A good place
to begin.

Get started

1. Allow camera access when prompted.
2. Place an uncapped pen on a plain table. Keep the whole pen visible and your hand out of the picture.
3. Choose Set up pen, photograph the pen, and check its outline and writing end before choosing Use this pen.
4. Pick up the pen and keep the nib and part of the shaft visible in good light. Begin with slow movements.
5. Use Ink on while drawing and Pen lifted when moving between strokes.

If the tip jumps or tracking stops

• Use a plain background that contrasts with the pen.
• Expose the nib and more of the shaft; keep your fingers away from the writing end.
• Move slowly enough to avoid motion blur. If the camera cannot focus, move the pen a little farther away.
• Retake the reference if the wrong object or writing end was selected.
• In Capture settings, Keep tip attached to pen and Allow body-estimated writing tip can help continuity.
• Use Reverse writing end if the tracked endpoint is reversed. An amber marker indicates an estimated tip.

Detection is sensitive to lighting, occlusion, and camera movement. A visible marker is an estimate, and may not always coincide with the physical nib.

Paper & separate strokes

In Capture settings, choose Paper / surface and the actual page size: A4, Letter or A5. Return to Capture and tap Scan page. Show all four corners of the flat sheet and wait for green brackets before writing. The rectangular grid keeps captured strokes in page coordinates when the phone moves or corners are briefly hidden. Keep the sheet stationary; if it moves, pause and scan again. When camera alignment is unreliable, drawing waits rather than adding unsupported points.

Use Ink on / Pen lifted between separate strokes. The app does not reliably measure whether the pen touches the paper or how much pressure you apply.

Review recorded frames

Enable Retain frames for review in Capture settings before starting. After writing, pause and open Frame review to revisit earlier images and estimate missing tip positions. The panel reports recovered points, unresolved frames, and retention failures.

Inspect the result. Undo frame review restores the original live strokes if recovery adds an incorrect path. Recovery is an estimate and cannot reconstruct every hidden movement. Saving can review frames first, or you can choose Save without frame review.

Temporary review images stay on the device and are deleted after Save, Clear, or the next app launch. Saved sketches keep their strokes and review information. Separately prepared measurement-pilot export bundles may include images and remain until removed; see the privacy policy.

Save, replay & export

Save your capture and open it in Sketchbook. Use the replay timeline to revisit the drawing and inspect coordinates over time.

Export as PNG or SVG for a drawing, or CSV or JSON for point data. Choose the destination in the system share sheet. To remove a saved sketch, delete it in Sketchbook; exported copies must be managed where you saved them.

Try the demo

Open Sketchbook → A place to begin to explore a bundled synthetic sketch, its replay, coordinates, and export options. You can also open Capture settings → Explore with demo data for a synthetic capture demonstration.

Demo data illustrates the interface and is not a measurement of live camera accuracy.

Requirements & limits

Live capture requires iOS or iPadOS 17 or later, an ARKit-capable iPhone or iPad, and camera permission. You can manage permission in your device's Settings under Privacy & Security → Camera.

Handwriting remains drawn strokes rather than typed text. Drawing-space XYZ coordinates are estimates on a calibrated plane, not unrestricted 3D measurements. The app cannot guarantee an exact copy of every sketch.