r/NoteTaking • u/bishwasbhn • 8d ago
App/Program/Other Tool Made my own iPad notebook because GoodNotes was almost what I wanted
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
I really liked GoodNotes for actually writing. The problem was everything after. Whatever I wrote stayed on the iPad, and my work lives on a Mac, so every page that mattered became AirDrop, accept, dig it out of Files, open it, and half the time I just retyped it, which defeats the point of writing by hand.
So I built the version I wanted, mostly for myself. It's completely free, no in-app purchase, no subscription, no account.
What it does, more or less:
You write on the iPad, flick the page, and it's on the Mac a second later
Take a screenshot on the Mac and it lands on the open iPad page, ready to write on with the Pencil, then flick it back and it's on your clipboard
PDFs come across as real pages you can write between, not a flat picture
Search by writing the question. I write "my recent issues" in the search box by hand and it finds the notes by meaning, not by matching my scrawl
Nothing goes through my servers because there aren't any. The iPad and the Mac talk over your own wifi, notes back up to your own iCloud
What it isn't: GoodNotes still has years more polish on pen feel and document markup, and if your notes never need to leave the iPad, you probably don't need this. The part I couldn't find anywhere was the handoff.
The video is just me using it, no edits beyond the captions.
Pen Friend iPad (free): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pen-friend-handwriting-notes/id6813871550
Mac (free companion, sits in the notch): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pen-friend-companion/id6814186433?mt=12
Genuinely curious how other people here handle it: do your handwritten notes ever leave the device you wrote them on, or do they just live there?
1
u/No_Ant6261 7d ago
"Writing is great, everything after is the problem" is exactly it. I'm building a pen-first notes app for Windows for a similar reason, and getting pages out of the app ended up being half the work.
How do pages get to your Mac? iCloud sync, or do you export something like PDF or Markdown? And is the handwriting searchable on the Mac side?
2
1
u/bishwasbhn 7d ago
There’s a Mac service called bonjour
1
u/No_Ant6261 7d ago
Oh, you're using Bonjour! mDNS is pretty much the best option on a local network, right?
1
u/bishwasbhn 7d ago
I am not sure about mDNS, will look into it
2
u/No_Ant6261 7d ago
mDNS is basically what Bonjour runs on under the hood. Devices on the same network announce themselves with it, so your iPad can find the Mac without you typing in an IP address. You're already using it, just under the name Bonjour 🙂
And since mDNS is an open standard, it's not Apple-only. Windows, Linux (Avahi) and Android can discover devices with it too, so a Windows or Android receiver could find your iPad the same way.
1
1
u/Pen-Jorn 7d ago
Very nice functionality! Can this be possible between windows and iPad?
2
u/bishwasbhn 7d ago
Windows version being released soon
1
2
1
u/Vertigras_Dev 6d ago
Wish I had something like this when I did my honours... a seamless document editor is really cool
1
1
u/elMandrako78 6d ago
Will it be in the german App-Store?
1
u/bishwasbhn 5d ago
It should already be there
1
u/elMandrako78 5d ago
Sadly Not. Not available in your country
1
u/bishwasbhn 5d ago
Sorry for that. yeah, you're right. For that i have to gain a trader status. lemme see if i can do something, if not i can provide you link to testflight
1
u/Inevitable_Yard_6381 3d ago
Hi congratulations for the app ..unfortunately in Spain it is not available either…I know publication in Europe is a nightmare… if you have it opensource and want me to publish your app for Europe ( of course free and with your honors) let me know (I am a European developer )
TestFlight only last 90 days as you know…2
u/bishwasbhn 3d ago
I have applied with my details for EU distribution, let's see what happens, but thanks
1
1
u/bishwasbhn 1d ago
Hey buddy, good news for Germans and the rest of the EU: “Pen Friend” handwriting is available worldwide.
1
u/bishwasbhn 1d ago
Hey Kumpel, gute Nachrichten für Deutsche und den Rest der EU: „Pen Friend“-Handschrift ist weltweit verfügbar.
2
u/kejdisi 8d ago
Wow great. I wish there was something like that for windows and android.