Steve Troughton-SmithKeeping the minimal theme in mind, I haven't quite found a note taking app that works the way I want, so I'm prototyping something new for the first time in a while
What I'd like to see is something you could lock an iPad into kiosk mode with, and never have to worry about UI or settings or syncing or accounts. Just turn it into a permanent notebook, with no distractions or notifications
Working canvas and data store đ
I have a very love/hate relationship with the PencilKit tool picker. I love the power it has, but I can't stand how floaty it is and how easy it is to accidentally fling it across the screen or minimize it into a circle when you're hitting the undo button. That said, the margins of a page are a perfect place to leave it
Always fun when you can use an app to plan its own development đ
And just so nobody gets their hopes up: Iâm only building this for me, no intention to ship it at this point.
I'd call that a successful phase 1 prototype. It's both functional and useful, and raises lots of questions as to what I would do next. It also highlights some pitfalls: writing on iPad mini just isn't very pleasant (the flexing is really getting to me), and PencilKitâs floaty toolbar is already annoying me, but it has so many features built-in that it's going to be tough to recreate. Maybe the solution is just to have 'pen', âpencilâ, 'highlighterâ presets, and give up all the other tools
Little video demo, just because itâs a fun little app
PencilKit is a very different beast on macOS, but a 'viewer' app isn't unreasonable
It would make my life a lot easier if I could just pretend scaling doesn't existâŚ
Doing some last little changes before heading off on vacation â added pagination to the prototype (UI temporary). Now it's actually a fully-functional notebook. One that only works with the iPad mini, in portrait, but good enough for now!
Anybody got a quick fix for using tap gestures on PencilKit canvases to show/hide UI without bringing up the selection controls?
In the meantime, pretty happy with this UI. I will have to think long and hard about whether I want to pursue this as a product, or just keep it on the shelf for my own use. Making prototypes is easy, making products is hard
I mean, *yoink*? If nobody else is gonna claim it, I'm taking it đ
I never do a TestFlight this early, but I wouldnât mind some external feedback/inspiration in my downtime this week, so Iâve opened 100 slots on my Concept Validation Test of my little Apple Pencil/iPad notebook app. Pencil is *required* to function. Itâs so early the app doesnât even have an icon yet.
Please read the instructions (screenshot attached).
Friends/mutuals: if it fills up and youâd still like to try it, send me a pm with your testing email.
(And do share screenshots! Inspiration is always welcome)
Will be opening more TestFlight slots sometime next week, once I get home and push out a build that fixes the screen/page scaling issue. Watch this space!
Picking this back up this weekend. Desperately want to get out a fixed build for iPad mini đ
New build! This one should work much better on your new iPad minis.
Also upped the number of TestFlight slots available, so if you want in now's your chance (scroll back up this thread).
*Remember to read the test notes*; this is a concept validation build only, not a product in full development. If you want to inspire me to continue, send me screenshots of the notepads you make đ
I donât have to squint hard to see that maybe thereâs value in iPhone supporting some kind of mini Apple Pencil. I donât think I would ship this app on iPhone without a physical stylus, but I donât rule it out completely
A lot of people asking for âdark modeâ on something that's meant to emulate a piece of paper đ
Two changes today to the notepad app: dark mode, and basic landscape support (to stop the weirdness caused by fixed screen orientations in iOS these days).
You can also longpress a notepad to send it as a file, if you want to e-mail it to me so I can put in my testing suite (đ)
This is starting to look like an app đ I knew I added this sidebar class to my cross-app toolkit for a reason
*checks in on macOS build*
Yep, still compiles.
*goes back to working on iOS version*
Re-upping the same build as before for TestFlight, just to give it another 90 days. Didn't mean to let it expire on the people who were using it!
This app remains 'merely' a concept validation test, nothing more to announce at this time
âď¸ I didn't mention it earlier, but my Apple-Pencil-only notebook app, still just a concept validation test, has been updated for iPadOS 26 and is available through TestFlight. As it's an unreleased app and I don't want to get stuck developing two versions of the UI, I've also bumped the minimum requirements
I was spurred into action by my reMarkable research, and decided to implement hyperlinks in my notebook app. Still just a temporary debug UI for now (of course it needs a fancy edit mode), but I have something working
Notebooks should have hyperlinks.
Dr. Juande Santander-Vela@stroughtonsmith do you get the automated text transcription for free, or is that something that Notes does on its own? Canât remember from my last usage⌠and Iâm not updating to the â26 OSes at least for a couple of versionsâŚ
@juandesant haven't looked into it!
JOHN ELLWAY@stroughtonsmith thank you. I very much enjoy đ
Todd Thomas 
@stroughtonsmith nice! I wasnât the only one asking? I donât use my iPad in portrait at all.
@todd I really hope you're not expecting to write on the screen in a keyboard case!
@stroughtonsmith oh landscape notebooks have sooo much space on the page now.
