Top 16 Best S Pen Apps For Notes, Drawings, PDFs & More (2024)

Samsung’s phones and tablets with S Pen continue to be very popular and Samsung is releasing new devices every year. But which apps can you use with the S Pen? Here are the best Android apps for the S Pen. Usually, they work with tablets and pens from other brands too.

Read: The Best Samsung Tablets Tested

Samsung Notes

Top 16 Best S Pen Apps For Notes, Drawings, PDFs & More (1)

The Samsung Notes app is the most popular app for the S Pen, of course, because it’s included with every Samsung tablet and phone. It’s a great app for handwritten notes, but you can also add drawings and normal, typed text.

If you’re using Samsung devices only, this is probably the only notes app you’ll need because it’s well made and works great. But you can’t use it on devices that are not made by Samsung. So, if your phone and tablet are made by different manufactures or if you think you might want to switch in the future, you should use a different one.

Microsoft OneNote

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A free note taking app that works well with the S Pen and can synch across pretty much all platforms is Microsoft OneNote. Unlike with Microsoft’s other Office apps, you don’t have to be a 365 subscriber here. You can have lots of different notebooks and notes and you can write computer text and handwritten text with the S Pen. You can also use both at the same time, add images or drawings, as well as audio notes.

OneNote can be a fantastic choice, for example, if you’re using a Samsung S Pen device and a Microsoft Surface tablet, so that your notes get synched across both. It does not work as good in Chrome OS, so if you’re also using a Chrome OS device, I can’t recommend it.

Nebo

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Nebo is my favorite note taking app at the moment. While it’s not free, you’ll have to pay 10 dollars, it has lots of features and works with Android, iPadOS, Chrome OS and Windows. The most important feature of Nebo is that it converts your handwritten text into typed computer text. And it does an excellent job. You can have notebooks with lots of different languages and my English and German notes both get recognized very well.

You can edit your notes with the pen and fingers using gestures. That way you can mark text, write something bold, separate lines, and add bullet points. You can also add diagrams and drawings. Nebo is very well executed and if you want your handwritten text converted into typed text, you should definitely check it out.

Squid

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Squid is another pretty good note taking app that is mostly free to use, although it’s not my favorite. Without having to pay, you can have lots of notebooks and notes and add your handwritten notes and drawings. But to get additional tools, like different pens and backgrounds, you’ll need a subscription. Once you’re a subscriber, you can also import and annotate PDFs and have your notes synched in the cloud. Squid works well with Chromebooks too, so it could be a great choice if you use a Chromebook as well in addition to an Android tablet or phone.

INKredible

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INKredible is another note taking app that’s great for handwritten notes. The app icon looks a bit pixelated on a tablet, but don’t worry, the app itself and the handwritten notes look great. You can have different notebooks and notes here too, and you can add notes and drawings, use different tools, and so on. The basic features are free, so you can try it first and use it for basic notes without having to pay anything. However, if you want more tools or if you want to annotate PDFs with it, you either have to buy single features as an in-app-purchase or get the Pro version for 8 dollars.

Bamboo Paper

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Bamboo Paper is a great free note taking app. It doesn’t have as many features as the other ones do, but it works great for handwritten notes. It doesn’t transform your notes into handwritten text. And you can’t add PDFs. But you can include images, and, as I said, it’s free, works well and looks nice too. It’s a nice and simple alternative to the others.

Autodesk Sketchbook

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Autodesk Sketchbook is a free and fantastic drawing app. You can use it for simple drawings, but also for very complex and difficult artwork. You can use lots of tools from simple brushes up to different kinds of rulers and even tools that make it simpler to draw symmetrically. It supports layers too, just as Photoshop does, for instance. It’s a great app for drawing – and as I said, it’s completely free.

Adobe Photoshop Sketch

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Another free drawing app is Adobe Photoshop Sketch. It doesn’t have as many features and tools which makes it look a bit simpler. But here you can use different brushes too. Layers are supported and it has tools that help you to draw shapes. You can also import Brushes, so it might be a great app, if you use lots of Adobe products anyways.

Penup

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Now, a different kind of drawing app is Penup which is made by Samsung and works with Samsung devices only. It has lots of different features and modes. In one mode, you can use it as a coloring book. Yes, that means you color in shapes just as you might have done as a kid.

You can also use it to learn how to draw. Here you follow along as someone draws and you try to imitate that drawing. That works very well.

