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Complete Feature List 📋

🌍 Languages: Deutsch · English

All features of Simple Notes Sync in detail

📝 Note Management

Note Types

  • ✅ Text notes - Classic free-form notes
  • ✅ Checklists (NEW in v1.4.0) - Task lists with tap-to-check
    • ➕ Add items via input field
    • ☑️ Tap to check/uncheck
    • 📌 Long-press for drag & drop sorting
    • Strikethrough for completed entries
    • ↩️ Un-check returns item to original position (v1.9.0)

Basic Features

  • ✅ Auto-save - No manual saving needed
  • ✅ Title + content - Clear structure for each note
  • ✅ Timestamps - Creation and modification date automatically
  • ✅ Selection Mode (NEW in v1.5.0) - Long-press for multi-select and batch delete
  • ✅ Confirmation dialog - Protection against accidental deletion
  • ✅ Jetpack Compose UI (NEW in v1.5.0) - Modern, performant user interface
  • ✅ Material Design 3 - Modern, clean UI
  • ✅ Dark mode - Automatically based on system settings
  • ✅ Dynamic colors - Adapts to your Android theme
  • ✅ Multi-theme (NEW in v2.0.0) - 7 color schemes with animated transitions and tinted surfaces
  • ✅ Custom app title (NEW in v1.9.0) - Configurable app name

Editor

  • ✅ Minimalist editor - No bells and whistles
  • ✅ Auto-focus - Start writing immediately
  • ✅ Fullscreen mode - Maximum writing space
  • ✅ Save button - Manual confirmation possible
  • ✅ Back navigation - Saves automatically when autosave is enabled (v1.10.0)
  • ✅ Slide animations (NEW in v1.5.0) - Smooth transitions
  • ✅ Markdown preview (NEW in v1.9.0) - Live preview with formatting toolbar
  • ✅ Opt-in autosave (NEW in v1.9.0) - Configurable debounce autosave timer
  • ✅ Undo/Redo (NEW in v1.10.0) - Full undo/redo history (up to 50 steps) with toolbar buttons
  • ✅ Share & export (NEW in v1.10.0) - Share as text or PDF, export to calendar
  • ✅ Delete with undo (NEW in v1.10.0) - Delete from editor with timed undo snackbar

📊 Views & Layout (NEW in v1.7.0+)

Display Modes

  • ✅ List View - Classic list layout
  • ✅ Grid View (NEW in v1.7.0) - Pinterest-style staggered grid with dynamic preview lines
  • ✅ Layout toggle - Switch between list and grid in settings
  • ✅ Adaptive columns - 2-3 columns based on screen size
  • ✅ Grid column scaling (NEW in v2.0.0) - 1–5 columns configurable in display settings
  • ✅ Grid as default (v1.8.0) - New installations default to grid view

Note Sorting (NEW in v1.8.0)

  • ✅ Sort by Updated - Newest or oldest first
  • ✅ Sort by Created - By creation date
  • ✅ Sort by Title - A-Z or Z-A
  • ✅ Sort by Type - Text notes vs checklists
  • ✅ Persistent preferences - Sort option saved across app restarts
  • ✅ Sort dialog - Direction toggle in main screen

Note Filtering (NEW in v1.9.0)

  • ✅ Filter Chip Row - Filter by All, Text, or Checklists
  • ✅ Inline search - Quick search in the filter row
  • ✅ Sort button - Compact sort icon in filter row
  • ✅ Toggle visibility - Tune button hides/shows the filter row
  • ✅ Configurable sync folder - Custom WebDAV folder name

Checklist Sorting (NEW in v1.8.0)

  • ✅ Manual - Custom drag & drop order
  • ✅ Alphabetical - A-Z sorting
  • ✅ Unchecked First - Unchecked items on top
  • ✅ Checked Last - Checked items at bottom
  • ✅ Date created (NEW in v1.11.0) - Sort by creation date (ascending or descending)
  • ✅ Visual separator - Between unchecked/checked groups with count
  • ✅ Auto-sort on toggle - Re-sorts when checking/unchecking items
  • ✅ Drag across boundaries - Items auto-toggle state when crossing separator

