Marginalia
EPUB & PDF reader · iPhone & iPad
You read it.
Now keep it.
Marginalia is an e-book reader for people who underline. Highlight a passage — in an EPUB, a PDF, or even a book you're holding in your hands — then type, speak or draw a note in the margin, tag what kind of thought it was, then export the whole book's notes as Markdown into Obsidian, Notion, or wherever you keep your thinking. The app itself speaks 8 languages.
Your books and notes stay on your device as plain files. No account, nothing to sign up for.
- — PDF reading and annotation: highlight, note, tag, bookmark and export a PDF the same way as an EPUB.
- — Free notes: take the same kind of note on a printed or borrowed book, without adding a file.
- — A redesigned library: recently read, reading progress, a finished shelf, and real book covers and titles.
- — Highlight colours now stay attached to a passage for good, in both readers.
Marginalia in one paragraph
Marginalia is an iOS app that opens EPUB and PDF files from your device, lets you highlight text in five colours, attach a typed, voice-dictated or handwritten note to any highlight, tag it with one of nine reading tags, and export every note for a book as Markdown, plain text or PDF. You can take the same kind of note on a printed or borrowed book too, without adding a file. Notes are kept as plain Markdown files on the device — there is no account and no sync server. The interface and voice dictation are both available in 8 languages: English, Turkish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. The reader, interface language, highlighting and Markdown export are free; a Premium in-app upgrade adds voice-dictated notes, handwritten notes, plain-text and PDF export, and the full tag set.
- Category
- EPUB & PDF reader and annotation app
- Platform
- iPhone & iPad, iOS 15.5+
- Opens
- EPUB and PDF files from your device — or no file at all
- Notes
- Typed, voice-dictated or handwritten, tagged, searchable
- Exports
- Markdown (free), plain text, PDF
- Storage
- On-device Markdown files, no account
- Languages
- English, Turkish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian
- Version
- 1.1.0 · September 2026
- Price
- Free to use; optional Premium in-app upgrade
- Contact
- marginalia.mobile@gmail.com
Built around the act of marking a page
A reader that gets out of the way
Full-screen pages, chrome hidden until you tap the middle. Set font size, line height, paragraph spacing, margins, text and background colour, and the page-turn animation. Read paginated like a book, or scroll.
Five colours, one gesture
Select a passage and the popup follows your thumb: copy, highlight, note, translate, share — and a colour to mark it with.
Type it, or write it by hand
Keyboard notes for the quick thought. Or switch to the drawing canvas — pen, eraser, undo, clear — and write in your own hand, the way you would in the margin. Handwriting is saved with the note. Premium.
Or just say it
Tap the mic and talk. A live transcript fills in as you speak, and you can edit it by hand before saving. Speech-to-text runs in any of 8 languages, set independently of the interface, and your speech is converted to text and discarded — Marginalia never stores it as audio. Premium.
Nine tags, three questions
What do I think of this? What kind of claim is it? What should I do about it? Tag a note and filter your whole book by it later.
Straight into Obsidian or Notion
Each book's notes are one Markdown file: page link, quoted passage, your comment, your tags. Export it as .md free of charge, or as plain text or PDF with Premium. Nothing to reformat, nothing to copy out by hand.
Search, sort, and find it again
The notes screen holds every mark you made in a book. Search the text, sort by page or by date, filter by tag, and tap a note to land back on the page it came from.
Eight languages, free
The interface switches between English, Turkish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian in Settings, at no cost. Voice dictation carries the same eight, set separately from the interface — read in one language, dictate your notes in another.
PDFs, too
Open a PDF the same way you open an EPUB: highlight, note, tag, bookmark, jump to a chapter from the table of contents, and pinch to zoom. Same export, same nine tags, same five colours.
Notes for books you hold in your hands
No EPUB, no PDF, no problem. Start a free note, give it the book's title, and write down a quote and your thought the same way: typed, spoken or drawn, tagged, exported. For the paperback on your shelf, or the library copy you have to give back.
Colours that stay put
Highlight a passage green today, and it's still green next time you open the book — in EPUB and PDF alike. The colour lives with the quote, not just the moment you made it.
Every note, one tab
Notes from your library and free notes from books you don't have a file for sit in the same Notes tab, each showing its note count and when you last touched it. One place to see everything you've marked.
Straight from the app
Highlight it, tag it, keep it
This is the actual note sheet: the passage you just highlighted sits at the top, your typed, voice or drawn note goes underneath, and the tag groups — Stance, Content, Action — are right there before you save.
One thought, tagged the moment you have it, still attached to the exact sentence that caused it.
Who it's built for
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Students and researchers
Tag evidence, agreement and questions as you read a PDF paper or an EPUB textbook, then export a source's worth of notes in one file before you write.
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Obsidian and Notion users
A book's notes land as one Markdown file with page links and tags — drop it straight into a vault or a database.
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Readers of printed and borrowed books
Free notes mean the paperback, the library copy or the friend's book you have to give back all get the same tagged, exportable notes as anything in your library.
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Multilingual readers
Read the interface in one of 8 languages and dictate notes in another — set independently, both free.
New in 1.1
Your library, at a glance
The home screen was rebuilt around two questions: what am I reading, and what have I written about it. A shelf for books in progress, a shelf for the ones you've finished, and every note you've taken — from a library book or a free-standing one — in a single Notes tab.
Covers and titles, filled in for you
Import an EPUB and Marginalia reads its real title and author, and pulls its cover — no typing required. No embedded cover, no problem: a placeholder in your book's own colour stands in.
Recently read, and how far you got
The shelf surfaces what you opened last, with a progress percentage on every cover. Pick up exactly where you left off.
A finished shelf, not a delete button
Mark a book finished when you're done — or let Marginalia notice you've reached the last page — and it moves to its own shelf, out of your way but not gone. One tap undoes it.