RoughAnimator

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Now, if you want to animate your drawings, you should check out RoughAnimator. You’ll have to pay 5 dollars but it’s a very powerful app. Basically, you can use it to animate your own movie. There are lots of tools and options and you’ve got to spend some time to learn everything. But ones you do, you could make a real animated movie with it. The old way, like Disney’s Snowwhite was made. Well, at least kind of. I’m terrible at drawing but I know I would have loved it as a kid.

Write on PDF

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If you’re using a Samsung device and want to annotate PDFs occasionally, you can do that with the app Write on PDF. Now, for some reason there’s no app icon for that app. But once you try to open a PDF, you can choose to open it with Write on PDF. It’s a very simple app that let’s you annotate the PDF only without any extra tools. But it works and you don’t have to install anything extra.

Adobe Acrobat Reader

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In case you want to annotate PDFs more often and also edit them, highlight texts, save signatures and so on, then you should check out the Adobe Acrobat Reader for Android. It’s free and you can use it to read, edit, annotate and highlight PDFs. And, as I said, you can also save signatures in case you need to sign PDFs often.

Adobe Fill & Sign

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If you need to add signatures to PDFs often and if you often need to fill out PDF forms, you can also check out the Adobe app Fill and Sign which is specifically made just for that purpose. It’s free and I used it a couple of times to fill out contracts and it works great.

Microsoft Math

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Microsoft Math is a fantastic app for students – especially if you can use it secretly at school during exams. Here, you simply handwrite the math equation you’re working on. You can also just take a photo of a piece of paper with the equation. In both cases, once you tip on the arrow, you see the solution for the equation and the way to solve it. You even get a diagram and you can take math quizzes. You can learn real math with this app and it’s free.

MyScript Calculator 2

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A similar but a bit different app is MyScript Calculator 2. This is basically just a calculator for handwritten math problems. By hand you write what you need calculated and it calculates the solution for you. It works great but it gives you the solution only, not the way to get there. You’ll have to pay 3 dollars but it works great.

Scribble Racer

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Let’s end this list with a game for your S Pen. Scribble Racer is one of those endless runners. But here, you use your pen to draw your way through obstacles and collect stuff. It’s a fun, simple games, that’s free.

Top 16 Best S Pen Apps For Notes, Drawings, PDFs & More (2024)

FAQs

Which app is best for writing notes with stylus? ›

Whether you're just typing text, writing with a stylus, or scribbling with your finger, there are a lot of different note-taking apps for Android out there.
...
  1. OneNote. A flexible note-taking app. ...
  2. Evernote. Many regard this as a must-have productivity app. ...
  3. Google Keep. ...
  4. Material Notes. ...
  5. Simplenote. ...
  6. Keep My Notes.
Jul 27, 2022

What app does S Pen use? ›

The Samsung Notes app is the most popular app for the S Pen, of course, because it's included with every Samsung tablet and phone. It's a great app for handwritten notes, but you can also add drawings and normal, typed text.

Is there a Samsung drawing app? ›

Express your inner artist

The PENUP app is a social network for people who like to draw and interact with fellow creative types. It's a thriving art community right on your Galaxy smartphone.

Is Samsung S Pen good for drawing? ›

If you are searching for a digital drawing/writing device you must have come across Apple Pencil and Samsung S-Pen. These two are some of the best digital pens in the market with best in class pen tracking and super-fast response times.

Which is the best app to keep notes? ›

  • Best Overall Evernote. Evernote. ...
  • Runner-Up, Best Overall OneNote. OneNote. ...
  • Best for Collaboration Dropbox Paper. Dropbox Paper. ...
  • Best for Ease Of Use Simplenote. ...
  • Best Built-in For iOS Apple Notes. ...
  • Best Built-in For Android Google Keep. ...
  • Best For Managing Different Types Of Notes Zoho Notebook. ...
  • Best For Encryption Saferoom.
Apr 15, 2022

What is better than OneNote? ›

Because of this, Evernote is one step ahead of its opponents and enjoys growing popularity as a OneNote alternative. With regards to clarity, text formatting, and multimedia, Evernote is comparable to Microsoft's OneNote. With Evernote, you can also create as many notebooks as you want.

How long does S Pen battery last? ›

A full charge allows for up to 30 minutes of usage time or 200 button clicks.

What is the best S Pen? ›

The best stylus for Android devices available now
  • Adonit Dash 4. The best stylus pen for note taking. ...
  • Samsung S Pen Pro. The best stylus for Samsung devices. ...
  • Meko Universal 2-in-1 Stylus. The best budget stylus for Android. ...
  • Adonit Neo Lite. ...
  • Staedtler 180 22-1 Noris Digital. ...
  • Digiroot Universal Stylus.
May 23, 2022

How does S Pen work without battery? ›

The S Pen's wireless functions are powered by Bluetooth, and the S Pen will need an occasional charge to keep working. Charging the S Pen is as simple as inserting it into your phone.

