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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Summary vs Notability

Summary 4.7★ · Free + IAP 60
Winner Notability
Notability 4.8★ · Free + IAP 75

Choose Notability for a more established and feature-rich note-taking experience, especially for handwriting, but be aware of recent update issues and subscription model frustrations; pick Summary if your primary need is AI-powered meeting transcription and summarization, but be prepared for reliability issues and high costs.

Full reviews: Summary · Notability

Notability offers robust note-taking capabilities, particularly excelling with Apple Pencil handwriting, and has a long history of user satisfaction, though recent updates have introduced bugs and subscription model complaints. Summary focuses on AI transcription and summarization of verbal discussions, showing promise but struggling with reliability, speaker recognition, and a perceived high price for its current performance.

Head to head

Features & Core Functionality edge: NotabilityR13R18R23R26
Summary Summary is praised for its ability to record meetings, provide summaries, and transcribe accurately for shorter durations R18R26. It supports multiple languages and Apple Watch recording R23. However, it struggles with long recordings, failing to process voices and provide transcripts or summaries R18. Users also report issues with real-time voice-to-text R13 and the app not capturing all agenda items or conversations .
Notability Notability is highly valued for its handwriting features with the Apple Pencil, making it excellent for students to mark up PDFs and take notes during lectures R89. It has features like AI quiz generation and PDF highlighting . However, users report significant issues with typing functionality , text wrap around images no longer working , and a desire for more advanced features like digital notebooks or custom templates R89.
Ease of Use tieR4R11R35R37
Summary Summary is described as easy to understand and efficient by some users R11R35. However, others find it hard to use , with confusing instructions for phone recording and a lack of a quicker way to transcribe multiple historical recordings R37. The onboarding process is criticized for forcing trials and review requests before use R4.
Notability Notability is praised for its intuitive simplicity and ease of navigation . Users appreciate the quick selection of the eraser with the Apple Pencil . However, recent updates have made the app less user-friendly, with changes to the Apple Pencil squeeze gesture requiring extra steps R82R88R100 and increased confusion due to added layers and AI features . Some users also report difficulties printing templates .
Reliability & Performance tieR1R7R15R16
Summary Summary faces significant reliability issues, with reports of the app glitching R1, not working at all R7, and being unreliable R16. Recordings sometimes stop and don't save , and uploaded videos may not process R56. Speaker recognition is a major flaw, often identifying multiple speakers incorrectly or mixing them up R15R19R21R43.
Notability Notability, while generally considered reliable by long-term users , has experienced a decline in stability with recent updates. Users report frequent crashes R66, freezing R66, and lag . Syncing issues between devices are common , and notes sometimes disappear or de-sync . The app's cloud service has also been reported as not working .
Price & Value tieR10R22R27R36
Summary Summary is perceived as expensive, with a short free trial (3 days) before requiring an $8/month subscription R10R22R27R36. Some users feel the quality is comparable to free apps despite the cost R36. There are also complaints about being charged after canceling subscriptions and running out of call recording credits quickly .
Notability Notability operates on a free + IAP model, but the free version is very limited, allowing only a few notes before requiring payment R67R84. The annual subscription is considered worth it by some students , especially those grandfathered into a 'classic' license . However, there are complaints about being charged immediately for trials without warning and constant upsells for the subscription . The lack of family sharing for subscriptions is also a point of frustration .
Support & Updates tieR43R56R64R66
Summary Summary users report poor customer support, with no one responding to issues even for paid users R56. Recent updates seem to have introduced bugs, with one user noting a decline in trust after a software update R43.
Notability Notability has faced significant backlash due to recent updates, which users feel have worsened the app's usability and introduced new bugs R66R82. There are also complaints about difficulty reaching live agents for support . Users are particularly frustrated with forced cloud service changes and privacy concerns R64.
Pick Summary if

You primarily need an app for AI-powered transcription and summarization of verbal discussions or meetings, and are willing to tolerate current reliability issues and a higher price point R26.

Pick Notability if

You are a student or professional who relies heavily on handwriting notes with an Apple Pencil, marking up PDFs, and desire a feature-rich note-taking environment, despite recent update frustrations and subscription model R89.

Evidence note: Summary has a much smaller review base, leading to less comprehensive evidence across all dimensions compared to Notability. Many of Summary's positive reviews are short and lack specific details, while negative reviews are often highly critical of core functionality and pricing. Notability's reviews, while numerous, show a clear recent negative trend related to updates and subscription changes, despite its strong lifetime rating.

