If you were to look at my post history, you’d probably discover I tend to hop between note taking apps.
Usually this “hop” occurs when I lose track of myself, and my organization slips. At this point, I blame the app, and I think a switch will get me back on track with their “better” system. Of course, that never works. I also tend to switch when I one day the perfectly acceptable amount of money I’m spending becomes - “wait, is this REALLY the best tool?”.
I’ve been back on Evernote for a few months and I do enjoy it, but I noticed that when my sub renews next June (I know, that’s a ways off), it’ll be for $99 CAD, not the ~$55 CAD I paid with the promo that was going on at the time I re-subbed.
All this to say, I tried giving Apple Notes another shot this week. I’m close to giving it another honest shot, but there are a few things that I just can’t get past.
The Good
- It’s built into the system (iOS/Mac)
- Quick notes are amazingly…quick. Pull from the bottom right – boom.
- Apple Pencil support is quite good for my minimal needs
- It’s FAST
- Sharing with friends and family is super easy
- It’s simple, there’s no overthinking
The Meh
- It’s built into the system (iOS/Mac). I’m still not back to the office, but when the day comes I’m back at work without my iPad or Mac nearby, Apple Notes becomes web only. The web version is not great. Brutal, even.
- Version history is non existent. I know the chain of events that has to occur where “undo” doesn’t work is quite rare, but it does happen. Accidents happen. I wouldn’t want to lose a copy of a note I’m working on without a version history
- No easy exit strategy. The times I’ve used Apple Notes in the past, I always get about 2 weeks in and think - "all the stuff I’ve added over the past few weeks won’t be easy to get back out – I’m not sure I want to go years into this, I may never get my notes back
- A few missing Evernote niceties I’ve grown accustomed to. Emailing into EN, Web Clipper, and the Scannable app all seem to outperform and out-do Notes.
How do you all navigate the fact Apple Notes locks you in? That’s a big one for me.