Best Mac Calendar Task App For Students

1. Best Mac Calendar Task App For Students Free
2. Mac Calendar Task List

Manage Your Tasks With an App

Add events, tasks, and notes in either the web app, Mac app, or mobile app, and then share them with others. SmartDay is all about collaboration. Comments can be added to any shared event or task. The app also includes customization features, Google Calendar support, tasks, themes, and even special stuff like moon phases and holidays. The developer also gives 10% of all app revenue to. As a busy grad student, your typical school day might include presenting a group project, acing an exam, meeting with your advisor, completing three reading assignments, and attending an evening networking event.It's a lot to keep track of—but don't worry, there's an app for that.

If you haven't gone paperless with your to-do list yet, you're missing out. These apps let you edit and rearrange your to-dos based on changing priorities, share lists with family members or other collaborators, and get reminders for your upcoming deadlines, no matter which device you have on you at the moment. Managing tasks in an app is more efficient, more powerful, and simply a better way to be more productive than doing it on paper.

Recently, Microsoft acquired one of the best to-do apps on the market, Wunderlist, and announced it would stop supporting it as of April 2017. The app is still available, but it will no longer receive updates or bug fixes. That's why it's not in the table above. Anyone still using Wunderlist should start thinking about migrating to another app sooner rather than later. The company's own offering, the free Microsoft To-Do, has basic to-do functionality, but it lacks so much that the best apps offer that it's not really a competitor yet. It's still in beta, so there's hope for yet; in the meanwhile, however, Wunderlist users and those new to to-do list apps should thoroughly explore all their options and find the task-management app that best meets their needs. Fortunately, there are some excellent choices for a variety of work styles.

For example, if your idea of digital task management ideally starts in your email, you should check out ActiveInbox, which turns your Gmail inbox into a fully functioning to-do list. I think that your inbox should not be your to-do list, but everyone has different ideas. If you need an app that you can use with a number of people for shared responsibilities, you'll want an app like Asana or Todoist that has strong collaboration features.

To-Do List Apps vs. Project Management Apps

A great to-do app for personal use, households, and even small teams doesn't need to be super complicated, the way project management software is, even though they both essentially serve the same function. They both keep track of what needs to get done, when, and by whom. They help us manage time more efficiently and regulate how many tasks are on our plate at once. But personal to-do apps are simpler and cheaper than project management software. They're a better choice for many use cases.

The difference between to-do list apps, sometimes also called task-management apps, and project management apps is that to-do apps track any kind of tasks whereas project management apps track tasks that are related to projects. Project management apps typically track a lot of metadata related to the project, too.

To-do apps keep track of tasks, assignees, deadlines, and even discussion points related to the tasks. Project management apps do all of that, but they also add a lot more functionality, such as tracking how many tasks various people have on their plate, how much time it takes them to complete tasks, billable hours that are associated with certain tasks or projects, and so forth. Project management apps help guide projects, which generally have a final due date and deliverable. With to-do apps, people are generally just keeping track of tasks that need to get done but that aren't necessarily part of something that will one day end, the way a project ends.

You don't need to keep track of billable hours when picking up milk on the way home from work, and you don't need Gantt charts to get your kids to do their chores. At least, I hope you don't.

What To Look for in a To-Do App

There are a few qualities I look for in a good to-do list. For starters, you have to like the way it looks. I'm serious. How are you going to get stuff done if you can't even stand to look at the list itself because it's ugly? A looked-at list is a useful list.

Second, I like to-do apps that give me a range of tools for organizing my tasks. For example, I want to be able to quickly sort my work tasks from my personal tasks, or view them all according to deadline, or which ones are overdue. I also want to be able to rearrange the order of my tasks quickly and easily. I should be able to schedule reminders so that I get a notification about what I need to do when it's time, or when I'm in the location where the task should get done.

Third, it's always nice to have the option to make lists collaborative. If you run a household, a collaborative to-do list gives you the ability to assign tasks to other people. You can open your app and assign your kid the task of walking the dog. You can assign your partner the task of calling back the accountant. Whether you want those same people to have the power to assign tasks to you is another question that I will now sidestep and refuse to answer by changing the subject.

