When it comes to keeping track of important information and ideas, note-taking apps have become an indispensable tool for many. With the rise of cross-platform technology, it’s easier than ever to access and update your notes from any device, whether it’s a smartphone, tablet, or computer. In this article, we’ll be exploring some of the best cross-platform note-taking apps currently available, taking a closer look at their features and functionality. Whether you’re a student, professional, or just someone who likes to stay organized, there’s sure to be a note-taking app on this list that meets your needs.
We have compiled a list of 5 Best Cross-Platform Note-Taking Apps for your consideration, which have undergone rigorous testing and evaluation by our team of experts.
Table of Contents
5 Best Cross-Platform Note-Taking Apps
1. Ulysses
Ulysses is a writing environment that is designed for use on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It offers a focused writing experience, as well as effective document management, seamless sync, and flexible export. This makes Ulysses a popular choice for writers of all kinds. In 2016, Ulysses won the Apple Design Award.
The distraction-free editor in Ulysses is markup-based, allowing you to focus on writing, editing, and reviewing text. Formatting is kept for later, enabling you to fully immerse yourself in your work. Ulysses also provides a streamlined toolset that covers the entire writing process, from first draft to final edit. Its clean and simple interface promotes productivity.
Ulysses stores all your writing in a unified library, allowing you to manage projects of all kinds and sizes. Your work is automatically saved and synced across all your devices, regardless of where you are when inspiration strikes. With feature parity across macOS and iOS, all your tools and texts are always available.
Ulysses comes with an integrated grammar and style checker, available for over 20 languages. It analyzes your text and provides feedback on capitalization, punctuation, semantics, redundancy, style, and more. This feature enables you to write with confidence.
The export feature in Ulysses is flexible and enables you to transform your text into beautiful PDFs, Word documents or eBooks. You can also export HTML code, ready to use anywhere on the web. Ulysses offers a variety of pre-made formatting styles, or you can create your own and share it with other users.
Ulysses offers best-in-class publishing to WordPress, Ghost, Medium, and Micro.blog. You can post to WordPress, Ghost, and Micro.blog from within the app, complete with images, tags, categories, and more. Publishing to Medium is just as easy, and all four platforms offer a built-in preview to proofread before submission.
2. Notion
Notion is a productivity application that allows users to write, plan and organize their work in one place. The platform offers customization options that cater to individual preferences and work styles. The basic version is free for personal use and allows users to add as much content as they want without hitting a storage limit. The application is designed for ease of use, allowing users to drag and drop content to create dashboards, websites, documents or systems.
Notion offers a free trial for team use, inviting members to get organized and collaborate in real-time. The company boasts an impressive clientele, with 90% of Forbes Cloud 100 companies using the platform. The application offers features such as notes, docs and tasks, enabling users to drag and drop anything and organize everything. Collaboration is made easy with real-time sharing, comments and @mentions for team members.
Notion enables users to create rich media documents with images, to-do lists and over 20 other content types. The platform allows users to nest pages inside pages, providing a more streamlined approach to organizing information. Users can publish any Notion page as a website with just two taps. Additionally, the application syncs with browser, Mac and Windows apps, allowing users to pick up where they left off on any device.
Notion offers a desktop app that is available for download on notion.so/desktop. Overall, the platform is designed to improve productivity and organization for individuals and teams alike. Its customizable features and collaborative tools make it a popular choice among large organizations and small businesses alike.
3. Evernote
Evernote is a note-taking app that helps users capture ideas and organize their notes, to-do lists, and schedule. It syncs to all devices and has a customizable Home dashboard to quickly access relevant information. However, the new version of Evernote is only available for Android version 10 and newer. Users of Android version 9 and older will receive the Evernote Legacy app, with the new version to be available in a future update.
Evernote allows users to capture ideas by writing, collecting, and organizing searchable notes, notebooks, and to-do lists. Users can also clip interesting articles and web pages, add different types of content to their notes, and use the camera to scan and organize paper documents, business cards, whiteboards, and handwritten notes. It also has a Tasks feature to manage to-do lists and deadlines, and can connect with Google Calendar to bring schedules and notes together.
With Evernote, users can access their notes and notebooks across any Chromebook, phone, or tablet and seamlessly switch between devices. It has features for personal use, such as keeping a journal or going paperless by scanning receipts and important documents, as well as for business and education purposes. In addition to the basic free version, Evernote offers Personal and Professional versions with varying features and storage capacity.
The app’s subscription is charged through the user’s Google Play account and automatically renews unless canceled 24 hours before the end of the current period. Users can manage their subscriptions in Account Settings after purchase. Evernote has a Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and Commercial Terms for its users to review.
4. Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote is a digital notepad that lets you take notes on your phone and sync them across all your devices. The application allows you to plan important moments in your life, track your list of errands, and write memos. OneNote also comes with a digital sketchbook feature that allows you to capture images and add them to your notes. You can access your notes anytime, anywhere, on any device, and search them quickly and effortlessly. OneNote is available for download, and it allows you to collaborate and share notes with others.
OneNote provides a flexible canvas to write notes, draw, and clip things from the web, which you can organize using sections and pages. You can also save pictures and images to your notes, scan documents and business cards, and use custom labels to mark what’s important. OneNote is a digital notebook that you can use as a journal, notepad, or notebook to separate your thoughts by theme at school, home, or work.
OneNote syncs your notes across all devices and lets multiple people work on the content together, at the same time. The notepad badge hovers on the screen, allowing you to quickly write your thoughts down any time. Sticky notes are helpful for quick memos. OneNote allows you to collaborate in real-time with others, take notes during classes or meetings, mixing in text, voice, ink, and web clippings.
OneNote is part of the Office family and works great with your favorite apps, such as Excel or Word, to help you do more. OneNote requires Android OS 5.0 or later and a free Microsoft account to use. OneNote opens existing notebooks created in Microsoft OneNote 2010 format or later. To sync your notes to OneDrive for Business, sign in with your organization’s Office 365 or SharePoint account.
This app is provided either by Microsoft or a third-party app publisher and is subject to a separate privacy statement and terms and conditions.
5. Simplenote
Simplenote is a note-taking application that allows users to quickly jot down their thoughts, create to-do lists, capture ideas, and more. As the user’s collection grows, Simplenote offers organizational features, such as tags and pins, to help them stay organized. Users can search their notes instantly and sync Simplenote across all their devices for free, ensuring that their notes are always accessible.
The application offers a simple note-taking experience for users. Additionally, users can collaborate and share their notes with others, choosing whether or not to publish their content to the web. Users can also publish their notes directly to a WordPress site by connecting their WordPress.com account.
Simplenote comes equipped with organizational tools such as tags, to-do lists, and the ability to sort notes and tags. Users can also highlight keywords and use markdown to add formatting to their notes. Furthermore, users can protect their content with a passcode lock for added security.
One of the main benefits of Simplenote is its ability to sync seamlessly across any computer, phone or tablet. The application automatically backs up and syncs everything as the user takes notes, so they never lose their content.
Simplenote offers a privacy policy and terms of service. California users also have access to a privacy notice. Users can visit simplenote.com to download Simplenote for their other devices.