For the last 8 years or so, I have been using Evernote to take my notes and capture my ideas. I call myself a loyal customer to Evernote because I didn’t move to other alternatives even after they have restricted the number of concurrent devices to two! I waited for about 5 years to see some good new features and to be honest, the only good feature they have added since the first day I started using it was dark mode. I hope I could see some other features such as right-to-left languages support or better hierarchy category structure but they haven’t add any of these until now. So I decided to switch!

Options

I started investigating about other options I have to switch to. In fact, there are dozens of note-taking applications out there but in my opinion, only a few of them are deserved to be called an alternative to Evernote! Here is my shortlist:

• Google Keep
• Microsoft OneNote
• Apple Notes

I tried Google Keep but the fact that it doesn’t have any desktop application really hurts me. It’s also more like sticky notes rather than “real notes”. Also, I have tried OneNote before. OneNote is really great option but I think it’s more intended to be used by students because it’s really similar to university textbooks. What I need in particular is a simple text area (similar to Evernote) where I can just type! Moreover, I want the support for RTL languages because I write my daily journal mostly in Persian.

Apple Notes

I know most people may blame me for choosing Apple Notes over all other alternatives; but, the fact is that it covers most of my needs! Here are some of my key point:

• I own a MacBook and an iPhone; and as expected, Apple Notes works seamlessly on my devices.
• It syncs automatically via iCloud and it can even be accessed via a web browser if I don’t carry any of my devices (which is rare but possible).
• Apple Notes does support right-to-left languages (which Evernote doesn’t).
• Just like Evernote, Apple Notes supports search in photos! If you scan a document for example, you can simply search through it.
• It’s completely free! Unlike Evernote and most other alternatives, you can save notes up to your iCloud storage capacity (5GB by default)!

I believe you don’t use 80% of features apps offer (especially productivity apps) and I believe simplicity is good. Apple Notes is simply a note-taking application which offers only essentials and it’s enough.