Yeti is one of a long line of note apps on iOS – so what sets it apart from the rest?
Price: $1.99/£1.49
Version: 1.0
Size: 11.9 MB
Platform: iPhone and iPad
Developer: Stay Kids
Yeti is a note-taking app designed to be there for you when inspiration strikes: easy and quick to use, without unnecessary bells and whistles. It dials back the often overwhelming, bloated interfaces of rival note apps to a new level of simplicity, providing a super-swift way to record ideas.
The main menu gets right to the point
There’s certainly room for a new note-taking app on the block: Evernote is comprehensive and Paper slick as hell, but both can be a little overwhelming to those not interested in more complex features. Even Apple’s own Notes app is pretty good these days, though it’s hardly the prettiest or best-equipped solution. None of the above offer easy syncing with iCloud Drive. Yeti does, and to its credit it syncs up automatically and saves notes seamlessly. You’ll want to peruse the notes exclusively through iCloud Drive, though, as Yeti offers a less-than-pleasant interface to sort through files.
The interface to look through notes is too simple, if anything
It’s a refreshing, back-to-basics approach that many users will appreciate. Launch the app and you’re greeted by four colorful icons and not much else; it’s pleasingly straightforward. Tap one of these buttons to record a typed note, a drawing, an audio recording, or a photo/video. Each of the note-recording interfaces does its job, but there are very few options. The idea is to jot things down fast – so no text formatting, no photo editing and no undo button when sketching.
There’s a nice range of settings to save even more time
Yeti is very quick at capturing ideas. As mentioned earlier, the launch screen gets straight to the point, and even quicker than that are the Quick Actions and Today View compatibility. These allow you to use 3D Touch shortcuts straight from the app icon, or start capturing a note right away from a simple widget found in iOS’ handy Notification Center. There’s a slight feeling that Yeti is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, though – have you ever been in such a rush to write down an idea that you’d forgotten it by the time Notes opened?
The drawing interface could do with an ‘undo’ button
The problem with stripping an app back this far is that inevitably some of those features are going to be missed. It’s all well and good to remove the bells and whistles, but Yeti seems to have taken the brakes and the handlebars too in one overzealous swipe. You can’t edit notes once they’re saved. You can’t rearrange the notes or put them into folders. These are not complicated features that need to be avoided; for most users, they are expected features. Par for the course.
Reading back text notes is criminally ugly, with no room to adjust or edit anything
If your main two requirements for a note-taking app are speed and iCloud compatibility, then you’re in luck. Yeti was pretty much built for you. For those of us who prefer their notes organizable, editable or just plain better-looking, there are much better options out there. In fact, why not read our guide to the very best of them. In the meantime, unfortunately Yeti can only really be recommended to a very small subset of users. It may be speedy, but it’s probably not worth your time.