Best Android Note Taking App With Stylus in 2026: Top 5 Picks

Not every notes app treats stylus input the same way. Some render ink well but ignore pressure sensitivity. Others support S Pen perfectly but offer nothing useful on non-Samsung hardware. Before picking an app, check for these five things:

**Pressure sensitivity and tilt**: Good stylus apps respond to how hard you press and the angle of your pen, producing natural-looking strokes. Apps that treat all stylus input as binary produce uniform lines that feel like drawing with a crayon.

**Palm rejection**: Writing on a touchscreen without palm rejection is frustrating. Your wrist touches the screen constantly during normal writing, and apps that do not filter this out produce erratic marks. Quality palm rejection should work reliably with your specific stylus and device combination.

**PDF annotation**: Many Android tablet users carry course PDFs or work documents and want to mark them up directly. Not every notes app handles this well. Some import PDFs as flat images, losing the original text layer and making zooming blurry.

**Handwriting-to-text conversion**: Writing fast by hand is natural; searching through pages of handwriting weeks later is not. Apps that convert ink to typed text make handwritten notes as searchable and shareable as anything you typed.

**Stylus compatibility**: Samsung's S Pen is proprietary. Most other Android tablets use USI (Universal Stylus Initiative) or their own active pen standards. An app optimized specifically for S Pen will not always perform the same on a Lenovo or Pixel tablet.

Here is how the top five Android stylus note apps compare on the features that matter most:

| App | Palm Rejection | Handwriting to Text | PDF Annotation | AI Notes | Price | |-----|----------------|---------------------|----------------|----------|-------| | **Notelyn** | Basic | Via OCR capture | Yes | Full AI suite | Free + Premium | | Samsung Notes | Excellent (S Pen) | Built-in | Yes | No | Free | | Microsoft OneNote | Good | Built-in | Yes (Good) | Paid add-on | Free | | Squid | Good | No (free tier) | Excellent | No | Free + $3.99/mo | | Nebo | Excellent | Best-in-class | Basic | No | $9.99 one-time |

No single app wins every column. Samsung Notes leads for Galaxy-native S Pen performance. Nebo leads for converting handwriting to editable text. Squid leads for PDF markup workflows. Notelyn leads for processing any content, including handwritten captures and audio recordings, into structured notes with AI. The right pick depends on whether stylus input is your primary capture method or one of several you use.

Notelyn is the top pick if you use a stylus as part of a broader note-taking workflow that also includes recording audio, importing PDFs, or capturing content from video. While Notelyn's stylus drawing experience is not as specialized as Samsung Notes or Nebo, its image capture and OCR feature turns handwritten pages, from paper or a whiteboard, into searchable digital notes.

The real advantage is what happens after you capture content. Photograph a page of handwritten notes with your Android tablet's camera, and Notelyn's OCR extracts the text. From there, the AI generates a structured summary, flashcard deck, and quiz from your handwritten content, which no dedicated stylus app on this list can do.

For students, the combination is practical: write freehand during class using a stylus in Samsung Notes or Squid, then photograph your notes in Notelyn and generate a full study pack. You keep the handwriting experience you prefer while still getting AI-processed study materials from it. This workflow also works for capturing whiteboard content from a classroom or meeting room.

For professionals, Notelyn handles meeting content in multiple formats. Record audio from a call, import a shared PDF, or photograph a whiteboard; all of these feed into the same AI pipeline that produces meeting minutes and action items.

Notelyn runs on Android, iOS, and the web with reliable sync. The free tier covers audio recording and AI note generation; premium unlocks longer recordings and faster processing.

For a comparison of iPad stylus apps, see our guide on the best note taking app for iPad.

Samsung Notes is the best dedicated stylus notes app for Galaxy devices. It comes pre-installed on every Samsung Galaxy phone and tablet, and the S Pen integration is tighter than any third-party app can achieve.

Pressure sensitivity, tilt recognition, and palm rejection all work reliably out of the box. Writing in Samsung Notes on a Galaxy Tab S9 or S24 Ultra feels close to writing on paper. Strokes respond naturally to pen angle and pressure, and the palm rejection is accurate enough that you can rest your hand on the screen without producing erratic marks.

Samsung Notes supports multiple pen types, brush styles, and ink colors. PDF annotation is built in: open a PDF from your Android file system, write directly on the pages, and save the annotated file. The handwriting-to-text conversion is functional, though Nebo remains more accurate for complex handwriting.

The built-in audio recording feature lets you capture a lecture or meeting while writing, with timestamps linking specific ink strokes to the moment in the recording when you wrote them. This is a useful study tool for students who write key terms on paper and want to revisit the lecture audio at those exact moments.

The significant limitation is platform lock-in. Samsung Notes is only available on Samsung Galaxy devices. There is no Android app for Pixel or Lenovo tablets, no iOS app, and no Windows companion. If you work across mixed hardware or plan to switch phone brands, your notes stay behind.

For Galaxy device owners who want the best raw stylus writing experience, Samsung Notes is the obvious first choice. Pair it with a cross-platform tool like Notelyn for any content you need to access on other devices.

Microsoft OneNote is the best free stylus notes app for Android users who also work on Windows or need their handwritten notes accessible across multiple devices. OneNote syncs through OneDrive and is free with any Microsoft account.

The Android app supports stylus input well across most Android tablets, including non-Samsung hardware using USI styluses. Palm rejection is reliable, the inking engine is smooth, and drawn content mixes cleanly with typed text on the same page. You can annotate images, draw diagrams alongside bullet points, and organize everything into notebooks and sections.

