Being organised has become important in today’s fast-paced environment. And what better way to accomplish that than by taking notes electronically? Apps for taking notes can help you plan your schedule, collect your thoughts, and even share your documents with others.
We’ve compiled some of the most dependable and feature-rich note-taking apps in this post. In order to assist you choose which is best for your needs, the write-up includes both of their finest and worst features. Let’s look at it.
Top 5 Free Note Taking Apps for Your Smartphone
Many items that we would normally need to carry have become unnecessary because to smartphones.
1. Notion
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Notion, one of the easiest and most advanced note-taking apps available, aids in the improvement of personal and professional organisation. The app is your one-stop shop for streamlining tasks, team collaboration, and document and note storage and sharing.
The app’s extremely collaborative structure, in which you may invite as many users as you like, is one of its best aspects, in my opinion. Moreover, a collapsible menu to one side displays a list of categories in which your tasks and notes are categorised.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Notion Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
2. Evernote
Although the app’s numerous templates might be quite helpful, Notion can be somewhat scary for a first-time user. Be prepared to be inundated with a variety of templates as soon as you start a new note, which can be confusing for the user.
There’s a solid reason why Evernote is one of the most widely used note-taking programmes. The programme gives users a wide range of functionality, both large and little, ranging from straightforward note-taking and documentation to intricate task management.
The multi-device syncing and app integration capabilities of Evernote are what I find most handy. You may link your account to a variety of programmes, like Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc., and share your notes between and within these apps. Similar to that, you can sync your notes across various devices that you own.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Evernote Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
3. OneNote
Nevertheless, the majority of Evernote’s top features are only available in the premium edition. Users of the free edition are only given a small number of features, and even those have a monthly bandwidth cap. Thus, you must have bigger pockets if you want to get the most out of this app.
OneNote, a note-taking programme from Microsoft, is a straightforward programme with few frills. Your notes and documents can be organised into several categories, or Notebooks, and then further divided into sections and pages (something we re already familiar with). To-do tagging, voice recording, one-click web content saving, and many more more functions are available.
For those who prefer to avoid using too many intricate or fancy features, one-note is excellent. Also, you may sync your notes across many devices and apps. All the templates are straightforward and easy to utilise. Also, you can share notes and work together with your company, group, or students.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- OneNote Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: No
4. Apple Notes
OneNote is straightforward and simple to use, but some of its functions make it seem overly basic. There aren’t many formatting options for the notes, several users can’t edit the same page at once, and there aren’t many integrated apps. OneNote would be your best option if you can live without these features.
Apple’s standard system note-taking application Each iOS and macOS device includes a built-in version of Notes. It does appear too basic and uncomplicated at first glance, but as you use it and learn more about its capabilities, you’ll see all the advantages the app has to offer.
The best thing about the Notes app is how quickly and consistently it syncs across Apple devices. Unexpectedly, it syncs with Gmail as well, which makes things much simpler for the user. You may add checkboxes to your lists and write your notes simply.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS
- Apple Notes Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: No
5. Google Keep
Yet, Apple Notes lags behind competing apps in terms of data sharing. Moreover, there is no way to tag a note so that you can subsequently find it by its tag name (pretty basic feature missing). If you’re an all-Apple user, Notes is the finest option. Also, there are no fancy premium features or basic free versions because all the functions are free.
Google Keep is exactly what it says on the tin: it stores your notes, documents, reminders, and other items for later use. It’s a straightforward Google cloud-based programme that enables team collaboration and on-the-go note-taking.
With Google Keep, you can make as many notes and to-do lists as you like, label them, assign colours to them, communicate with people on the notes, and access them from any other device. Even voice memos can be recorded, and the programme will translate and preserve them for you.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser,
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Google Keep Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: No
6. Standard Notes
The absence of a desktop app, a text formatting feature, and app integration bothered me because I felt that these features were missing from the app. But, if all you need is a free software for capturing simple notes, Google Keep is a terrific choice.
