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Show HN: I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves

strflow.app

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Re: Show HN: I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves

#71
post #11

This somehow seems to be a solution in search of a problem. The reason people use self texting is that they _don't_ want to use another app. Not because the existing apps are somehow missing features. > I often defaulted to dumping notes into chat apps like Slack or iMessage What makes you think people think differently about this app? If people wanted all these features they would already all be covered by Apple Not…

I think the problem was OP wanted to build an app, and the solution was building the app. Totally fine!

This is fair, and I've done a fair share of that myself!

Re: Show HN: I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves

#72

I used a journal app that worked like this for a little while. I ultimately stopped for a couple reasons. 1. It didn't allow editing of past posts. It was on the roadmap, but never came. To fix a typo or something, I'd have to copy the note, paste, fix, post again, delete the bad one. 2. I was always worried about putting anything important in there, as longevity was always a question. There was an export option, but…

To answer your first question: no, past posts can’t be edited (at least not in the iOS app).

Answer to second question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40927209

Re: Show HN: I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves

#73
post #11

This somehow seems to be a solution in search of a problem. The reason people use self texting is that they _don't_ want to use another app. Not because the existing apps are somehow missing features. > I often defaulted to dumping notes into chat apps like Slack or iMessage What makes you think people think differently about this app? If people wanted all these features they would already all be covered by Apple Not…

Not always. I do text/slack myself to make a note at times because it is the fastest way to log something and come back to it later. If a tool creates a note out of it with all the other goodies, it may not be a bad thing. I however agree that I have to test something like this but having lost my mac notes recently, I am seriously considering a notes tool that is super easy to log.

Re: Show HN: I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves

#74

Quick thoughts: - This is a good fit for how I manage to-dos: a stream of actions that I can tag and process. But with no simple way to remove a tag or mark a thing as "done" I can't filter the tag streams and see only undone items - £14.99 to use Apple's iCloud syncing which a) I already pay for and b) is free to you feels a bit much.

"- £14.99 to use Apple's iCloud syncing..."

Obviously, this isn't priced based on the cost of materials. Almost no software is.

Re: Show HN: I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves

#75

I used a journal app that worked like this for a little while. I ultimately stopped for a couple reasons. 1. It didn't allow editing of past posts. It was on the roadmap, but never came. To fix a typo or something, I'd have to copy the note, paste, fix, post again, delete the bad one. 2. I was always worried about putting anything important in there, as longevity was always a question. There was an export option, but…

You can easily edit both the date and content of past posts. Notes are stored locally in a SQLite database. You can also export your notes in JSON format from the macOS app by going to the menu bar and selecting File > Export. I plan to extend the export options in the future to support other formats like markdown.

Regarding privacy, it is my top priority. Data stored in the cloud is encrypted with your iCloud Keychain, and I have no means of accessing it. If you enable iCloud’s Advanced Data Protection, it becomes end-to-end encrypted, so even Apple cannot see your data. For more details, please check our [privacy policy](https://strflow.app/privacy-policy).

Re: Show HN: I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves

#76
Apologies for the self-promotion, but as several people here mentioned Telegram already...

From a similar motivation of minimizing friction when taking notes, I created a Telegram bot that saves all messages you send it into a Google Spreadsheet. Hashtags can be used to split the text into columns, if so desired. Besides jotting down quick thoughts, this is very handy for short-form journaling such as tracking expenses, workouts, mood, period, etc., with the added bonus of easy charting and summarization from within the spreadsheet. It also supports pictures and other attachments that are uploaded automatically to Google Drive.

Feel free to check it out, all feedback is appreciated: https://t.me/gsheet_notes_bot

Re: Show HN: I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves

#77
post #72

I used a journal app that worked like this for a little while. I ultimately stopped for a couple reasons. 1. It didn't allow editing of past posts. It was on the roadmap, but never came. To fix a typo or something, I'd have to copy the note, paste, fix, post again, delete the bad one. 2. I was always worried about putting anything important in there, as longevity was always a question. There was an export option, but…

To answer your first question: no, past posts can’t be edited (at least not in the iOS app). Answer to second question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40927209

To clarify, you can edit past posts in the iOS app by tapping on them.

Re: Show HN: I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves

#78
Like any good yakshaving programmer, i built/use my own note taking / TODO app. Now I want to implement a feature where I can send a SMS to my app, and it will save the text/media to my database. Seems like a lot less friction than using the UI on my phones browser if I just need to save a quick note.

Re: Show HN: I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves

#80
I read through the comments, here are the "core" issues/features an app like that has to meet:

- 1. Fast startup - 2. Fast adding an extra note - 3. Editing - 4. Sync - 5. Crossplatform - 6. Easy to forward messages - 7. Stable/Trusted/(Encrypted?)

2, 4, and 5 are the main ones probably

- Telegram lacks 1 (fyi I use telegram) - WhatsApp lacks 1 and kinda 3 - Discord lacks 1 2 and 6 (I don't remember discord working well offline) - All other note apps lack 2, 4, and 5 (core features) and focus on markup instead.

Feature 1 - fast startup seems to be the only problem with existing messengers. The best solution would be a custom crossplatform telegram client or similar that piggybacks off existing trusted messengers for sync etc.

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