Titles, everywhere
A doc named by hand keeps that name in lists, search, links and on cards.
For iPad, iPhone and Mac · Free, for good
Read PDFs, write by hand, and never lose where a thought came from.
Your handwriting stays handwriting. Every highlight keeps an exact link back to its passage. Every note shows what it links to, what links to it, and why.
Most note apps give you pages to fill. GraphNotes keeps track of how your thinking connects: which passage a note came from, which notes cite a page, and why two ideas belong together.
Write
Your handwriting is the note.
Put the Pencil down and write. There is nothing to tap first, no block to make, no mode to switch on. GraphNotes keeps your strokes as ink, everywhere they go.
Write on a card, right on the board.
Every card has open paper below its last line. Start writing there and the ink becomes a new handwriting block in place. It grows as you write, and the card grows with it.
- First touch, not first tapThe Pencil makes the block when it lands.
- Blocks that make roomAreas grow line by line while you write.
- Only the Pencil drawsYour fingers scroll, select and move cards. A resting hand leaves no marks.
Name it by hand.
A new doc opens on its title, ready for the Pencil. Write the name and it stays in your hand everywhere the doc is named: the sidebar, the Docs browser, cards, search results, links and the Connections panel all show the title you wrote. Below the title, the page is open paper, all the way down.
- Written titlesType one instead whenever you like.
- Open paper on every pageWrite below the last block and a new one begins.
Everywhere your ink goes.
GraphNotes reads your handwriting on your device so it can find it. It never swaps your ink for its guess. You get typed text only when you ask for it.
Cards on a board
Write on a resting card. No editor, no mode.
Margin notes
Each highlight’s notes sit beside its passage, handwritten or typed.
Sticky notes
Quick questions in your own hand, anywhere on a board.
Search results
Search shows your strokes, with the match marked.
Citations
When you cite handwriting, the citation keeps the original strokes.
Connect
Every thought keeps its way back.
Highlight a passage and it becomes a note of its own, with an exact link to its page and words. Quote it, cite it or connect it, and the trail runs both ways.
Links that say why.
Connect any two things on a board: cards, sticky notes, or the notes in two PDFs’ margins, drawn straight from note to note. Then tap the line to give it a reason and a label. Supports, Contradicts, Cites, Derived From, Written While: the reason travels with the link, so every note that cites a passage shows what it was for.
- Both directionsEach item shows what it links to and what links to it.
- Exact addressesA link opens the page, flashes the words and never breaks on a rename.
One panel for every connection.
The Connections panel lists everything a doc, highlight or board links to and is linked from, grouped by reason. Your handwritten notes appear there as ink.
Quote it, and the source comes with it.
Pin the sources you are writing from, then quote or attach them to a block. GraphNotes records which block cites what, and keeps the words you quoted with the citation, so a later change to the source never rewrites what you cited.
Rediscover
Type a word. Find your handwriting.
Search reads what you wrote by hand on your device and shows it back to you as handwriting, with the matching words marked. Typed notes, titles and highlighted passages come up beside it.
Claude on your Mac
Ask Claude about your reading.
Connect Claude from GraphNotes for Mac, and it can search your library, read your docs, highlights and PDFs, and follow your links back to their passages. It can propose new links, notes and highlights too, and each one waits for you.
Reads your libraryDocs, highlights, PDFs’ pages, boards, tags and links. Handwriting reaches Claude as the words GraphNotes recognized.
Proposes, you decideNew links, notes, highlights, docs and To Do marks wait under Proposals until you choose Keep or Dismiss.
Write anywhere, ask on the MacTurn on Assistant Access on your iPad or iPhone as well, and Claude reads the newest copy, wherever you last wrote.
Off until you turn it onWhat Claude reads goes to Anthropic with your conversation. None of it goes to GraphNotes’ developer.
Needs GraphNotes for Mac and Claude Desktop on the same Mac: turn on Settings › Assistant › Assistant Access, then choose Add to Claude Desktop… in Settings › Claude. Claude is an assistant made by Anthropic. The Privacy Policy says what Claude can read.
iPhone Duo
A reading desk that folds.
On iPhone Duo, GraphNotes follows the fold. Prop it open like a laptop and the paper stands on the top half while your notes lie flat below, where Apple Pencil (USB-C) writes. Open it all the way and your boards are there in full.
Pages above, notes below.
Folded partway, the crease becomes the line between the PDF and its notes. Scroll the pages and the notes for the passages in view follow underneath. Choose a passage and its note comes to the top, ready for the Pencil.
- A margin that fits the shapeBeside the pages on a wide screen, under them on a tall one.
- Apple Pencil (USB-C)Write on the flat half like a notepad.
Made for people who read with a pen.
One library for PDFs, handwriting, typed notes and boards, shaped by how you work.
A reading board that remembers.
Spread a paper across the board with its highlights beside their passages. Write in the margin, pull the passages that matter into your notes, and draft a review where every claim knows its source.
