Notepad, Notes, Easy Notebook

Review by eFreeware

The thing I notice first about Notepad, Notes, Easy Notebook is that the developer has deliberately kept it plain. It is a free Android app from Simple Design Ltd. for writing things down, and it does that in two ways: a text mode that mimics lined paper and a checklist mode for items you tick off. That is a narrow promise, but it is a useful one.

This is for people who want to capture a thought before it escapes. Shopping lists, meeting notes, class notes, a reminder to call someone back, a task list for the afternoon. If your current method is sending messages to yourself or scribbling on the back of an envelope, this app is built to replace that habit with something tidier. It is not trying to be a project management tool or a document editor, and the developer does not pretend otherwise.

The app has passed 10,000,000 installs and holds a 4.8 average across 465,490 ratings, with 14,429 written reviews. Those numbers do not tell you whether the design will suit you, but they do suggest the basic job gets done for a lot of users. It has been on Google Play since April 2022, with the most recent update listed for October 2026.

Writing a note without friction

The core experience is about speed. You pick text mode or checklist mode, start typing, and the app saves as you go. For a quick memo that is the right call, because the moment you start thinking about where a note is stored is the moment you stop writing it.

Checklist mode is where the app earns its keep for errands and chores. Items can be checked off, and the developer also lists archiving, editing, deleting and sharing as things you can do with a note. Sharing covers Twitter, SMS, WeChat and email, so a list or a note can leave the app when it needs to reach someone else.

The developer describes the app as working like pen and paper, and the lined-paper styling in text mode is clearly aimed at that feeling. I would not read too much into the comparison. What matters is that the two modes cover the two things most people actually write down: prose and items. If you want both in one place, the split makes sense.

Reminders, calendar mode and the notification bar

Notes can carry reminders, and the app can alert you through the notification bar. That turns a passive list into something that nudges you at the right time, which is the difference between a shopping list you remember and one you leave at home. The developer promises it will remind you on time so nothing important slips.

There is also a calendar mode. Notes, tasks and to-do lists can be created on the calendar and viewed there, which gives you a second way to look at the same material: not as a pile of notes but as a schedule. I can see this being the feature that decides whether the app fits you. If your notes are mostly tied to dates and appointments, the calendar view is the reason to use it.

The two views serve different questions. A list answers what do I need to do, while the calendar answers when does it need to happen. Having both in one app means you do not have to decide in advance which kind of note you are writing, and that flexibility is worth more here than any single feature.

Widgets, colors and finding things again

Sticky note widgets can sit on your home screen, and Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei and Redmi devices are supported. The widget lets you view, add, check and edit notes without opening the app, and important notes can be pinned so they stay visible. For a note you look at several times a day, that shortcut matters more than any menu design.

Color is the other organizational tool. Notes can be written in different colors, and you can sort and filter by color to narrow things down. It is a simple system, and it only works if you assign colors consistently. Still, for separating work from personal items or urgent from someday, it is quicker than folders and tags.

The app also displays notes in list, grid or details view and can sort by time or color. That is a reasonable amount of control over how your notes look without turning the app into a filing system. The app is built around getting things done, and the combination of widgets, colors and sorting is what keeps a growing pile of notes usable.

Locking notes and backing them up

Notes can be protected with a password to keep private entries away from anyone else who picks up the phone. That is a sensible addition for an app that otherwise sits in plain sight on your home screen. It is the kind of feature you only appreciate once you need it.

You can save your notes and lists to the cloud and restore them later. The developer's pitch is that you should not have to worry about losing what you wrote. For anyone who has ever replaced a phone and started from nothing, that is the feature that makes the app worth committing to.

The app is also described as small, which matters if you are cautious about what you install. Between the password lock and the cloud backup, the developer has covered the two worries that come with keeping personal material in a notes app: someone reading it and something happening to it.

What the app asks of you

The app contains ads and offers in-app purchases, but it is free to use.

Cloud backup is only as good as your willingness to use it. Backing up is something you set going yourself, since nothing suggests it happens automatically.

There are also practical limits to what a plain notepad can do. The two writing modes are text and checklist, and the organizational tools are color, sorting, pinning and the calendar. That is the whole toolkit. If your notes need tables, drawings, attachments or long-form formatting, this is not the app for that job, and no amount of clever widget placement will change it.

Who gets the most from a plain notepad

I would point this app at people whose note-taking is frequent, short and practical. Someone keeping a running shopping list, a student capturing points during a lecture, a person juggling a handful of errands with dates attached. The combination of auto-save, checklists, reminders and a home-screen widget is built for that rhythm.

The calendar mode widens the audience a little. If you like seeing your tasks against days rather than in a single column, the app gives you that without asking you to adopt a full scheduling system. It is a middle ground between a bare memo pad and a calendar app, and it is probably the most distinctive thing here.

It is less suited to anyone who wants a workspace. The developer has built a quick-capture tool with light organization, and that is the shape of it. Knowing that in advance saves you from expecting more than the app sets out to give.

The case for installing it

Notepad, Notes, Easy Notebook is a free, focused Android app for writing things down and remembering them. The core loop of typing, auto-saving and ticking items off is exactly what a notepad should be, and the extras — reminders, calendar mode, sticky widgets, color sorting, a password lock and cloud backup — all serve that same job rather than distracting from it.

The caveats are straightforward. It carries ads and in-app purchases, and the writing tools stop at text and checklists. Cloud backup is there if you use it. None of that undermines the basic proposition, but all of it is worth knowing before you commit your notes to it.

If you want a fast place to keep lists, memos and dated tasks on your phone, this is a sensible install. It suits list-makers, students and anyone who wants their notes visible on the home screen rather than buried in an app. If you need a document editor or a heavy-duty organizer, the app's scope is narrower than that, and you will feel the edges quickly.