We know what you want in a great app. You want simple, intuitive tools that put the power of productivity in your hands. And you want to make sure you will be able to sync your notes across all your devices. With this in mind, we focused on designing the best note taking experience, creating an app that will make it easy for you to take notes wherever you are, with whatever device you choose.
Note Everything, from your favorite sandwich ingredients to a new recipe or book ideas. Take quick notes and make a shopping list. Add a picture to a note and make a recipe you can share with your friends, family members and even the whole world! Organize your notes with colors, tags and different notebooks.
Evernote
iOS rating: 4.4
Android rating: 3.8
Pricing: Free with advanced plans starting from EUR 6.99/month
Ideal for: People who just need a great, generic note-taking app with some cool features.
Evernote is the gold standard for note-taking apps. Its feature-rich and platform-agnostic solution means you’ll be able to tailor it to whatever your note-taking needs and preferences are.
Evernote lets you take notes, format them, add images, make to-do lists, as well as search and share your notes with remarkable ease. Even with the free version, you can sync your notes across two devices allowing you to, for example, record ideas on your phone on the go and then find them in front of you when you open your laptop.
The paid versions have some useful features that might come in handy for those of you who are looking to do more than just take notes. For instance, all paid plans allow you to add reminders and notifications to ensure your note is brought back to your attention at the right time. But for casual note-takers, the free plan will do just fine.
Material Notes
Android rating: 4.5
Pricing: Free
Ideal for: Those looking for a free app with basic functionalities and a colorful yet minimalistic design
Another entrant in the “simple but awesome” category among note-taking apps for Android is Material Notes. It does all the simple stuff really well. It’s an android-only solution, you won’t get automatic sync, and it’s also missing automatic backup functionalities. Sure, you can export and import notes easily, but it’s ever-so-slightly more of a hassle than with other apps.
That said, one really cool feature of Material Notes is the ability to lock certain notes behind a PIN code. So if you’re the type of person that likes to keep login or other sensitive info in your notes app, then this is the tool for you. It’s not the only app to offer this, but it’s a cool little feature to include in something so simple.
The colors are pleasing to the eye and note management is effortless. Really not much to say outside of “simple but awesome”. It won’t surprise you, nor will it take your breath away, but it will be a joy to work with.
Nebo
iOS rating: 4.5
Android rating: 4.4
Pricing: $11.99
Ideal for: People who love to get creative with their notes and prefer handwriting over typing
If you’re handy with a stylus and love using it, then Nebo was made for you. Sure, other note-taking apps also allow for handwritten notes, but Nebo stands above them thanks to their proprietary technology. Even if, like most people, you’ve never used a stylus, then you’ll still find Nebo appealing and straightforward.
Color and highlight with your fingers, annotate anything and everything, add diagrams, equations, and images, share your notes, work with PDFs, and more. But all of this can be demanding on your device. If you’re looking for a simple note-taking app to quickly capture your ideas, then Nebo might be a bit of an overkill.
Furthermore, while Nebo is technically available for your iPhone, you can only use their viewer app that allows you to view and share the notes, but you won’t be able to take new ones unless you have an iPad. And the app is quite pricey.
All that said, the community thinks highly of Nebo and its users quickly become fans. Hence, the high ratings. But if you need something simple, this probably won’t be for you.
ColorNote
Android rating: 4.8
Pricing: Free
Ideal for: people searching for a basic app with some more advanced features
If you’re looking for something slightly more advanced than Material Notes, but that still sticks to essentials, then ColorNote will suit you perfectly. There’s a reason why it’s one of the top-rated free notes apps on the market.
Alongside the usual features, ColorNote also offers reminders and a calendar, which is ideal for the forgetful among us. In addition to that, it also has the PIN-lock feature and gives you automatic sync and backup. Best of all, these features are very unintrusive. It works like the simplest app out there, but it certainly packs a punch.
I can’t guarantee that you’ll like the design – it’s very practical. The colors serve more of a functional, rather than an aesthetic purpose. But this makes for easy color-coding, which will be appreciated by the more avid note-takers.
Simplenote
iOS rating: 4.8
Android rating: 4.1
Pricing: Free
Ideal for: People who want to keep things simple and make quick notes
Advanced and feature-rich note-taking apps are great and all but, let’s be real, most of those features are completely unnecessary. If all you need is a place to write down your latest idea, or craft a quick to-do list, then Simplenote has you covered.
It’s straightforward, super easy to use, and offers you only the most basic functionalities. But, chances are, that’s all you need. All your notes are backed up and automatically synced across all your devices.
