Pencora: Handwriting Notes
Search, Math & PDF Notes
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Search every handwritten word. Turn typed text into your own handwriting, build live graphs and geometry, import PDFs as editable ink, and back up to Google Drive—free.
Pencora is paper that thinks: a fast, private notebook for serious study that keeps up with your hand and helps you find, build, and protect what you learn.
Everything is free. No subscription. No ads. No account.
FIND ANYTHING YOU WROTE
Your handwriting becomes searchable as you write—on your iPad, without uploading your notes. Search across every notebook, jump straight to the highlighted word, and find text inside added photos too. Pencora supports English, Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese, and handles messy handwriting, close matches, and typos.
WRITE WITHOUT THE LAG
A custom Metal engine draws each stroke immediately with pressure, tilt, hover, and Apple Pencil Pro squeeze. Even large notebooks stay smooth. Prefer a finger? You can write with that too.
MOVE IN WITHOUT STARTING OVER
Export your notebooks from Goodnotes, Notability, or any other note app as PDF. Pencora detects the paper ruling, keeps pages in order, and converts handwriting stored as vector ink into editable strokes instead of locking it inside a picture. Large documents open quickly and keep converting in the background.
TYPE IT. GET YOUR HANDWRITING.
Write a set of sample words once—or pick a ready-made hand—then type or paste Markdown, lists, and LaTeX formulas. The on-device handwriting model places them on the page as real, erasable strokes in your style, following the ruling of the paper. Available in English and Russian. Nothing is uploaded for generation.
MATH THAT STAYS LIVE
Add interactive graph planes directly to a page. Plot functions, implicit curves, points, and tables; import CSV; or draw a table by hand and let Pencora read it. Ink written on the plane stays attached to its coordinates.
Build exact geometry beside your proof: points, segments, lines, circles, polygons, curves, midpoints, perpendicular and angle bisectors, parallels, tangents, intersections, reflections, and triangle centers. Drag a point and every dependent construction moves with it. Measure in real millimeters and label points in your own handwriting.
THE TOOLS A REAL NOTEBOOK NEEDS
• Lined, grid, dotted, or PDF paper
• Shape snapping for lines, circles, and polygons
• Highlighter, study tape, and scribble-to-erase
• A lasso that moves, scales, rotates, and changes stroke width
• A zoom-write strip for small, neat writing
• Calligraphy nibs and an eyedropper
• Markdown text boxes and live formulas
• True-vector PDF export that stays crisp at any zoom
• Folders, tags, and tabs
• An infinite board with a minimap for every notebook
NEVER LOSE A PAGE
Connect Google Drive for automatic daily backups to your own account. Pencora keeps the five newest copies and can restore your library on a new iPad. It uses Google's limited-access permission, so it sees only its own backup files—not the rest of your Drive. You can also export your entire library into one backup file whenever you want.
YOUR NOTEBOOKS ON IPHONE
Connect the same Google Drive on your iPhone to read the notebooks from your iPad's latest backup, with folders and names intact. You can also open any .handynotes notebook someone sends you. Editing stays on iPad; on iPhone, notebooks are read-only.
PRIVATE BY DESIGN
Recognition, search, and handwriting generation run on your device. Pencora has no accounts, ads, or tracking, and never sells your data. Anonymous usage statistics can be turned off in Profile, and sharing handwriting samples for research is strictly opt-in. Your notes are not the product.
Built by one developer who uses handwritten notes every day. Your feedback helps decide what gets built next.
Ratings & Reviews
HandyNotes is now Pencora.
• Huge bug removal
• Google Drive backups: automatic, daily, to your own account
• Read your iPad notebooks on iPhone through Google Drive
• Personal handwriting generation: type text, get it in your own hand
• battery optimization
• Live graphs and dynamic geometry right on the page
• Smarter PDF import that turns handwriting into editable ink
• A redesigned notebook experience
The developer, Anastasia Naumkina, 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 Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- User Content
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Anastasia Naumkina
- Size
- 150.7 MB
- Category
- Education
- 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 and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English and Russian
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 Gleb Naumkin