Why spend the money? The iPad's built-in "Notes" is so useful

As expected, WWDC upgraded five major systems.

Unlike in the past, the only feature that has seen a significant improvement this year is iPadOS, which has introduced a blockbuster “Scribble” feature, making your Apple Pencil even more valuable.

Last year's upgrade made a lot of GTD apps tremble, and this year's upgrade made handwriting note apps a little flustered. Although there is no direct upgrade to "Memo", the "Scribble" function has really made it more powerful, and I even replaced "GoodNotes" for it.

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"Memo" wants to be your handwritten note app

How long has it been since you wrote an essay by hand? By upgrading to iPadOS 14, you can relive the joy of writing and no longer be a person who forgets words when picking up a pen.

Look, it supports cursive writing, mixed Chinese and English writing, and direct transcription into text. Typing a lot always lacks the intimacy of writing.

Oh my god, I made a typo, cross it out immediately.

Want GoodNotes' shape recognition? Here, let's go!

In addition to supporting direct transcription, it also supports copying handwritten text into text, which is really powerful!

Another amazing thing is that you can search handwritten text directly and perform conditional searches.

By comparing "GoodNotes" and "Notability" horizontally, we can see that Apple's "own son" "Memo" is actually very complete in terms of note-taking function.

Compared with the two, the performance of "Memo" in handwriting input can be said to be comparable.

Some of the features, such as laser pointer and recording, are a little inferior, but in actual use, these features are not used very often. Therefore, you can carefully analyze whether you really want to pay for them based on your personal needs.

Therefore, when the new version of macOS is stable in the future, iPad and Mac will have a new usage scenario. After writing on iPad, Mac will copy it as text. Each device does its own job, but they work very closely together. For example, I wrote this article on iPad and copied it as text on Mac. However, the writing experience is still slightly worse than that of "GoodNotes" and "Notability". The handwriting is ugly and the pen tip cannot be formed when finishing the pen.

"Memo" also wants to be your electronic note app

We tend to look down on the apps that come with our phones, and many people don’t know that Memo already has many of the basic functions required to be an electronic note-taking software.

It supports all the following rich text formats:

It also supports locking, pinning and sharing notes.

It can be said that if you don’t need the clipping and labeling functions, it is enough to be your only entrance. After all, the native experience is good and it is free.

I have also compiled a feature comparison between "Memo", "Evernote" and "OneNote" to help you choose the note-taking software you need.

In terms of basic text input, Memo has caught up with both, but it is far behind in advanced features.

It’s the same question. If you use these advanced features frequently, you can naturally consider subscribing.

But if you only use Apple devices and don't have such advanced requirements for electronic notes, "Memos" may be the most suitable app for you. It is free, has a good experience, syncs quickly, and most importantly, is secure.

The main application scenarios of "Memorandum"

Despite many upgrades, few people still use Memo as a note-taking app.

The main reason is that there are no application scenarios for it, so I will introduce three commonly used scenarios below.

1. Learning Records

Before upgrading to iPadOS 14, I used "GoodNotes" to take class notes. Now I have switched to "Memos" - because the macOS version of "GoodNotes" has a really bad experience.

If you want to master knowledge, organizing your notes is a necessary scenario. The "Scribble" function allows me to quickly dictate and take notes on my iPad, and then recognize it as text on macOS and put it into "Notion" for secondary organization.

2. Meeting Minutes

As we all know, meeting minutes require quick recording and be concise. So what app can compare to "Memo" in terms of "speed"? Its biggest advantage over other note-taking apps is that you can create a new memo with a single click on the lock screen.

In "Settings - Memos - Access "Memos" on the lock screen", set it to "Always create a new memo" or "Return to the last memo" to turn it on.

Using the folder function of "Memo", you can create a new "Meeting Minutes" folder to store your recorded meeting content, and I have indeed seen colleagues use it to record many times.

3. Share your notes

Knowledge can only bring greater value after it is spread. You can also use "Memo" to share your notes with people who also own Apple devices. Compared with other apps, its dissemination efficiency is higher.

For example, you can send your notes to others directly through the air just like sending photos.

You can also create a sharing group and record happily with everyone.

Although the functions of "Memo" are powerful enough, it still faces a dilemma - the migration cost of users is too high. Too many notes, unique formats that cannot be synchronized, and lack of direct import function have prevented users from migrating. Even if they are willing, they are powerless.

But it doesn't matter, because information must be sorted, thought about, and output many times before it becomes your knowledge. The best experience of "Memo" is that it has many and fast access points. Therefore, if you are a loyal "Apple fan" and don't have so many advanced features for the time being, it is highly recommended that you consider this small transparent software.

Especially after this upgrade, it is a blessing for handwriting lovers. Especially when Notability just set the transcription function as a paid feature, Apple launched a good transcription function, further squeezing the living space of handwriting note apps. But on second thought, will they launch more amazing features to help us get a better handwriting experience? Let's wait and see.