APP
OF THE
DAY

A simple notebook more powerful than it might seem.

Drafts

Where text starts

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Some people are ultra-organised about their notes, stashing every thought and sketch in its proper place. Others scribble notes on whatever papers, scraps and sometimes even serviettes they find lying around.

Drafts is for those of us in the second group. A note-taking app that opens to a blank sheet of paper, it’s a place to jot thoughts before sharing them via integration with apps like Mail, Dropbox and Todoist.

Composing a heartfelt poem? Start in Drafts before pasting it onto your homemade card design.

Thought of a piercingly clever tweet that won’t make sense until Sunday? Write it in Drafts – and then use Reminders when it’s ready for viral fame.

Drafts offers no shortage of text-editing tools.

Though Drafts is designed for simplicity, it offers lots of customisation with fonts, spacing and margins. It’ll even geotag your notes so you know where you were when you had that flash of inspiration. Its coolest little feature: use the arrow buttons in the toolbar to make your cursor jump to the previous or next word, a small touch that proves impossibly helpful.

When your note is done, it’ll go into an Inbox, where it can be Tagged (for organisation), Flagged (if it’s important) or Archived (if it can be stashed away for later). If you are a serious word nerd, you can also tap a chart icon to glean statistics about your note – not just words and sentences but grade level and readability score.

If you’re running iOS 12 or later, Siri Shortcuts can make you even more productive. Find Drafts in the Shortcuts app. Tap to create suggested shortcuts such as ‘Dictate new draft’ or set up custom voice phrases for specific notes such as ‘View holiday packing list’. Trigger each action with ‘Hey Siri’.

Drafts is free, but a Pro subscription unlocks Actions, custom themes and extra tagging and archiving options. Give Drafts a spin – it might not make you super-organised, but you won’t ruin nearly as many serviettes.