It's open source, minimalistic and saves everything locally

One of the great advantages of always having your phone with you is that you have something to write down and yes, even if Google Keep is a fantastic app to do it, it has never convinced me. If we also take into account the number of apps that exist both in the Google Play Store and outside, it is worth looking for alternatives. Especially if like me, you love them open source initiatives and get rid of ads.

I did it and the result couldn’t be better: I found a completely free application that converted me for its simplicity, its operation and its open source. In fact, Notally has become indispensable on my phone and I have reasons

What is Notally and how does it work?

I often come up with ideas for articles and they don’t always give me something to write about beyond my phone, same for thoughts in general or just when someone recommends a book or a restaurant. Yes, Google Keep is good, I have a Telegram channel where it’s just me sharing things with each other, but sometimes I just want to take notes, simplicity and agility.

I found it on Notally, available for free on the Google Play Store and also on GitHub. Just install it and it workssince you don’t need to register or log in. The design is extremely simple, so there are no complications and you don’t need a prior tutorial to get the most out of it, and its appearance tends towards minimal ism, which is helped by not being bombarded with ads or encountering them every time you take a step. However, you can configure interesting details such as the font size or what suits.

The advantage is that the configuration is minimal, but it has a consequence to take into account: it does not allow you to save your notes and transfer them to another device since store everything locally (to share myself with the computer, my other mobile phone or the tablet, I use Telegram), which can be interesting for privacy lovers.

From there, there’s no learning curve: you open the app, tap the “+” and create the note. There are two options here: either do it as a to-do list to check off, or as a blank sheet of paper. Of course, just because it’s so easy to use doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some extras to make it a more complete experience, like be able to add images or record audio.

For basic use where you only need to count with a few notes, finding them is easy, but as you use it, it is convenient to go create tags, in my case I have some for recommendations, professional or personal.

In short, if you want a simple and functional application for taking notesyou don’t need the benefits of the cloud and you are particularly concerned about privacy and avoiding ads, it’s worth a try.