The Best Collaborative To-Do App

PCMag has two Editors' Choice picks for best collaborative to-do app. One goes to Todoist Premium, which is ideal for a small group of people. The other is Asana, which is better for managing more in-depth teamwork.

Todoist is a powerful to-do app for shared responsibilities, and a bonus feature is that it has a tool that monitors your productivity. Todoist has apps for all major platforms so you can use it anywhere. It's reliable. It's efficient. New features are being added all the time. Todoist Premium costs $28.99 per year. A free limited version is also available. I recommend starting with the free account to try it out, but make sure to consider the Premium features, as they really do add a lot of functionality and efficiency.

Asana is excellent for teamwork. Some people classify Asana as a workflow management app, and it is, but it can also function as a team to-do list. Asana has a free version, good for up to 15 people. At $99 per person per year, Asana Premium costs more than Todoist Premium, but as I said, it has additional functionality for managing more the elaborate teamwork typical of businesses.

The Best Free To-Do App

Among free apps, stick with Asana if you need to collaborate, but choose a simpler app, such as Remember the Milk, if you plan to use your to-do app solo. The problem some people encounter with Asana is that it can be too flexible. You might have a hard time figuring out just what to do with an app that comes with so many possibilities but not a lot of rules. In fact, PCMag has written entire features on how to get the most out of Asana.

Remember the Milk is extremely easy to learn to use, and the free version has all the functionality a single user needs. You won't have any questions about what to do with it or why. Write down things you need to do. Assign deadlines. Check them off when done. It's that's simple.

Many of the other to-do apps on this list are excellent, but their free versions are a little limiting compared with the power of their paid versions.

What's Not Here

There are tons of to-do list apps out there of varying quality, far more than we could ever review. And, in fact, we've reviewed more such apps than we have room to include here, too. ActiveInbox is one example of a decent to-do list app we've reviewed that didn't quite make the cut here.

It's also worth noting that we've also looked recently at Microsoft To-Do. Microsoft's offering is both worth following and a bit of a disappointment. Several years ago, Microsoft bought then-leading app Wunderlist, announcing it would discontinue the app and fold its best features into an all-new app. Fast-forward four years, and the Microsoft can only muster three stars with its own app and Wunderlist is still around, albeit no longer a dominant player after years in its semi-discontinued state.

While we'll never be able to cover all the to-do list apps, we're always experimenting with them behind the scenes, looking for that one app that will supercharge our productivity. If you have a favorite we haven't covered, please be sure to let us know in the comments.

Get Organized With a Great To-Do List App

Having a great to-do list app can help you get organized and get more done, whether you're managing only your own tasks or those for a family or small team. Below are the best ones worth exploring.

A to-do app is only as useful as the information you put into it, so in addition to picking the right app, you might also want to peruse these tips for creating better to-do lists.

Best To-Do List Apps in This Roundup:

• Asana Review

  
  MSRP: $0.00
  

  Pros: Flexible, fast, and modern design. Capable free version. Feature-rich. New Timeline view makes it easier to manage dependencies.

  Cons: Not ideal for graphics-intensive work. Can't switch between Task and Kanban project views after creation.

  Bottom Line: Asana is a top-notch collaboration tool that helps teams manage all kinds of tasks. Although it may be confusing at first, its flexibility and vast capabilities are well worth the initial effort it takes to get started.

  Read Review

• Todoist Review

  
  MSRP: $36.00
  

  Pros: Cross-platform support. Excellent features, such as natural language input and productivity reports. Efficient interface. Collaboration features. Offline functionality.

  Cons: A few important features not available to free users.

  Bottom Line: With a superb UI, support for plenty of platforms, and collaboration features, Todoist is a killer to-do list app, and a clear Editors' Choice.

  Read Review

• Any.do (for iPhone) Review

  
  MSRP: $26.88
  

  Pros: Unique daily review feature. Location-based reminders and collaboration features. Decent sharing capabilities for free members. Elegant.

  Cons: Location-based reminders and a few other key features restricted to paid Pro version.

  Bottom Line: Any.do is a useful and well designed to-do app, though the free version is a bit limited. Its standout feature is the Any.do Moment, which encourages you to review your daily task list before committing to it.

