Penbook: Paper Planner & Notes

User Camp Inc.

4.55star44,947 ratings

ProductivityNote-taking apps shelf$4.99–$49.99 · 7 tiersUpdated Aug 4, 2026

Biggest complaint · UX

10 of 142 negatives · store typical 2.9%

Recent reviews negative

41%

its 11 shelf rivals run 43% · 350 reviews held

Counted from real App Store reviews · 2026-08-24 · nothing estimated or modelled

Read those two together. Ratings are cumulative, reviews are recent — a 4.55star average beside 41% negative is the finding, not an error.

Ratings.

4.5out of 5

44,976 ratings · Apple’s own count, fetched daily

535,145

44,626

32,101

21,025

12,079

5 decisions.

Investigate ux first

high · 7% of this app’s 142 negative reviews, against 2.9% typical store-wide.

How it compares

this app: 7%; 10 of 142
its shelf: 2.8%; rivals only
store-wide: 2.9%; typical

Billing is at typical — skip it

30.3% of this app’s 142 negative reviews, against 32.1% typical store-wide, which is normal for the store.

How it compares

this app: 30.3%; 43 of 142
its shelf: 26.5%; rivals only
store-wide: 32.1%; typical

Watch sync & data

extreme · 12.7% of this app’s 142 negative reviews, against 2.2% typical store-wide.

How it compares

this app: 12.7%; 18 of 142
its shelf: 14.6%; rivals only
store-wide: 2.2%; typical

Watch performance

elevated · 19.7% of this app’s 142 negative reviews, against 16.9% typical store-wide.

How it compares

this app: 19.7%; 28 of 142
its shelf: 27.1%; rivals only
store-wide: 16.9%; typical

Limits & caps is at typical — skip it

2.8% of this app’s 142 negative reviews, against 2.8% typical store-wide, which is normal for the store.

n = 4. Too thin to act on — we recount weekly.

How it compares

this app: 2.8%; 4 of 142
its shelf: 8.5%; rivals only
store-wide: 2.8%; typical

The shelf in numbers

All 12 panel members · 2026-08-24 snapshot.

App	Ratings	UX
Penbook: Paper Planner & Notes	44,947	7%
Notegpt - Note Taking AI	786	5.9%
QuickNotes X: Notes, AI & PDF	3,750	4.1%
Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF	443,545	3.7%
Noteshelf 3: AI Digital Notes	6,226	3.2%
Noteful: Notes & PDF Markup	22,969	3%
Freenotes®: AI Notes Taking	57,748	3%
Notes+ : Notes for Pencil	3,071	2.9%
Notability: AI Notes & Planner	452,978	2.5%
CollaNote: Notes & PDF Markup	13,478	1.7%
Notes	630,431	0.8%
SuperNotes Note Taking App	614	0%

The whole shelf, counted

Every complaint across note-taking apps, frequency-ranked from real App Store reviews — the gaps nobody on this shelf has fixed.

Read the note-taking apps report

How this is counted

Every number is arithmetic over the reviews we hold, re-counted weekly — nothing modelled, nothing scored. Themes come from a frozen pattern classifier rather than a model reading reviews, so the same review always lands in the same bucket. Shares are of this app’s own recent negative reviews; the shelf figure is its rivals with this app excluded. The graded words have fixed cutoffs against the store’s typical rate: elevated from 1.15, high from 2, extreme from 3.5 times it. The page says what is broken and how it compares — never how to fix it, and never whether this app can win.