I have a specific list of things that I look for in a Notes App.

I’ve revised it countless times after trying all of the popular apps.

I like how fast Apple Notes is, seamless across all my devices.
I like the way Notion presents and stores information in a database.
I like the local first files, linking, and Markdown support in Obsidian.
I like how Bear is a mashup of Apple Notes and Markdown.
I like how visually appealing Craft is.
I like the object first framework in Capacities.
I like daily notes in countless apps.
I like that NotePlan is trying to be tasks, notes and calendar all in one.
I like the distraction free writing experience of iA Writer.

The problem is, not a single one of these apps is perfect. Even less of them meet all my requirements.

I’ve spent more time than I wish I did trying to find that perfect system. The one app to rule them all.

Here’s what I want.

Quick input anywhere

I have a lot of ideas in the car while listening to podcasts. I need to be able to ask Siri, as unreliable as she’s been, to take a note for me. I usually can decipher her horrible speech to text later, but the important bit is getting the idea out somewhere.

Sometimes this could be pen and paper and scanning it in later.

Sometimes I ramble to my phone, or in my car, or pop open a quick note from control center.

Apple Notes is great at this.

I’ve been favoring the iPad and Apple Pencil lately, but I do occasionally pick up pen and paper and write my morning pages in an analog fashion.

I love the ability to scan documents into Apple Notes and be able to search them later, despite the search being hot garbage at times(knowing the exact phrase or title won’t return the correct result).

The rest of Apple Notes’ benefits is that it can pretty much store anything and you don’t have to think about if the file type is supported or not.

✅ Voice memos
✅ Images
✅ Links
✅ Sketches
✅ Math Notes
✅ Files

And many more...

While not a direct feature of a Notes app it is important for me to be able to link notes to my to-do list.

In Notion this is a Kanban Board with card view.

In Apple Notes it is a linked Reminder.

Some way to keep track of what I’m writing, working on, and producing in my video pipeline.

The next best thing is the ability to see my tasks right alongside my calendar.

A task app is useless to me if it doesn’t sync with my calendar and vice versa.

I have too many appointments and 9-5 commitments to be blindly scheduling tasks.

I need to know exactly where and when I have time to work on YouTube, the newsletter and podcast.

I don’t read enough.

When I do it is usually on a Kindle. Everyone knows about Readwise. Highlight things, this service pulls them all together and you sync it with your second brain.

Awesome.

I also use Snipd, which is the same thing but for podcasts.

I’m constantly going in and searching my Readwise database since I’m saving most things with the intent to use it later and not just because I found it interesting.

This has become easier with AI and the Readwise command line interface, but having all of these highlights in the place where I’m writing is a huge bonus.

Making connections to these files with docs that I’m writing is really the whole reason I think the Obsidian graph view is so cool.

Lastly, what good are all these files if I don’t actually own them?

We could get into a moral debate about this whole section, but lately I’ve become more cognizant of the fact that I may not want to rely on a third party to store the only copy of my data.

Not just my data. My second brain.

I trust Apple. For the most part I trust Notion. However, either one could make a decision tomorrow that would impact my ability to use the apps or access my data.

As such, I periodically pull backups of my Apple Notes into Obsidian, with the Obsidian importer.

Apple Notes also now allows Markdown export so I can store those files in a separate folder, RAID backup and cloud backup, in addition to the main iCloud sync that happens automatically in Apple Notes.

Point is, I don’t want to be locked into a system that I don’t control.

I’ve gotten very good at downloading apps and figuring out what I don’t like about them in just a few minutes.

These 6 things help me to score an app based on how reasonable it would be to use as a productivity system, rather than a point based solution to solve a single problem.

There are three that meet these requirements.

Apple Notes is strong in speed and ease of use.

Notion wins as an all-in-one powerhouse.

Obsidian is the fully owned alternative for people who like to tinker.

The problem comes from opinionated choices made by developers.

In some cases the development just hasn’t had a chance to catch up with apps that have been out a long time.

Apple Notes started 19 years ago.
Notion started 10 years ago.
Obsidian is 6 years old already.

I’ll re-iterate that none of them are perfect. Some listen to community feedback better than others and that is ok. What I pick might be different from what you like. That is ok.

Readwise sync is specific highlights that are tagged to sync with Capacities. I’d use the app if it weren’t for this one thing that torpedoes the whole setup for me personally.

Insistence on tags as folders and strange behavior with Apple Pencil drawings. No right hand side-bar for table of contents navigation.

Probably the best slightly more pro version of Apple Notes at a very reasonable price.

Seems like the grail on paper. No official Readwise sync, didn’t like how tasks and calendar didn’t sync back to Apple Calendar.

The interface was not for me as well. Looking good is half the battle. If I don’t like the way an app looks, I’m far less likely to open it and use it everyday to pour out my most valuable thoughts and knowledge.

The writing experience is not as easy as Notion for a block based editor, and lagging behind markdown for speed, at least for me.

Tasks and calendar are getting some extra development love but right now they are unusable for me personally.

I had a bug with Readwise sync, where it wouldn’t show the number of highlights properly and once inside the note there were duplicate highlights everywhere.

You can see a theme with me and Readwise gripes.

I probably need a Claude Cowork intermediary to farm the highlights directly from the CLI and paste them into my notes app in the format I prefer, but that is more work than I want to do at this moment.

None of this means I will stop trying though. I’ve gone back to many of the apps on this list more than once. I’m always willing to give an app I’ve tried another shot, especially as features are added and development continues.

It is clear to me that Apple Notes, Notion and Obsidian are playing in a different ballpark than the rest of the competition at this point. Depending on use case one of those three can do everything that you need and one of them is completely free.

I recently started thinking about debt in tech and the issues with 0% financing.

As American household credit card debt seems to be on a constant rise, with inflation eating wage growth’s lunch, literally, it is hard to comprehend how to get out of that cycle.

My latest podcast episode talks about just that and all of the mistakes I have made with money over the years, specifically around tech.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Talk to you next week.