A quick capture notes app with fast search

Most thoughts are gone within seconds if you don't write them down. Gravity is a quick capture notes app built around that fact. It opens ready to type, saves with two presses of Return, and puts every note in one stream so there's nothing to choose first. When you need something back, search runs on your device and shows results as you type.

I'm Tristan, and I make Gravity on my own. This page covers every way to get a note in and how search finds it again.

Getting a thought down

On iPhone, iPad and Android, the cursor is already waiting in the box at the top of the stream when you open the app. Type, press Return twice, and the note is saved at the top. You can also tap the add button. If you're interrupted halfway through, the draft stays in the box until you come back.

There are faster routes for particular moments:

• The home screen widget has two buttons. New opens Gravity ready to type, and Paste creates a note from whatever you last copied.
• The share sheet sends text or a link from another app straight into a new note.
• On the Mac, Option-Space opens a capture panel over any app. Type, press Return twice or Command-Return, and the panel closes and puts you back where you were. Escape closes it and keeps your draft.
• Option-Shift-Space on the Mac adds to your last note instead of starting a new one, which helps when you're taking notes on a video or an article.

None of these ask where the note should go, because there's only one place. That's the main reason capture is quick: you skip the decision along with the taps. I've written about why recording everything and sorting later works better than filtering as you go.

Finding it again

Gravity is built so you don't have to search often. The notes that matter tend to stay near the top because you keep rescuing them, and the rest sink. When you do need something specific, like a name, a command or a note you know exists, search is there.

• Search runs on your device, so it's quick and works offline.
• Results appear as you type. They match the beginnings of words, and if that finds nothing, Gravity looks inside longer words too, for search terms of three letters or more.
• Accents don't matter: "cafe" finds "café".
• Archived notes are included unless you switch that off.
• On your phone you can sort results by relevance or by date, matches are highlighted, and your recent searches and tags are one tap away.
• On iPhone, iPad and Android, typing a tag like todo: or read: shows only notes that start with it.

Tap a result and Gravity takes you to that note. On the Mac, Command-F opens search from the notes window.

A typical lookup

You're at the pharmacy and can't remember the name of the cream the doctor mentioned. You open Gravity, tap search and type "crea". The note from March, ask about hydrocortisone cream for Sam, is the first result. You didn't file it anywhere or tag it. You wrote it down when you heard it.

Later you want something to read on the train. You type read: and get the list of links you've saved over the past few weeks, newest first if you sort by date.

How it compares

Drafts is the best-known quick capture app on Apple devices. It opens to a blank draft and has powerful actions for sending text to other apps. If you process each note as it comes in, Drafts is excellent. Gravity is for keeping notes in one stream and reviewing them later.

Apple Notes has its own quick routes, including Quick Note on iPad and Mac and a Control Centre button on iPhone. It's free and already installed. Its notes go into folders, which Gravity avoids.

Google Keep is quick to open and has widgets on Android and iPhone. It lays notes out as cards and needs a Google account.

Obsidian's search is more powerful than Gravity's, with operators and regular expressions, and it's built for large linked vaults. Notion is built for shared workspaces and pages, which makes it heavier for a one-line note.

Who it's for

Gravity suits people who think of things at awkward moments: in meetings, on walks, halfway through something else. It suits people who want their head clear more than a perfect archive.

Questions

How fast is it to save a note?

On your phone: open the app, type, press Return twice. On the Mac: Option-Space, type, press Return twice. There are no screens in between.

Does search work offline?

Yes. Your notes and the search index are on your device.

Can I search archived notes?

Yes. Archived notes are included by default, and you can switch that off in Settings.

Can I filter by tag?

Yes. Type the tag, like todo:, into search. More on that in prefixes: a tiny system that works.

Gravity is on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Mac, and on Google Play for Android.