Excited about my second App , HashNotes, the notes and lists app for nerds.

My second attempt at making an iOS app is in review at the iTunes App Store right now!  (BTW, I am listing it as FREE through Aug 3rd!  HashNotes Screenshots and info here. )  All this development is a learning experience, that’s for sure. And this new app HashNotes is not exception.  It’s a work in progress, and its missing some features I’d like to see added in the future.  However, its got the basics in there to be a useful app for my work.

That’s the main thing isn’t it.  One of the biggest reasons I build apps or do any programming, is that I want something to work “my way” and be usable in a way that makes sense to me during my normal operation.  HashNotes isn’t going to be the best notes app out there, there’s some really way cool programs I like, ToodleDo, Notes Plus, Errands, Awesome Note, cool stuff.   I use ToodleDo a lot actually.  These are all great and have way more features than I’ll ever have in HashNotes, most even look way better!  But again, I want my notes app just a bit more simple, with less to deal with and quick to use.  Which is why I made HashNotes.  (It’s a universal app for iPhone and iPad, btw)  I just want a quick, text entry I can thumb-type multiple notes in on the iPhone. They can be to-do lists, notes, or simple list items, whatever.  It just needs to be quick entry, or I won’t use it.  So each new line is a new note item, multi-line entry!  It needs to be like that because while I am at a client meeting, I need to drop in several key items quickly without distraction.

What I also wanted in a quick notes app, was inline HASHTAGS!  You can type in several hashtags and the note item is categorized by those tags instantly.  That was also a key feature I wanted.  As mentioned, this is my first version of the app, and although you can add multiple tags to a note, you can only view one tag list at a time.  What I am planning is a multi-tag view, so I can, for example, open my #coolclient tag, but also only tags for a particular #coolproject.  Then I can drill down to specific lists quickly.

This app is really for geeks and nerds like me.  Its not for everyone, that’s for sure.  Most people will probably want easier selections and/or much more of a “Get Things Done” type app.  But I just can’t deal with those kinds of apps.  Its just a personal thing.  They just have too much there, too much data to enter, and I end up not having the info I need later. And then I don’t use the app.  That’s why I like the hashtags!

Last quick note! I setup HashNotes to use iCloud!  So your devices will sync the notes and tags!  iCloud has some known issues, which hopefully will be addressed in iOS 6, but its working pretty good for me during beta testing.  The iCloud sync was a major feature I needed to make the app useful during work.  I need to enter quick notes on the iPhone, but later, manage them on the iPad.  iCloud makes that possible without the need to setup a server of my own and deal with all the issues and cost involved.  Plus, iCloud just uses your Apple ID in the device and just starts working. Its pretty cool!

Wait, last, last note.  I built in a simple backup and report feature.  In the first version, it just emails a table of items with all the tags.  The “backup” version of the report can be used to copy and paste directly into HashNotes text entry box to restore the entire database.  One great reason I like my own app!  In the future, though, I plan on adding Dropbox and Google Drive backup and report output.

I’ll post again once the app is finished review by Apple and ready to download in the app store!