- Passages with addressesCite p. 3 and land on p. 3, words flashed.
- Sources tabWhat you have used, and what you have not yet.
Lecture notes that find their chapter.
Keep the textbook chapter on the board with your handwritten notes beside it. Link each note to the passage it explains, then search your handwriting the night before the exam.
- Your handwriting, searchable“glucose” finds the line you wrote in class.
- Review that reusesBring a handwritten block into your study guide as a synced block.
A case file where every line has a cite.
Put the deposition beside the contract. Highlight the testimony, write your note in the margin, and connect it to your note on the clause it contradicts. Your timeline and draft brief cite the exact page and line.
- Contradicts, Supports, CitesSay why two passages belong together.
- Pin cites to the passage“Benton Dep. 42:7” opens the transcript at that line.
The case shown is fictional.
As someone with ADHD and autism, I made GraphNotes for myself first: to fill a gap no other app could, and to finally have tools that work the way my brain does.
Free, with nothing to extract.
GraphNotes is free, and it stays that way. No feature waits behind a payment, and nothing in the app pulls against the people using it.
Free, for goodNo subscription, no ads, no locked features.
Data Not CollectedNo analytics, no tracking, no account.
Your iCloud, not a serverYour library lives on your devices and in your own iCloud. Handwriting is read on the device.
Your notes leave with youBack up everything to one file, or export your whole library in formats other apps open: Markdown, PDFs with your highlights, handwriting as images and boards as JSON Canvas.
Details are in the Privacy Policy.
Questions
Is GraphNotes a notebook app?
Not quite. You write and type pages as in a notebook, but your handwriting, typed notes, PDF highlights and boards share one library. Everything has its own link, and every note shows what it links to and what links to it.
Does my handwriting turn into typed text?
Only when you ask. Your device reads your handwriting so Search can find it, but GraphNotes always shows your ink. Copy as Text and Use as Text give you typed text on request.
Do I need an Apple Pencil?
For handwriting, yes: any Apple Pencil that works with your iPad, or Apple Pencil (USB-C) on iPhone Duo. Other iPhones show your handwriting but cannot take new handwriting. Only the Pencil draws, so your fingers scroll, select and move things without leaving marks. You can type everything without one. If you write with your left hand, the margin and its notes can sit on the left.
Can I write directly on my PDFs?
No. GraphNotes uses Margin view instead: you highlight a passage and write your notes on it, by hand or typed, and they sit beside the passage. Your PDF file is never changed. Export with Highlights makes a copy that has your highlights and notes in it.
Can I search my handwriting?
Yes. Search finds words in handwritten notes, titles and sticky notes and shows your handwriting with the words marked. It also searches typed notes and the passages you have highlighted. Inside an open PDF, use Find.
Where are my notes stored?
On your iPad, iPhone or Mac and, when you are signed in to iCloud, in your own private iCloud. PDFs go in a GraphNotes folder in iCloud Drive. There is no GraphNotes account and no GraphNotes server. The app has no analytics, ads or tracking. The Privacy Policy has the details.
Does GraphNotes use Apple Intelligence?
Only if you ask, for one thing: on a device with Apple Intelligence, Reflect on Connection can draft a short note on how two notes might relate. It runs on the device, is labelled “Generated by Apple Intelligence” and saves nothing. Suggested connections come from matching done on your device, and nothing is linked until you choose Keep.
Does GraphNotes work with Claude?
Yes, from GraphNotes for Mac, once you turn it on. With Assistant Access on and Claude Desktop connected, Claude can search and read your library and propose links, notes and highlights, which change nothing until you choose Keep. Handwriting reaches Claude as the words GraphNotes recognized. What Claude reads goes to Anthropic with your conversation, and none of it to GraphNotes’ developer.
What does it cost?
Nothing. GraphNotes is free, with no subscription, no ads and no feature behind a payment.
What do I need?
An iPad on iPadOS 27 or later, an iPhone on iOS 27 or later, or a Mac on macOS 27 or later. For handwriting, an Apple Pencil: on iPhone, that means iPhone Duo with Apple Pencil (USB-C), and the Mac shows handwriting but cannot take new handwriting. GraphNotes is made for iPad first; iPhone and the Mac are new in the beta.
Does it record lectures or meetings?
No, there is no audio recording. You can import a transcript (SRT or timestamped text) into a doc and confirm when the session started.
More answers: Questions about GraphNotes. Using another app already? See GraphNotes and the apps you already use.
Be one of the first few hundred.
The public beta is open on TestFlight, Apple’s app for trying apps before they reach the App Store. Join from your iPad, iPhone or Mac.
- Get TestFlightInstall TestFlight from the App Store on your iPad, iPhone or Mac.
- Open the beta linkOn that device, open Join on TestFlight below, then choose Accept, then Install.
Needs iPadOS 27 or later, iOS 27 or later, or macOS 27 or later. What TestFlight shares.