notesI recenlty got an iPod Touch, my iTouch (thanks for the syllable-saving sorta-portmanteau of “iPod” and “Touch”, Lorraine!), and as a writer, frequent note-taker, and list-maker, I need a better note app than Notes. I’ve downloaded several (read: pretty much all) of the free apps, but I haven’t found anything that fits my idea of the perfect notes app. I’ll probably be reviewing my favorite ToDo app soon, but the perfect notes app seems to be more difficult to find. Maybe you can help me! Here is what I’m looking for.

  • Has auto-correct enabled. I downloaded (and unfortunately paid for!) MagicPad before finding out that the developers disabled the built-in spelling auto-correct. Why? I don’t know; it makes no sense to me, but the perfect notes program has auto-correct enabled (or at least lets the user decide if they want to disable it or not).
  • Makes landscape compose mode possible. This seems as obvious to me as enabling auto-correct. The keys are tiny enough, and I just find it much easier to hold the iPod in landscape mode. It’s possible in Safari, why not in Notes?
  • Gives the user lots of sorting options. Some apps I’ve seen let you sort the notes yourself, other provide auto-sort options (by date created, last modified, or alphabetically), but I want a program that lets me do all three. Bonus: A truly perfect notes app would save the user-sorted option, which could be selected just like users can select the date sorts or alpha sort.
  • Allows notes to be emailed and synced online. Most apps I’ve seen allow you to email your notes, but I want to be able to sync my notes easily. Makes me a little nervous to have my notes only on my iPod.
  • Provides password-protection options. I don’t need the entire program to be password protected, as it takes a little extra time that just gets in the way when I need to jot a quick note. But I would like the ability to password protect certain individual notes. This would free me up to use only one program for all my notes, instead of having a separate password-protected app where I can keep gift idea notes and other sensitive data. Bonus: The best notes app would give the user the option to switch on app-wide password protection. Imagine letting a colleague or cousin play with your iPod. It’d be nice to be able to quickly switch on password-protection, set up a password or passcode, and then hand it off.
  • Provides rich-text options. I am not too worried about being able to make my notes look snazzy, but I would like the ability to italicize or bold certain parts of my notes. It makes titles or section headers stand out more.
  • Allows copy/paste within the app. Okay, I get that Apple doesn’t let you copy and paste between apps, but unless Apple is planning on adding this feature in the next update, every notes app should do this.
  • Lets users include links. I’m not sure how this would be done since copy/paste isn’t a native function of the iPod, but I have seen apps that claim to allow it, so it’s on my Perfect Notes App wishlist.
  • EDIT: Allows offline access. What is the point of having an app if you can’t use it at all without an internet connection? I think that iPhone users can always connect via the 3G network (Is that right?), but iPod users cannot.  Developers should not forget the growing community of iPod Touch users while designing their products.

If you’re an iPod user, what feature do you wish you had in a notes app? And even more importantly, do you know of an app–paid or free–that fits what I’m looking for? Please let me know in the comments!

Check Out These Related Posts

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.