notable
Mobile app
A pretty huge thing but a mobile app where you could at first view notes on the go would be awesome
You can already view (and edit!) your notes if you put the data directory inside Dropbox or something similar.
A mobile app is definitely something that should be implemented, I'm not sure if via React native or something else though.
I started using Notable and migrating my notes from Evernote. I love the idea of the open data storage format! I currently use a free markdown editor for iOS on the iPhone, but the features Notable provides would be perfect on the go, e.g. linking between notes and searching. I would love to see a mobile app! Regarding #135, maybe you could charge for the iOS app?
Regarding #135, maybe you could charge for the iOS app?
That's definitely an option, thanks for suggesting it.
For me this is the reason to not migrate to Notable yet, because I take half my notes on my phone. I'd pay up to $5 for the iOS app. But not more honoustly.
Hi, I'd like to help with the Android app! Were you considering building native apps separately or using some crossplatform framework (React Native, Xamarin, Flutter etc)?
@MauroCoppola thanks for volunteering! A mobile app would also require some sort of server where notes will be stored, I've touched a bit about this here #135, IMHO in order for the project to be sustainable and high-quality it must be profitable, so I would rather write the mobile/web apps myself and try to monetize them somehow.
I haven't given the framework choice too much thought, but I guess React Native could probably be a good option as the app is already written in React. Also I have no intention whatsoever to write different apps in different languages (Xamarin -> C#? Flutter -> Dart?)
I don't see why you would need anything server wide. All sync can be handled by Dropbox or Google drive we just need to integrate with that on the phone
@LukeDefeo if you constrain yourself to use Dropbox etc. I think some features I have in mind may be more difficult or even impossible to implement, ideally we'd want to have control over the storage.
I would also vote for raw file sync. Whole point of this app is that everything is stored as raw markdown files, without any proprietary server sitting in between.
I'm not sure how would that work for iOS though (Android has normal file system)
@matejdro IMHO having no server in between is not exactly one of the point, it's way more important to me that notes aren't locked into any proprietary formats and are just plain markdown files, this won't change, anything you can do today you will be able to do in the future.
@fabiospampinato I'm not familiar with the API of these tools. Which features will not work. Can you not just keep a local copy of a diredtory tree synced local to remote?
@LukeDefeo sure, you can kind of do this today if you want, either via Dropbox, Git or something else.
FYI Simplenote has a sync API that you could probably reuse: https://simperium.com/overview
Meanwhile hoping for the mobile version of Notable in the future, I just found a mobile app that works for my use case. It's pretext and I save my Notable notes on iCloud Drive so it seems to be working decent so far.
And I just found another one, MWeb, too.
After I used them both for a few minutes, I've gotten to know the two apps better.
- I noticed that pretext doesn't watch changes of the files edited from other devices so it has potential to lose your editing if you open a markdown file (for editing) on pretext and edit somewhere else and close the file on pretext (it immediately tries to upload the content from the editing screen which is not up-to-date at this point since pretext doesn't watch changes and update it to its editing screen.
With my testing, I was able to create the case that I lose the editing from my mac.
- MWeb thankfully watches changes from iCloud Drive (with several seconds delay). So it has less potential to lose your editing from other devices.
The behaviors of the two apps are from my observation at this point of writing, so it might behave differently in the future. And I'm not related to any of those apps nor intend to promote/judge any of them. I'm simply informing what I found to you guys hoping nobody loses their editing since I introduced them here in the issue.
I can only concur. A mobile app (at least Android to start with) is a must-have.
I've been trying countless Markdown-based apps, and Notable is so close to replacing Evernote and the likes: Plain MD with tag management ! and ability to open up another editor for complex notes (e.g. Typora) - This is truly excellent ! Thank you.
But ability to quickly capture a note/thought/todo add or view notes from a mobile is essential (in particular with ability to add a picture easily or even better a scribble) It can then be edited "at home" if necessary.
When it comes to sync, any Dropbox/Nextcloud-like would do.
If you're making one in React Native, count me in too. Really would like to support the future of open-source apps with polished UI and functionality.
I recommend integrating with another Android Notes app that is also open-source: Scarlet ( https://github.com/BijoySingh/Scarlet-Notes ) They have a good interface and I use it as my primary note-taking app.
@sammdu I don't think integrating with Scarlet would be a good idea, as Scarlet's UI reminds me more of Google Keep than a mobile app I myself I'd like to use.
Until then, is there any markdown app available for Android which somehow supports the tags and notebook structure of noteable. Meaning easy filtering by notebook or tag? Because I'm fine for now to use a markdown app to edit my with nextcloud synced files but it's hard to find notes only by the file name or through search.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to decouple the app a little bit more (based on the current architecture) and create a react native app? I guess this solution could be realized with acceptable effort ...
@janbiasi maybe in the future, right now I don't have the development power to do that.
maybe learn some experience from Joplin? Joplin has Android and iOS apps and also a web clipper.
for web clipper, I found a good tool, https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/maoxian-web-clipper/kjahokgdcbohofgdidndeiaigkehdjdc
If notable supports android, iso, and also has web clipper, it would be much better than evernote.
@fabiospampinato thanks for the latest release! Great stuff. A lot of things were done.
Just want to join the thread and say that the mobile app (iOS in particular) would be a huge advantage! Currently, it's the only lacking thing which stops me from replacing Joplin with Notable.
You could back it in the local file system of the device you're on, and let people customise where it stores it's data (e.g. to allow using the SD card as a target). Then 3rd party apps such as Syncthing or Nextcloud could be used to synchronise it with a remote location perhaps.
Alternatively, it could be backed in a webdav share, which would allow multiple services to be supported at once - but it would probably need a local cache to allow for offline use, making it more complicated than option 1 here.
@sbrl Already using own Nextcloud server for syncing. But one of the main objectives to have a Mobile app - is to have an ability to access them in offline mode, while still have all the notebooks and tags structure in front of the eyes :wink:
I think PWA is enough.
The whole idea of Notable is to use the public and open file format (Markdown), so that all the contents are free to transfer, backup and sync. Markdown lacks the ability of tags, and file systems don't do this work well either. So the most important thing Notable should do is to define a tag management protocol (or grammar).
In this way, you can use any markdown editor you like to edit your file, and enjoy the advantages of tag managing as long as the editor implements the protocol, which is what Notable Windows and macOS client are doing.
Native mobile apps are relatively hard to develop and maintain, but PWA on the other hand, is much more easier. You may see this PWA as one of countless versions of the front end of the protocol.
@fabiospampinato If you want to do business, you might have to provide multiple clients that fit various operating systems, as well as file and picture storage. It could be a good idea.
In this way, you can use any markdown editor you like
Works for desktop, but I have yet to find a decent markdown editor for Android - and I've certainly tried :P
A PWA would be a good alternative. I haven't actually used a PWA before - though I've read a bit about implementing the standards. Anyone got an demo app?
@sbrl twitter.com and instagram.com are examples. Open it in Chrome browser (Android phones maybe) and you'll see a tip that suggest you to add this site as an app.
I just started working on a Flutter Mobile App for Notable which works on iOS and Android. Currently it has Basic Editing, Markdown Preview and Note Listing. I will publish the app and source code when I added some more features like Sync, Tags and Attachments.
I just started working on a Flutter Mobile App for Notable which works on iOS and Android. Currently it has Basic Editing, Markdown Preview and Note Listing. I will publish the app and source code when I added some more features like Sync, Tags and Attachments.
That sounds awesome! Any chance webdav syncing is part of that set-up? So I can use it with my NextCloud instance? I understand if not, since I believe Dropbox is more popular, but figured I'd ask. :D