Book notes and free notes, one tab
Every book in your library with notes shows its note count and when you last wrote in it. Free notes — the ones with no file behind them — sit right alongside.
What you walk away with
One file per book. Plain Markdown.
This is what an export actually looks like: the page you were on, the passage you marked, the note you wrote, and the tags you gave it. Nothing proprietary, nothing to unpack.
Drop it in an Obsidian vault, paste it into Notion, keep it in a folder for ten years. It is your reading, in a format that will still open.
- [Page 42](pg:41) A book you have written in is a conversation you can return to. This is the whole argument for keeping notes inside the book, not beside it. [tags: agree, key_idea] - [Page 57](pg:56) Marking is reading twice: once with the eye, once with the hand.  [tags: question] - [Page 91](pg:90) The margin is where the page meets the person holding it. Use this in the seminar on Thursday. [tags: discuss, apply]
How it compares
Most reading apps are built for finishing books. Most note apps are built for everything except books. Marginalia sits in between, and keeps the output in a file you own.
| Marginalia | Typical e-reader app | General note app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opens your own EPUB or PDF files | Yes, both | Varies by store | No |
| Notes for a book you don't have a file for | Yes, free | No | Yes, but disconnected from the book |
| Highlight and margin note in one gesture | Yes | Usually highlight-first | Not in the book |
| Handwritten note attached to a passage | Yes (Premium) | Rare | Separate document |
| Voice-dictated note, no audio kept | Yes (Premium) | Rare | Cloud-based, if present |
| Interface languages | 8, free | Usually 1–2 | Varies |
| Tags designed for reading | 9 fixed tags | Colours only | Free-form tags |
| Export all notes for a book as Markdown | One tap, free | Plain text at best | Yes, but you typed it |
| Notes stored as plain files on your device | Markdown files | App database | Varies |
| Account required | None | Usually | Usually |
Nothing about your reading leaves your phone
-
No account, no sign-up
You install the app and start reading. There is no profile, no email verification, no login.
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Books and notes are local files
Your EPUBs, PDFs, covers and notes live in the app's own folder on the device. Notes are readable Markdown, not a locked database.
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Deleting means deleting
Removing a book removes its file, its cover, its notes and its reading position in one step.
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Voice notes keep only the text
Dictation converts your speech to text using Apple's speech recognition, then discards the audio. Nothing you say is stored as a recording, on your device or anywhere else.
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Translate is one tap, not automatic
Selecting a passage and choosing Translate sends only that passage to Google Translate. Nothing else you read or write is ever sent anywhere.
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Purchases go through Apple
Premium is handled by the App Store, so payment details never touch the app. Restore purchases any time from Settings.
Questions people actually ask
What is Marginalia?
An iOS EPUB and PDF reader built for active reading. You open your own EPUB or PDF files — or start a note without one — highlight in five colours, attach a typed, voice-dictated or handwritten note to any highlight, tag it, and export every note for a book as Markdown, plain text or PDF.
Can I export my notes to Obsidian or Notion?
Yes. Each book's notes are one Markdown file, exported with a tap. Every entry carries its page link, the quoted passage, your comment and its tags, so it lands in Obsidian, Notion, Logseq or any Markdown editor without cleanup. Markdown export is free; plain text and PDF are Premium.
Does it help me remember what I read?
That is the point of it. Every highlight, comment, drawing and tag from a book collects in one list you can search, sort by page or date, and filter by tag — then keep as a file long after you have finished the book.
Which formats does it open?
EPUB and PDF files stored on your device. You can also take notes on a printed or borrowed book without adding a file at all.
Where are my notes kept?
On your device, as plain Markdown files in the app's own folder. No account, no sync server. Deleting a book deletes its notes with it.
Is it free?
The reader, highlights, typed notes, interface language and Markdown export are free. A Premium in-app upgrade adds voice-dictated notes, handwritten notes, plain-text and PDF export, and the Content and Action tag groups. Pricing is shown in the app and varies by country.
Can I write notes by hand?
Yes. Choose "By drawing" when you save a note and write with your finger or a stylus — pen, eraser, undo and clear. The drawing is stored with the note. Premium feature.
Can I dictate a note instead of typing?
Yes. Choose "By Voice", tap the mic and talk — you get a live transcript as you go and can edit it before saving. It works in any of 8 languages, set independently of the interface language. Marginalia never saves the audio: your speech is converted to text and only the text is kept. Premium feature.
Is there an Android version?
Not yet. Marginalia is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Write to us if you want to be told when Android arrives.
Which languages does it speak?
Eight, switched in Settings at any time: English, Turkish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. Voice dictation supports the same eight and can be set to a different one than the interface.
Does it work offline?
Yes — your books and notes are local. The reader downloads a small helper file the first time it opens a book (EPUB or PDF), so keep a connection for that first launch. Voice dictation needs a connection unless your device supports on-device speech recognition.
Can I take notes on a printed book?
Yes. Choose "Create Note" instead of adding a book, give it the book's title, and write your quote and note the same way — typed, spoken or drawn, tagged and exported like any other book's notes.
Can I highlight and annotate PDFs?
Yes. PDFs open with the same highlight colours, note-taking, tags, bookmarks, table of contents and export as EPUB books, plus pinch-to-zoom.
What's new in version 1.1?
PDF reading and annotation, free notes for books without a file, a redesigned library with reading progress and a finished shelf, and highlight colours that stay attached to a passage for good.
Can I export my notes to Word?
Marginalia exports plain text (.txt), which opens cleanly in Word, Pages, or any text editor — not a formatted .docx file. Markdown and PDF export are also available.
Your notes belong to you.
Read the book, mark it up, take the file with you. Marginalia is free to start and lives entirely on your phone.