Even though Joplin and Notion don’t natively support hand-written notes, you can still write your notes by hand in both of these apps by enabling Google’s handwriting keyboard on any Android device. This will automatically convert your handwriting to text on your pages.
If you own a Samsung device, you can do this with Samsung’s handwriting keyboard as well. I personally prefer Google’s handwriting keyboard, for some reason it feels more fluid and natural.
Now why do I prefer this solution instead of using something like Samsung Notes or OneNote, or just pen and paper?
I’m a big fan of Ryder Carroll’s bullet journal method and I enjoy filling up my daily spreads in an A5 notebook. But I also like having important information available to me in all of my devices, and on the go. And as someone with ADHD and bad short-term memory, I feel safer having an app to remind me of important tasks and events.
I also like handwriting my blog articles, and this makes it easy for me to transfer my final draft to the blog for publishing.
My brain retains and processes information better when I write it down, as opposed to typing it out. Handwriting on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite in a cross-platform app gives me the best of both worlds.
As for which app I prefer to use, I like Joplin the best. I found Notion to be slow and buggy, and especially on Android devices, whether you’re typing or handwriting, the text input is so buggy, it will randomly start deleting words or full sentences; or while you’re typing, it will miss characters or input random ones, making your text illegible.
Another thing that always worried me in Notion, is the safety of my data. Most are rightfully concerned with Notion’s privacy policy, but I’m more concerned about data loss. Not only I can’t have access to my data offline, the backup options are far from ideal. Based on how many Notion users have already experienced loss of important data, I don’t feel comfortable keeping all my work in Notion.
Joplin on the other hand:
stores my notes locally, therefore I have access to them at all times with or without an Internet connection,
there’s end to end encryption, which means I’m the only one who can read my notes,
and I get to choose how and where to automatically sync and backup my data, which is a lot better than what Notion currently offers.
I’ve also found taking notes in Joplin to be a distraction-free experience.
To conclude, you can expand your options for handwritten notes or digital bullet journalling, by enabling Google’s handwriting keyboard, which works on any app of your choice.