Craft vs Notes (Apple)

Craft was a little bit hard to understand at first (that's on me--they explain everything very well), but once you get the hang of it, suddenly you have a place where you can truly organize your notes, thoughts, life goals, to-dos, all in one app. On top of this, you can layer this organization to your heart's content--if you're a creative type, you can have a "creative" folder with a "lyrics" subfolder with "melancholy" and "funny" subfolders, as well as a "sources of inspiration" subfolder with "quotes" and "aesthetic choices" subfolders within that. Just examples! Moving between these folders is super easy, so it's quickly turned into my personal little hub for all of the ideas I randomly come up with. More than that, it's fairly simple searching things so that if you're ever in a creative rut, you can pull ideas from when you weren't. Honestly I don't think I've scratched the surface of what this app can really do, but I'm really happy I came across it. Beforehand, I was just using my phone's Notes app, and while it was easy enough getting my thoughts down quickly, finding them again or being able to connect them to other thoughts was basically out of the question. Best part (although pretty common for note-taking apps) is that I can write stuff down on my iPhone while out and about, and then expand on those ideas later on my computer--very seamless in that regard!

- someartbydan

Took me awhile to grab onto Craft despite all of the buzz, and now it has become my essential app, especially with the recent calendar and daily note integration. This fits the way I think/operate, and my most productive workflow so well, as it has become a place where I can keep a daily log of journal reflections, tasks, phone calls, meetings, etc, while also giving me easily accessible and connectable spaces to dive in and focus on projects, brainstorm, keep and plan long-term someday tasks and keep everything organized. It helps me think, plan and write, which is your mission.....but it really DOES help me do all of that! My only request is for a way to make the app text font size larger and easier to see. The control plus option that I usually use to do this currently functions to transform the text into larger bold headings, rather than to simply make the text larger so that it is easier to see. I can increase font size on the web app using this shortcut, but the web app still lacks many of the app features. For aging eyes looking at a laptop screen on a lap, for example, a way to make the font size larger and easier to see would be so appreciated!!

- Rebannford

I'm a long-time user of Evernote who's constantly searching for a less problematic writing app. For the past 8 months, Evernote has been troublesome, including syncing problems, spinning disk issues when opening the app, disappearing files and other issues. The developers have also added a bunch of nonsense that NO ONE was requested, such as a task function and calendars. Craft is the closest I've found to a solid app that could replace Evernote. It is highly capable, syncs nicely and has a solid preferences menu. It also looks loverly -- the developers have obviously put a lot of care and attention into the app. It also starts up quickly, since it's built in native apps and not some third-party platform like Evernote uses that makes it work more like a web app. The deal breakers for me with Craft were the lack of tags (which I've come to rely on in nearly all my photography and writing work), the fact that it won't work outside of the Apple ecosytem (I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and a Samsung Galaxy Fold 2) and the lack of tables. If you can live without these elements, Craft will suit you well. As a bonus, Craft costs roughly half of what Evernote is charging annually.

- red.planet

The notes app has been a love hate relationship as an iPhone user. The sheer amount of words that it holds is incredible. Though with that comes lagging. Over the course of the past month I've used this app for larger note taking such as random ideas to safe keep, places to go, bucket lists, etc. Yet even though it has a low amount of words the typing slows down and lags behind significantly. I've noticed this issue more as I've gone into the recent software update that gave the Notes app more qualities. This update also comes with flaws of its own. I attempt to scroll down my note when it flings me back to the top at random. Or even to the middle at any given time. It also freezes when a collaborator edits, leaving you with a stuck drop menu that's at the bottom and who edited it at the top. I hope these things can be fixed, whether adding a higher word limit to slow lag or to look into the new update for bugs. I appreciate your time and hope the best for new downloaders! Don't be discouraged by this review, the Notes app is highly recommended for reminders and ideas!

- Alliegator96 , 01/15/2022

This is just pure awesomeness! I love to come home, relax and write things down on my notes that I can’t tell others after a long day. Like my crushes, what I’m feeling like, anything. The app is my on the go diary. I tend to get on notes a lot, more than I think I should. Writing is one of my passions, and I also have been writing stories down on it as well. I don’t think that was the original purpose of the app, but it helps me out. I love the notes app so much, it’s like a fresh start. Sometimes, I do get carried away, and write too much. Right now, my app is struggling to stay open and even open in general. I’ve tried resetting my phone a few times but I’ll just keep trying. I love this app so very much, and I find it very useful. I also like to schedule my daily plans and/or last minute trips. I feel like this app is my getaway to a world of writing, I just wish the app would work for me. I believe it might be my fault, I’ve written so much on just one note, that it has trouble loading. I’d hate to delete the whole thing though. Maybe their should be an update for an option for pages? Other than that, I love the app! I don’t know how I could live without it!

- Serenity Burden , 12/07/2021

Random note deletions & glitches Within the past 6 months or so I’ve been a lot more adamant about using notes on my phone to keep myself organized. However, when I swipe out of a note then click to go back in, the note disappears and it won’t show back up until I completely close out of the app and reopen it. Another thing that really made me angry was that I had a note in my phone that I’d been adding onto periodically since probably 2019 or earlier. A couple of months ago, it randomly deleted. The title of the note was still there but all of its contents- gone. I looked at deleted notes and every other file that I could and nothing. I’ve also never been able to lock any of my notes like I can on my MacBook. I have the most recent updates always but this has been an issue for as long as I can remember. I’m going to be downloading a different notes app and stop using Apple Notes completely. Hopefully I’ll have a better experience.

- 21browne , 06/20/2022