📌 Homescreen Widgets (NEW in v1.8.0)

Widget Features

  • ✅ Text note widget - Display any note on homescreen
  • ✅ Checklist widget - Interactive checkboxes that sync to server
  • ✅ 5 size classes - SMALL, NARROW_MED, NARROW_TALL, WIDE_MED, WIDE_TALL
  • ✅ Material You colors - Dynamic colors matching system theme
  • ✅ Configurable opacity - Background transparency (0-100%)
  • ✅ Lock toggle - Prevent accidental edits
  • ✅ Auto-refresh - Updates after sync completion
  • ✅ Configuration activity - Note selection and settings
  • ✅ Checklist sorting (v1.8.1) - Widgets respect saved sort option
  • ✅ Visual separators (v1.8.1) - Between unchecked/checked items
  • ✅ Monet tint preservation (v1.9.0) - Translucent background keeps dynamic colors
  • ✅ Seamless options bar (v1.9.0) - Removed background for cleaner look
  • ✅ Checklist strikethrough (v1.9.0) - Completed items show strikethrough in widget
  • ✅ Auto-refresh on leave (v1.9.0) - Widgets update when leaving app

🌍 Multilingual Support (NEW in v1.5.0)

Supported Languages

  • ✅ English - Primary language (default)
  • ✅ German - Fully translated

Language Selection

  • ✅ Automatic detection - Follows system language
  • ✅ Manual selection - Switchable in settings
  • ✅ Per-App Language - Android 13+ native language selection
  • ✅ locales_config.xml - Complete Android integration

Scope

  • ✅ 400+ strings - Fully translated
  • ✅ UI texts - All buttons, dialogs, menus
  • ✅ Error messages - Helpful localized hints
  • ✅ Settings - 7 categorized screens

💾 Backup & Restore

Local Backup System

  • ✅ JSON export - All notes in one file
  • ✅ Free location choice - Downloads, SD card, cloud folder
  • ✅ Filenames with timestamp - simplenotes_backup_YYYY-MM-DD_HHmmss.json
  • ✅ Complete export - Title, content, timestamps, IDs
  • ✅ Human-readable format - JSON with formatting
  • ✅ Independent from server - Works completely offline

Restore Modes

  • ✅ Merge - Add new notes, keep existing ones (Default)
  • ✅ Replace - Delete all and import backup
  • ✅ Overwrite duplicates - Backup wins on ID conflicts
  • ✅ Automatic safety backup - Before every restore
  • ✅ Backup validation - Checks format and version
  • ✅ Error handling - Clear error messages on issues

🖥️ Desktop Integration

Markdown Export

  • ✅ Automatic export - Each note → .md file
  • ✅ Checklists as task lists (NEW) - - [ ] / - [x] format (GitHub-compatible)
  • ✅ Dual-format - JSON (master) + Markdown (mirror)
  • ✅ Filename sanitization - Safe filenames from titles
  • ✅ Duplicate handling (NEW) - ID suffix for same titles
  • ✅ Frontmatter metadata - YAML with ID, timestamps, type
  • ✅ WebDAV sync - Parallel to JSON sync
  • ✅ Optional - Toggle in settings
  • ✅ Initial export - All existing notes when activated
  • ✅ Progress indicator - Shows X/Y during export

Markdown Import

  • ✅ Desktop → App - Import changes from desktop
  • ✅ Last-Write-Wins - Conflict resolution via timestamp
  • ✅ Frontmatter parsing - Reads metadata from .md files
  • ✅ Detect new notes - Automatically adopt to app
  • ✅ Detect updates - Only if desktop version is newer
  • ✅ Error tolerance - Individual errors don't abort import

WebDAV Access

  • ✅ Network drive mount - Windows, macOS, Linux
  • ✅ Any Markdown editor - VS Code, Typora, Notepad++, iA Writer
  • ✅ Live editing - Direct access to .md files
  • ✅ Folder structure - /notes/ for JSON, /notes-md/ for Markdown
  • ✅ Automatic folder creation - On first sync

