The Top 5 Note Taking Apps For University Revealed

Whilst at university you should discover all the note taking apps that are available, you have plenty to choose from.

Whether you’re a new student heading to uni for the first time or someone returning for their second or third year, you can expect to be taking quite a few notes in your lectures and seminars. 

Whilst there is the usual pen and paper to take notes, it means carrying them around all day, remembering to take them with you to each session and where you have previously left them and it means using a lot of paper each year. 

With how technology has improved, there is one thing everyone carries around with them that is compact, light and can be used for a variety of purposes – your phone!

Using your phone is one of the easiest ways to take notes, especially with all the apps that are available. 

Here are the top 5 note taking apps that students should download… 

1. Notability

Notability is an easy to use note taking app that helps students to be collaborative and manage their projects.

With a fun feature of handwriting recognition, Notability allows users to create hand-crafted notes on any document they upload to the app.

These notes (sketches/outlines) can be combined and shared with fellow students through platforms such as Dropbox and Google Drive.

Notability has many features, two of the most helpful are being able to create your own content and receive both verbal and written comments from classmates – great for those group projects!

Notes can all be kept in an organised way as the app allows users to categorise with dividers or through subject classification.

Plus you can keep your notes secure with the Face ID and Touch ID feature.

Notability is only available for IOS users. 

2. Evernote

Evernote is one of the best note taking apps to use for those who struggle with organisation, this will make life so much easier!

Users can add anything – text, photos, files, meaning students can keep everything all in one app.

It helps users find specific notes fast with their keyword tags and search feature so you never have to worry about misplacing that key piece of information ever again.

Another notable feature is the ability to sync devices, making it transportable from home computer to mobile to use from anywhere – ensuring you have everything you need at all times.

What makes this app even better is the ability to not only accumulate personal notes but also save web pages and pdfs and annotate them.

Note taking apps are the best alternative for students who wish to go paperless throughout their time at uni.

Evernote is available for both Android and IOS users.

3. Notes

For anyone who uses Apple devices (Iphone and Ipad) automatically have access to a note taking app.

University is one of the best ways to really utilise this free app to its full potential – you have it so you may as well use it.

The Notes app has many great features above just basic note taking during lectures.

Including the ability to add attachments from photos to web links and documents – helping to keep everything linked and easily found for the next time you come to use it.

Also the app has common features such as the options for bulleted lists and creating tables to help keep all information easily found. You can even scan documents too, so forget having to head to the printer anytime you want to email a document! 

Another notable feature is the use of folders and subfolders to help keep all notes organised – organising notes into subject topics is an easy way to identify your work when looking back through them for an assignment.

Plus Notes is great for projects that require a group effort as the app allows users to collaborate on shared folders or specific shared notes, which helps students share information with each other quickly and from anywhere.

In case you don’t have the app – go to the Apple Store on your Iphone or Ipad to download.

4. Google Keep

Google Keep is a note taking app that connects to Google drive.

The app allows users to create a variety of notes, from regular and list notes to handwritten/drawn, voice and picture notes – these can be used individually or collectively as one note, how handy is that?

Notes can be allocated titles to help users find specific notes easily but to help keep them organised the app has a few different ways to help.

Including the ability to pin notes to the top of the list, changing colours to identify notes from the others and changing views depending on what the user finds the easiest.

The app also helps keep the notes organised through labels which act as folders so students can categorise by subject, making it quick to find when looking back over them in the next lecture.

A bonus of this app is the fact that it can be shared with others the same way that Google docs can be shared, so it is easy to collaborate with other students on team projects.

Plus it enables users with multiple Google accounts to change the account they are using.

Google Keep is available to both Android and IOS users.

5. Microsoft OneNote

Lastly on our list of the best note taking apps for students is Microsoft OneNote.

This digital notebook that delivers everything you need to stay organised.

Through sections and pages – keeping things separate will help find them again later on, especially with their easy navigation and search feature.

Another aspect that will help is the tag feature which allows the user to highlight any important information they need to remember – so there’s no excuses here.

Boring notes are the thing of the past, OneNote allows the user to draw and annotate notes, as well as enabling them to record audio notes, insert online videos and add files.

It also allows the user to share notes – helpful when you need to collaborate on a team project or even help out a fellow student who may have missed a lecture.

Download the app on Android or IOS. 

Well that’s the end if our list of the top note taking apps to use. We hope you are ready to start a fantastic year at uni with our helpful guide!

If you struggle when studying, check out our tips on what to avoid with inspiration from #StudyTok here.