Apple may design some of the best performing and best looking smartphones on the market, but even diehard Apple fans have to admit that some of the native apps on the iPhone can’t hold a candle to third party offerings. ‘Maps’ and ‘Calendar’ are two native iOS apps that people usually throw over in favor of a third party app with superior functionality (and don’t even get me started on ‘Stocks’, an iPhone app that not one single person I know has EVER used.)

If you feel like Apple’s native ‘Notes’ app isn’t robust enough for you, there are tons of third-party note-taking apps to chose from. Today, we’ll be looking at Fetchnotes, a notes app that has a unique organizational structure.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

Fetchnotes describes itself as “Hashtags and to do lists — together at last.” What they mean by that is simple: you can use hashtags in your notes to yourself to organize the contents of your entire Fetchnotes library. It’s like Twitter and Notes had a baby! Just add # in front of any word to create a category on the fly, which you can easily refer to later. Put @ in front of a username, and you can send your notes to that very person!

Pros

• Lovely, minimal, clean interface and design aesthetic
• Supremely easy to use
• Takes your privacy and security seriously
• Way easier to navigate and sort than Apple’s native “Notes” app

Cons

• Surprisingly big for such a simple app
• Facebook fans (and lazy login lovers) will be sad there’s no Facebook login option here: signup with an email is the only way to get started

Discussion

Fetchnotes works almost like you’re sending a tweet to yourself. Add a book title to your reading list by creating a note like “#read The Rook by Daniel O’Malley,” or add an item quickly to your todo list with a note like “pick up eggs for brunch tomorrow #todo.” These hashtags make it insanely easy to find relevant notes when you filter your lists of notes later on.

Now if it just had hashtag-based organization alone, Fetchnotes would be a great app. But it gets even better because you can use the app to send your lists/notes to your contacts with ease. This would be a great tool for anyone who needs to delegate responsibilities, from busy parents to project managers.

Your organization options are limited only by your imagination: you can easily make notes on work projects, fill an ongoing list of gift ideas for friends and family so you won’t be caught flat-footed when their birthdays come up, make a note about a new place to get dinner, or any number of other todo items.

Conclusion and download link

If you’re fed up with Apple’s limited ‘Notes’ app, or just want a better way to construct to-do lists on the fly, the hashtag logic of Fetchnotes is sure to please you. On top of great functionality, this app is also easy on the eyes…and even easier on your wallet.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 2.1

Requires iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, iOS version 4.3 or later

Download size: 14.1 MB

Fetchnotes on Apple App Store