The Best Note Taking Apps for Syncing on the Road

Do your to-do’s always pop into your head when you’ve got paper/pen in hand or a tablet at your fingertips? Yeah, right! They pop up at the most inconvenient times, then you stress about remembering them later. You most likely have a to-do list for work, a to-do list for your household, and a to-do list for you. You probably even have a to-do list to go through your to-do list! And you want every list accessible to you at all times. How do I know? Because I’m right there with you!

To help manage the to-do’s, reduce your stress, and put a bit of sanity back in your life, here are some great note taking apps that sync up your mind with your lists, no matter where you are.

Evernote

Evernote has been the industry standard for note taking apps for years.

Personally, I’ve been using Evernote for a while and have found it to be the best note taking application/service for me. Keeping track of everything I have going on at work and at home is easy with Evernote, and the ability to email or text to-do’s to Evernote make it great for clearing out both the mind and mailbox. I have notebooks set up for all areas of my life. Evernote syncs across my phone, tablet, and desktop app with ease. Their free service is great, but you can also spend a few dollars for premium which includes larger uploads, offline editing, smarter searching and more.

Available for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, Mac, & Windows.

SpringPad

SpringPad is a very capable, very well designed alternative to other note taking apps like Evernote. While the two apps may look the same on the surface (and share a lot of the same capabilities), certain features separate them into very different services. SpringPad just looks great. With its good looks, SpringPad should be used for more visual note taking. Think of it as a personal Pinterest. The types of “notes” you can take range from books to places, wine choices to music. It can still take notes heavy on text, but really excels with a bit of color.

Available on iOS, Android, Kindle, and Online.

Simplenote

Simplenote is just that … simple. Clean. No Fuss. Easy to use.

If you just want a quick, text based note taking app without all of the extra bells and whistles, then give Simplenote a try. They still have all of the features you would want – syncing across all devices, collaboration with other users, note version history, and a quick search – though that’s about it.

Available on iOS, Android, Kindle, and Mac.

Google Keep

For you dedicated Android users, Google has you covered with Keep. Named one of the best Android applications of 2013, Keep allows you to quickly keep track of notes, to-do lists, photos, reminders, and more. Syncing with Google Drive allows you to access your notes on any Android device running 4.0.3 or better. Keep can also be accessed with Chrome OS or the Chrome web browser.

Available on Android and Chrome.

Intellinote

Intellinote is much more business oriented than the other apps mentioned. Whereas some of the others you may try out for personal use, Intellinote is aiming to be the note taking app for your entire company. Project goals, questions and answers, and task assignment can all be shared between users. You can personally use the app for free, and even the small team and enterprise solutions offer a free beta trial, so you can at least try it out before restructuring how your business gets things done.

Available on iOS.

AudioNote

If you’d like to record audio and draw in your notes, as well as type them out, AudioNote may be the app for you. In one page, you could record a call, type out the specifics, and draw out any visuals. Audio recording is limited on the free version to 5 minutes, and the upgrade to the full version will cost $4.99. AudioNote can be set up to backup your notes to either Dropbox or iCloud.

Available for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows.

There are many more note taking apps but if I give you too many to check out, then that’s just going to add one more laborious thing to your to-do list. Select one that meets your criteria and go forth and conquer that to-do list!