Frequently asked

Is Summary good for transcribing long meetings?
Summary performs well for shorter meetings (around an hour) with accurate summaries and transcripts, but users report it often fails to process voices and provide transcripts or summaries for longer recordings, such as 8-hour workshops R18R48.
Does Notability support Apple Pencil features?
Yes, Notability is highly regarded for its Apple Pencil integration, offering near-zero latency for handwriting and being a preferred tool for taking notes and marking up documents R89. However, recent updates have changed the squeeze gesture for the eraser, making it less efficient for some users R82R88R100.
Are there free versions for these apps?
Both Summary and Notability offer free versions with in-app purchases; Summary provides a very short 3-day free trial before requiring a subscription R22R50, while Notability's free tier is quite limited, allowing only a few notes before payment is required R67R84.
Do these apps have issues with speaker recognition?
Summary has significant issues with speaker recognition, often capturing multiple speakers as one or incorrectly identifying 5-6 speakers in a two-person meeting R15R19R21R43. Notability's reviews do not specifically highlight speaker recognition as a core feature or a common problem.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R13] Summary 1/5 · US Not voice to text: Does not give spoken text in real time
  2. [R18] Summary 3/5 · GB Really impressed but seems to fail on long meeting recordings: I used this app to audio record a whole 3 meeting and it identified everyones voice, great summary and made it easy to find what I found. The transcript is very accurate. But used in a day workshop (8hrs) and it fails processing the voices. Cant seem to get transcript or summary. So unfortunately need to look elsewhere
  3. [R23] Summary 5/5 · US Across languages and allows recording with Apple Watch: Impressed
  4. [R26] Summary 4/5 · US Surprisingly accurate: My first use recorded a 60 minute meeting with dialogue between several speakers. The accuracy of the summary was surprisingly accurate and astute.
  5. [R4] Summary 1/5 · US Too many feedbacks request: If I pay for a product, Why do I have to provide feedback every time I open it. Exactly that make me give you 1 star. This app loose its value when your feedback requests interrupt the service you are trying to provide!
  6. [R11] Summary 5/5 · US Easy to use: Easy to understand and very efficient program
  7. [R35] Summary 5/5 · US Fun with mom!: Doing an oral history with my 96 year old mother. Capturing her memories is priceless!
  8. [R37] Summary 1/5 · US Eh: A lot of work if you need to go back in history and have multiple recordings transcribed, there is not a quicker way to do it
  9. [R1] Summary 1/5 · US Doesn't work: Feels like a scam... is glitching
  10. [R7] Summary 1/5 · US New User: Your App has given nothing but trouble.
  11. [R15] Summary 3/5 · US Not perfect but best I was able to find for my needs: This app “works” for me, but it’s not ideal. It’s not good w/ voice recognition even after 7 weeks. For the transcript, remove such details as “Mmm,” “Hmmm” since the app isn’t able to identify the speaker.
  12. [R16] Summary 1/5 · US Not reliable: Not reliable
  13. [R10] Summary 1/5 · US Heads up: It only works with a yearly or monthly subscription. · translated
  14. [R22] Summary 1/5 · US Pricey!: Beware! You only get three days of a free trial and after that you are paying $8 a month. You should disclose that before downloading the app.
  15. [R27] Summary 3/5 · GB Mr Smith: It’s very expensive
  16. [R36] Summary 3/5 · GB Ansar: It’s quite expensive with nearly 9 pounds a week and not that much of a use for me. Quality is same as of free apps.
  17. [R43] Summary 2/5 · US Great to Bad: They must have done a software update and since then I can’t trust the app. It was amazing at first, but now I waste so much time correcting the speakers with the transcripts in order to achieve the most accurate notes and action items. Additionally it’s so easy to mistakenly apply a name change To-All than a single statement; the indicator selections are too close to each other. Onc
  18. [R56] Summary 1/5 · US Customer Support: No problem one is responding. I upload a video and the summary never begins. This started 3 weeks ago. I have PAID for the app. NO ONE WILL HELP!
  19. [R64] Notability 1/5 · US DO NOT USE THIS APP: I do not understand why I need a notability account to use this app. If you do care the personal information, not using this app. I just want an app to write the notes and keep my notes only on my device.
  20. [R66] Notability 3/5 · US App always freezing and M4 iPad overheating: I used to love this app and used it through my masters program with every class. Now, after the update, it is completely nonfunctional on both of my iPads. The app freezes almost instantly and will not let me do anything until I close and reopen it. Even then, it freezes again within seconds. I can’t work on new notes and all my old notes are inaccessib
  21. [R48] Summary 1/5 · US Organize & Publish Notes: With very little editing, it works well for meetings around an hour. It allows you publish a summary and copy to a word document for sharing.
  22. [R82] Notability 1/5 · US Fix squeeze gesture!: Recent update ruined the squeeze gesture by forcing you to interact with a palette to switch to the eraser tool instead of allowing you to auto-switch to eraser. This makes you do an odd movement with your wrist to reach and select the eraser tool, which SIGNIFICANTLY slows down your work progress. I’m seriously questioning why the palette was introduced as a mandatory featur
  23. [R88] Notability 1/5 · US Update hate it: They changed the Apple Pencil connection so when you squeeze it instead of it ONLY being the eraser now you have to choose. That’s a Good Notes feature that I hate and a a reason I use note ability. Switch it back, this is so inefficient.
  24. [R89] Notability 5/5 · US A great note taking app: I was looking for something that functioned like the native Notes app and OneNote from Microsoft for my math and engineering classes, Notability did the trick. It has near zero latency for the Apple Pencil, big fan of the math conversions, and allows pretty great customization. One thing I wish Notability had is “digital notebooks” that I can section off, similar to OneNo
  25. [R100] Notability 1/5 · US Bring back option to squeeze to erase on Apple Pencil: Bring back the squeeze to erase option! Pretty annoying that there is an extra step just to erase now when it was extremely simple before.
  26. [R50] Summary 1/5 · US Need new availability: Wish was a longer trial
  27. [R67] Notability 1/5 · US AWFUL: I used to use this often during school and I decided to get it on my iPad just because I wanted to use it, but I can’t even use the text box. I have to do random stuff you can only make like six or five notes before you have to pay like $15 which I wasted so much time trying to curate notes when I literally didn’t even realize I had to pay so that sucks you guys are literally just money dea
  28. [R84] Notability 3/5 · US It’s alright: It’s nice but only with the paid features. My school uses it with subscriptions but at home I use it without subscription and it’s pretty bad without paying for subscription. With subscriptions it’s pretty good tho. Unless you’re planning to pay for an app, I would just use the basic Apple notes app.
  29. [R19] Summary 1/5 · US Poor quality of output: Multiple speakers are captured as one speaker so it’s hard to base your notes on incorrect speaker notes captured by this Summary AI notetaker app
  30. [R21] Summary 3/5 · GB Speaker recognition is not good: The transcription is ok (not brilliant) but the speaker recognition is awful; in a two speaker meeting it identifies 5-6 speakers and mixes up the speakers.

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store