[samwillis]

Super interesting, particularly the link through to the blog with all the research into how Notes works.

A particularly interesting thing that I don't see mentioned anywhere is that Apple Notes uses CRDTs (conflict free replicated data types) to enable both shared notes and multiple concurrent edits. With the CRDTs resolving the conflicts.

It looks like the info on the page may be a good place to start looking to how that works: https://www.ciofecaforensics.com/2020/10/20/apple-notes-clou...

[eddyg]

CRDTs are definitely an “unsung hero” of Apple Notes… and a big reason why it is one Apple’s best “built-in” apps as of late.

[starbugs]

If they could now implement table resizing and tables that do not render with graphical errors, that would be so nice.

[howinteresting]

A notes app that only works with one 2-trillion-dollar company's hardware and does not have builtin functionality to export notes (e.g. a menu option to do so) cannot reasonably be described as good. One's expectations have to be through the floor for that to be an honest appraisal.

Compare it to Obsidian, which just stores data in a bunch of markdown files on disk.

[Gigachad]

I don't actually care about getting some data dump out of Notes. I use it as a way to quickly store temporary information. Any note older than a month is most likely useless. The most important feature is that it effortlessly syncs between my phone, work laptop, and home laptop. And that it does. Unlike a bunch of markdown files on disk where you have to create some janky syncing setup yourself which has no conflict resolution system.

[howinteresting]

Obsidian Sync works great.

[veidr]

I agree, but at USD $120/year it is expensive.

(It's worth it to me, but I'd still prefer something equally easy-to-use, standards-based, but self-hosted with rounds-to-zero running costs.)

[Kerrick]

I can export to Text and/or PDF on my iPhone from the Notes app.

[eviks]

That doesn't count since text is destructive export is pdf is just as bad (also, batch export?)

[howinteresting]

We're commenting on the website for a project called "Apple Notes Liberator". Obsidian does not need a "liberator".

[macintux]

You're moving the goalposts.

Your first comment:

> and does not have builtin functionality to export notes (e.g. a menu option to do so)

That's incorrect: you can export to PDF. Certainly not as handy as Markdown, but it's there.

Additionally, Apple offers AppleScript as a way to do even more.

No, this isn't an open source piece of software. If that's your sole criteria for "good" then you're right, it's bad.

[eviks]

No goal posts move when the original issue is not resolved with the proposed solution Like, without any menu you can export your notes to a screenshot, but you wouldn't accept it as an export option, would you? Similarly, PDF is an awful format for notes, so the fact that it exists doesn't solve the issue that you can't export your notes (which at a minimum you need to be able to do in batches, not individual notes)

[howinteresting]

OK, pretend that I edited my comment to say "batch export notes with full fidelity". Happy?

[user_7832]

Thank you for posting about CRDTs! I remembered Apple Notes used some type of versioning that was good and I’d wanted to use in my own app design but I had forgotten the name.