  Read Review

• OmniFocus 3 Review

  
  MSRP: $49.99
  

  Pros: Designed for GTD. Great features. Can add a lot of detail to tasks.

  Cons: No collaboration. High price. Not available for Windows or Android.

  Bottom Line: Now in version 3, OmniFocus is a powerful, albeit pricey, to-do app for Mac and iOS, and a good option as long as you're working solo. It's well suited for people who follow GTD, too.

  Read Review

• Remember the Milk Review

  
  MSRP: $39.99
  

  Pros: Includes some collaboration options in free version. Good array of features, some unique. Works offline. Supported on many platforms.

  Cons: Requires more manual input than other to-do-list apps. Pro version comparatively expensive. No location-based reminders.

  Bottom Line: Remember the Milk is a capable to-do-list app with some sharing options included at no cost, making it good for household use. The Pro version unlocks extra features but is on the expensive side.

  Read Review

• TickTick Review

  
  MSRP: $27.99
  

  Pros: Collaborative. Rich with features. Supports wide range of platforms. Includes features useful for GTD.

  Cons: Unusual restrictions on both free and paid accounts. No free trial. Some features don't work as expected.

  Bottom Line: The feature-rich TickTick is a good to-do app with some neat features that will appeal to GTD adherents. The free version has tight restrictions, so be prepared to pay for the premium upgrade.

  Read Review

• Things 3 Review

  
  MSRP: $9.99
  

  Pros: Well-designed app. Clean interface. One-time purchase rather than subscription.

  Cons: No collaboration features, location-based reminders, or web app. Only compatible with Apple products. No free version.

  Bottom Line: Can a superbly designed interface for task management make up for the lack of key features? With to-do list app Things 3, it's a legitimate possibility.

  Read Review

• Toodledo Review

  
  MSRP: $29.99
  

  Pros: Strong feature set. Includes some features for GTD followers. Treats notes, habits, lists, and outlines as separate from tasks.

  Cons: Paid tiers of service have many limitations. Collaboration only possible among paying members. Ugly interface.

  Bottom Line: There's no denying Toodledo's power, or its long list of features. But it takes a lot of customization and learning to get the app to work the way you want.

  Read Review

• Workflowy Review

  
  MSRP: $4.99
  

  Pros: Simple and elegant list-making app. Excellent implementation of nested lists. Easy to rearrange items.

  Cons: No due dates, reminders, recurring settings, or calendar integration. Requires Pro account for Dropbox backup and password protection.

  Bottom Line: List makers will love WorkFlowy for its simple elegance, and while it has some capabilities to serve as a collaborative to-do app, it comes up short.

  Read Review

• Wunderlist Review

  
  MSRP: $0.00
  

  Pros: Great features in free version. Lovely interface. Good selection of desktop and mobile apps. Supports collaboration.

  Cons: No longer actively supported, except for security updates. No location-based reminders. Some features behind the times.

  Bottom Line: After Microsoft acquired Wunderlist, the company said it would kill off the app. eventually. If you're already on board, there's no rush to quit. If you're looking for a new to-do app, however, you're better off picking up something that will last.

  Read Review

As of Apple's launch of the iPad Air 3 and the iPad mini 5, all-new model iPad devices support Apple Pencil. That's the 9.7-inch iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro, and iPad mini. Whether you need to take handwritten notes, annotate documents, record audio, create sports playbooks, and more, the App Store has a number of fantastic apps for note-taking. Here isç the cream of the crop based on our extensive testing.

Starting out? Try The Notes app

The iPad's default Notes app is perfectly suited for use with Apple Pencil. It has text recognition search, inline scanning and annotation, and sketching or handwriting support. With Apple Pencil 2, you can assign the double-tap tool to either erase or the last tool used. It has more limited features than the best third-party notes app — you can't sync your notes anywhere but iCloud, and there's no easy way to link various notes together — but if you're just jotting down a quick note or sketching an idea, the Notes app is that perfect quick-hit app. Sort of like having a napkin with you at all times.

Notability is the best for general note-taking

For example, if your idea of digital task management ideally starts in your email, you should check out ActiveInbox, which turns your Gmail inbox into a fully functioning to-do list. I think that your inbox should not be your to-do list, but everyone has different ideas. If you need an app that you can use with a number of people for shared responsibilities, you'll want an app like Asana or Todoist that has strong collaboration features.

