Handwriting notes and sketching app with stylus support
About this app
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. * Live presentation streaming: broadcast your canvas to any web browser on the same network in real time. Turn a tablet into a wireless whiteboard for the room, with nothing to install on the other end. * 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. Files go through Android's Storage Access Framework, so the app needs no broad storage permission (network access exists only for the optional presentation server).
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
Licensed under MIT, by Shardul Vikram Singh.
What's New in v0.8.5
Imported from the F-Droid repository index.
- - Fix disappearing ink
- - Improve Calligraphy pen
Version history
Jul 16, 2026 · 20 MB · Android API 26–36 · code 42
Imported from the F-Droid repository index.
- - Fix disappearing ink
- - Improve Calligraphy pen
SHA-256 103dfe88ff5b6a9fb6837eb4452ec3fc0e52d27b2501d1839efdcc4a365c3c90
Jul 13, 2026 · 20 MB · Android API 26–36 · code 41
Imported from the F-Droid repository index.
- - Support devices with 16 KB memory page sizes
SHA-256 15bb9cb5174323e98e3e42a8460b4cdfe9f442346983a5cb03dff3cd4fe84abf
Jul 7, 2026 · 20 MB · Android API 26–36 · code 39
Imported from the F-Droid repository index.
- - Fix the F-Droid build verification
SHA-256 0b0727ab8bee75a66ce8259f905d6825f5443b7256bd7d44b19c09ac2f4e840e
Will it run on your device?
92%
- Runs on a broad range of modern Android versions.
- Multiple CPU architectures are covered.
- Aligned with the latest Android target SDK expectations.
Installation Guide
Open Settings on your Android device
Go to Security → Unknown sources (or Install unknown apps)
Enable "Allow from this source" for your browser or file manager
Open the downloaded APK file from your Downloads folder
Tap "Install" and wait for installation to complete
Launch the app from your home screen
Make sure to re-enable Unknown Sources restrictions after installation for security.
How to install this safely
How to verify the file you downloaded
Before you install anything, confirm the file is the one described here. On a computer, run shasum -a 256 your-download.apk (macOS or Linux) or certutil -hashfile your-download.apk SHA256 (Windows), then compare the output character-for-character with the SHA-256 on this page. If a single character differs, the file is not the build we recorded — delete it.
What the signing certificate proves
Every Android app is signed with a private key that only its developer holds. The fingerprint on this page is a hash of the matching public certificate, and it proves continuity rather than identity: it tells you a build came from whoever signed the earlier ones. Android enforces this at install time — if a package claiming to be com.xnotes is signed with a different key, the system will refuse to install it over your existing copy. A fingerprint that changes between releases is worth pausing on, because a repackaged app that has been modified by someone else cannot keep the original signature.
How to roll back to an earlier version
If the current release misbehaves, 0.8.4 is the last build before it. Android will not install an older version code over a newer one, so you must uninstall xnotes first — which clears its local data unless you have a backup. Reinstall the older APK only if its signing fingerprint matches the build you already trust, and check the API range: an older release may target an Android version your device has moved past.
Why we list sources instead of hosting everything
The official store channel is almost always the right choice: it updates automatically and carries the publisher's own distribution guarantees. A direct APK is useful when a device has no store access, when a rollout has not reached your region, or when you need a specific version — and only when the publisher has authorized that copy. APKBrowse does not list pirated, cracked, or unauthorized rebuilds of xnotes, and a listing is removed when the evidence for it stops holding up.
Get xnotes
Every source we list for com.xnotes is legality-reviewed. Pirated or cracked builds are never offered.
Other sources
F-Droid listing
officialF-Droid builds this app from source and signs it. This is its official listing, with older builds and full release notes.
Source code
verified publisherThe upstream repository this build is compiled from.
We check legality and signature continuity, but device behaviour still varies. Install at your own discretion.
App Information
Security Verification
We record provenance; we do not run malware scans. Verify the hash yourself before installing.
SHA-256 Hash
103dfe88ff5b6a9fb6837eb4452ec3fc0e52d27b2501d1839efdcc4a365c3c90
Signing certificate
2164e552e10d917d7db61dd6d66259e0a499784ffc69cd13859118f5b8c6ea94
Permissions Required
What each permission lets xnotes do. A highlighted one is worth a second look — not necessarily wrong, just worth asking whether this app needs it.
Previous Versions
The signing certificate fingerprint for this release is on record, so a build that does not match it did not come from this publisher.
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