Notepad - simple notes

Review by eFreeware

The most distinctive thing about Notepad is how little it asks of you. It is a plain text notes app, built for memos, lists and longer writing, and it does not try to be a workspace with boards, reminders and databases attached. If your notes tend to be things you type in a hurry and read later, that narrowness is the appeal.

It has been around long enough to have a settled audience: more than 10 million installs and a 4.5 average from over 90,000 ratings. The app is free and supported by ads, and there are no in-app purchases to think about. What you see is essentially what the app is.

This suits people who want a quick place to put text and get back to it: a shopping list, a phone number, a paragraph drafted on the way to somewhere. It is less about managing projects and more about having a reliable scrap of paper that never gets lost.

What writing in it is like

The core is creating and editing text notes, with no stated limit on how long a note can be or how many you keep, beyond the storage your phone has. Notes save automatically as you work, so there is no save button to remember, and undo and redo let you walk back a change you regret.

Numbered lines are a small touch that makes a note read more like a document when you want one.

Search is the other half of that simplicity. Once a collection of notes grows past a screenful, being able to find a word inside them matters more than any organizational trick, and the app offers exactly that rather than a filing system you have to maintain.

Widgets, categories and getting notes in and out

The widget is the feature I would point to first. It works like a sticky note stuck to the home screen, letting you create or edit a note without opening the app, which is the difference between writing something down and deciding it is not worth the trouble. The developer notes that widgets are the reason the app blocks installation on an SD card, following the official advice for apps that use them.

Notes can be sorted into categories, and the app reads and writes txt files. That means you can bring in text you already have and save a note out as a plain file, which keeps your writing readable outside the app. Sharing sends a note to another app, email being the obvious example.

Backup is handled through a zip file that you save and load, and the developer is direct about why it matters: make a copy before you format a phone or move to a new one. The app also uses the phone's device copy when that is switched on in both the device and app settings, which adds a second layer without replacing the manual habit.

Locking notes and choosing how it looks

For notes you would rather not leave open to anyone holding your phone, there is a password lock, and the app can also be unlocked with biometrics such as a fingerprint or face recognition. That is a sensible pairing: a password as the fallback, your face or finger for the everyday case.

Themes, dark mode included, handle the visual side. A dark theme is not decoration for everyone, but for anyone who writes at night or keeps the phone dim it is the difference between a screen that is comfortable and one that is not.

The app is free and ad-supported, which is the trade being made here. Ads are part of the package, since there are no in-app purchases. Whether that is acceptable depends on how often you expect to be inside the app, and it is worth weighing before you commit your notes to it.

What it asks of you

It is an Android app for plain text, so it suits quick notes and simple writing.

The SD card restriction is worth understanding rather than resenting. Widgets are the reason, and the developer follows the official guidance for apps that use them, so the app installs to internal storage. On a phone with limited space that is a constraint you live with.

Backups are the other thing the app puts in your hands. The zip export and import exist, but the developer's advice to copy your notes before formatting a phone or switching devices makes clear that keeping them safe is a habit you perform, not something the app guarantees for you. The device copy helps when it is enabled in both places, and it is not a substitute for your own copy.

Who gets the most from it

I would expect this to fit people whose notes are short-lived and practical: a list before a grocery run, an address, a few lines drafted while waiting for an appointment. The widget makes that kind of capture fast, and the plain text format means nothing is locked away in a proprietary shape.

It also suits anyone who wants a long-running text file they can move around. Importing and exporting txt, sharing to email, and the zip backup all point to a tool that treats your writing as yours, something you can carry between apps and devices without conversion.

Its focus is plain text notes, which suits people who want to jot things down quickly. It is a notepad, and it is content to be one. That is a strength for the audience it is built for and a boundary for everyone else.

The password lock and biometric unlock widen the audience a little, covering people who keep a few private notes on a shared or easily misplaced phone. Between the lock, the themes and the categories, there is enough configuration to make the app feel like yours without turning setup into a project.

A dependable notepad for quick text

Notepad suits anyone who wants a fast, uncomplicated place for text. It handles long notes and many notes, saves as you type, finds text when you need it, and puts a note on your home screen through a widget. Import, export and zip backup keep your writing portable, and the password and biometric lock cover the private cases.

The costs are plain: ads come with the free app, and the app keeps to internal storage because of its widgets. Backups are your responsibility, and the developer says as much. None of that undermines the core job.

For a to-do list, a shopping list, a memo or a draft, this is the kind of app you install once and stop thinking about. If your notes need structure beyond text, categories and search, this is not the tool for that work, and the app makes no pretense otherwise.

What's new in version 1.45.1

Update 1.45.1: + Android 16 update + Checklist improvements Please email me at [email protected] in case of any issues/questions regarding the app.