Penbook: Pencil Notebook 4+

Great notebooks but could use better management

I use this app for everything from writing and computer science homework to project and vacation planning. There are lots of very useful page templates and more than enough colors and tools to fill a page with notes and diagrams. Pixel and stroke eraser modes and a quick and easy toolbar make getting my thoughts onto the iPad easy as can be; with little practice I got faster than I was with pen and paper. The combo of simplicity and feature set really stands out among the many notebook apps.

The only issue is managing the books and pages once you have them. Notebooks can’t be grouped and are just shown in a single row (with not enough cover options to distinguish them aside from a small label). Sorting pages inside a notebook is clumsy, and there is only one non-configurable grid to see the pages if you are trying to find something you wrote.

I would love to see folders for notebooks and the ability to use photos (or specific pages, not just the last-viewed one) as notebook covers. A dedicated landing page for the app could show the last pages from recent notebooks and also offer a grid of all notebooks with resizable icons. Within notebooks, a pop-up display like Kindles have for viewing other pages could allow for much faster cross-referencing pages than repeatedly scrolling through the grid between distant pages.

Réponse du développeur ,

Hey, thanks for the kind words, and especially for the constructive feedback on our page and notebook management UI. They're due for an overhaul and will hopefully get one soon. Just in case you missed it: you can set your notebooks to have the first page as their cover (in addition to the most-recently-used page). Looking forward to delivering some updates to you that reflect your feedback, all the best.

I absolutely love this app!

I love this app so much! I really enjoy using it to study. I’m an engineering student and being able to access engineering paper on an iPad is amazing! I can’t wait to be able to upgrade to the full version so I can make multiple books and sort all my notes out. I appreciate that I can (as far as I can tell) have as many pages as I want, I can change individual pages for the individual need, and that I can place small graphs and stickers to help make my notes easily readable.

(Update) I love the app has added stickers and other things (wash tape) for free. It makes everything really nice to use. I’m still waiting to upgrade to the premium version (gotta wait until I afford it). The premium version is decently cheap, however, only running about $15 per year, or $50 for lifetime access (which I think is pretty cool).

Thank you so making such a good app! It would be kind of cool to be able to upload our own stickers or be able to access (maybe have people submit) relevant to different classes.

Réponse du développeur ,

Really great to hear this from a student, thank you for such a nice review. All the best with your studies.

Really want to like the app.

The app has several sparks of brilliance and the vast array of notebook types far outstrip what I’ve seen in other notebook apps. Unfortunately, the app has several issues that make me switch to other apps to get actually work done. Issues: First, using the Apple Pencil to navigate the UI is frustrating. Several touch/tap zones(like when switching tools) are too tight are require multiple taps to activate. Second, I have to use my finger to activate UI elements because of the poor touch zones when using an Apple Pencil , but even some buttons are still are very hard to use when using a finger. Like the edit button when trying to delete pages. Annoyances: First, The text based “stickers” don’t account for background color, so if you use black notebook “paper” the sticker labels still have black text. Second, I want to disable both the swipe down gesture and swipe up gesture, I keep activating them on accident. Third, When adding a sticker, you have to manually press the layer button to leave “edit?“ mode. Tapping outside the sticker should just do that. Outside of those things I’ve listed. Notebook management is nonexistent . You can’t group notebooks nor and you can only view your list of notebooks in a 50/50 view with an open notebook. I want a dedicated view that shows notebooks. And on the very low list of things is a fountain pen option as a tool.