How many times have you had to take notes on loose sheets of paper that you then promptly lost? Today you can do a lot of things with your smartphone, including taking notes through applications. There are so many, you'll be spoiled for choice, but with this article we'll try to suggest the best note-taking apps for Android and iOS devices.
If you often take a lot of notes, for example at university during a lecture, or during a business meeting, you'll need to keep them all together and prevent them from getting lost. You should know that there are many note-taking apps out there, some of them free, and thanks to them, you can avoid carrying around notebooks, scattered sheets of paper or notepads and keep everything together on your phone. By now, the phone is an almost natural extension of our hand, we check it very often and can also use it to take notes. These apps can also be downloaded to tablets, iPads, so both Android and iOS devices. Some are totally free, others are paid, for example you will have to subscribe. As you read this article, we're sure you'll find the note-taking app that best suits your needs.
Evernote
Let's start with a free app, which is available for both Android and iOS, it's called Evernote and can be used both from a mobile device and on a fixed device. The app also offers the ability to sync devices to continue a job that started on your phone and finish it on your desktop PC. The free version of the app does not allow you to access your notes offline and limits syncing to two devices. To download this app, log in to your store. Dopo averla scaricata, aprila e crea il tuo profilo gratuito. Dovrai scrivere il tuo indirizzo mail per registrarti, oppure accedere con Google tramite il tuo account Google. Per cominciare nella schermata iniziale clicca su "+" e dovrai scegliere tra le opzioni:
- Fotocamera: per fotografare i tuoi appunti che si trovano scritti su fogli sparsi o su lavagne.
- Allegato: puoi aggiungere dei file.
- Audio: puoi aggiungere delle note audio.
- Promemoria: per scrivere un nuovo promemoria.
- Scrittura a mano: puoi scrivere sullo schermo a mano libera.
- Nota di testo: per scrivere appunti tramite la tastiera del tuo dispositivo.
Dopo aver scelto il metodo che più ti piace, clicca su "titolo nota" in alto per inserire il titolo che vuoi dare ai tuoi appunti, se invece vuoi scrivere, clicca su "che cos’hai in mente?". Of course you won't have all the options of a classic word sheet for writing, but you can format the text by clicking on "To" and then choose whether to write in bold, italic or other ways. When you're done writing, click on the checkbox in the upper left corner and save the note. If you use the app for free, its storage space will be reduced. If you don't use the app for free, you can sign up for a subscription for $29.99 a year.
OneNote
Another good, free app is OneNote . It allows you to sync across multiple devices and always have your notes at your fingertips. You can download it for Windows, Android, iOS and Mac devices. Download it and after registering click on "sign up for free", then follow the instructions that will be shown to continue the process. You'll have to create a Microsoft account in order to have the option of synchronization on multiple devices. You may already have a Microsoft account and at this point you can safely click on "sign in" to enter.
To create your first notebook, you need to click on "+ notebook" and decide the title you want to give it, continue by clicking on "+ sheet" to create the first sheet of notes. If you want to add more to your notes, through the icons you can insert photos through the camera of your smartphone, or voice notes through the microphone, with a pencil you can write freehand or create a list of things. If you access OneNote from a tablet, to add these items you'll have to click on "insert". To save the note you don't have to worry, it will save automatically.
Google Keep
Another free solution is Google Keep, which allows you to create your own notes and sync them with your Google account in just a few steps. This note-taking app can be downloaded on Android and iOS devices, and at the same time you can access it from the Web by installing the Chrome extension or through the online interface. After downloading the app you can sign in with your Google account and through the home screen you can click on "get started" to start taking notes and memos on your device.
You'll have several functions at your disposal, you can make a bulleted list to create lists, you can write a simple text note, with the icon of a pen you can write notes freehand, if you click on the microphone you can record a voice note and with the camera take photos of your notes taken on paper. After choosing what type of note to use, you'll have to write a title for the note in the space provided. All your work will be automatically saved to the cloud and synced.
A special feature of this note taking app is the ability to add a reminder to your notes, so you can remember what to do, for example at a specific time of day or when you go to a specific place. In order to add the reminder, you have to click on the hand icon and in the box that opens you have to click on "now" to let Google Keep remind you what to do at a specific time of the day. Another option you'll be able to choose is "location", if you want your reminder to be reminded when you're in a specific place. Be sure to remember to save.
Notability
A note-taking app just for iOS and Mac devices, is Notability, which you can buy for €10.99. The app allows you to take freehand notes, be able to add voice notes through audio recordings and write notes with your device's keyboard, even on external pdf files. After downloading the app, you can open it and on the home page click on "new note" which has a pen icon, this will allow you to create new sheets to take notes.
Also on this app you have several options for taking notes: the pencil allows you to decide what stroke and color your pencil should have for freehand writing; if you decide to use the highlighter you can highlight parts of the text with different colors, with the eraser icon you can erase the wrong pencil stroke and with the microphone you can record voice notes. Of course, you can always write your notes using your device's keyboard by clicking on "T" at the top and then click on the part of the paper where you want to start writing.
The text can be formatted through the menu option at the bottom, so you can decide the font, font, color and size. This app also allows you to easily synchronize your notes taken on your iPad or iPhone with your Mac. All you need to do is download the app to all devices and then link it to your iCloud account.
Other note-taking apps
The note-taking apps mentioned above are definitely among the best, but as we've already mentioned there are really many you can try. Some, however, can only be used by those with Android devices, such as Color Note and Classic Notes, which you can download through Google Play. The first one is one of the easiest to use, and at the same time very complete. It ensures that you can take notes with ease and organize them by color.
You can also use the Stiky Note widgets to keep track of the most important notes and things you need to do that you can't possibly forget. The second app, Classic Notes, is more basic and still very easy to use. The name itself lets you know that it doesn't have superfluous options and lets you make notes with just a few clicks. Saving notes is also very simple, because you won't have to do anything, the app will do it all.
Other note-taking apps can only be used from iOS devices and downloaded only from the App Store, such as Notes and Penultimate. The First app is already included in all Apple devices and is really very comprehensive. You can easily enter new notes and synchronize everything with iCloud on all Apple devices you have available.
You can protect everything with a password, you can create notes that can be shared with other Apple users, inserting images, links and whatever you want. The second app, Penultimate, can be downloaded for free. You'll have the ability to handwrite your notes, employing a wide range of tools, and you'll have the ability to take photos of your notes and notes taken on paper.
Some apps, however, aren't just limited to devices of the same genre, but can be downloaded from both iOS, Android, and Windows. For example, Bamboo Paper and Simplenote.