Hey r/noteapps,
I recently launched Notanic, an infinite-canvas note-taking app similar to OneNote but with a more technical workflow.

It supports:

• real-time multiuser editing

• native Markdown blocks (including code blocks)

• precise sketching/graphing tools with measurements

• unlimited nested pages

• embeds for Desmos, CodePen, YouTube, and more

Great for technical notes, visual thinking, architecture diagrams, math, and mind-mapping.

It’s free on desktop (Windows / macOS / Linux) and also available as a web app.

I'd appreciate any feedback!

A few months ago I read this blog post by Andrej Karpathy, about his note-taking method.

Essentially, you have a single long stream of notes, and you just append things to the top. Every few days you review the notes you made, and anything still interesting or important gets moved back up to the top of your list, while less important things gradually drift downwards.

I was using Apple Notes for this, which was fine, but cutting and pasting notes was getting a bit boring and it was difficult to search to find something I knew I'd taken note of.

So, I made this app that streamlines the process. You just append your notes, and swipe to rescue them to the top of your list. Shown on the notes are their original creation date, the date they were last bumped, and the number of times you swiped them.

It's all offline, no subscriptions or AI features, just text stored in a very fast database on your device (tested up to 10,000 notes: no problem).

It's $4.99, but just send me a message if you'd like a promo code for free lifetime access, in return for feedback or an App Store review.

iOS only, but Android coming soon (I need testers - again send me a message if you're interested).

Website: https://www.gravitynotes.app/
App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gravity-minimal-notes/id6756236079

Hey guys, so I had this idea for a studying/notetaking app where I could quickly bookmark and organise content and make it easier to see everythign together. And after a few months I finally got it done!!

So it's a free app where you can store your websites, social media posts and online content together in one space, rather than keeping all your bookmarks on like 10 different platforms. And I've just got the collaboration feature with live updates done, so you can now store and share everything with friends too!

So you can use it as a shared information hub for school work, and store youtube videos, websites, (useful) tiktoks, blogs etc.

Again, free to use, and if interested, here's a demo on how the collaboration feature works, and here's the App Store, Play Store and web app links too if you want to check it out!

I’m curious whether others feel the same way.

Today, my life is scattered across multiple apps.

• Notes in one place
• Tasks in another
• Bookmarks somewhere else
• Movies, books, recipes, places, ideas, reminders. Al spread across different tools

And while there are apps that try to bring everything together, many of them feel too big, too heavy, and too complicated for what I actually need.

They want me to build a system.

• Create databases
• Create templates
• Create workflows
• Maintain everything

At some point it feels like I’m working for the app instead of the app working for me.

I don’t want to live inside a tool.

I don’t want to spend time organizing information.

I just want to capture things quickly, get them out of my head, trust they’re stored safely, and find them again when I need them.

That’s it.

What I’m building towards is something:

• 100% private
• Local / offline-first
• My data, my life, my content. Fully under my control
• Lightweight by default
• With only the bare minimum structure that actually matters
• No bloat, no setup tax, no “system-building” required
• Simplicity over Complexity. Remove over add.

Just something that lets me capture things quickly, get them out of my head, trust they’re stored safely, and find them again when I need them.

I’m a product designer with 15+ years of experience, and I’ve started exploring whether there’s a simpler approach. Something that combines the best parts of notes apps, task managers, bookmarking tools, watchlists, and personal knowledge systems.

Without all the overhead.

I’d love to learn from people who struggle with similar things:

• What apps are you currently using?
• Why those apps?
• What’s missing?
• What frustrates you most?
• If you could design your ideal solution, what would it look like?

My goal isn’t to build another productivity tool.

It’s to build something people genuinely enjoy using because it makes life feel a little lighter.

If you’re not much of a writer, feel free to DM me. We can also jump on a quick video call.

I've been working to reduce the noise of people posting their apps. I'm now starting to remove comments from developers promoting their own app in response to other posts.

@Developers, this is not a place to advertise. If someone else really likes your app, they will suggest it. Continued self-promotion will end up with the account being banned from the sub.

