Apple Pencil support on iPad.
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Questions? Email service@marginnote.com
Terms: https://dist.marginnote.com/MarginNote_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf
Privacy: https://dist.marginnote.com/MarginNote_Privacy_Policy.pdf
I am so happy that MarginNote has been updated after such a long time. The previous versions of MarginNote were available on iPhones. When will MarginNote 4 be available for the iPhone?
Noufal MD
Noufal MD
After a long journey through various note-taking and study apps—from Flexcil on Android to LiquidText on iPad—I have finally reached what feels like the final destination for medical study: MarginNote 4.The app offers a powerful combination of PDF annotation, mind mapping, knowledge organization, active recall, and review tools that can significantly enhance the learning experience for medical students and healthcare professionals. Once the workflow clicks, it becomes an incredibly powerful knowledge-management system.The learning curve is undeniably steep, but the effort is well worth it. The depth of features and customization is unlike anything I have used before.My only suggestion to the developers would be to provide more detailed, structured video demonstrations covering real-world study workflows, advanced features, and best practices. Comprehensive tutorials would help new users unlock the full potential of the app much faster.I also have one major feature request regarding the mind map visual workflow. When I highlight text in a PDF using a specific color (for example, blue), the excerpt transferred to the mind map card does not retain that highlight style. Instead, only the card border color changes.It would be incredibly helpful to have an option or toggle within the Card Excerpt Tool that allows text inside the mind map card to automatically retain the exact background highlight color (“marker” style) applied in the PDF. This would create a much stronger visual connection between the source document and the mind map, making navigation and review of dense, color-coded medical material significantly faster and more intuitive.Overall, I highly recommend MarginNote 4 for serious medical study, research, and long-term knowledge management.
Product is not ready for public production
Alex8383847
There are many declared features that have bugs. iCloud sync is not reliable, UI is clumsy, app crashes, support doesn't answer on their forum.
Developer Response
Hello, when synchronizing, make sure that each platform selects the same note database
New/Improvements:
Immersive Mode & Recall Mode Experience Optimization
- Added the hand tool to the handwriting toolbar in Immersive/Recall mode, which can be used to drag the canvas or browse pages.
- The bottom toolbar in Immersive mode can now be collapsed into a three-dot control to reduce interface obstruction.
- Immersive mode now supports Research Browser: You can open the Research Browser panel for document excerpts/mind map cards while in Immersive mode, presented as a floating window, making it easy to look up information while reading.
- Optimized excerpt/handwriting toolbar menus in Immersive mode: Supports adjusting the tool order in the menu bar, keeping it consistent with classic mode, and duplicated tools will now be fully displayed.
- iPhone experience optimization: When opening a study set that hasn't recorded an immersive state for the first time, it now defaults to Immersive mode, significantly improving the small-screen experience without affecting the same study set's settings on iPad and Mac; the document/mind map linked view now supports adjusting the split ratio.
- Added a "Show One-by-One" option in recall mode. When enabled, only one revealed excerpt or mind map card is displayed at a time, making the recall pace more controllable.
- Handwriting is now supported in recall mode.
New "Legacy Features" Settings Section
- Centralized management of toggles for Trash (Legacy), legacy recall mode, legacy handwriting toolbar icons, and more (Settings → Legacy Features). The legacy recall mode is only available in non-immersive mode, and related menus and keyboard shortcuts will be limited accordingly.
Overall Performance & Experience Optimization
- Reduced potential stutter during selection changes while keeping the interface refreshing normally; also optimized stability when handling AI conversation errors.
Fixes:
- Fixed the issue where the eraser shortcut was not working in Immersive mode on Mac, and improved the stability of related shortcuts.
- Fixed the issue where formula styles were not loaded correctly on macOS 26.5.
- Fixed the issue where math formulas in note cards could display abnormally.
- Fixed a display anomaly with the toolbar in Immersive mode.
- Fixed the issue where tapping on a blank area could not clear the text selection when prompt status was enabled in immersive recall mode.
- Fixed the issue where the tool order could be lost after handwriting tool settings were synced.
- Fixed the issue where recall prompt screenshots could capture the wrong page under virtual documents.
- Fixed the issue where typing or tapping was temporarily unresponsive right after a plugin pop-up appeared.
- Fixed display anomalies with colors, cursor, and prompt labels in the chat input box under dark mode.
- Fixed the issue where Korean book titles could be truncated or displayed abnormally in the book switcher.
Version 4.4.1
Subscriptions
MarginNote Max Annual
Full Max access with yearly billing
Free Trial
The developer, Beijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., Ltd, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Used to Track You
The following data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies:
Identifiers
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Identifiers
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary based, for example, on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Provider
Beijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., Ltd
Size
338.5 MB
Category
Productivity
Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 14.0 or later.
Apple Vision Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
Languages
English and 4 more
English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese