Boogie Board Writing Tablet Alternatives: LCD Tablets That Keep Your Notes

A basic Boogie Board writing tablet (the LCD notepad, not the surf bodyboard) keeps nothing once you clear the screen. If you like writing on one but want to keep your notes, you have two options: Boogie Board's Blackboard 2.0 Smart Scan, which saves a page when you scan it with your phone camera in the Blackboard app, or an LCD tablet paired with a smart pen such as Ophaya, which sends every stroke to your phone while you write.

We make Ophaya smart pens, so keep that in mind. Below we go through what Boogie Board sells now and how each model saves, and we say plainly when a Boogie Board is the better pick.

What Boogie Board sells today

Boogie Boards are now sold on buffalogames.com, and Buffalo Games LLC is listed as the developer of the Boogie Board apps on Google Play. When we checked on October 1, 2026, the collection had 56 listings, mostly kids' doodle boards and accessories. For note taking, it splits into basic boards and the Blackboard line.

Basic Boogie Board writing boards: Jot, Basics and VersaBoard

The Jot is the board most people picture. Its 8.5-inch screen clears with a button, and it runs on a replaceable CR2016 coin cell. Basics is a cheaper 8.5-inch board, the Jot Pocket has a 4.5-inch screen, and the VersaBoard adds a kickstand and fridge magnets. Boogie Board says you can write on them with the stylus or even a fingernail.

None of them store anything. Press clear and the page is gone. Boogie Board's free Jot app on Google Play can scan a Jot with your phone camera and save the page first.

The Blackboard line

The current Blackboard model on Buffalo Games' site is the Blackboard 2.0 Smart Scan. It's letter size (8.5 by 11 inches), shows green writing on a dark screen, and needs no charging cable. To keep a page, you scan the board with your phone camera in the Blackboard app, then tap the stylus eraser on the corner to clear it. Scans save as PDF or JPEG and can go to cloud services such as Google Drive and OneNote.

The Blackboard app's Google Play listing also describes a Smart Pen version that saves notes to your phone over Bluetooth. At our check, we found no Smart Pen for sale in the Boogie Board collection on buffalogames.com, and the Blackboard Smart Pen set listed on Amazon showed "Currently unavailable." Check stock before you count on it.

Why a basic Boogie Board erases everything

An LCD writing board holds a picture of your writing and nothing more. The stylus presses the liquid crystal layer so a line shows, and the line stays until you clear the screen. Nothing on a basic board records where the stylus went, which is why the save options for the Jot and the Smart Scan model rely on your phone's camera. Our guide to how LCD writing tablets work explains the physics.

So you can keep a page in two ways. Photograph it when you're done, or capture it while you write.

Scanning versus streaming your notes

Scanning is what the Blackboard Smart Scan and the Jot app do. You fill the page, then hold your phone over it. It works, and the board stays simple. The weak spot is timing: the page is saved only if you scan before you erase. Clear the board mid-meeting to make room, forget the scan, and the first half of your notes is gone.

Streaming is how our setup works. The Ophaya pen has a small infrared camera that reads a printed dot pattern on the Ophaya LCD writing tablet. As you write, the strokes go over Bluetooth to the free Ophaya Pro+ app on your iPhone, iPad or Android device, so the page builds on your phone in real time. When you finish, tap save in the app, then press erase. The habit is the same as with a scan. The difference is that the page is already on your phone before you reach that step.

Boogie Board vs Ophaya at a glance

Boogie Board details below come from Buffalo Games' product pages and the Google Play app listings on October 1, 2026.

When a Boogie Board is the better buy

Kids' drawing is the clearest case. Boogie Board drawing boards for children range from clip-on Scribble Pals (ages 3 and up) to Magic Sketch kits. A child can doodle in the back seat without a phone or a pen to charge, and nobody needs the drawing afterward. For a car-ride doodle you'll wipe in five minutes, our pen and tablet is more gear than the job needs.

The same goes for a cheap scratch pad. A Basics or Jot on the fridge for the grocery list never needs pairing. Some people want a writing board precisely because it has no app, and for them a basic Boogie Board is the honest answer.

If you only want to keep a page now and then, the Blackboard 2.0 Smart Scan costs less than our set and saves with a scan. Weighing a pricier e-ink tablet too? We compared them in LCD writing tablet vs e-ink tablet.

When Ophaya makes more sense

Our pen and tablet suit people who write every day and need to find it later: a lecture with a diagram you'll want before the exam, or a client call where you scribble a quote and a phone number. Because strokes stream while you write, nothing depends on remembering a scan.

The notes are also easier to use afterward. The Ophaya Pro+ app converts handwriting to editable text with OCR, so you can search old pages and paste text into an email (check the converted text first, since recognition makes mistakes). You can export pages as PDF, Word, PNG, GIF or MP4. If you record audio in the app, the recording is linked to what you wrote, so you can replay it from your notes. The audio comes from your phone or tablet, not the pen. Syncing, OCR and app recording don't need a subscription.

The same pen works on Ophaya dot-code paper notebooks, so tablet and paper pages end up in one app. Ordinary paper holds the ink but isn't captured. The pen stores about 1,000 pages offline and syncs them when you reconnect.

The trade-offs are real. The pen needs charging, and the tablet saves pages only when you write with the Ophaya pen. The Ophaya Smart Pen + LCD Writing Tablet set also costs about twice as much as the Blackboard 2.0 Smart Scan. You can compare sets in our LCD writing tablet collection.

Frequently asked questions

Does a Boogie Board writing tablet save what you write?

Basic models such as the Jot and Basics don't, though the Jot app can scan a Jot before you clear it. The Blackboard 2.0 Smart Scan saves pages through a camera scan in the Blackboard app.

Can I use the Ophaya pen on my Boogie Board?

No. The Ophaya pen finds its position by reading a printed dot pattern on Ophaya dot-code paper and the Ophaya LCD writing tablet. A Boogie Board doesn't have that pattern. If you already own an Ophaya pen, the 10-inch LCD writing tablet is sold on its own.

Can a Boogie Board convert handwriting to text?

We didn't see handwriting-to-text conversion in the Blackboard app's Google Play description, which lists saving images or PDFs, tagging and cloud sync. The Ophaya Pro+ app includes OCR at no extra cost.

Is a Boogie Board good for drawing?

For casual sketching and kids' doodles, yes. If you want to keep a drawing, scan it before you clear the board, or use a pen and tablet that saves as you draw and exports a PNG or PDF.

I already own a Boogie Board. Should I replace it?

Probably not. Keep it on the fridge for lists or hand it to the kids. If the problem is losing class or meeting notes, add a setup that saves as you write, and make "save, then erase" the last thing you do before you clear any page.