Reviews of Saber: Handwritten Notes

By: Adil Hanney App

List of user reviews and ratings for Saber: Handwritten Notes

Total ratings

4.00 (Rating count: 21)

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Review summary

Users praise Saber for strong handwriting quality, ad-free operation, and cross-device availability, making it a solid free alternative to GoodNotes. However, multiple reviews report recurring bugs and instability that affect writing and tools, as well as data loss or saving problems. Writing input can lag or produce jagged lines, and palm-rejection/UI readability concerns have been raised. The app shows promise but needs stability and data-protection improvements for long-term use.

Pros

Strong overall quality and handwriting experience.
Ad-free model with no push subscriptions or purchases.
Available on all devices / cross-device compatibility.
Free alternative to GoodNotes.

Cons

Frequent bugs and instability affecting core features such as writing and tools.
Data loss or saving issues (projects disappearing; saving options sometimes grayed out).
Pen lag and jagged lines when writing (input irregularities).

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User Reviews

Recent rating average: 3.90

All time rating average: 4.00

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8% (1)

Date	Author	Comment
2026-05-21	Fl*****	The app is still in development — in fact, one can look at the GitHub page and see active progress being made! As such, there are plenty of slightly glitchy features, and a couple missing pieces of functionality such as moving handwriting between pages and allowing copy/paste of handwriting. However, this app: - has not asked me to pay to subscribe - has not removed existing features, made them worse, or asked me to subscribe in order to access them - tried to get me to use an AI tool or shoved something AI in that doesn’t belong - have I mentioned I’m not asked to subscribe every time I open the app? :) In conclusion, the app is good enough to use now, and I look forward to what it will be in another year or two.
The app is still in development — in fact, one can look at the GitHub page and see active progress being made! As such, there are plenty of slightly glitchy features, and a couple missing pieces of functionality such as moving handwriting between pages and allowing copy/paste of handwriting. However, this app: - has not asked me to pay to subscribe - has not removed existing features, made them worse, or asked me to subscribe in order to access them - tried to get me to use an AI tool or shoved something AI in that doesn’t belong - have I mentioned I’m not asked to subscribe every time I open the app? :) In conclusion, the app is good enough to use now, and I look forward to what it will be in another year or two.
2025-11-15	hc*****	great app. please don't ruin it by chasing more profit!!
great app. please don't ruin it by chasing more profit!!
2025-08-31	GE*****	I'll admit, it seems very basic, but it is great since it doesn’t have ads or push subscriptions or purchases
I'll admit, it seems very basic, but it is great since it doesn’t have ads or push subscriptions or purchases
2025-07-28	Ff*****	Goes black after each project, then just reinstall, which loses your projects.
Goes black after each project, then just reinstall, which loses your projects.
2025-07-09	Je*****	For some reason notes is completely not working for me the app looks amazing and I can tell it WANTS to function but there is a major bug happening. I’ve tried editing the settings but whatever I do I keep getting weird jagged lines. Please update I need this app
For some reason notes is completely not working for me the app looks amazing and I can tell it WANTS to function but there is a major bug happening. I’ve tried editing the settings but whatever I do I keep getting weird jagged lines. Please update I need this app
2025-04-14	Ev*****	Overall I like this app, works well with my knockoff pencil, my only issue so far is that while writing and resting palm on screen, it recognizes my palm and I can’t write. I haven’t explored enough yet to see if there’s a sensitivity setting for this yet
Overall I like this app, works well with my knockoff pencil, my only issue so far is that while writing and resting palm on screen, it recognizes my palm and I can’t write. I haven’t explored enough yet to see if there’s a sensitivity setting for this yet
2025-04-14	Cm*****	Just doesn’t work. All options to save a new note are grayed out. Have to kill the app and the open it and the note again to get any of the options to work. Additionally text is impossible to see with the abomination that is supposed to pass as a theme. I would gladly pay for an app that actually had the functionality this one claims to. But this mess is unusable.
Just doesn’t work. All options to save a new note are grayed out. Have to kill the app and the open it and the note again to get any of the options to work. Additionally text is impossible to see with the abomination that is supposed to pass as a theme. I would gladly pay for an app that actually had the functionality this one claims to. But this mess is unusable.
2025-03-15	Ck*****	I’ve been using Saber for a few semesters now, up until December 2024, and everything has worked great! No complaints. But ever since I came back for spring semester in 2025, Saber has been glitchy and now I cannot use it at all. First, the lasso tool stopped working, and although annoying, it was still better than nothing. Recently, however, I haven’t been able to write in my notes whatsoever. Saber is effectively useless for me right now, which I am sad to see. I really enjoyed Saber! I’m not sure if this is a known issue, but I hope something can be done soon. I would love to continue using Saber if I can.
I’ve been using Saber for a few semesters now, up until December 2024, and everything has worked great! No complaints. But ever since I came back for spring semester in 2025, Saber has been glitchy and now I cannot use it at all. First, the lasso tool stopped working, and although annoying, it was still better than nothing. Recently, however, I haven’t been able to write in my notes whatsoever. Saber is effectively useless for me right now, which I am sad to see. I really enjoyed Saber! I’m not sure if this is a known issue, but I hope something can be done soon. I would love to continue using Saber if I can.
2025-03-04	bw*****	I’ve fully switched off Goodnotes for this app after they’ve been screwing with features. :)
I’ve fully switched off Goodnotes for this app after they’ve been screwing with features. :)
2024-03-18	Di*****	I love that it is available on all my devices. Still getting familiar with it but so far looks great. Surprisingly hard to find in App Store via search. What’s with that? At least I now discovered that App Store search seems to work like an Amazon search. That ain’t right.
I love that it is available on all my devices. Still getting familiar with it but so far looks great. Surprisingly hard to find in App Store via search. What’s with that? At least I now discovered that App Store search seems to work like an Amazon search. That ain’t right.