Inside Notability Learn

When Notability first launched over a decade ago, the app transformed how people take notes. Now, with Notability Learn, we’re changing how people study those notes. From personalized quizzes to real-time Smart Notes, go behind the scenes with the engineers and product team who built Learn, and find out how it’s helping millions of students study smarter every day.

From Experiment to Everyday Essential

Learn combines large language models like Claude and Gemini with the familiar Notability experience to create personalized study materials—quizzes, summaries, flashcards, and more—directly from your notes. What started as an experimental project has evolved into a feature that millions of learners now rely on.

“We first started working on Learn as an experimental feature,” says Peter Janosky, iOS Software Engineer. “I was part of a tiny team exploring how Notability could leverage AI to help students study. We built out a small minimum viable product with Summaries and Quizzes.”

As Notability’s user base grew, so did Learn’s capabilities. “We’ve made major changes since then,” Peter continues. “We improved the quality of study materials, optimized generation time, and added features like Chat with Your Notes, real-time Smart Notes, and more kinds of quizzes.”

Today, Learn isn’t just for studying after class. It helps you during class, too. Features like Live Transcription and Smart Notes let you listen, transcribe, and take notes simultaneously, so you never miss an important moment.

Engineering a Smarter Study Experience

Building Learn required rethinking how AI integrates into a well-established product. “We needed to create solid frameworks for integrating models into the well-tested Notability experience,” explains Matt Todd, Senior iOS Software Engineer. “We had to create patterns that have never been needed before in the 15 years of code that’s accumulated over Notability’s lifetime.”

Each day, Notability users collectively generate over a million questions and summaries via Learn. This incredible scale has pushed the team to build an infrastructure capable of handling it all smoothly.

But Matt says the hardest part wasn’t just the code. “It’s really difficult to generate quiz questions where the longest answer isn’t always correct,” he jokes. “My guiding star has always been to cut through the noise and give students a clear path to success through the chaos of endless handouts, PowerPoints, and web resources.”

For him, Learn has also changed the experience of learning itself.

“Learn lets you treat every class, meeting, or client call like a guest lecture or a conversation with a friend,” says Matt. “I no longer worry about missing that tiny detail which keeps me from actively participating.”

Building Efficient, Scalable AI

Behind every quiz and summary is a complex AI workflow fine-tuned for speed and accuracy. “Early on, our prompts were simple, and we relied on larger models to do the heavy lifting,” says Anthony Floccari, Senior Backend Engineer. “Over time, we learned that you can achieve the same quality with smaller models and smarter prompting.” That efficiency helps Notability keep Learn affordable and fast for students around the world.

Anthony sees Learn as more than a feature. To him, it’s an evolving platform for deeper engagement. “You can have Learn listen to your lecture, create Smart Notes as you go, and then help you connect what you heard in class to the notes you took,” he explains.

Looking ahead, Anthony says the team wants Learn to help users stay on top of everything, from deadlines to study goals. “We want Learn to go beyond just remembering coursework,” he says. “Imagine a version that helps you remember when your work is due, or focus on exactly what you need for your next exam.”

Designed With Students in Mind

Even newer engineers have left their mark on Learn. Aditya Pathak, an iOS Engineering Co-Op from Northeastern University, has been working on new quiz question types like “mix and match” questions.

“Notability is the perfect package for students. You could use AI in a separate app,” Aditya adds, “but in Notability, Learn indexes everything and keeps it all in one place.”

For Alison Wu, Associate Product Manager, Learn’s magic lies in how it combines structure with creativity. “One of my favorite features is Auto Study where Learn combines multiple choice quizzes, flashcards, and fill-in-the-blanks into one seamless flow,” she says. “I especially love the fill-in-the-blanks questions. You can write in answers with your Apple Pencil, which helps you stay connected to the content.”

By transforming students’ own notes into interactive learning tools, Learn helps them retain more and feel more confident heading into exams. “When a user doesn’t know where to start or how to study, they can turn to Learn,” Alison explains. “They’re already creating content in Notability, so this is the next step for success.”

The Future of Notability Learn

The team is already working on expanding what’s possible with Learn. Upcoming updates include:

• Study timer
• Action items and study goals
• Mix-and-match and true-or-false quizzes
• Math problem-solving with handwriting recognition
• Collaborative study tools to share quizzes with classmates
• A more robust Chat with Your Notes that connects to your entire library of notes

At its core, Learn was designed to make studying easier and more intuitive. “Learn is a tool to help you succeed as a student,” says Marc Provost, Chief Product Officer. “It’s powerful because everything is derived from your notes. You know that what you’re studying is what your teacher covered in class.”

Marc compares Learn to having a personal study coach that’s always ready to help you focus on what matters most. “Learning is hard,” he says, “but we want to make it a little easier.”

With millions of users already studying with Learn each day, that goal is quickly becoming reality.