Obsidian

Review by eFreeware

Obsidian is a free Android app from Dynalist Inc. that builds a personal knowledge base on top of a local folder of plain-text Markdown files. The developer pitches it as a second brain you keep for the long term, and the Android release arrived in July 2021. It has drawn more than 5 million installs and holds a 4.3 average from 18,803 ratings.

The reason to consider it is the file format. Notes stay as ordinary Markdown text in a folder rather than living inside a proprietary database, so the knowledge base is something you own and can read with other tools. That is the core promise, and everything else in the app is arranged around it.

This is a productivity app for people who take notes seriously and want them portable. If you already keep Markdown files somewhere, the appeal is obvious: the same material becomes usable on a phone.

Graph view and the note-linking idea

The feature the developer leads with is the graph view, which shows notes and the links between them as a visual map. Instead of scrolling a list, you get a picture of how ideas connect, which helps when a knowledge base grows past the point where you remember every file.

Graph view works because the notes are plain text with links written into them. The connections come from what you typed. That means it reflects your actual note-taking rather than a system you have to maintain twice.

I would expect this to matter most to people who write notes with the intention of returning to them. For a casual list of reminders, a graph is decoration. For a research folder, a project archive or a set of reading notes, it is a way to find the thread between entries you wrote months apart.

Toolbar, sharing, plugins and themes

Around that core, Obsidian adds a set of conveniences for phone use. The toolbar can be customized, and pulling down on the screen brings up quick actions, which is a sensible arrangement for a small display where you do not want to hunt through menus mid-thought.

Sharing works in both directions: you can send content to Obsidian from other apps and send it out again. Community plugins and themes extend the app beyond what ships by default, so the look and the available functions can be adjusted over time. On tablets, sidebars can be pinned in place, which suits a larger screen where you want reference material visible next to what you are writing.

The app is free, carries no ads and offers no in-app purchases, so none of this is gated behind a payment. The most recent update brings the Android app in line with features and fixes from Obsidian Desktop 1.14.4, which suggests the mobile version is being kept close to the desktop one.

What it asks of you before you start

It works on a local folder of Markdown files, so you need to have that folder and be comfortable with the format.

Plugins and themes are available, which is an advantage for someone with opinions about their setup and an extra step for someone who would rather have decisions made for them.

The practical advice is to begin small. Create a folder, write a handful of notes, link two or three of them, and open the graph view to see whether the shape of your thinking shows up. If it does, the rest of the app, including the toolbar and quick actions, is worth adjusting to your habits. If the graph looks like noise, a simpler notes app will serve you better, and there is no cost to having tried.

A knowledge base worth owning

Obsidian is a strong choice for anyone who wants a personal knowledge base stored as plain text and is willing to put a little structure into it. The graph view, sharing, plugins, themes and tablet sidebar pinning give you room to shape the app around how you work, and the free, ad-free, purchase-free setup removes the usual friction.

It is less suited to someone who wants a notes app to organize itself. The local Markdown folder is the foundation, and everything good about the app follows from it; if that foundation does not appeal, the rest will not either.

For readers who already keep Markdown notes or want to start, this is a reasonable place to begin. The install numbers and the 4.3 average suggest a large body of users have made the same call.

What's new in version 1.14.4

Includes all new features and bug fixes up to Obsidian Desktop 1.14.4.