from Hacker News

Show HN: InstaNote – notes in a simple chat interface

by aj2 on 8/24/20, 4:15 PM with 50 comments

• by aj2 on 8/24/20, 4:29 PM

  I made this for myself since all the notes apps were overly complex and didn’t support the important things I wanted - e.g, treating URLs as first class citizens, custom reminders, or easy sharing.

  I’ve heard from others that they have similar needs too, and complexity and overhead of note taking apps is one reason they don’t use them much.

• by aj2 on 8/24/20, 5:13 PM

  Since many are asking:

  - notes are saved in the cloud

  - currently requires Google login (but that was only because I wanted to get something out the door quickly). I'm considering implementing other login providers and also device-only notes if there is enough interest. I know there are legitimate concerns around this topic: I'm not tied to the login mechanism per se.

• by nomadrat on 8/24/20, 7:16 PM

  I use "Saved Messages" in Telegram for this purpose. Very handy because you can forward messages from other users or channels.

• by hamaluik on 8/24/20, 5:03 PM

  Surprised Apple let you publish this with only the option to sign in with a google account and not let you use any functionality until you do. I would also prefer to not sync yet more stuff with Google. Otherwise, seems pretty handy, I'll check it out.

• by maps7 on 8/24/20, 5:20 PM

  This looks like whatsapp - and in whatsapp you can do a chat to yourself

• by Darmody on 8/24/20, 11:24 PM

  I'm using "Saved Messages" in Telegram and it does most of that stuff.

  I store text, files, links, videos and I even use it to send this from my PC to my phone or vice versa.

  I also have several channels with bots like grocery list, reminders, etc. And I can make my own bots that connect to almost any service I want. I started using Telegram as an alternative to Whatsapp and now I'm using it even as my own personal "Jarvis". I still haven't developed all the stuff I want to a fully functional personal manager but the possibilities are endless.

  This app looks cool. Simple and straightforward, which is something I always look up to but in this scenario I think we (at least I) need something more, to be able to make it talk to other services.

• by slykar on 8/24/20, 5:12 PM

  Feels weird. I often send a message to myself using Facebook Messenger in order to take a quick note. I do this because I can easily access it on any device and I generally have the Messenger opened in the background. I'm not sure if I want to have filtering and searching in a chat style note taking app. I don't care for organization of those quick, ad-hoc notes with short lifespan. If I want something persisted, I'll probably use a more dedicated, organized place.

• by riffnote on 8/24/20, 8:43 PM

  I like the idea. Seems like a good way to outline blog posts and whatnot. A few requests: allow for images and other attachments, include a dark mode, and charge something so it's sustainable and worth maintaining and improving.

• by 135792468 on 8/24/20, 10:59 PM

  Solid idea, even better execution. Impressed you did apps on both major platforms

  Only think it needs to replace me sending to slack or other note app is some way to get it on my computer. Maybe that’s an ifttt connector or something.

• by aynyc on 8/24/20, 4:31 PM

  This reminds me of google keep.

• by tethys on 8/24/20, 4:58 PM

  I use this in WhatsApp: Created a new group chat with a friend, then kicked her out - now I'm having an empty chat just for myself.

• by runxel on 8/24/20, 9:39 PM

  It just looks like WhatsApp – why not use that instead?

  For those who miss the "Saved Messages" thing from Telegram: You make a group and kick out everybody. Then you are in a group – alone. Now stick it to the top of WA and voilá! There you have your simple notes :)

  Great thing, since you can access it with your PC via web.whatsapp.com.

• by d2ncal on 8/24/20, 5:00 PM

  This is exactly what I have been looking for, few questions

  - why does it need login? - what does it do with my data? - does the data live on phone or on your servers? - is it possible to export all the data somewhere?

• by johnchristopher on 8/24/20, 8:22 PM

  Dammit, I have been playing for two months with mockups and dirty quick PoC for something like that an now someone actually made it.

  Congrats to the author, now off to check it out :).

• by sipjca on 8/24/20, 5:17 PM

  Very cool! I have started to build something a little similar but this looks pretty polished! Do you have any API? I would love to pull some of the data out

• by A_Venom_Roll on 8/25/20, 8:17 AM

  I like this idea and m certainly going to try it out for a while. What is the IAP for?

• by erokar on 8/24/20, 4:58 PM

  Looks neat. Where are the notes stored, locally on the device or in the cloud?

• by qzx_pierri on 8/24/20, 5:00 PM

  very cool idea!

  edit: you can only use the app if you sign in via Google. Uninstalled.