If you’re a student with an iPad and Apple Pencil, then CollaNote is a note-taking app that you need to have for your next term.
This app is filled to the brim with useful features, but we rounded up 12 of the biggest reasons why CollaNote is the ultimate app for students.
1. It's 100% Free
That’s right. This powerful note-taking app is available to download at no cost. There are no features that are locked, no premium upgrade required, and no ads throughout the app. This makes CollaNote perfect for students on a budget who are looking for an effective note-taking app.
Download: CollaNote (Free)
2. A Natural Writing Experience
Writing on an iPad will always feel like writing on an iPad, but this experience is as natural as it gets. Every pen tool glides onto the digital page smoothly, and tools such as the highlighter are realistic in their pigmentation. The entire writing experience is really pleasant and makes taking pages and pages of notes satisfying. It's also great for sketching or doodling.
There is also a bonus feature on the eraser tool that lets you automatically switch back to the last tool you were using when you're done with erasing, making the writing experience even more convenient.
3. Unlimited Pen Colors
Who doesn’t love the ability to customize your colors? The default palette that the app has is already extensive with nice colors for your notes. But if you can't find the perfect shade, you can completely customize the pen, pencil, and highlighter tool to your liking.
You can also add your favorite pens to the side of your note to access them with a single tap. These favorites preset save the color, size, and opacity of the pen and make it easy to switch between different pens. Each note can have its own set of favorite tools, allowing you to customize your favorite set of tools for each class.
4. Draw Smooth Curves
If you need to make a perfect line graph or keep your drawings from looking too shaky, you can draw perfectly smooth curves with the Curve Tool, an additional feature that stabilizes your drawing and gives you smooth lines. This is separate from the regular pen and pencil tools, which means that you can still write naturally but easily switch to a stabilized tool when you need it.
5. Record Audio and Sync It to Your Notes
Recording audio is a popular feature on paid apps such as Notability. If you’re in a long lecture and want to follow up on concepts afterward, this is the perfect tool for that. You can record the audio from your lectures and listen back to it whenever you need. The audio recording syncs with the notes you take, so you can replay the lecture audio and see exactly when you wrote something down.
This lets you revisit the time in the class that you took each note and makes it easier for you to add more details and understand what you meant when you were writing it down. You can also export the recordings as audio files to listen to them outside the app.
6. Multitask With Other Apps
With CollaNote, you're able to multitask with other apps, which is useful when you're in need of a side-by-side view between your notes and the information you're learning. You can even drag and drop images and content from the other app into your note. This is very convenient for adding diagrams, images, or anything else you want to include in your notes.
7. Dark Mode With Dynamic Colors
If you prefer dark mode on your iPad, whether it’s for the visual aesthetic or for late-night studying, you’re in luck. The dark mode is available in CollaNote, and it also comes with Dynamic Colors.
This means that all the notes you took in Light Mode get converted into legible colors that are compatible with Dark Mode. It makes reading your notes in either mode easy and beautiful.
8. Collaborate With Other Classmates
Easily share notes with others and collaborate on note-taking together. You can invite others to join your note by entering their email or their nickname from their CollaNote profile. This is the perfect way to get more done together and make sure that you aren't missing out on any valuable information to study later.
9. Scan Documents and Text in the App
Do you have physical worksheets, textbook pages, or any other documents that need to be added to your notes? Not only does CollaNote upload PDFs to annotate, but it also comes with a document scanner. With this document scanner, you can easily take pictures of your physical documents and add them to your notes to be annotated.
Tired of writing out the exact same thing as what you're reading in a physical textbook? You can also scan a page and have the text extracted and added to your note.
10. A Library of Fun Stickers
There are tons of stickers available to use in CollaNote to add some fun to your notes. You can insert a variety of stickers including emojis, cartoon animals, labels, and speech bubbles. These fun additions can also help you stay organized and categorize information.
11. Unique Templates
When you start off creating a new note, you have your choices of all the basic essentials such as lined and dotted paper. There are even more advanced paper templates you can use for specific classes, such as sheet music and log graphs.
CollaNote also offers a bunch of fun templates to try out for your notes. You can get calendars, to-do lists, planners, and blank pages with colorful frames. These designs are great if you want to create beautiful notes but don't have time to put in too much effort.
12. Frequent Updates From the Developer
Last but certainly not least, this fantastic free app is constantly being updated by its developer, which means that its usability and list of features are being improved frequently. There are also many ways to contact the developer with suggestions and contribute to the CollaNote community, making it a great app experience for everyone.
Start Taking Great Notes
These are a few of our favorite things about CollaNote, but there are lots more features that make it perfect for students to use. If you have an iPad, consider giving this free and powerful app and try for your next set of classes.