🔄 Synchronization

Auto-Sync

  • ✅ Interval selection - 15, 30 or 60 minutes
  • ✅ WiFi trigger - Sync on WiFi connection (no SSID restriction)
  • ✅ Battery-friendly - ~0.2-0.8% per day
  • ✅ Smart server check - Sync only when server is reachable
  • ✅ WorkManager - Reliable background execution
  • ✅ Battery optimization compatible - Works even with Doze mode

Sync Triggers (6 total)

  1. ✅ Periodic sync - Automatically after interval
  2. ✅ App-start sync - When opening the app
  3. ✅ WiFi-connect sync - On any WiFi connection
  4. ✅ Manual sync - Button in settings
  5. ✅ Pull-to-refresh - Swipe gesture in notes list
  6. ✅ Settings-save sync - After server configuration

Sync Mechanism

  • ✅ Upload - Local changes to server
  • ✅ Download - Server changes to app
  • ✅ Parallel downloads (NEW in v1.8.0) - Up to 5 simultaneous downloads
  • ✅ Conflict detection - On simultaneous changes
  • ✅ Conflict-free merging - Last-Write-Wins via timestamp
  • ✅ Server deletion detection (NEW in v1.8.0) - Detects notes deleted on other devices
  • ✅ Sync status tracking - LOCAL_ONLY, PENDING, SYNCED, CONFLICT, DELETED_ON_SERVER
  • ✅ Live progress UI (NEW in v1.8.0) - Phase indicators with upload/download counters
  • ✅ Error handling - Retry on network issues
  • ✅ Offline-first - App works without server

Server Connection

  • ✅ WebDAV protocol - Standard protocol
  • ✅ HTTP/HTTPS - HTTP only local, HTTPS for external
  • ✅ Username/password - Basic authentication
  • ✅ Connection test - Test in settings
  • ✅ WiFi-only sync (NEW in v1.7.0) - Option to sync only on WiFi
  • ✅ VPN support (NEW in v1.7.0) - Sync works correctly through VPN tunnels
  • ✅ Self-signed SSL (NEW in v1.7.0) - Support for self-signed certificates
  • ✅ Server URL normalization - Automatic /notes/ and /notes-md/ (NEW in v1.2.1)
  • ✅ Flexible URL input - Both variants work: http://server/ and http://server/notes/

🔒 Privacy & Security

Self-Hosted

  • ✅ Own server - Full control over data
  • ✅ No cloud - No third parties
  • ✅ No tracking - No analytics, no telemetry
  • ✅ No account - Only server credentials
  • ✅ 100% open source - AGPL v3 License

Data Security

  • ✅ Local storage - App-private storage (Android)
  • ✅ WebDAV encryption - HTTPS for external servers
  • ✅ Password storage - Android SharedPreferences (encrypted)
  • ✅ No third-party libs - Only Android SDK + Sardine (WebDAV)

Developer Features

  • ✅ File logging - Optional, only when enabled (NEW in v1.3.2)
  • ✅ Privacy notice - Explicit warning on activation
  • ✅ Local logs - Logs stay on device

🔋 Performance & Optimization

Battery Efficiency (v1.6.0)

  • ✅ Configurable sync triggers - Enable/disable each trigger individually
  • ✅ Smart defaults - Only event-driven triggers active by default
  • ✅ Optimized periodic intervals - 15/30/60 min (default: OFF)
  • ✅ WiFi-only - No mobile data sync
  • ✅ Smart server check - Sync only when server is reachable
  • ✅ WorkManager - System-optimized execution
  • ✅ Doze mode compatible - Sync runs even in standby
  • ✅ Measured consumption:
    • Default (event-driven only): ~0.2%/day (~6.5 mAh) ⭐ Optimal
    • With periodic 15 min: ~1.0%/day (~30 mAh)
    • With periodic 30 min: ~0.6%/day (~19 mAh)
    • With periodic 60 min: ~0.4%/day (~13 mAh)

