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Notability for iPad adds new ‘Pencil’ feature for a ‘lifelike handwriting experience’

Notability, the popular note-taking app for iPhone and iPad, has been updated today with a new “Pencil” feature. According to the company, this feature brings “the most paper-like sketching experience to digital notetakers,” including support for the Apple Pencil as well.

This marks the first time that Notability has offered a tool that “enables users to style their ink strokes, add texture, and change colors after writing without any pixelation.” Here’s how it works:

Notability’s Pencil is perfect for note-taking, idea sketching and illustrating. Complete with pressure and tilt sensitivity when paired with Apple Pencil, the tool provides the most lifelike handwriting experience resembling digital graphite. For the first time, users can add dimension and shading to their notes in Notability. The Pencil tool enables custom colors, and because of the vector-based technology, users can even style and change the color of Pencil ink strokes at any point during the sketch creation.

Ginger Labs, the company behind Notability, says that this feature is built upon “vector-based technology.” This is what allows users to adjust and resize the Pencil strokes with “no quality loss” after the fact. “Because of this, users can also style and change the color of Pencil ink strokes at any point during or after sketching,” the company says.

  • Change style and colors: The color, thickness, and style of anything you write with pencil can be changed after you write it!
  • Pressure sensitivity: To create a lifelike pencil experience, the opacity of the Notability Pencil changes based on the amount of pressure you use.
  • Tilt-activated shading: Like a real pencil, the thickness of your line changes based on the angle of your stylus.

Notability is available on the App Store as a free download and requires a subscription to access full functionality. The subscription is priced at $2.99 per month or $12.99 per year.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is the editor-in-chief of 9to5Mac, overseeing the entire site’s operations. He also hosts the 9to5Mac Daily and 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcasts.

You can send tips, questions, and typos to chance@9to5mac.com.

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