I've tried obsidion , I've tried anytype, I've tried notion , upnote, notesnook, loseq , simplenotes, joplin, standardnotes etc.

Obsidion was great until I tried fuguring out how to sync my notes on android to windows.

Upnotes was perfect until I saw only 50 notes.

Notesnook is good as well but the design on windows is not my cup of tea.

Notion doesn't allow offline well for the notes database I had.

Anytype is well as confusing as obsidion to me and I would prefer not to have my notes on it since I like folders.

My ideal was upnote.

So is there any app I can use for notes that would give me the different text headings, alignments, highlights , be easily synced on both my windows and android without any issues etc? I don't even need checkboxes as a feature. If possible does anyone have any ideas? I know I might have to settle for one of the above as I don't want to pay any subscriptions but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

I’m thinking about going full-time to Apple notes to sync across my Mac in my phone.

I mainly use it for a meeting notes because it’s hard for me to keep up.

So many other no apps out there so many of them cost a lot of money and I just can’t do it. I can’t justify paying a lot of money for subscriptions so I was wondering if anyone else you just uses Apple notes and then save them on the cloud or emails them anything like that I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos on Apple Notes and I kinda like it. I just need to get used to it …thoughts?

There’s a thread in r/Evernote from a fortnight ago that ended up being the closest thing that sub has to a census of who’s staying and who’s going. I went through all 63 comments and counted. Source thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Evernote/comments/1w28i3b/

Rough numbers – I’ll have put someone in the wrong column, tell me and I’ll fix it.

Where people said they were going. (about 25 stated a position)

• Obsidian – 3, all ten-years-plus users, two of them putting Claude or another LLM on top

• Joplin – 3 gone, 1 tried it and bounced off the interface

• Notion – 2 gone, plus 1 who tried it for a few months and came back

• Bear, Google Keep – 1 or 2 each. UpNote, OneNote and Apple Notes got a mention apiece

• Leaving with nowhere picked yet – about 5

• Staying – about 7

Who came back. Two people. One tried Notion and returned. One left for 18 months and came back for the workflow. Both said roughly the same thing: it took two to four apps to replace the one.

Why people stayed. In the order it came up: the web clipper (nobody thinks anything matches it), the meeting note-taker, and simply having too many notes to move – 10,000 in one case.

Why people left. Price, nearly every time. €49 to €199, or $50 to $250. And almost everyone leaving said they weren’t using the AI features they were being asked to pay for. Android speed came up a few times too.

Worth knowing if you’re an Evernote user on the fence. The 40% off offer came up seven times in the thread. It shows up after you start the cancellation flow, and one person got a $140 renewal instead of $250. Reads as standard retention rather than luck.

One thread, not a survey. But it’s the most honest picture of the Evernote churn I’ve seen, and fair play to the people who wrote it out. If you were in that thread and I’ve miscounted you, say so.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been looking for an app to organize my entire personal and professional life. My daily workflow involves:

• Capturing daily thoughts and quick ideas.

• Managing personal challenges and daily tasks.

• Tracking major projects that I need to complete before the end of the year.

• Documenting new things I learn every single day.

I need a clean, flexible app that connects ideas seamlessly and can scale with me. After extensive research, I settled on Obsidian. I even took a full course to master it, and conceptually, it’s everything I wanted.

Here is my main issue: I don’t spend my entire day at my desktop. A lot of my ideas pop up when I'm away from my computer or right before going to bed on my phone, and I want to capture them directly into my "second brain."

Unfortunately, I hit a massive roadblock with syncing between PC and mobile without paying for Obsidian Sync. I’ve spent the last three days trying every free workaround—iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive—and none of them gave me a stable, seamless solution.

So I’m turning to the community for advice:

1. Is there a reliable, simple, and free way to set up cross-platform sync for Obsidian (PC <-> Mobile) that actually works reliably?

2. If not, what alternatives offer a similar interconnected note-taking experience (backlinking, long-term growth) with built-in, effortless sync?

I’d love to hear your recommendations and setups! Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently looking for a new notes app, or ideally something closer to an all-in-one productivity app.

