The very best note-taking apps for Android
Taking information is serious company, and having the correct note-taking app for the Android device could make an environment of difference within your ability to remain organized. That’s just because a great note-taking app doesn’t simply help you take information; it also makes it simple to discover what you’ve preserved later, no matter where you are usually or which kind of gadget you’re making use of at that point.
But determining which note-taking app can make the most sense for you personally isn’t always simple. The Google Play Shop has an endless selection of similar-seeming choices, and what’s perfect for one person might not be optimal for another.
I’ve spent considerable time exploring probably the most prominent contenders for note-taking on Google android, and I’ve determined the apps that popularity in three core classes: a “best for many people” tier, with a happy-moderate balance of usability and functions; a “best fully showcased” division, with a concentrate on apps that supply a more robust group of functions for individuals who require it; and a “greatest no-frills” class that provides a recommendation for all those seeking the most in simplicity. I’m furthermore including an additional benefit category to emphasize a comparatively new up-and-coming app that’s not very fleshed out sufficient yet to make a complete recommendation but that’s really worth checking out and maintaining on your radar.
Here, section by area, will be the best note-acquiring apps for Android.
The best Google android note-taking app for some people
Google Keep (free)
Google’s note-getting app has come quite a distance since its awkward 2013 debut. These full days, Keep is really a well-rounded however intuitive offering with several compelling elements exceptionally, particularly for anyone committed to the Google ecosystem (as much Android users are generally).
Simplicity is really a key section of Keep’s appeal – as the reality is that a lot of folks don’t require a complicated, multilayered note-taking device with oodles of superfluous functions. The majority of us want a straightforward and effective spot to write down thoughts just, concepts, and lists in ways that’ll make sure they are effortless to gain access to at a moment’s observe.
And that is precisely where Keep excels: Open up the app and tap the circular plus icon in its lower-right corner – or create Keep’s excellent Google android widget on your own home display screen (by long-pressing any kind of blank area of your house display and selecting the “Widgets” choice that appears) – and you’re off to the races. It is possible to type making use of your onscreen keyboard, compose using your finger or perhaps a stylus, speak (and save both an audio document and a plain-textual content transcription of one’s ramblings), or snap an image of a record or other things and let Search engines pull the text from the picture for you.
Keep’s main display screen is really a delightfully manageable assortment of your most recent information. Changing a note’s place is as simple as dragging and dropping it or tapping a pin icon to make sure it remains at the top. It is possible to color-code information, if you want, and present them labels for subject-specific browsing. And, needless to say, you may use the search container at the very top to rapidly find information by keywords – both those contained in your own textual content and those visible in virtually any connected documents or images.
Everything within Maintain syncs automatically, without the configuration or manual activity required. And you will reach your notes from a lot anywhere pretty, since Search engines provides near-similar interfaces for Keep on iOS and on the web.
As as ecosystem far, Maintain integrates intelligently with Google’s cross-platform reminder program – therefore you can make a reminder on any kind of device and have it pop-up on your own phone at a particular date and time as well as when you venture right into a particular geographical location.JR Raphael/IDG
Keep’s period- and location-based reminders be sure you never forget a significant note.
And Keep works together with Google Docs aswell: With a couple of quick taps, it is possible to send any note from Maintain Docs for a lot more involved modifying. The Docs website, in the mean time, enables you to pull up your information in its sidebar and send out content material in either direction.
Element in Keep’s multiuser collaboration feature, which enables you to share notes with other people to allow them to edit them, which simple-seeming app is chock-full of features actually. It may not need all of the whistles and bells some other products offer, but provided that it provides all you actually require in a note-taking app, its insufficient complication and clutter could be a critical productivity feature.
The best fully-featured Google android note-taking app
Microsoft OneNote (free)
For some people, a note-taking app is greater than a searchable virtual notepad just; it is a finely organized program with mountains of functions and intricate options. Properly, if you are someone who requires a little additional oomph in your note-using hub, Microsoft OneNote may be the Google android note-having app for you.
OneNote does everything Maintain can do and some almost. As well as the above-mentioned basics, the app includes a notebook-dependent system for organizing and categorizing your memos. It enables you to easily export any take note as a PDF or basic text file so that you can reveal it with another person without needing them to sign in to the services. And it makes it simple to include both emails and webpages into your notebooks with a unique address for forwarding messages and a desktop-based browser Web Clipper extension for capturing articles on your computer.
Speaking of content, along with providing an account-wide research function, OneNote enables you to lookup within person notes as you’re modifying them. And unlike Maintain, it includes a bevy of advanced text-formatting tools to make your notes appear any real method your structure-loving heart wishes. You can also combine regular typed-in textual content with finger- or even stylus-made markups and writing in practically any arrangement imaginable.
