A minimal notes app with one stream and no folders

Gravity is a minimal notes app. It keeps every note in a single stream with the newest at the top. Older notes sink as you add new ones, and when one still matters you swipe it back to the top. There are no folders, no notebooks and no account to create.

I'm Tristan, and I make Gravity on my own in the UK. I built it because every notes app I tried slowly turned into a filing job. This page explains what "minimal" means in practice.

What's in it

The whole app is built around one loop: write, look back now and then, rescue what's still useful.

When you open Gravity on your phone, the cursor is already in the box at the top of the stream. You type, press Return twice, and the note is saved. If you get interrupted halfway through, the draft stays there until you come back.

Scroll down and you're reviewing. Swipe a note right and it goes back to the top. Swipe left and you can archive it, delete it, share it or copy it. On iPhone and Android, notes fade slightly as they get older, so you can see at a glance what's been sitting untouched for months.

Beyond that, there's a short list of things I think a notes app needs:

• Search across every note, which works offline and can include archived notes
• Markdown formatting, shown as you type, and checklists you can tick off from the stream
• Tags without a tag manager: start a note with todo: or idea: and it gets its own colour
• A home screen widget and a share-sheet option for getting text in quickly
• Light, dark and pure-black themes, and three text sizes
• Export to JSON or Markdown whenever you like

On the Mac, Gravity lives in the menu bar. Press Option-Space in any app, type, and press Return twice to save.

What I left out

Everything else is missing on purpose. There are no folders, nested notebooks, pinned notes, note titles, templates, plugins, backlinks, graph views, reminders, collaboration or image attachments.

Each of those solves a real problem for someone. Each also adds a decision at the moment you're trying to get a thought down, or a system you have to keep up. I've written about why I say no to folders and tags in more detail. The short version is that a capture app should ask nothing of you when you open it.

A day with Gravity

Morning: you remember you need to renew your passport and write todo: passport renewal. On the train you read a good article and share the link into Gravity. At lunch someone recommends a book, so you write read: The Overstory.

In the evening you open the app to jot something down and glance at the stream below. The passport to-do is still there, so you swipe it right to keep it near the top. Last week's half-idea about a side project doesn't grab you, so you leave it to sink. You've spent about a minute organising, and that minute was reading.

How it compares

Apple Notes is free, already on your iPhone, and much more capable than Gravity. It has folders, tags, attachments, drawings, shared notes and locked notes. If you use all that, stay with it. If you've found yourself with dozens of folders you never open, Gravity is the opposite approach.

Google Keep is free, works on Android, iPhone and the web, and lays notes out as cards with labels, colours and reminders. It needs a Google account and syncs through Google. Gravity has no account and puts notes in one list rather than a board.

Bear is a lovely Markdown writing app for Apple devices, with nested tags and a subscription for sync. It's better for longer writing. Gravity is for quick notes and review.

Obsidian and Notion are tools for building systems: linked notes, databases, plugins, workspaces. They're powerful and they're the opposite of minimal. Drafts is the closest in spirit, with fast capture and a blank page on launch, and it leans towards sending text elsewhere with actions, where Gravity leans towards keeping it and reviewing it.

Who it's for

Gravity suits you if you have lots of small thoughts through the day, you want them out of your head quickly, and you're willing to scroll back through them now and then. People who have abandoned one productivity system after another often like it for the same reason.

Questions

How much does Gravity cost?

$9.99 in the US, paid once, with no subscription, in-app purchases or ads. The iPhone and iPad app, the Mac app and the Android app are each sold separately.

Does it sync between devices?

On Apple devices, yes, through iCloud if you turn it on. It works between iPhone, iPad and the Mac app. On Android, your notes stay on the phone, with automatic daily backups to a folder you choose.

Can I use Markdown?

Yes. Headings, bold, italics, lists, links, quotes and checklists display formatted, and notes are saved as plain Markdown text.

What if I already have notes elsewhere?

The import tool on this site converts Markdown and CSV exports into a file Gravity can import.

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