Android

Noto

Noto is a minimal, free, open-source, and fast note-taking app but it does not have any Markdown support. The UI is clean and it uses a nice font which cannot be changed.

Stone

Dec 10, 2022 • 2 min read

Happy Saturday and welcome to app review # 66 as 2022 winds down!

💡

A warm welcome to a single new subscriber this week YangYangSheep from Singapore. You're just one sheep but I'm glad you signed up!

This week I tested Noto which is a minimal, free, open-source, fast note-taking app without any Markdown support. The app's UI is clean and it uses a nice font although you can't change the font or font size, there's no support for adding inline images, and no unordered lists (bullets).

The "oh!" reaction I had to the app was that it implements some interesting user experiences including a nice reading mode, navigating notes in folders, and performing undo or redo actions using swipes.

A feature that is typically only found in more advanced apps is included: version history. That said the UI for it could definitely be improved. Another downside is that I crashed the app once but haven't reproduced the crash again.

Even with those two issues, I'd say Noto is worth a try and it's one I will be checking back in on.

Screenshots

Ugly

Click the history and it scrolled like crazy
Crashed it once (not sure of the steps)

Bad

No Markdown support
No bullets and if you use "-", it doesn't add "- " automatically on the next line
Share via email doesn't put the note title in the subject line
No text formatting
1 font but I like it
1 font size
No checklists
No image or audio attachments
Includes too much of the note body in the note list
Next and previous buttons appear active even when there are no previous and next notes

Good

Word counter at the top, fun at first then annoying
Undo and redo
Nice font
Add labels (tags) to a note
Filter notes by label (tags)
Created and last updated date and time
Sort notes by creation date, by last modified date, or alphabetically
3 widgets: create a folder, create a note, first note
Archive a note
Folders
Export and import notes to JSON for backup and restore
Share via email
Share via text/SMS
Duplicate a note
Copy note text
Change the colour of folders
Settings per folder
Basic toolbar
Pin a note
Grid view of note list
Add a note to the home screen

Great

Set a reminder
10 languages: English, Turkish, Arabic, Indonesian, Russian, Spanish, French, German, Czech, and Italian
Group notes by creation date, modified date, label
Show recent notes
Brightness levels independent from Android settings (optional)
Setting to place the cursor in the note title or body upon note creation
26 folder colours and nice ones
Nice view of all notes with the ability to collapse and expand folders
Folder vault for password-protected notes

Awesome

Fast
Open Source: Apache License (Version 2.0)
Free
No ads
Local first
Reading mode
Reading mode across notes with previous and next buttons
Undo and redo via swipe left and right, very cool!
Version history (see Ugly)