Standard Notes would be the perfect note-taking app for you if your line of work demands you to take notes that are a little delicate in nature. The programme is open-source and stores encrypted notes that can only be read and decrypted by you.
The key selling point of the software is the privacy of your notes. Even the developers of the programme cannot access the notes you generate because they are end-to-end encrypted. Its other best feature is multi-platform accessibility In other words, it functions on Linux, Web, Mac, Windows, and MacOS.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS, Linux
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Standard Notes Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
7. Slite
Powerful addons are available for some of its best features. But regrettably, this is only true of the premium edition. There isn’t much in the free edition, but you can still edit text simply and completely. I would advise you to go forward if privacy is your only worry.
Slite is a note-taking tool that focuses on team collaboration and lets an endless number of teams share and work together on notes. Individual team members or group members can designate areas on the app for their shared notes that they can all modify or discuss.
Together with team members’ collaborative editing, commenting, and revision history, Slite also enables you to make private notes for solely your own use. Along with the option to import your papers from other platforms and apps, there are numerous templates available to use as a starting point.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Slite Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
8. Typora
Slite lacks several crucial features like project or task management, a calendar, and video conferencing capabilities as a team collaborative note-taking tool. Apart from that, it is a great app for well-organized teamwork.
Typora is just a markdown editor with a tonne of annotation and editing tools. Yet it can also be helpful as a note-taking app. It enables file organisation, data syncing with online services, file import and export in a variety of formats, and the usage of stylish themes for your notes.
The best aspect of Typora is its simple text formatting, which includes the word count, focus mode, typewriter mode, and code editor-style automatic pairing of brackets, quotes, and markdown symbols. Moreover, the software does away with the necessity for a preview window and provides a live preview in its place.
- Desktop Compatibility: Windows, MacOS, Linux
- Mobile Compatibility:
- Typora Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: No
9. Grammarly
There aren’t many sophisticated note-taking tools like collaborative editing and direct sharing with a team or group in Typora because it is just a markdown software. Moreover, I would really want to see an iOS and Android mobile version. It is a fantastic simple editor that also functions as a note-taking tool aside from that.
One of the best resources for proofreading and grammar checking is Grammarly. You might as well use Grammarly for note-taking if you already use it for proofreading. You can upload documents from your computer and store notes in the app to your account.
Your saved notes are shown as tiles on your homepage, where you can choose to download or remove them. The massive 150K word limit for notes is available, and your account may be synced with five separate devices. Also, you may combine it with popular browsers, native Windows and macOS apps, Google Docs, MS Word, and Outlook programmes.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Grammarly Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
10. Paper
Grammarly doesn’t have any unique note-taking features because it is primarily a proofreading programme. Although you can save notes and later search for them by name, the basic account doesn’t offer much else. You do have a little bit more room to experiment with the premium account. Yet in addition to being mostly used as a proofreading tool, it can also serve as a straightforward note-taking app.
Here is Paper for individuals looking for pictorial or visual note-taking. It assists you in compiling your creative inspirations as drawings or doodles and helps you bring your thoughts to life with eye-catching imagery.
- Desktop Compatibility: n/a
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS
- Paper Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
Bonus: ProofHub
Even those who are unable to draw can create vibrant sketches thanks to the simplicity and variety of qualities that paper offers. You can also take textual notes and arrange them in diaries in addition to making sketches. Also, the software syncs your notes with other devices without any issues.
ProofHub, a potent tool for job management and team collaboration, offers a wide range of sophisticated features, including reports, recurring tasks, forms, custom fields, and many others.
Moreover, ProofHub has an intuitive built-in note-taking interface that enables you to take, organise, save, and share notes as needed. You can manage your notes while on the go with ProofHub’s mobile app, which is essential in the hectic workplace of today.
You can get a number of capabilities from ProofHub’s clever note-taking app that you would anticipate from such a highly regarded software programme. You can take your notes with you wherever you go because the app is compatible with a variety of devices, whether you work from home or in the office. You can color-code your notes, which I thought was a pretty intelligent addition because it makes it simple for users to categorise and distinguish between different notes.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- ProofHub Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)