Proton and the end-to-end encrypted note-taking app Standard Notes are joining forces. We’ve long been admirers and are excited to welcome Mo and his team.
I’ve found it to be okay. The plugin system is nice, but the lack of local file sync on iOS is quite bothersome, since I use a self-hosted sync instead.
It basically makes the iOS app unusable for me, and it would be a deal breaker if Obsidian didn’t just use markdown documents you can edit with a text editor.
Admittedly, I migrated from Apple Notes and raw text documents, so there isn’t much by way of competition.
I have tried a bit of the others, like abusing LaTeX for it, which worked okay, but had a few flaws, like when linking other files, and Trillium, which is interesting, but also uses an SQL database (without mobile support, which didn’t work for me).
Turtl was interesting, but when I used it, very beta.
Evernote was okay, but also suffers from the proprietary format. I dropped them after they reduced the device support down to 2/3, so no idea what it’s like now.
Onenote was nice with the pen support (only Apple and Samsung notes otherwise have that, as far as I’m aware), but I found it to be quite heavy, and a little unwieldy (in addition to being proprietary).
Onenote also has a strange quirk where it will gradually accumulate copies, so big notes will cause it to grow over time until it starts eating up huge amounts of space on your computer.
It is similar to Evernote and you can set up the sync on another service like Dropbox or even your self-hosted solution. You can also pay them a few bucks a month for their hosting services.
Joplin has a good iOS app as well as apps for nearly all other platforms. I migrated from Evernote to Joplin after Evernote practically doubled their prices and then switched their free option down to a single notebook and could not be happier.
I currently use BT Sync/Resilio, since it supports selective sync without fiddling with an ignorelist, but it does work, except on Obsidian’s iOS app, which supports only icloud, or Obsidian sync.
Maybe I don’t understand what you mean, but I have an smb share that my phone can always access (via vpn, or when on network). IOS does a good job remembering it, staying connected, and reconnecting between interruptions. I keep my obsidian folder on the share and the iOS app has never had problems finding and connecting to it, just as my desktop and laptop, keeping everything in sync automatically.
That has been my experience with it as well and it is definitely limiting! You can play some games with git and turn your local Obsidian vault into a repository. I sync with WorkingCopy (pro) on iOS.
I’ve found it to be okay. The plugin system is nice, but the lack of local file sync on iOS is quite bothersome, since I use a self-hosted sync instead.
It basically makes the iOS app unusable for me, and it would be a deal breaker if Obsidian didn’t just use markdown documents you can edit with a text editor.
Admittedly, I migrated from Apple Notes and raw text documents, so there isn’t much by way of competition.
I have tried a bit of the others, like abusing LaTeX for it, which worked okay, but had a few flaws, like when linking other files, and Trillium, which is interesting, but also uses an SQL database (without mobile support, which didn’t work for me).
Turtl was interesting, but when I used it, very beta.
Evernote was okay, but also suffers from the proprietary format. I dropped them after they reduced the device support down to 2/3, so no idea what it’s like now.
Onenote was nice with the pen support (only Apple and Samsung notes otherwise have that, as far as I’m aware), but I found it to be quite heavy, and a little unwieldy (in addition to being proprietary).
Onenote also has a strange quirk where it will gradually accumulate copies, so big notes will cause it to grow over time until it starts eating up huge amounts of space on your computer.
Evernote is “dead”.
Try Joplin if you haven’t already. !joplinapp@sopuli.xyz
It is similar to Evernote and you can set up the sync on another service like Dropbox or even your self-hosted solution. You can also pay them a few bucks a month for their hosting services.
Joplin has a good iOS app as well as apps for nearly all other platforms. I migrated from Evernote to Joplin after Evernote practically doubled their prices and then switched their free option down to a single notebook and could not be happier.
I’d encourage you to check out SyncThing; it works great for syncing pretty much anything: I use it for my Obsidian notes and for my KeePass vault.
I currently use BT Sync/Resilio, since it supports selective sync without fiddling with an ignorelist, but it does work, except on Obsidian’s iOS app, which supports only icloud, or Obsidian sync.
Awesome, great info thank you
Maybe I don’t understand what you mean, but I have an smb share that my phone can always access (via vpn, or when on network). IOS does a good job remembering it, staying connected, and reconnecting between interruptions. I keep my obsidian folder on the share and the iOS app has never had problems finding and connecting to it, just as my desktop and laptop, keeping everything in sync automatically.
Interesting. I don’t use Samba, but a different app for syncing, and it’s much more of a headache.
Either Obsidian wants you to log into sync, or it helpfully makes a new vault on icloud.
There is not a third option, with their forums suggesting that they weren’t going to add one, due to iOS limitations.
That has been my experience with it as well and it is definitely limiting! You can play some games with git and turn your local Obsidian vault into a repository. I sync with WorkingCopy (pro) on iOS.