@todd is that a positive or a negative? đ
@stroughtonsmith ha definitely positive. In landscape previously the portrait pages felt really cramped. Write a few sentences and the page was full.
enthraxxx
Sophia 
Primatology (XYZ) ¡ Oliver@stroughtonsmith @todd product management to avoid support/feature requests is the one true way.
Konrad KoĹakowski@stroughtonsmith Why not to just allow to rotate it? đ¤ I can't see any potential layout issues đ
@stroughtonsmith Oh, maybe it is about the left margin and general for of a âpaper"? đ¤
@kkolakowski the moment I enable rotation, I need to add zooming/scaling/scrolling gestures (which overload the simplicity of it), I need to add a way to center the canvas in the scroll view, I need to have landscape-format templates (or add rotation logic there), I might need landscape-format canvases and landscape/portrait thumbnails, and so on. I'm not going to do all of that work until Iâm 1000% sure I want a landscape mode and that it will be worth it
@stroughtonsmith âPlease rotate your iPadâ. Nope.. I'll wait and see if you add landscape support I guess ;-)
Casey Liss@stroughtonsmith Dark mode has become a religion over the last couple years. I find it cooky, but those who love it FUCKING LOVE IT
Brandon@caseyliss @stroughtonsmith I've been helping out a team and this is the most polarizing topic- every standup we laugh about who's sharing a screen with dark or light mode. "Ow it's so bright!" "Argh I can't see anything!"
sayrer@caseyliss @stroughtonsmith it's for people that wake up at 2am (half sleep, normal, google it). nothing more irritating than a partner with their phone on blue light blast at that time.
@sayrer @stroughtonsmith I use auto â dark at night and light in day â but the full-time dark mode zealots are aggressive.
@caseyliss @stroughtonsmith bro, you can exit this conversation quickly. they do clapboards in black.
I have an art degree and also hate dark mode, but you have an easy path out.
Ilya Demukh@caseyliss @stroughtonsmith for me itâs an accessibility feature, really. My floaters are pretty bad and when looking at a large, bright, mostly white screen, it is extremely distracting and annoying.
DJDarren@stroughtonsmith I just installed it, and I really like the yellow. It's a little vibrant, but it's easier on the eye than pure white.
FreediverX@stroughtonsmith
Personal tastes and preferences aside, just as a dark screen is harder to read in broad daylight, a blinding white screen is extremely unpleasant to use at night.
Personal tastes and preferences aside, just as a dark screen is harder to read in broad daylight, a blinding white screen is extremely unpleasant to use at night.
erin sparling@stroughtonsmith in my postcard app, I let the UI change, but not the postcard. Itâs a piece of paper, and makes no sense otherwise.
Tom Lokhorst@stroughtonsmith My nieces love drawing on black scratch paper!
Mutesplash@stroughtonsmith Call it "chalkboard mode" and default to a different brush...
Charlie Fish@stroughtonsmith Totally get the rationale there. You have a very specific idea youâre trying to emulate. On a more general note, going from dark mode apps to apps that donât support dark mode can be very blinding and jarring.
blabla_blair@stroughtonsmith dark mode is as much of an accessibility option as it is an aesthetic one.
For migraine sufferers, easing eye strain or a host of other visual impairments, dark mode can be invaluable.
(But yes, for others, like myself, dark mode is a personal preference we care deeply about đ).
For migraine sufferers, easing eye strain or a host of other visual impairments, dark mode can be invaluable.
(But yes, for others, like myself, dark mode is a personal preference we care deeply about đ).
Marina Epelman@stroughtonsmith Think of it as a blackboard mode. For mathematicians.
Kye Russell@stroughtonsmith canât remember the last time I used a piece of paper that glowed in the dark!
Ryan Graves@stroughtonsmith Iâve wanted Apple Pencil support on iPhone for so long. It would be great as a little pocket memo pad (although the camera bump would need to change for it to really work well).
David Schuetz ** looking for work **@stroughtonsmith Can I have Ivory sound a klaxon, flash a light, and vibrate the phone out of my shirt pocket whenever you say the word TestFlight? :)
Brad Romance@stroughtonsmith Does your notes app allow a user to set their own background as a template? And if not⌠could it?
@brad if I can justify it, itâs possible
Sim@stroughtonsmith Thanks for letting us try it! Initially I didn't know where to find the page controls, but then realised they were hidden behind the default layout for the pencil tools
Also the page doesn't seem to go flush under the status bar
Once I did find the page controls, the grey colour made me think the buttons were disabled
Otherwise love the simplicity of it
@stroughtonsmith love the boldness of going with a portrait-only app (I love apps that treat the iPad like a book that you hold)
@simsaens page size is bugged (TestFlight notes should mention), hence the grey strip
Alex@stroughtonsmith 2 ideas for later?
how about a way to create a background as a template and share to a community?
This would allow people to create templates for all sorts of things - sports pitch layouts (coaches at half time use whiteboards and they are awful!); business workflow templates etc.
2nd idea - a feature to âscan a printed sheet and use that as a backgroundâ - to let people use their own templates, either locally, or combined with the community idea đ