[entropyie]

My number one problem with notes apps is that they all take too long to open a new note, and try to sync themselves when opened, often slowing everything down. Especially if you have a slow / choppy connection (fully offline is usually ok, but barely online is the worst).

I have a literal supercomputer in my pocket, yet not one app let's me open and start writing a critical note in less than 500ms.

To this day I still use plaintext editors on my desktop to dump short strings or notes into, because they load faster than any other app. And don't try to be clever with smart quotes, fonts and butchering my code snippets.

[vladxyz]

Just as a counter-example, my workflow works very quickly for me:

On mobile, my launcher has four pinned favorites on the homepage - one of which is a shortcut to go straight to the new note activity in my notes app. From typing up this comment I can swipe up to home and touch that button in (probably?) under 500ms and type in a new note.

(launcher = KISS Launcher, notes app = Joplin. though I'm sure similar things work with other launchers and note apps.)

It is unfortunately an electron app on desktop, but I'm invested enough that I never close it, and can start a new note just as quickly (super + 1 to launch it from my task bar, ctrl+n to start a new nearly plaintext note). This is the same on my windows and Linux computers. MacOS (as it is with most things) is somewhat more annoying: I keep a Space dedicated to Joplin and never collapse to the icon, which allows me to similarly go two chords - ctrl+9, cmd+n - to a new note.

Joplin doesn't need sync to complete before opening a new note.

[rsanek]

try Google keep. there's a shortcut you can make that with a single tap from the homescreen creates a new note and brings up your keyboard for typing. after you're done you don't have to even click save to persist it. it also auto syncs in the background.

I've been using it on iOS for years

[kwhitefoot]

And you can invite others to share a note and edit it together in real time. My family uses this feature for shopping lists. Any of us can add things to the list and when one of us does some shopping they just trick the items off.

And it works offline and in the web browser.

[eviks]

But that’s not true, even on decade-old iPhone the time from hot open to typing response is about 0.5 sec (if you unload an app and load it again it might be slower) Same with the "new note" long tap on newer models

Granted, you need to use native apps for that like Simplenote or Notes

Not sure about choppy connections, though, haven't measured that

[rubymamis]

Give a shot to my note-taking app! https://www.get-plume.com

It stays hidden in the background, and you can summon it immediately using a shortcut key like control + N on macOS/Windows key + Shift + N on Windows.

It also starts very fast from scratch since it's a Qt C++ app, not Electron.

[happyopossum]

> yet not one app let's me open and start writing a critical note in less than 500ms

IME Apple Notes does this with Quick Notes (accessible a bunch of different ways depending on platform) on iOS and macOS.

[wonger_]

What are the different shortcuts/ways to open Notes? And do you know if these shortcuts are available for other app developers, or are they dedicated solely to Notes? Just curious

[sturza]

I had the same speed issue and i solved it using email drafts. They sync automatically and i have rich text.