I’ve been testing note-taking apps for the past three weeks. I’m now more confused than when I started.

The problem isn’t that these apps don’t work. It’s that they do too much. Notion wants to be your entire workspace. Obsidian offers plugins for everything from Kanban boards to spaced repetition. Roam Research convinced everyone they need bidirectional linking.

Meanwhile, I just want to write things down and find them later.

The Feature Creep Problem

Notion started as a clean note-taking app. Now it’s a database, project manager, wiki, and collaboration platform. Their marketing shows elaborate dashboards with formulas and relations between tables.

That’s great if you’re running a startup. Less great if you want to jot down ideas from a meeting.

I watched a 40-minute tutorial on how to set up a Notion workspace “properly.” Forty minutes to learn how to take notes. Something’s gone wrong here.

When Simple Tools Win

Apple Notes is boring. It’s got folders, basic formatting, and search. That’s about it. And you know what? It works perfectly for most people.

I can open it, type something, and find it again in two seconds. There’s no setup required, no monthly fee, no syncing issues because it’s baked into the OS.

The fancy apps sneer at Apple Notes. But complexity isn’t sophistication. Sometimes boring is better.

The Obsidian Trap

Obsidian is brilliant if you’re writing a PhD thesis or building a personal knowledge management system. The markdown files live on your device. The graph view looks cool. The plugins let you customize everything.

But I’ve noticed something interesting: people spend more time setting up Obsidian than actually taking notes. There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to Obsidian workflows. Reddit threads about which plugins are essential. Debates over folder structures versus tags.

It’s productivity theatre. You feel like you’re being productive because you’re organizing your note-taking system, but you’re not actually capturing or using information.

What Actually Matters in a Note-Taking App

After testing everything from Evernote to Logseq, here’s what I think actually matters:

Fast capture - If it takes more than three seconds to open and start typing, it’s too slow. This rules out anything that needs to load a database or sync before you can work.

Reliable search - You should be able to find notes by typing a few words. Advanced search with Boolean operators? Nice to have, not essential.

Cross-platform access - Your notes should be available on your phone and computer. Preferably without thinking about syncing.

Longevity - Your notes should outlive the app. Plain text files or markdown are safer than proprietary formats locked in some company’s database.

That’s really it. Everything else is extra.

The Markdown Middle Ground

I’ve settled on something simple: a folder of markdown files synced via Dropbox, edited with whatever text editor I’m near. On Mac, I use iA Writer. On my phone, I use 1Writer. Both open the same files.

No templates to set up. No databases to maintain. No plugins to update. Just text files with basic formatting that I can search with Spotlight or grep.

It’s not exciting. There’s no graph view of connected thoughts. But I’m actually using it instead of configuring it.

When Complexity Is Worth It

If you’re managing a team, Notion’s collaboration features make sense. If you’re writing a book with lots of research, Obsidian’s linking helps you see connections. If you need to share documentation with clients, Confluence or similar might be right.

But most of us aren’t doing those things most of the time. We’re capturing meeting notes, saving article links, jotting down ideas, making shopping lists.

For that, the simple apps work better. They get out of your way.

The Real Second Brain

The “second brain” concept sounds appealing. The idea that you can capture everything and have it searchable and linked and accessible forever.

But your actual brain doesn’t work like a database. You don’t need to capture and organize everything. You need to capture important things and be able to find them when needed.

A note-taking app is a tool, not a lifestyle. It should help you remember things, not become a project itself.

I’m sticking with my boring solution. A folder of markdown files, simple naming conventions, basic search. When I need something more complex, I’ll use a spreadsheet or actual database.

Sometimes the best feature is not having features.