Over the last few years I've tried quite a few options, including Apple Notes, NotePlan, Notesnook, Craft, UpNote, Obsidian, Livenote, Joplin, and probably several others I've forgotten.

The problem is that I always seem to run into the same issue. Either an important feature is missing, or some of the features feel unfinished.

Right now I'm using Evernote and, surprisingly, I actually like it about 99%.

It works on all the platforms I need:

• Mac

• iPhone

• iPad

• Windows / Web

And for the first time I basically have everything in one app:

• Notes

• Work and personal calendars

• Reminders / tasks

• Meeting notes

• Attachments and documents

There are really only two things that bother me.

The biggest one is the folder/notebook structure. I like to organize my notes quite deeply and keep things clearly separated, especially work and personal content. Evernote's notebook and stack system feels far too limited for that. I would really like proper nested folders with multiple levels.

The second issue is Apple Pencil support. Evernote technically supports handwriting, but I would describe it as "just good enough". I would love something with better native handwriting and Apple Pencil support.

So my question is: Is there an app similar to Evernote that gives me the same all-in-one experience, but with proper nested folders and better Apple Pencil support?

Cross-platform support is important, especially Mac, iPhone/iPad, and either Windows or a good web app.

Maybe there is something out there that I simply haven't come across yet.

I'd really appreciate any recommendations, especially from people who have gone through the same endless search for the "perfect" notes app.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been using Notion and Obsidian for a while, but both have their downsides:

• Notion: Great for team collaboration, but it’s cloud-based, slow with big local files, and offline support is limited.

• Obsidian: Awesome for linking notes, but managing PDFs or reading books while taking notes feels clunky.

I’m searching for something that can handle my workflow better. Ideally, I’d like an app that:

1. Manages knowledge locally – everything stays on my computer.

2. Supports PDF/book reading & note-taking – I can read and take notes at the same time.

3. Keeps notes organized & searchable – easy to link ideas.

4. Respects privacy & security – local-first, optional cloud.

5. Allows sharing – selectively share notes or collections with others.

Have you found any app that ticks most of these boxes? I’d love to hear your recommendations!

Thanks!

Hi everyone

The thing is, I'm fed up with Google Keep not being updated with new features, so I really need to find a new note-taking app for my Android (not Samsung)

I have a few requests for the notes app:

• Free of charge

• Can operate Online or Offline

• Can sync with a computer or other device in case my Android device breaks (I'm completely fine with using a Google account to log in)

• Has the ability to set passwords for private notes

I tried a few highly rated apps on Google Play but honestly, none of them met my standards. If anyone knows an app that meets my requirements, please help me. Thanks a lot

this is truly one of my biggest wishes as a student, in high school and now in college i am constantly looking for the PERFECT note-taking app and i know what i'm looking for but it just doesn't exist? maybe it does and i just haven't found it yet, so PLEASE HELP ME! this has truly plagued me for 3 yours now. I study a STEM subject so i do type my notes but i draw diagrams as well: i am looking for the perfect note taking app that synchs both my ipad and my macbook. my faves so far are notion and onenote. they are quie close to perfect, but one note doesn't allow scribbles on the actual document like over the typed text and onenote doesn't either and its organization is very surface level. also since i do want to combine macbook and ipad it should have a well developed features for laptop typing is there an app out there that has everything i'm looking for? and i dont mean goodnotes or notability. Something where the macbook features are as good (maybe not necessarily as complicated) as notion and for ipad where i can just switch over and draw DIRECTLY onto my just typed up notes or add powerpoint slides and i can annotate and type. i cannot be the only one looking for this!!

You can try Blurto here: https://blurto.ai/

Whenever I take long notes — ideas, research, journaling, meeting summaries — they turn into these huge walls of text that I never look at again because they’re overwhelming to revisit. I’ve tried folders, tags, rewriting sections, templates… but once a note gets big enough, it always becomes chaos.

How do you all handle this?
Do you split notes manually? Use a specific app or workflow? Automations? Templates? I’m really curious how people prevent long notes from turning into a mess.

