It passes programs to record it’s almost a hobby for me at this point. after Understanding ceased to be my appealthe open source world is where I naturally end up. Most of them ship with at least one feature that’s pretty unique, and they almost always cover the same core of future-proofing and native logging. AFFiNE, Joplin, Logseq, and Simplenote have come in and out of my desktop setup over the past year, and they’re all pretty cool.
But my desktop isn’t where most of my digital life happens, it’s actually my phone. So if the recorder doesn’t work on the phone, it’s not really my recorder, it’s just my desktop recorder. So I spent some time bouncing between the mobile versions of all four. Some have disappointed me, to be honest, and some have held up better than I expected.
Starting with AFFiNE
The most ambitious program in the series
AFFiNE is kind of a concept meets Miro from the open source world. It’s a workspace that combines documents, whiteboards, and databases into one native tool, and it’s the most ambitious of the four by a wide margin. I don’t need an account to use it locally on my phone, but I do need an account to sync between devices via AFFiNE Cloud or use any of the AI features. Something worth noting: the editor is mostly under MIT and AGPL, but the server-side synchronization part runs under a separate non-FOSS enterprise license. So when people call it fully open source, they’re glossing over that part.
It was really nice to spend time in the mobile version. My favorite part is the Docs layout on the main screen with clean card previews showing timestamps and tags. Tagging is also easy, and I like the color-coded dots and the clean inline mode for assigning them to the document. The calendar journal works exactly like the desktop version where today’s entry is automatically generated and I flip back and forth between dates as needed.
My one real problem is the Edgeless canvas. It’s basically only viewed on mobile devices out of the box. I can scroll around the existing board, but I can’t actually edit shapes or build anything new from my phone. You can enable it under the Experimental Feature setting, but even then it’s pretty awkward to use; instead of being fixed in place, the tools slide from below.
Joplin is boring at best
The workhorse of open source logging
Joplin has been around forever and it works on basically every platform you can name. The mobile application uses the same notebook and notes hierarchy As a desktop I really love because the mental model performs without any friction. No account is needed and everything stays local by default. If I want to sync, I can connect to Joplin Cloud (paid), Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud, or WebDAV. But I choose to keep the mobile and desktop versions separate.
What I love about Joplin’s mobile experience is its simplicity. Notebooks have notes and that’s pretty much the whole structure, so I’m not wading through a bunch of blocks or folders or charts. The WYSIWYG editor on mobile devices is also surprisingly capable. It fits in a cramped phone space without feeling thirsty, and the markdown is right there if I want to drop in instead. Tags also work really well and the configuration menu is properly in-depth with plugins, tagging, recording history and import/export sections.
My one criticism is that everything lives in a SQLite database. With Obsidian, my notes are simple note files that sit in a folder that I can open with anything. Joplin doesn’t give it to me, and I’ve always wanted it.
Logseq is made for keyboards
Not thumbs
Logseq is a four-block-based outliner. Each line on a page is a bullet that’s also a block, and you create pages by nesting them and connecting them with pairs of brackets or hashtags. It’s local-first, requires no account, and stores recordings as virtually unconditional files on disk. On my iPhone, it automatically creates a folder that I can view in the Files app, and Android works the same way. But be careful for Android users: Logseq is not in the Google Play Store, so you have to download it from here. F-Droid or sideload the APK from GitHub.
To be honest, the block-based editor works on desktop, but I don’t think it translates to phones. The touch targets are too small for thumbs, and the bottom toolbar of formatting and navigation keys is really built for keyboard-first workflows.
I would actually use the mobile app for Whiteboards. This canvas art area is surprisingly capable on the phone and I can even place an MD block to put markdown content there. A bidirectional relationship is a true Logseq pitch. Each tag and reference automatically creates its own page, I just don’t see myself doing that level of knowledge graphing on the phone.
Simplenote lives up to its name
In fact, something I would open every day
Simplenote is developed by Automattic, the same company behind WordPress, and is the only one of the bunch that requires an account, since syncing is basically the whole product. The client apps on iOS, Android, macOS, and desktop computers are open source, but the server is proprietary. So if you’re after a completely self-catering pile, this isn’t it. Also worth noting: Simplenote hasn’t had any major new features since 2024, so it’s currently more in maintenance mode than active development.
As soon as I opened it, it was an obvious favorite. My desktop notes synced instantly without any setup. Navigation is honestly like Google Keep and Apple Notes having a baby and making it open source. A plain list of notes on one side, a clean editor on the other, and that’s basically the whole program. Tags live on the line below each record. Markdown rendering is also installed, so I can switch between editing and previewing, and the styled view actually looks decent.
I can’t think of a criticism for it. The account requirement will probably bother some open source purists. But actually for taking notes on my phone, I think it’s one of the four I would take it every day at most.
What I would actually keep on my phone
None of these are actually direct Notion replacements. AFFiNE comes closest, but its database support is rough on mobile, but that’s not really the issue. The thing is, Notion has a notes app that a lot of people use. For me, it’s Simplenote because it’s the easiest and fastest, and Joplin is pretty much tied to it. AFFiNE is great on the phone, but I prefer it on the desktop. Honestly, I think Logseq just doesn’t translate well on mobile.
