THE BASICS
3 notable note-taking apps
While Notes and TextEdit are handy for jotting down thoughts and formatting text, there’s a variety of note-taking apps out there to help you capture and organise ideas. Here’s a closer look at three that really stand out.
For the taskmaster: Agenda
Agenda, a new arrival on the App Store, is more goal-oriented than your typical notes app. More than a scratch pad, it’s equal parts text editor and task manager. Agenda arranges notes as calendar events rather than in folders or with tags, making it perfect for those who think in terms of scheduling and project management.
For power users: Bear
Bear is made for those with a penchant for coding. This carefully crafted app won the 2017 Apple Design Award for good reason – it has a simple, attractive interface and cleanly incorporates basic note taking with more advanced elements like markup and rich preview capabilities. Although Bear has a multi-pane layout similar to comparable apps, notes are organised as concepts via in-line hashtags rather than folders. Visual customisation is limited to a select few themes and typography choices, all equally elegant.
For simplicity: Notebook
If you prefer the look of pen and paper, try Zoho’s Notebook. With this app, your notes are organised into sections styled like actual notebooks, with covers that can be customised with preset designs or your own artwork. Each entry is represented as a sticky note, which you can colour coordinate, rearrange and divide into subcategories. Notebook has the old-school charm of a paper journal but with the added capacity to attach images, set reminders and even record audio.
These apps are free to use. Agenda and Bear offer premium features to take advantage of all their capabilities.