Sure, it might not be as colorful or aesthetically pleasing as other apps on this list, but it doesn’t need to be. It does exactly what it says on the tin and that’s plenty.
Notepad Free
Android rating: 4.6
Pricing: Free
Ideal for: For people who just want to take notes and make sure they don’t lose them
Notepad Free is a bare-bones app that does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a notepad. And it’s free. You can create unlimited notes and the app will back them up for you. It doesn’t get any simpler than this. The most advanced function on offer is the ability to pin individual notes to your smartphone home screen.
And maybe that’s all you need. Notepad Free might not be the best note-taking app for Android, but it will serve you just fine if all you’re looking to do is to jot down ideas on the go or create a basic shopping list.
Standard Notes
iOS rating: 4.8
Android rating: 4.5
Pricing: Free
Ideal for: Privacy-conscious note-takers looking for a simple solution
Standard Notes is a free, minimalistic, open-source, and fully encrypted note-taking application. What does that mean for you? Well, the simplicity means there’s no learning curve. You download it and you start writing notes. That’s it. It looks fine and offers just enough functionalities to keep your notes structured and organized. Which is plenty.
But the main appeal of Standard Notes is their focus on privacy. All your notes are encrypted, meaning only you have access to what you write down. The developers can’t see what you write, nor can your ISP or any hackers. It’s a superb solution for privacy-conscious users that will help you sleep peacefully at night. Just make sure your phone has a lock screen or else anyone can grab your phone and sneak a peek.
FiiNote
Android rating: 4.3
Pricing: Free with advanced plans starting at $0.50/mo
Ideal for: those of you who like to take notes and develop them further right there in the app
The biggest plus for FiiNote is the complete note-taking freedom you get. The app supports every type of input you might need – keyboard, handwriting, doodles, voice, and camera. This is perfect if you like to not only take notes, but also develop them further and expand on your ideas or to-dos right there in your note-taking app.
FiiNote also offers secure cloud backup and among its premium features, you’ll find compound tags, revision history, and… the removal of ads. Which, as you can gather, means the free version has ads. It can be a bit annoying, but the Pro package is so cheap (literally the price of a cup of coffee for an entire year of great note-taking experience), that you don’t have to think twice about getting it.
All in all, the design is cool, everything works well, and the available features will cover all your basic needs.
WorkFlowy
iOS rating: 4.9
Android rating: 4.5
Pricing: Free with an advanced plan at $4.99/mo
Ideal for: People who want to take notes and do it efficiently
Just look at those ratings – people love WorkFlowy. Why? Because it’s THE archetypical note-taking app that has been executed to perfection. It doesn’t stuff any unnecessary features down your throat, it doesn’t distract you from making notes, it doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not.
So what does it do? It lets you make notes and lists, as well as organize them in the most straightforward way possible. You can create infinitely nested lists, tag and filter items, add notes to your notes, and so much more. You’ll also have automatic syncing, which, nowadays, is table stakes, alongside the ability to share your notes with others.
The design is super appealing in its simplicity and you’ll understand how everything works the moment you open the app. It’s as if somebody took the thing you imagine when you think “note-taking app” and brought it to life.
Squid
Android rating: 4.3
Pricing: Free with advanced plans starting at $1/mo
Ideal for: students and anyone who loves to take handwritten notes
If you’re looking for a simple solution to quickly capture fleeting thoughts, then Squid is not for you. On the other hand, if you want to take beautiful handwritten notes during meetings, lectures, or events, you will love Squid.
Put your pen to the digital paper and record things easily, format your notes, annotate ideas, copy & paste things, import and crop images, sort and organize everything by and within notebooks, export notes in PDF, JPG, or PNG, and share things easily with others. It’s so much more than a simple note-writing app.
With all that in mind, Squid is best used with a tablet rather than a smartphone. The size of the screen matters tremendously when taking handwritten notes and with a phone, you’re likely to find yourself constantly zooming in and out just to stay on track. But if you’re up for the challenge, then definitely give Squid a try, because it’s definitely the best notes app for Android in this category.
Conclusion
Whether you’re just typing text, writing with a stylus, or scribbling with your finger, there are a lot of different note-taking apps for Android out there. Some are focused more on just taking simple notes, while others come with more features and functionality that can turn your smartphone into a digital notebook, or workbook.
You can also now use your smartphone for taking minutes from minutes, simply putting down business ideas and other inspirations, or even work with collaborative software with colleagues and add the notes you make.