This note-taking app works like iMessage and it might be genius

What you need to know

Note Yourself is an app that lets you send notes to yourself as messages.
WhatsApp and some other messaging apps let you send messages to yourself already.
Note Yourself is as simple as can be but might just work the way your brain does.

Do you send messages to yourself as a way of creating notes? This app is for you.

If you’ve ever tried to get into the habit of taking notes but have never managed to make it stick, Note Yourself might be the app for you. The reason for that is simple — it doesn’t look or work like a note-taking app and instead appears to be a messaging app. It looks like one, functions like one, and essentially is one. Except your messages don’t go anywhere and nobody can bug you, either.

Note Yourself is an odd one, but it might also be genius in the way it works. See, WhatsApp and some other messaging apps already have a way to send messages to yourself. That might seem pointless to some, but to others, it makes perfect sense. Need to remember to do something or pick something up? Put it into a one-way chat and you have a sort of timeline of events or, in this case, notes. Note Yourself works the same way but without all the messaging stuff thrown in.

The result is an interface that looks immediately familiar and you create “chats” that are actually different notes. You can create a chat for groceries or for homework or whatever, really. But the idea is always the same — notes get written as if they were a chat message and you hit the send button. Need a reminder? There’s an option for that, too.

Notable features include:

Pin messages within notes, to make them stand out and appear like sent messages
Communication Notifications that appear chat-like, and can be scheduled
Store notes in separate chats
Share, pin, delete and lock chats by swiping left or right
Copy, share, edit and delete individual messages by swiping left or right
Search for a particular chat
Dark mode support
VoiceOver support
3D Touch
Simple and beautiful user interface
Small haptics when interacting, improving the overall experience

If that sounds good you can take Note Yourself for a spin now. It’s available for download from the App Store and costs $2.99. If you already send messages to yourself instead of notes, this might be the best iPhone app for you.