5 Best Planner Apps for iPad in 2024: Ranked & Curated

Using a digital planner is on the rise, and what better device to use than an iPad. Use a range of planner apps for the iPad to boost iPad productivity, and reduce the need for paper.

Visual thinkers will find iPad planner apps very helpful.

Expressing yourself visually is one of the reasons you get an iPad, so why not express that in your weekly plans—planning ahead with tasks, notes, and projects you want to complete using your iPad on the go and out and about?

What is an iPad planner app?

An iPad planner app helps you organize your week ahead on the go. It might not be in the same format as a to-do list app, but it uses the Apple Pencil and stylus functionality to help you visualize your week ahead. This app is popular with visual thinkers.

Zinnia

Best for Creatives

Zinnia

Zinnia wants to be a creative way to do your journal, planner & more on iPad.

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What makes Zinnia a good iPad planner app?

Zinnia is almost a one-of-a-kind application because it is as close to a bullet journal as possible. With Zinnia, you can use all the creative add-ons you would usually stick inside a paper journal. For example, you can use a range of stickers, washi tape and add images.

Zinnia also comes with lots of templates and full journal templates ready for you to get started. You can plan your days with downloadable calendar templates or create your own. You can also download or create habit trackers too.

Overall, Zinnia is great for anyone who wants to replace the paper bullet journal with a digital planner that syncs with other devices. It allows you to keep that element of creativity, too.

GoodNotes

Best for Handwriting

Goodnotes

Goodnotes is a iPad focused note-taking application with AI and handwriting tools.

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What makes GoodNotes a good iPad planner app?

Goodnotes is another free space digital planner app that is great for iPad users. You can download PDFs to annotate or download them online to create ready-made journals and workbooks. Lots of people create and sell digital planners specifically for Goodnotes.

Goodnotes now uses AI to assist with writing. This works with both typing and handwriting. It can suggest words or spellcheck when you have written something wrong. This helps speed up note-taking and planning without the need to go back and check.

Students love to use Goodnotes to download notes and plan to help organize their time studying. You can, of course, just use Goodnotes as an empty planner space to journal, draw, and create.

Notability

Best for Students

Notability

A popular with students, visual notes app with tons of Apple Pencil abilities.

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What makes Notability a good iPad planner app?

Notability is very much like Goodnotes, it's another planning, PDF, drawing and handwriting tool for all note-taking needs. Students, teachers, and professionals, especially well, use it to create and share their notes with others.

You can also download templates or create your own planner here with Notability. Unlike Goodnotes, Notability is more widely used for note-taking, studying, and presenting ideas. You can also present notes with a secret side note to help with what to say.

Notability also has features to record audio, which is perfect for studying and taking notes. You can also download add-ons to help with specific needs like handwriting recognition and math.

Notion

Best for Projects

Notion

Notion is an all-in-one workspaces for notes, projects, tasks, documents & calendar.

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What makes Notion a good iPad planner app?

Notion is well known for using it on a desktop, but you can also use Notion on an iPad to plan and organise your time. Notion differs from Goodnotes, Zinnia, and Notability because it allows for more structure. You can create a more in-depth workspace with Notion.

To use Notion for planning, you can create different areas as workspaces, such as holidays, food shopping, studying, journaling, and much more. You can also find ready-made templates to suit all of these needs.

The magic of Notion is that it uses databases. When you add databases to different pages, the information can sync together, making Notion a tremendously connected experience.

Apple Notes

Best For Notes

Apple Notes

Apple Notes is a note-taking that comes with all iOS and macOS devices for notes.

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What makes Apple Notes a good iPad planner app?

Apple Notes is the note-taking app that comes with your iPad, it's free and a really good alternative for planning without having to download another app, or buy one.

With Apple Notes, you can create folders, add tags, and sort your notes from date, alphabet, and more. You can also search for notes using specific keywords.

Apple Notes is a good choice for planning because it's so simple. However, you will have to create your own workspace, and there aren't any templates to download to help. You can, however, use Apple Notes to jot down ideas, thoughts, and daily journal entries.