To-Do List Apps vs. Project Management Apps

A great to-do app for personal use, households, and even small teams doesn't need to be super complicated, the way project management software is, even though they both essentially serve the same function. They both keep track of what needs to get done, when, and by whom. They help us manage time more efficiently and regulate how many tasks are on our plate at once. But personal to-do apps are simpler and cheaper than project management software. They're a better choice for many use cases.

The difference between to-do list apps, sometimes also called task-management apps, and project management apps is that to-do apps track any kind of tasks whereas project management apps track tasks that are related to projects. Project management apps typically track a lot of metadata related to the project, too.

To-do apps keep track of tasks, assignees, deadlines, and even discussion points related to the tasks. Project management apps do all of that, but they also add a lot more functionality, such as tracking how many tasks various people have on their plate, how much time it takes them to complete tasks, billable hours that are associated with certain tasks or projects, and so forth. Project management apps help guide projects, which generally have a final due date and deliverable. With to-do apps, people are generally just keeping track of tasks that need to get done but that aren't necessarily part of something that will one day end, the way a project ends.

You don't need to keep track of billable hours when picking up milk on the way home from work, and you don't need Gantt charts to get your kids to do their chores. At least, I hope you don't.

What To Look for in a To-Do App

There are a few qualities I look for in a good to-do list. For starters, you have to like the way it looks. I'm serious. How are you going to get stuff done if you can't even stand to look at the list itself because it's ugly? A looked-at list is a useful list.

Second, I like to-do apps that give me a range of tools for organizing my tasks. For example, I want to be able to quickly sort my work tasks from my personal tasks, or view them all according to deadline, or which ones are overdue. I also want to be able to rearrange the order of my tasks quickly and easily. I should be able to schedule reminders so that I get a notification about what I need to do when it's time, or when I'm in the location where the task should get done.

Third, it's always nice to have the option to make lists collaborative. If you run a household, a collaborative to-do list gives you the ability to assign tasks to other people. You can open your app and assign your kid the task of walking the dog. You can assign your partner the task of calling back the accountant. Whether you want those same people to have the power to assign tasks to you is another question that I will now sidestep and refuse to answer by changing the subject.

The Best Collaborative To-Do App

PCMag has two Editors' Choice picks for best collaborative to-do app. One goes to Todoist Premium, which is ideal for a small group of people. The other is Asana, which is better for managing more in-depth teamwork.

Todoist is a powerful to-do app for shared responsibilities, and a bonus feature is that it has a tool that monitors your productivity. Todoist has apps for all major platforms so you can use it anywhere. It's reliable. It's efficient. New features are being added all the time. Todoist Premium costs $28.99 per year. A free limited version is also available. I recommend starting with the free account to try it out, but make sure to consider the Premium features, as they really do add a lot of functionality and efficiency.

Asana is excellent for teamwork. Some people classify Asana as a workflow management app, and it is, but it can also function as a team to-do list. Asana has a free version, good for up to 15 people. At $99 per person per year, Asana Premium costs more than Todoist Premium, but as I said, it has additional functionality for managing more the elaborate teamwork typical of businesses.

The Best Free To-Do App

Among free apps, stick with Asana if you need to collaborate, but choose a simpler app, such as Remember the Milk, if you plan to use your to-do app solo. The problem some people encounter with Asana is that it can be too flexible. You might have a hard time figuring out just what to do with an app that comes with so many possibilities but not a lot of rules. In fact, PCMag has written entire features on how to get the most out of Asana.

Remember the Milk is extremely easy to learn to use, and the free version has all the functionality a single user needs. You won't have any questions about what to do with it or why. Write down things you need to do. Assign deadlines. Check them off when done. It's that's simple.

Many of the other to-do apps on this list are excellent, but their free versions are a little limiting compared with the power of their paid versions.

What's Not Here

There are tons of to-do list apps out there of varying quality, far more than we could ever review. And, in fact, we've reviewed more such apps than we have room to include here, too. ActiveInbox is one example of a decent to-do list app we've reviewed that didn't quite make the cut here.