Handwriting-to-text conversion works through the Ink to Text feature. It is reasonably accurate for clear handwriting and produces editable text that you can reformat as a typed note. OneNote also handles PDF annotation, though the experience is less polished than Squid or Samsung Notes for heavy markup workflows.

Microsoft's Copilot AI features exist in OneNote but require a Microsoft 365 Business or Copilot Pro subscription. For individual students and most personal users, those features are behind a significant paywall. Audio transcription and flashcard generation are not part of the core app.

OneNote is a practical choice for users who write notes during class or work on an Android tablet and need those notes accessible on a Windows laptop afterward. The cross-platform sync is reliable, the free tier is genuinely usable, and the handwriting experience is consistent across most Android hardware.

If you are considering moving away from OneNote, our guide on OneNote alternatives covers the strongest replacements with honest trade-offs.

Squid is a dedicated handwriting app built specifically for stylus use on Android. It does not try to be an all-in-one notes platform. It focuses on doing stylus input and PDF annotation extremely well.

The PDF annotation workflow in Squid is one of the best on Android. Import a PDF course reading, textbook chapter, or work document, and write directly on the pages with your stylus. Ink renders cleanly over text, zoom works without losing quality, and the annotated PDF exports accurately. For students who receive lecture slides as PDFs and want to add handwritten notes during class, Squid handles this better than any other app on this list.

Squid also supports blank pages, ruled paper, grid backgrounds, and custom backgrounds, which is useful for students who want their notes to feel like a physical notebook. The shape recognition tool corrects rough hand-drawn shapes into clean geometric forms.

The limitations are clear: Squid has no handwriting-to-text conversion in its free tier, no audio recording, and no AI features. Notes are stored as ink strokes, so you cannot search their content or share editable text versions without converting them manually. If your workflow involves reviewing and searching through months of notes, Squid's purely visual format becomes a limitation.

Squid is free with optional premium ($3.99/month or $29.99/year) that adds additional paper types and presentation mode. It works well across Samsung and non-Samsung Android tablets. For users who want clean PDF annotation as their primary stylus task, Squid is worth using alongside a tool like Notelyn for content processing.

Nebo is the most accurate handwriting-to-text conversion app available on Android. Its recognition engine converts even moderately messy handwriting into clean, editable typed text in real time, achieving a level of accuracy that no other app on Android matches.

Nebo's recognition works as you write. Ink strokes convert to text as you finish each word, and you can interact with the converted text as normal, editing words, changing formatting, and exporting to Word or PDF. For students who write lecture notes in Nebo, the output is a typed, formatted document they can paste into their study workflow without any rekeying.

PDF annotation in Nebo is basic, more suitable for light comments than heavy markup. Drawing is available but not the focus of the app. Nebo is primarily a writing tool for someone who produces prose or structured notes in handwriting and wants them converted accurately.

Nebo costs $9.99 as a one-time purchase, with no subscription. It works across Android, iPad, and Windows, so handwritten notes sync across devices. There are no AI features built in: no transcription, no summary, and no flashcard generation.

Nebo is the right pick if handwriting-to-text accuracy is your main priority and you write prose-style notes rather than sketches or diagrams. If you need AI processing of that content afterward, exporting from Nebo to Notelyn covers both.

Matching the right app to your situation saves time and avoids the frustration of switching after a month of use.

**If you use a Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet with an S Pen:** Samsung Notes is your best starting point for raw handwriting quality. Pair it with Notelyn for AI processing of captured handwritten content.

**If you annotate PDFs heavily, including textbooks, research papers, and lecture slides:** Choose Squid. Its PDF markup experience is the cleanest on Android and works well across Samsung and non-Samsung tablets with USI styluses.

**If you write prose notes by hand and want typed output:** Choose Nebo. The handwriting recognition accuracy is the best on Android, the one-time price is fair, and the cross-platform sync covers Windows and iPad.

**If you use a non-Samsung Android tablet like a Pixel Tablet or Lenovo Tab:** OneNote or Squid are the most reliable choices. Samsung Notes is unavailable on these devices.

**If you record audio or import PDFs alongside handwriting:** Notelyn handles this best. Photograph handwritten pages, upload audio recordings, and import PDFs. All of these feed into one AI pipeline that generates structured notes, summaries, and flashcards.

**If budget matters:** Samsung Notes and OneNote are both free. Squid is free for basic use. Notelyn has a usable free tier for recordings and AI summaries. Nebo is a one-time $9.99 purchase.

For most students and professionals on Android tablets, the best setup in 2026 is to use Samsung Notes or Squid for in-session writing and Notelyn for AI-powered review and study afterward. The two workflows complement each other well, and neither requires you to give up the handwriting experience you prefer.

Choosing the best android note taking app with stylus support comes down to one question: do you want to optimize the act of writing, or do you want to optimize what happens to your notes after you write them?

For the act of writing itself, Samsung Notes remains the benchmark for Galaxy devices, Nebo leads on handwriting-to-text accuracy, and Squid handles PDF annotation better than anything else on Android. All three are strong choices for the input side of note-taking.

For what happens to your notes afterward, including searching, summarizing, studying, and retaining information, Notelyn fills the gap. Photographing handwritten pages in Notelyn converts ink to searchable text and feeds the content into an AI pipeline that produces summaries, flashcards, and quizzes without extra work. For students preparing for exams or professionals reviewing meeting content, that output is where the real value of any stylus note lives.

If you use an Android tablet with a stylus for class or work, download Notelyn alongside your preferred handwriting app and test the image capture workflow. The combination covers everything from the first stroke of the pen to a study-ready note you can actually use. Check our GoodNotes vs Notability comparison if you are also evaluating iPad-first stylus apps alongside your Android setup.