One of the hardest things about going to lectures is desperately trying to keep up with the lecturer. Making sure your notes are coherent and readable can prove rather difficult, so sometimes it’s just easier to rely on a note-taking app. If you’re trying to figure out the best way to take notes, we’ve got a list of all the best note-taking apps for university.
1. Evernote
This app is available on Android, iPhone and iPad. It lets you take notes, create to-do lists and organise your notes, all in one app. It also lets you capture photos and record voice reminders, as well as making your notes searchable!
The app is free, and is great for processing hand-written notes and clipping articles and for storing them alongside your typed and recorded notes. Perfect for seminars, lectures and homework, and is pretty easy to use.
2. Notability
Available on iOS, Notability is a really versatile app that is great for university. You can type or write notes in ‘notebooks’ and organise them into folders. The app also lets you annotate PDFs (which is so useful at university). You get a choice of coloured pens, brushes and highlighters, and can drag and drop images and files into notes, as well as add audio. The app even lets you record audio whilst taking notes!
The app costs £7.99 and is available in the Apple App store. It’s perfect for anyone who loves using multi-modal notes and organising their work.
3. Flexcil 2 Note & PDF Reader
Flexcil is available on iOS and Android and is perfect for anyone looking for a productivity boost. It is perfect for bullet journaling, taking notes or editing pages. You can highlight, capture images and text and you can save time by transcribing through the app. Flexcil lets you handwrite or type notes and compile them in notebook style pages.
The app is free on the Play and App Store and is great for anyone who is going to have a lot of PDF editing and reading to do.
4. OneNote
Made by Microsoft, OneNote is a dedicated note-taking app and resembles an actual notebook. You can create separate notebooks and divide them into sections with colourful tabs. It also lets you search through your notes, add videos, images and highlight your notes. You can even annotate or add drawings to them, and the software’s Immersive Reader will read your notes back to you.
Download the app for Windows 10, or pay for the Microsoft 365 subscription to use the app.
5. Google Keep
Google Keep is free to use and all you need is a Google account. It is great for keeping track of assignments and to-do lists, and is a perfect way to digitize sticky notes that are littering your halls wall. You can set reminders and make notes on the app and share lists with other people (perfect for those god-awful group projects).
Available on all Google and Android phones or as a Chrome Extension.
6. Simplenote
This app is really user friendly. It has a clean interface and can display longer notes than similarly styled Google Keep. Its interface combines the best of a notebook with sticky notes and is available for free on Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS and Linux.
7. Notion
Notion has taken TikTok by storm, and it’s no secret why. It is known for being a solid, all-in-one workspace. You can use the Personal Pro subscription for free with a university email and it lets you organise your notes, add images, videos, to-do lists, spreadsheets, equations and reading lists. It also lets you publish pages and share them with others.
Notion is available for macOS, Windows, iOS and Android.
Apps are a great way of helping study sessions go smoother. These note-taking apps help take the painful method of scribbling as fast as your teacher talks away. We’ve got more great apps to help you with exams here too.