App Performance

  • ✅ Offline-first - Works without internet
  • ✅ Instant-load - Notes load in <100ms
  • ✅ Smooth scrolling - LazyColumn with Compose
  • ✅ Material Design 3 - Native Android UI
  • ✅ Kotlin Coroutines - Asynchronous operations
  • ✅ Minimal APK size - ~2 MB

🛠️ Technical Details

Platform

  • ✅ Android 7.0+ (API 24+)
  • ✅ Target SDK 36 (Android 15)
  • ✅ Kotlin - Modern programming language
  • ✅ Jetpack Compose - Declarative UI framework
  • ✅ Material Design 3 - Latest design guidelines
  • ✅ Multi-theme system (v2.0.0) - 7 color schemes incl. AMOLED & Dynamic Color
  • ✅ Jetpack Glance (v1.8.0) - Widget framework

Architecture

  • ✅ MVVM-Light - Simple architecture
  • ✅ Single Activity - Modern navigation
  • ✅ Kotlin Coroutines - Async/Await pattern
  • ✅ Dispatchers.IO - Background operations
  • ✅ SharedPreferences - Settings storage
  • ✅ File-based storage - JSON files locally
  • ✅ Custom exceptions - Dedicated SyncException for better error handling (NEW in v1.3.2)

Dependencies

  • ✅ AndroidX - Jetpack libraries
  • ✅ Material Components - Material Design 3
  • ✅ Sardine - WebDAV client (com.thegrizzlylabs)
  • ✅ Gson - JSON serialization
  • ✅ WorkManager - Background tasks
  • ✅ OkHttp - HTTP client (via Sardine)
  • ✅ Glance (v1.8.0) - Widget framework

Build Variants

  • ✅ Standard - Universal APK (100% FOSS, no Google dependencies)
  • ✅ F-Droid - Identical to Standard (100% FOSS)
  • ✅ Debug/Release - Development and production
  • ✅ No Google Services - Completely FOSS, no proprietary libraries

📦 Server Compatibility

Tested WebDAV Servers

  • ✅ Docker WebDAV (recommended for self-hosting)
  • ✅ Nextcloud - Fully compatible
  • ✅ ownCloud - Works perfectly
  • ✅ Apache mod_dav - Standard WebDAV
  • ✅ nginx + WebDAV - With correct configuration

Server Features

  • ✅ Basic Auth - Username/password
  • ✅ Directory listing - For download
  • ✅ PUT/GET - Upload/download
  • ✅ MKCOL - Create folders
  • ✅ DELETE - Delete notes (future)

🔮 Future Features

Planned for upcoming versions – see UPCOMING.md for the full roadmap.

📊 Comparison with Other Apps

Feature Simple Notes Sync Google Keep Nextcloud Notes
Offline-first ✅ ⚠️ Limited ⚠️ Limited
Self-hosted ✅ ❌ ✅
Auto-sync ✅ ✅ ✅
Markdown export ✅ ❌ ✅
Desktop access ✅ (WebDAV) ✅ (Web) ✅ (Web + WebDAV)
Local backup ✅ ❌ ⚠️ Server backup
No Google account ✅ ❌ ✅
Open Source ✅ AGPL v3 ❌ ✅ AGPL
APK size ~2 MB ~50 MB ~8 MB
Battery usage ~0.4%/day ~1-2%/day ~0.5%/day

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need a server?
A: No! The app works completely offline. The server is optional for sync.

Q: Which server is best?
A: For beginners: Docker WebDAV (simple, easy). For pros: Nextcloud (many features).

Q: Does Markdown export work without Desktop Integration?
A: No, you need to activate the feature in settings.

Q: Will my data be lost if I switch servers?
A: No! Create a local backup, switch servers, restore.

Q: Why JSON + Markdown?
A: JSON is reliable and fast (master). Markdown is human-readable (mirror for desktop).

Q: Can I use the app without Google Play?
A: Yes! Download the APK directly from GitHub or use F-Droid.

Last update: v2.1.0 (2026-03-26)