Notability
Handwriting-first note app with PDF annotation, linked audio and AI study tools.
Operated by Ginger Labs, Inc.
Opens the vendor's own site.
Jobs covered
Open a task to see exactly what the vendor documentation supports.
View
Browse all view toolsviewing and navigating imported PDF documents in Notability: adding a PDF to a note as a page background, opening/reading its pages, automatic detection and display of a PDF's outlines/table of contents, outline-based navigation, and viewing the document while annotating or marking it up. The scope records PDF import/display/navigation and note-based annotation viewing only; it excludes editing the PDF's original body text or layout, OCR of arbitrary scans, text extraction, format conversion beyond the app's note/PDF sharing, merging, redaction, digital signatures, accessibility validation/remediation and any claim that annotation masks are redaction
Where your files are processed
Mixed - depends on version and feature
The vendor's own documentation separates them. On the device: iOS, macOS. On their servers: Web. A single answer for the whole product would be wrong for one of them.
Mixed by edition/feature. Native Apple apps can annotate local and iCloud documents, while Notability Cloud/web access, sync and AI/transcription features use vendor services; the privacy policy says synced data is replicated on servers in the United States, and audio transcription uploads recordings for server processing.
Offline annotation on an installed edition is not proof that the web/cloud or AI paths are local. No universal all-local or all-cloud claim is made.
What it does
A handwriting-centred note app for iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows, Android and the web. You write or type on a page, import PDFs and other documents to mark up, and record audio that stays tied to the moment you were writing.
Imported PDFs are shown as note backgrounds; Notability can detect and display a PDF's outlines/table of contents for navigation, and you can annotate/mark up the document in the note. Paid tiers add unlimited notes, live transcription, handwriting recognition and AI features that turn notes into summaries, quizzes and flashcards.
The current App Store version is 16.13 (12 October 2026); free Starter is limited to five notes, and current individual plans are USD yearly (Lite/Plus/Pro), with no verified GBP price. It is a note-taking/annotation app, not a general PDF editor, OCR/extraction tool, redaction or signing tool, and no legal/accessibility certification is claimed.
Best for
Students and professionals who want one app for handwriting, lecture or meeting audio, and marking up imported PDFs on a tablet.
Worth knowing
The free Starter plan stops at five notes, and most headline features need a subscription. Current prices are published in USD yearly tiers (Lite/Plus/Pro); no current GBP price was verified, so no GBP figure or conversion is retained.
Audio transcription and the AI study tools upload notes/recordings to the vendor's servers, and synced data is replicated on US servers, so it is not a purely local workflow. PDF support is viewing/annotation: imported PDFs become note backgrounds, with outline/TOC detection and navigation, but Notability does not edit original PDF body text, extract/convert documents as a PDF utility, merge PDFs, redact content, sign PDFs, provide OCR of arbitrary scanned PDFs or validate accessibility.
Annotation can cover visible content but is not redaction. Native local annotation does not prove the web/cloud or AI paths are local.
The corporate owner is Ginger Labs, Inc.; the app is proprietary, not open source.
Details, and where each comes from
Vendor statements, our own reading of their pages, and the things nobody has established yet, each answered separately. Where we have not confirmed something it says so rather than guessing, and a row nobody has established is greyed out.
- Versions covered
- iOS · Android · macOS · Windows · Web
- Website
- notability.com
- Requires an account
- Not verified
- Free tier
- Yes
- Watermark on the free tier
- Not verified
- Maximum file size
- Not verified
- Batch processing
- Not verified
- Data residency
- United States
- Open source
- No
- Self-hostable
- No
- Licence
-
Proprietary, subscription/freemium app from Ginger Labs, Inc.
Proprietary, subscription/freemium app from Ginger Labs, Inc. Current published individual plans are in USD: Starter free with five notes, Lite USD 11.99/year (list USD 14.99), Plus USD 15.99/year (list USD 19.99), Pro USD 79.99/year (list USD 99.99); business plans exist.
No GBP price was verified from current official sources, so priceFromGbp is null and no conversion is made. A one-time Classic option is mentioned in the current record history but its current price/feature set is not treated as the main product.
There is no open-source licence.
- Redaction
- No redaction feature
- Programmatic access
- None
- Last availability check
- Responded in 125 ms 21 October 2026
Checked automatically by our own runner, not reported by the vendor. 100% of our last 30 checks got a response.
What the redaction verdict rests on
From the vendor's own documentation, read 22 September 2026. Not tested by us.
What that does not establish
The vendor’s own site was read on 22 September 2026 and contains no mention of redaction, sanitisation, blackout or whiteout. Absence from a vendor’s own material is not proof that a feature does not exist - it may be undocumented, or on a page the reading did not reach - but for a NEGATIVE claim it is the strongest evidence available, and it is weaker than a positive quote.
Recorded as such rather than presented as certainty.
What the vendor says
Claims are labelled rather than repeated as fact. Where we have checked something ourselves, it says so and shows when. Checked means we read the vendor's own page and it says what we recorded - not that we tested the behaviour, unless the note says we did.
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“Stop just taking notes. Start learning from them.”
Reported by the vendor Read 16 October 2026
Current slogan/marketing, downgraded from verified to reported. It does not establish learning outcomes or product capability.
Standing: Re-read and matched byte for byte
Check it yourself: the source, the SHA-256, and how we checked
- From
- the text a browser renders
- SHA-256
- d2966c88ad96a5b2ce9d8b37523fb5d5ec2207dfae5777acf91b640f76e2a226
How we checked
Re-read the current home page on 2026-10-16. The sentence is present as marketing copy, not a measurable capability claim.
Each claim is quoted from the vendor's own pages. This section describes what we have and have not checked - it is not a judgement about anyone.
Sponsorship is distribution, not an endorsement or a promise of search rankings, AI citations, traffic, or sales. This listing is a free entry, compiled from published sources.