Many students and pupils are preparing for the new school year. This includes not only a shiny new laptop or phone, but also the right apps that help you take the perfect notes. Here you will discover our favorites of the moment.
The best note-taking apps
At first glance, it may seem insignificant to make a conscious choice for the right note-taking app at the start of the school year, but looks can be deceiving. The best apps sync your notes across all your devices, they come with the formatting features that matter, bring useful ways to categorize notes, and other neat tricks.
There are also a lot of differences between the list of Note apps below, and each app has its own package of benefits. All apps from the list below are therefore worth considering, depending on the features you are looking for in a note-taking app. Still, according to the Androidworld editors, Google Keep is the best app for most cases. Google Keep comes with a range of functions and a pleasant interface.
1. Google Keep
Keep is no stranger to many as it is Google’s note-taking app that is completely free and comes pre-installed on many phones. However, that does not alter the fact that not everyone is aware of the many advantages and functions of this app.
The app works on all platforms and syncs your notes on both your phone and PC via the browser. It is also possible to write notes when you are offline, and you can easily add images, own drawings or audio files. In addition, you can choose from a text document or a list of check boxes. Keep also lets you link useful labels to notes. For example, you create the ‘French’ box as a label and then you can add a new text note per chapter to which that label is linked. If you want to share your notes with friends, you can easily add a collaborator.
Google regularly comes up with strong improvements for Keep and recently it became possible to choose many backgrounds for your notes. Another handy feature that came up recently is Keep’s direct integration into Google Chat and Gmail. The app also works with Google Calendar reminders, and you can link such time-stamped reminders to your notes.
A disadvantage that you can blame this app is the limited options for formatting texts. We already said that not everyone has mastered all the tricks of keep. So read our 8 ultimate tips for Keep.
- Google Keep on the Play Store
2. WeNote
WeNote’s interface is somewhat similar to Google Keep and the app takes over a lot of functions; including the ability to add attachments to notes and work with labels and colors. Still, WeNote comes with a number of trump cards compared to Google’s app.
First of all, WeNote brings more options for formatting text. There are two fonts and five font sizes. In addition, the app has different themes and display options for the overview of your notes. You can make a copy of your notes or pin a note to the top of your phone’s notifications. What is also special is that you can lock your notes using the fingerprint scanner. The app can sync your notes in Google Drive.
WeNote is free, but if you want access to all themes and a widget, you should opt for the paid version. This works via a one-time purchase where you purchase functions separately or a so-called combi deal, although it is quite pricey. The free version may already be enough for you.
- WeNote on the Play Store
3. Evernote
This note-taking app has been around for years, and it was our editors’ undisputed favorite before Google Keep was released. Evernote has some notable advantages. You can add many kinds of attachments to notes: documents, PDFs, sketches, photos, audio, web clippings and more. Furthermore, you can easily cut out web pages or parts of them for later use. Also nice are the three widgets that you can add to the home screen.
Still, Evernote has limitations, at least for those who use the app for free. The service comes with two subscription formulas: one for personal use and one for companies. They allow you to sync your notes on an infinite number of devices, and they extend the maximum file size of notes and attachments.
On the other hand, you can connect your Google account with the personal subscription for convenient integration with Google Calendar. The business plan also lets users add their Google work account, and you can integrate the service into Slack or Microsoft Teams.
- Evernote on the Play Store
4. MS OneNote
Like Google Keep, OneNote is also completely free and can be used on Android, iOS or Windows. The interface is adapted for phones, tablets or PCs. You can also synchronize notes in the cloud service Microsoft OneDrive and you can also work on the same note with others at the same time.
An interesting thing about this app is that users can type text in a note and then mark it or supplement it in the same document with their own drawings. The app focuses strongly on a pleasant structure for your notes thanks to a subdivision of the text into sections. You can then quickly switch between the different content parts. In addition, there’s the OneNote badge that you use on your phone to quickly put something in a note from any screen.
OneNote is undoubtedly one of the strongest and most complete competitors to Keep. Which of the two is more comfortable for you will largely depend on the other software you use and the interface you prefer. Do you often work with Microsoft Office or rather with Google Docs, Spreadsheets and Gmail? On the other hand, OneNote looks a bit more business like than Keep.
- MS OneNote on the Play Store
5. Silent Notes
SilentNotes is the note taking app that promises to respect the privacy of its users and the app works with end-to-end encryption of notes. This means that your texts are unreadable to others if they are intercepted. Furthermore, the app is open-source, meaning that anyone can check how the software works on the developer platform GitHub.
Interesting about this app is that it also comes with a limited word processor, so you can give a nice style and structure to texts. In addition, you can back up your notes via your own NAS server or a cloud service of your choice.
- Read all articles from our privacy theme week here
SilentNotes is less extensive in certain areas than most of its competitors. You can only make text notes and there are fewer ways to organize your notes easily. The app is available on both Android devices and Windows PCs and it is completely free. Those who want to support SilentNotes can donate money to the developer.
- SilentNotes on the Play Store
6. Notion
Notion is like a notion app on steroids. It is an app that focuses in particular on organizing information on the basis of separate databases. You can link in your texts to other pages as if it were running your own Wikipedia.
You can sync your notes in Notion on all kinds of devices and the app works with handy labels and its own calendar function. If you work together in a team, you can also collaborate in Notion and send mentions in the text to each other with the ‘@’ sign. Notion also includes bookmarks and there is the option to edit notes offline.
Because of the focus on databases and the interface that looks a bit business-like, it can take some getting used to if you want to use the app. But once you start using them, you’ll notice that a number of things are quite intuitive, such as the ability to drag text and change the order of bullets.
- Notion on the Play Store
7. Simplenote
The name says it all. This app focuses on simplicity, and you notice that in the Simplenote interface. You can create simple text notes and bullet points and you get the option to use tags and organize your notes. You can pin the most important notes at the top. Notes are synced across all your devices through separate apps or the browser version. Simple right?
Although the design of this app seems very simple at first, there are a number of advanced functions, such as the possibility to collaborate in this app. You can also easily go back in time to see the notes from last week or last month at a glance.
Another remarkable feature is the collaboration of this app with WordPress, the well-known platform with which you publish content online. You can log into Simplenote with your WordPress account and you can quickly post the content from notes in a blog post. The app is completely free.
- Simplenote on the Play Store
8. Notebook – Take Notes (Zoho)
The Notebook app, formerly known as Zoho Notebook, bets on versatility. You can attach many types of files to notes, but the app also lets you scan documents. In addition, there are many sorting options, and ways to group notes.
Just like in WeNote, this app can also secure notes using the fingerprint scanner and you can sync your notes in the cloud across devices. The app, on the other hand, offers the possibility to export notes with different kinds of file types.
You can also pin individual notes to the home screen as a shortcut for quick access. and the app is also ready to work on foldables or large screens as it is optimized for multi-window use. Finally, the Notebook app comes with its own widget. The app is completely free and comes without ads.
- Notebook on the Play Store
Any more note-taking apps?
There are plenty of excellent note-taking apps on the Play Store, which is very good news as it means there’s something for everyone. For some users, a notes app doesn’t have to do that much either, and there is even a way to use WhatsApp for this. If you also know that you can also adjust the font and text style in WhatsApp, then it becomes quite an interesting method. Which note-taking app do you use? Let us know in the comments at the bottom of this article.
More apps!
You will find a every Monday on Androidworld Best apps of the week and every Sunday we discuss an app in our section App of the week. If you are looking for fun apps, then you have come to the right place at Androidworld. Search our large database of apps using the links below.
- App of the week
- Best apps of the week
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