What is the best app to use to draw? ›

Top drawing apps to use
  1. Krita. Krita is free, open-source software that works for Windows, Mac, and Linux users. ...
  2. MediBang Paint Pro. ...
  3. FireAlpaca. ...
  4. Autodesk Sketchbook. ...
  5. CorelDRAW. ...
  6. Adobe Photoshop. ...
  7. Procreate. ...
  8. Blender.
Mar 3, 2022

What is the best Android app for drawing? ›

Best drawing and painting apps for Android
  • Here, we discover the best Android tablet apps for artists, whether for sketching, drawing or painting. ...
  • Infinite Painter. ...
  • ArtRage. ...
  • Autodesk Sketchbook. ...
  • Adobe Illustrator Draw. ...
  • Tayasui Sketches Lite. ...
  • ArtFlow.

Is S Pen better than stylus? ›

A replacement S-Pen is also relatively cheap and readily available. But the S-Pen is compatible only with a few Samsung devices. A third-party stylus, on the other hand, may offer universal support and is also dirt cheap. It may not have a lot of features, like the S-Pen, but it does the job pretty nicely.

What is the S Pen good for? ›

S Pen is like a magic wand. It unlocks the Galaxy Note's powers to help you do things faster, better and create what you want. Whether it's jotting down ideas on the fly or sketching what inspires you, it raises the bar on whatever you thought was possible.

Which Galaxy S has a built in S Pen? ›

The Galaxy S22 Ultra is the first S Series product with an embedded S Pen.

What app do students use for notes? ›

Microsoft OneNote

OneNote is a well-known and popular app that lets students capture, organize and share notes. Kids can organize their notes in folders, as well as sort and search quickly. The app works across multiple devices, and allows the sharing of notes with others.

Which app is used to write notes? ›

Microsoft Onenote is a free app for notetaking. With OneNote, you get unlimited devices - a feature that other note-taking apps, like Evernote and Bear, keep behind a premium subscription. With OneNote you can take with you almost anywhere your class notes, work notes, articles, drawings, the shopping list.

Is there a free app for notes? ›

Notepad Free

Notepad Free is one of the highest-rated note-taking apps for Android. If you're looking for the simplest solution without fancy additional features, this is it.

Is Microsoft killing OneNote? ›

As a result, the current OneNote for Windows 10 app would be retired in the future and Microsoft would help users move from that app to the updated OneNote app sometime in 2022.

Is Evernote the best? ›

Evernote is still, in our opinion, the best app for note-taking. While OneNote definitely has its advantages and is totally free, Evernote wins out in the end, thanks to its tools for team management that make it an excellent app for collaborating on work tasks and school projects.

What is Microsoft replacing OneNote with? ›

The OneNote desktop app (previously called OneNote 2016) is now installed by default alongside Word, PowerPoint, and Excel for Microsoft 365 subscriptions that include the client apps and Office 2019.

Does S Pen scratch screen? ›

The worst part about the screen is that the S-Pen actually scratches the screen, which is supposed to be protected by Gorilla Glass. You won't notice the scratches unless you look at the screen with the power off in sunlight, but it is still annoying.

Does the S Pen need charging? ›

Although the S Pen battery is built to last, it does need to be charged every now and again if you want to be able to use all these new features.

Are all Samsung S pens the same? ›

The biggest difference is compatibility: the S Pen Fold Edition only works with the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Fold4, while the S Pen Pro works with pretty much any S Pen-compatible device.

How much is an S Pen? ›

The S Pen Pro will be available to purchase for a price of $99.

Which Galaxy phone has a pen? ›

The S Pen is now compatible with more devices than ever before. You will be able to draw and write directly on the screen, whether you have a Galaxy Z Fold3 5G, Galaxy Note series phones, Galaxy Tab S8, Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, or Galaxy S22 Ultra! Even if your model did not come with an S Pen, you can purchase one.

Can you charge S Pen without tablet? ›

to the OP as far as I know you cannot use any other device for charging the s-pen.

What does button on S Pen do? ›

The Pen button can be found on the side of the S Pen. You can customise the use of the Pen button in two ways: Choose the app that launches when you press and hold the Pen button. Choose what you would like to happen if you single or double press the Pen button.