It's also worth noting that we've also looked recently at Microsoft To-Do. Microsoft's offering is both worth following and a bit of a disappointment. Several years ago, Microsoft bought then-leading app Wunderlist, announcing it would discontinue the app and fold its best features into an all-new app. Fast-forward four years, and the Microsoft can only muster three stars with its own app and Wunderlist is still around, albeit no longer a dominant player after years in its semi-discontinued state.

While we'll never be able to cover all the to-do list apps, we're always experimenting with them behind the scenes, looking for that one app that will supercharge our productivity. If you have a favorite we haven't covered, please be sure to let us know in the comments.

Get Organized With a Great To-Do List App

Having a great to-do list app can help you get organized and get more done, whether you're managing only your own tasks or those for a family or small team. Below are the best ones worth exploring.

A to-do app is only as useful as the information you put into it, so in addition to picking the right app, you might also want to peruse these tips for creating better to-do lists.

Best To-Do List Apps in This Roundup:

• Asana Review

  
  MSRP: $0.00
  

  Pros: Flexible, fast, and modern design. Capable free version. Feature-rich. New Timeline view makes it easier to manage dependencies.

  Cons: Not ideal for graphics-intensive work. Can't switch between Task and Kanban project views after creation.

  Bottom Line: Asana is a top-notch collaboration tool that helps teams manage all kinds of tasks. Although it may be confusing at first, its flexibility and vast capabilities are well worth the initial effort it takes to get started.

  Read Review

• Todoist Review

  
  MSRP: $36.00
  

  Pros: Cross-platform support. Excellent features, such as natural language input and productivity reports. Efficient interface. Collaboration features. Offline functionality.

  Cons: A few important features not available to free users.

  Bottom Line: With a superb UI, support for plenty of platforms, and collaboration features, Todoist is a killer to-do list app, and a clear Editors' Choice.

  Read Review

• Any.do (for iPhone) Review

  
  MSRP: $26.88
  

  Pros: Unique daily review feature. Location-based reminders and collaboration features. Decent sharing capabilities for free members. Elegant.

  Cons: Location-based reminders and a few other key features restricted to paid Pro version.

  Bottom Line: Any.do is a useful and well designed to-do app, though the free version is a bit limited. Its standout feature is the Any.do Moment, which encourages you to review your daily task list before committing to it.

  Read Review

• OmniFocus 3 Review

  
  MSRP: $49.99
  

  Pros: Designed for GTD. Great features. Can add a lot of detail to tasks.

  Cons: No collaboration. High price. Not available for Windows or Android.

  Bottom Line: Now in version 3, OmniFocus is a powerful, albeit pricey, to-do app for Mac and iOS, and a good option as long as you're working solo. It's well suited for people who follow GTD, too.

  Read Review

• Remember the Milk Review

  
  MSRP: $39.99
  

  Pros: Includes some collaboration options in free version. Good array of features, some unique. Works offline. Supported on many platforms.

  Cons: Requires more manual input than other to-do-list apps. Pro version comparatively expensive. No location-based reminders.

  Bottom Line: Remember the Milk is a capable to-do-list app with some sharing options included at no cost, making it good for household use. The Pro version unlocks extra features but is on the expensive side.

  Read Review

• TickTick Review

  
  MSRP: $27.99
  

  Pros: Collaborative. Rich with features. Supports wide range of platforms. Includes features useful for GTD.

  Cons: Unusual restrictions on both free and paid accounts. No free trial. Some features don't work as expected.

  Bottom Line: The feature-rich TickTick is a good to-do app with some neat features that will appeal to GTD adherents. The free version has tight restrictions, so be prepared to pay for the premium upgrade.

  Read Review

• Things 3 Review

  
  MSRP: $9.99
  

  Pros: Well-designed app. Clean interface. One-time purchase rather than subscription.

  Cons: No collaboration features, location-based reminders, or web app. Only compatible with Apple products. No free version.

  Bottom Line: Can a superbly designed interface for task management make up for the lack of key features? With to-do list app Things 3, it's a legitimate possibility.

  Read Review

• Toodledo Review

  
  MSRP: $29.99
  

  Pros: Strong feature set. Includes some features for GTD followers. Treats notes, habits, lists, and outlines as separate from tasks.