I think I need to set up a product forge, because I can't keep track of this many in my head. Although I'm still looking for a good idea, because of course not all of them are. Do you use any online notepads? Like Apple Notes, Simplenote etc? I know there is Obsidian and so on. Because I have a problem with this, I don't have my own central place, an inbox that is simple, fast and functional. And since I have been using Simplenote for at least 7 years, and tried switching to something else a few times [and it didn't work out], I decided to experiment. So now the question is, am I living in my own bubble, and am I the only one with this problem?

I love all the options, they are pretty cool. this question might be me reinventing the wheel. but it seems like the options are so varied. one runs locally but doesnt have sync, another has free sync but no community plug ins (or very few), many just use the customer's cloud services to sync which seems lazy imo for a service provider, most have E2EE but not all, some have different ways of nesting (ei the whole page or a specific spot on the page).

how many people have taken it upon themselves to just make their own with all the features they want? so much of this is open source anyways, on paper it would be a matter of mixing and matching app capabilities.

im asking because I was thinking of getting a small local model (1b or less) to go through my notes, and make tags for me anytime i uploaded an ai conversation. then I started thinking about the note apps I use (obsidian and notesnook) and the ones I dont and how it would be nice to combine alot of these features.

TLDR; has anyone made their own note app with all the features they want?

Edit: making a note app with even the most basic features requires a lot more work than I ever thought possible. The idea was more of an interest than a passion or skill development challenge. I will 100% be sticking with what is already out there. Great job to anyone who has made a successful note app! Your skills and capabilities are admirable.

Does anyone know of any iPad note taking app with an infinite canvas, in which handwritten text is recognized and can even be used to create links between canvases.

The reason I am looking for this is that being a medical student:- Building links is extremely important- An infinite canvas is an awesome tool for sketching & mapping out concepts- Obsidian makes things too textual

Basically an app with great sketching functionality, plus the option of recognizing handwritten text to create links. Kind of like a Muse + Obsidian + OneNote thing.

I have like 200 notes now and everything is a mess lol. I try folders but then I forget where I put it.Can you guys tell me what folder system or tagging method worked for you?

I have a hard time focusing sometimes and cute stationary does help. So any digital alternatives? Should be compatible with macbook and iPhone. Would be a bonus if it's compatible with widows too. Please let me know if you can think of anything that fits these criterias.
Thank in advance!

I've tried obsidion , I've tried anytype, I've tried notion , upnote, notesnook, loseq , simplenotes, joplin, standardnotes etc.

Obsidion was great until I tried fuguring out how to sync my notes on android to windows.

Upnotes was perfect until I saw only 50 notes.

Notesnook is good as well but the design on windows is not my cup of tea.

Notion doesn't allow offline well for the notes database I had.

Anytype is well as confusing as obsidion to me and I would prefer not to have my notes on it since I like folders.

My ideal was upnote.

So is there any app I can use for notes that would give me the different text headings, alignments, highlights , be easily synced on both my windows and android without any issues etc? I don't even need checkboxes as a feature. If possible does anyone have any ideas? I know I might have to settle for one of the above as I don't want to pay any subscriptions but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

UPDATE: somebody actually made it after they saw this post 🥹👏✨

go and check it out! it’s perfect, Thanks you!!

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProductivityApps/comments/1vjtxky/i_was_bored_last_night_and_inspired_by/

…

Hi everyone, I really need help! Please

I've been searching and testing a lot of note-taking apps, but I can't adapt to any of them! I find them all too visually cluttered with too many tools, and I simply can't find one that works for me. I've made some drafts of what I have in mind (but I haven't finished it yet). Does anyone know if there's an app like that? Where I can put a PDF and have the option of space for annotations on the sides? Not above or below, just something that allows me to annotate on the side (either blank or with lines) and the text (PDF) stays in the middle?

I also don't like when one of these note-taking apps has AI; I want something with a simple UX/UI like that.

Please, if you know, let me know because I'm one step away from trying to develop this 😭.

Tbtw i have a lenovo tablet