Element Note 4+

I tried LOTS of note taking apps and deleted them quickly after finding they didn’t have a very responsive and natural writing experience with Apple Pencil. This one, I was immediately impressed and bought the full version. I had previously been taking some notes using Procreate but wanted a separate app specifically for notes and lists. Element Note has enough brush options to customize your writing tool, but is not as overwhelming as Procreate can be when it comes to brush options. The options are simple, but all the brushes feel great and natural for writing. My favorites are the Art Brush, Marker, and Fountain Pen. The color gradients are also really cool. I really appreciate the app doesn’t collect data too. I have two suggestions that would make Element Note even more perfect: The ability to freely rotate your page (I usually tend to write on paper at a diagonal angle but it’s not always convenient to have the iPad itself angled), and the ability to have Layers. But even without these features I’m just thrilled to have found this app.

I usually don’t write reviews, so when I do it’s because I really REALLY like an app. I have tried every single note taking app on the App Store (like literally I downloaded each one and tested them) and I have even paid for subscriptions for some of them, yet I still keep finding myself coming back it Element. Number 1 it’s Free, Number 2, the pen. The most important thing when taking notes is what you are writing with, so when I was testing different apps, I fell in love with the fact that Element comes with pen stability. I don’t have the best handwriting, especially when quickly taking notes, so this was a lifesaver. Also you can’t forget you can write in gradients! It’s so fun and makes your notes come to life with that pop of color. Of course Element doesn’t have a lot of things other apps have but it’s simplicity is one of it’s perks, and it’s somewhat new so hopefully more features come out in the future. I HIGHLY recommend this app to anyone who is taking notes and using them to study.

This is by far my favorite note-taking app I have used thus far for my iPad Pro. It is one of the only ones that even has (customizable) pen stabilization which put it at the top all by itself. All the UI is easy to navigate. My single gripe with Element Note so far has been the hyperlinking feature. Having found a variety of templates online to import into the app, a lot of them have hyperlinked tabs and dates to bring you to a certain location within the notebook; the problem is the buttons only work correctly about 10% of the time. For example, I will click the “July” tab, and it will bring me to the monthly overview of July. After scrolling away from that page, I click the “July” tab again, but this time it brings me to some random date in September. From that point on the hyperlinks do not bring me to the desired location within the notebook. Happens on every template I try it with. Would love a fix for this!