  Cons: Paid tiers of service have many limitations. Collaboration only possible among paying members. Ugly interface.

  Bottom Line: There's no denying Toodledo's power, or its long list of features. But it takes a lot of customization and learning to get the app to work the way you want.

  Read Review

• Workflowy Review

  
  MSRP: $4.99
  

  Pros: Simple and elegant list-making app. Excellent implementation of nested lists. Easy to rearrange items.

  Cons: No due dates, reminders, recurring settings, or calendar integration. Requires Pro account for Dropbox backup and password protection.

  Bottom Line: List makers will love WorkFlowy for its simple elegance, and while it has some capabilities to serve as a collaborative to-do app, it comes up short.

  Read Review

• Wunderlist Review

  
  MSRP: $0.00
  

  Pros: Great features in free version. Lovely interface. Good selection of desktop and mobile apps. Supports collaboration.

  Cons: No longer actively supported, except for security updates. No location-based reminders. Some features behind the times.

  Bottom Line: After Microsoft acquired Wunderlist, the company said it would kill off the app. eventually. If you're already on board, there's no rush to quit. If you're looking for a new to-do app, however, you're better off picking up something that will last.

  Read Review

As of Apple's launch of the iPad Air 3 and the iPad mini 5, all-new model iPad devices support Apple Pencil. That's the 9.7-inch iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro, and iPad mini. Whether you need to take handwritten notes, annotate documents, record audio, create sports playbooks, and more, the App Store has a number of fantastic apps for note-taking. Here isç the cream of the crop based on our extensive testing.

Starting out? Try The Notes app

The iPad's default Notes app is perfectly suited for use with Apple Pencil. It has text recognition search, inline scanning and annotation, and sketching or handwriting support. With Apple Pencil 2, you can assign the double-tap tool to either erase or the last tool used. It has more limited features than the best third-party notes app — you can't sync your notes anywhere but iCloud, and there's no easy way to link various notes together — but if you're just jotting down a quick note or sketching an idea, the Notes app is that perfect quick-hit app. Sort of like having a napkin with you at all times.

Notability is the best for general note-taking

Notability is a fan favorite of many note-taking aficionados, including me. It has an excellent interface full of tools for handwriting, drawing, annotating PDFs, making shapes, highlighting, moving objects around, adding audio, integrating photos and web clips, and more. If you want your note-taking experience to feel more real, you can choose from a number of different paper styles, including grids, which is very useful for vector line drawing. You can share your notebooks to just about every major service and print them, along with importing notebooks from Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, or a WebDAV service. Notability also offers iCloud sync support and a companion Mac app.

Because it's so feature-rich, it can seem a little intimidating to newcomers. Luckily, Notability has a really nice tutorial that guides you through its features when you first open it.

It also works flawlessly with the Apple Pencil — whether you're writing, sketching, or drawing shapes. It's an excellent, well-designed app if you want a little bit more power than what the default Notes app provides.

GoodNotes is for the power-using note-taker. It is packed to the brim with a robust list of pro features. I'd never heard of the app until developer Chris Liscio pointed it out, and I'm so happy he did.

For starters, GoodNotes offers a truly massive selection of paper types for its digital notebooks, including lined, graph, design, and music notation; there are even advanced options that let you upload custom templates. Better still, most templates are available in specific paper sizes (if you're working for print). GoodNotes also offers a ton of different cover styles and choices, all of which can be written upon and further designed.

Like the other apps in this roundup, GoodNotes supports writing and drawing with the Apple Pencil — along with a number of third-party stylus options — using two different digital writing tools: a digital fountain or ball pen in a preset or custom color spectrum.

GoodNotes also has built-in handwriting search recognition and text conversion (done via MyScript's engine, which also powers MyScript Nebo).

Note: As friend-of-iMore Jason Snell has pointed out, apps like GoodNotes do this largely by guessing your words. You might get a hit for 'app' after writing the word, but searching for 'ape' might bring you to the same page.

If you're looking for a more extensive option than Notability, GoodNotes is a feature-rich app well worth the download.