How do you make a homemade stylus? ›

Make a 2-minute stylus - YouTube

What is the best app for drawing on a Samsung tablet? ›

Infinite Painter is our top pick for the best drawing app Android can offer. This app comes with over 160 brushes and allows you to create your own. It offers the opportunity to tailor the existing brushes and adapt them to your needs. The app's drawing tools are designed to resemble painting over real paper textures.

What is the best free online drawing app? ›

10 Best Free Drawing Software Programs
  1. GIMP. According to the developers, “GIMP is not designed to be used for drawing,” but it's still one of the most powerful options on our list if you know how to use it. ...
  2. Krita. ...
  3. Microsoft Paint 3D. ...
  4. Artweaver 7. ...
  5. Astropad Studio for Windows. ...
  6. Sketchbook. ...
  7. Adobe Fresco. ...
  8. Inkscape.
Mar 31, 2022

Where can I draw digital art? ›

Top Free Sites for Creating Digital Art
  1. SculptGL. Remarkable 3D digital sculpting web app that functions through your browser or as a free downloadable program. ...
  2. Random Art Prompt Generator for Kids. Sometimes even the most creative among us need inspiration. ...
  3. Mondrimat. ...
  4. ManadalaGaba. ...
  5. Bomomo. ...
  6. GIPHY. ...
  7. JacksonPollack.org. ...
  8. KRITA.
Jun 7, 2022

How do I make digital art? ›

How to Make Digital Art (For Beginners) - YouTube

Does Samsung have Procreate? ›

Answer: Procreate is an amazing app that is used for digital drawing and painting. However, it is only available for iPhone and iPad, and not Android devices.

Which is the real Procreate? ›

Procreate is a raster graphics editor app for digital painting developed and published by Savage Interactive for iOS and iPadOS. Designed in response to the artistic possibilities of the iPad, it was launched on the App Store (iOS) in 2011.

Is S Pen Bluetooth? ›

The S Pen has a special kind of advanced Bluetooth that emits a signal at a very low frequency. Because of this, it doesn't have to be paired to your phone like traditional Bluetooth devices.

Will Apple make a phone with a pen? ›

It claims that the first foldable iPhone will launch in 2023, will have a 7.3-inch to 7.6-inch display, and sport stylus support.

Can S Pen work on any phone? ›

The S Pen is a stylus that's designed to work with the Samsung Galaxy, Galaxy Note, and Galaxy Tab phones and tablets. If it came with your Galaxy device, you won't need to connect it, but there are still a few steps needed to use it. And the newer your device, the more features you'll have access to with the S Pen.

When should I replace my s pen tip? ›

When you're done, the new S Pen tip should only protrude about an eighth of an inch, so if yours looks like the picture below, you're all set to go. S Pen tips wear down over time, so this is something you'll have to do once every year or so.

Is Samsung Note free? ›

Samsung Notes is a free mobile application for recording notes via text, images, or voice recordings. It's similar to Evernote and OneNote with its performance and capabilities, designed for Android devices. You can also import saved files from other apps like Memo and S Note.

How many s pens are there? ›

With the coming of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, there are now five S Pen models for current phones: the Galaxy Note S Pen, the Galaxy S21 Ultra S Pen, the Galaxy Tab S Pen, the S Pen Fold Edition and the S Pen Pro. Here's how they compare.

Will the S22 have an S Pen? ›

Which S Pen works with Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra? Before we end this piece, while Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a built-in S Pen and a dedicated silo to store it; So, if you ever wish to use a different stylus, the smartphone does feature support for the other models sold by Samsung.

Will the S22 come with S Pen? ›

Does the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra come with an S Pen? Yes, absolutely. That is what sets it apart — not only is the S Pen included in the box, the phone itself has a slot to hold the stylus. That way, it's always with you and ready to work!

How do you take notes with a stylus? ›

How to make digital handwritten notes on your laptop (using a pen tablet ...

How do you take notes with a stylus pen? ›

How to take Digital Notes - YouTube

How do I make handwritten notes on my phone? ›

From any opened note in edit mode, tap the pen button or tap the paperclip, then select Handwriting. Handwriting tools appear at the top of the screen. Tap the pen to start sketching notes with your finger or stylus. Tap the checkmark to save.

How do you make a digital handwritten note? ›

If your computer has a touch screen, you can use OneNote to handwrite notes instead of typing them.
...
To handwrite notes, do the following:
  1. On the ribbon, choose the Draw tab.
  2. In the Tools group, choose a pen or highlighter, and then write notes on the screen.
  3. To stop drawing, click the Type button on the Draw tab.

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