xnotes

xnotes

Handwriting notes and sketching app with stylus support

Shardul Vikram Singh Writing

Screenshots

Screenshot of xnotes Screenshot of xnotes Screenshot of xnotes Screenshot of xnotes Screenshot of xnotes Screenshot of xnotes Screenshot of xnotes Screenshot of xnotes Screenshot of xnotes

Description

xnotes is a handwriting-first notebook for phones and tablets, built for pen and stylus. Write, sketch and annotate with pressure-sensitive, variable-width ink, and nothing you draw is ever flattened.

Highlights:

* Pressure-sensitive ink: a custom stroke engine turns raw stylus samples into a smooth, variable-width ribbon that swells and tapers with pen pressure, so handwriting and sketches feel natural instead of like a flat marker.
* Vector PDF, in and out: drop in a PDF as a page background to annotate, then export your notes back to PDF as true vector — ink and text stay crisp at any zoom instead of being flattened to pixels.
* Razor-sharp deep zoom: a background renderer redraws a high-resolution viewport off the main thread, so you can zoom far in and the ink stays sharp rather than turning blocky.
* Real highlighter blending: highlighters are composited live every frame with a true multiply blend, so overlapping strokes deepen like real ink instead of painting over one another.
* Neon pen: a glowing pen with a bright white core and saturated, luminous edges for accents that pop off the page.
* Smart PDF dark mode: invert a PDF page for comfortable night reading while leaving embedded photos and images untouched.
* Nothing is ever flattened: every stroke is stored as editable vector data in the open .xnote format, so you can re-select, move, restyle or erase any mark at any time.
* Stylus-aware by design: pen and finger are handled separately, so you can pan with a finger while you draw with the pen; on devices without a stylus, finger drawing turns on automatically.
* Private and open: open source, no accounts, no telemetry, no network access at all. Files go through Android's Storage Access Framework, so the app needs no broad storage permission either.

Also includes:

* Shapes, text boxes and image insertion
* Stroke and object erasers, plus box and lasso selection with move and resize
* Multi-page documents with several page sizes
* A backstage file area: recent notes, a built-in folder explorer and quick sharing
* A side panel with page thumbnails, contents and bookmarks
* Undo and redo
* Pinch to zoom and a configurable pen side-button action
* Customisable theme, accent colour and page defaults

What’s new (0.8.16)

- Fix wet ink landing away from the pen after the window changed size

Versions

Version Date Size Requires Android Download
0.8.16 current
bc845e7f4abbebbf…
2026-09-09 20 MB API 26
0.8.15
b44efd82cbaca016…
2026-09-07 20 MB API 26
0.8.14
92b40c4ab1b93e14…
2026-09-03 20 MB API 26

Permissions

What the app asks the system for. Android only grants sensitive access after you confirm it.

  • xnotes.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION

Comments