For Office users, OneNote is great

Microsoft's note app is more of a note storing receptacle than a full-featured note-taking app. That being said, it's got plenty of useful features for iPad owners with an Office 365 subscription. Even if you don't you can import and edit documents for free. You just need a Microsoft or Skype account. With OneNote, you can share links to your notebooks to the public, email a PDF of your notebook to others, and annotate documents with your Apple Pencil. In a single note, you can sketch an idea, add photos and audio, type notes, create calendars, and more. It's similar to Evernote but is designed to work seamlessly with Office 365.

PDF Expert is the king of PDF annotation and markup

Though you can quickly highlight, edit, and markup PDFs on your iPad using the built-in Markup extension, if you regularly need to annotate PDF files, you should consider PDF Expert instead. It's got a list of comprehensive markup tools to make things easier for you. You can open up PDFs from iCloud or pretty much any other online service with the PDF Expert app, fill out forms, and sign documents; you can also work with items with a digital pen, shape tool, underline, strike-thru, or highlighter option, as well as create 'stamps' for often-used wording. All of these changes, after saved, are not only fully editable in PDF Expert, but in apps like Adobe Acrobat and Preview — so you can move from Mac to PC and back again with your iPad.

PDF Expert also lets you edit the structure of PDFs themselves: You can rearrange pages, delete sections, extract parts of the PDF, and even add new blank pages to your documents. Once you're finished with a PDF document, you can even zip it (or multiple documents) with PDF Expert's built-in compressor, and password-protect crucial documents.

Should you want to further tinker with your PDFs, Expert offers a Pro upgrade in-app that allows you to physically edit the text, images, and links inside a PDF, as well as redact information.

If you need handwriting recognition, get MyScript Nebo

Forget mere note-taking: If you want your scribbles converted to text, you're going to need an app that supports handwriting conversion. We've come a long way from the Newton and egg freckles, but the apps available for such things are still few and far between. Apps like Notes and GoodNotes scan your text for search purposes, but don't offer outright handwriting recognition. In contrast, there are apps like MyScript Nebo, which offers full handwriting-to-text conversion.

MyScript has been a big name in handwriting recognition for years (including a handwriting recognition keyboard), but the Nebo app is the company's first attempt at an app designed for Apple Pencil and iPad Pro, and it's excellent. It's simple enough to use and offers a silky-smooth digital pen tool in multiple colors. In addition, users can add photographic and video content, diagrams, and equations alongside handwriting or digital text.

Nebo's notebooks can be converted a paragraph at a time or as a full notebook; those conversions are entirely non-destructive, too, so you can preserve the handwriting if the type conversion isn't perfect. You can also export notebooks as text, HTML, PDF, or Word documents. Sync is available through MyScript's proprietary service, as well as iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox.

Here are some other great note-taking apps that don't necessarily fit this list, but are still worth mentioning in their own right.

• Evernote, Free with in-app subscription: Like Microsoft's OneNote, Evernote is an incredible import repository for organizing a ton of data, notes, documents, and sketches. But to take full advantage of its sync capabilities, PDF annotation, and more, you need a monthly subscription. Evernote is great if you need all the features a subscription provides, but not quite worth jumping in for the free version.
• LiquidText, Free with in-app purchases: LiquidText is a brilliant concept for organizing and annotating PDFs but it's a little too specialized to be considered equal to PDF Expert.
• Noteshelf, $13.99: This app combines many great features from Notability and GoodNotes, including custom page templates and audio recordings, but the writing tool isn't quite as good.
• Notes Plus, $9.99: Notes Plus is a strong entry in the handwriting recognition category with support for Apple Pencil — but it's a little clunkier in the looks department, with iffy palm rejection.
• Whink, $4.99: Whink is a great entry-level handwriting app, and it's still quite nice, offering nice pen tools, audio and photo integration, and basic document annotation. But the stock Notes app is a better overall recommendation for most users.

Your favorites?

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These note-taking apps are the perfect fit for iPad and Apple Pencil users. They're not the only ones in the App Store, though. Do you have a favorite you'd like to see on this list? Put them in the comments!

Updated April 2019: Updated for Apple Pencil 2 and support for iPad Air 3 and iPad mini 5.

Serenity Caldwell contributed to an earlier version of this guide.

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