JR Raphael/IDGIf you need to change to something simpler, OneNote carries a separate Sticky Information section that’s almost just like a miniature, scaled-down edition of Keep within the app. It enables you to make fast Post-It-like notes without the frills or problems and later find them for the reason that same section.
JR Raphael/IDGOneNote is with the capacity of working offline fully, and all you do inside the app immediately syncs with OneNote on the web, on iOS, or in the dedicated Home windows or Mac apps. And all those apps, needless to say, integrate nicely with all of those other Microsoft ecosystem – a significant plus if you are already committed to that universe.
For several of its positives, the OneNote Android app has some noteworthy downsides. Initial, provided the service’s complexity, it’s not as intuitive as Maintain. Navigating through the app’s layers of menus will get instead confusing, and its own “canvas” program for formatting information – which enables you to place text along with other elements in specific, moveable boxes all through the entire screen – could be a little overpowering to wrap your mind around.
The phone app, surprisingly rather, also lacks some basic-seeming elements – like a built-in reminders system, support for searching handwritten notes, & most vexing of most perhaps, usage of OneNote’s multiuser collaboration system and note-tagging system (both which are obtainable in OneNote’s other editions).
Still, when you can live life with those compromises and want the excess bells and whistles Hold doesn’t provide, OneNote provides an exceptional set of functions and a polished experience plus a degree of ecosystem integration you will not find in virtually any other completely featured Android note-using app. Most other severe contenders have a lot more compromises alongside weaker ecosystems and a good amount of clutter-generating and efficiency-decreasing bloat – and they often times arrive at a not-insignificant cost, too, in comparison to OneNote’s free nature.
The best no-frills Google android note-taking app
Simplenote (free)
The final official recommendation inside our list is for anybody who would like a clean and minimalist space to take down notes without the extras or unnecessary distractions. Simplenote lives around its name and will be offering a pared-down atmosphere for writing and idea collection refreshingly.
The app, created by Automattic, exactly the same company behind WordPress, presents you with a sparse set of text-based notes and a blank page for editing them – no image or audio attaching, no formatting, no fuss whatsoever.
Besides that, though, there’s really very little to say around Simplenote – and that, notably, is the point kinda.
An up-and-comer worthy of watching
Bundled Notes (limited free of charge version; $2 per month or $18 per year for a Pro-degree plan)
This final app is filled with promise – nonetheless it isn’t quite far enough along in its growth at this time to earn a formal spot in this listing. It’s called Bundled Information, and it’s really a rapidly evolving, different undertake Android note-taking refreshingly.
Bundled Notes may be the effort of an individual independent programmer, and it’s really consequently improving at the considerably faster pace than everything you typically see along with apps created by Google, Microsoft, along with other tech titans. The simplest way to think of it really is like Continue steroids: The app emulates Keep’s default grid-like watch and even brings in your thoughts the Keep’s general user interface, but it injects a great deal of useful tools potentially, options, and regions of customization into that simple framework.
Of simply showing individual notes on its main display instead, for example, Bundled Notes displays bundles (obtain it?!) – which are want folders to help keep your information organized into thematic selections basically. Within each bundle, you’ve got a more traditional individual note see then.
JR Raphael/IDGWithin any note, it is possible to format text, create lists that live alongside normal text, and attach any true amount of color-customizable tags. It is possible to share any take note as a HTML or even plain-text document with a couple of quick taps. And beyond that, it is possible to create your own custom made swipe gestures for executing actions on notes; it is possible to pin an email to your notification panel for simple, ongoing accessibility; and you can fixed super-customizable reminders for just about any note – controlling just how so when they appear and also how aggressively they alert you.
Bundled Notes has all interesting features, including a good optional Kanban-style system regarding organizing bundles into Trello-such as boards of lists and oodles of additional options for controlling how your information are sorted and displayed.
Bundled Notes supplies a web user interface, too, that is accessible when you purchase the app’s Pro-level registration. Doing this also removes a restriction of six bundles and 300 information and unlocks the opportunity to arranged recurring and persistent reminders.
Some certain specific areas of the app, however, look like a work happening still. Currently, for instance, the app lacks any actual way to attach pictures or files right into a note, which appears like something that’s desk stakes for just about any more completely featured note-taking app. In addition, it doesn’t offer any type of collaboration within some of its interfaces. (Its programmer says those features among others – including an even of end-to-end encryption the majority of the big-title note-takers nevertheless don’t provide – come in the works.)
For the present time, Bundled Notes can be an impressive early hard work that has the possible to blossom right into a scrappy, nimble competitor to the cellular note-taking behemoths. It’s really worth examining out and keeping track of – so, y’know, make sure to create yourself an email to remember.
in December 2017 & most recently updated in December 2020 This tale was originally published.