simple-notes-sync/docs/FEATURES.md

Complete Feature List 📋

🌍 Languages: Deutsch · English

All features of Simple Notes Sync in detail

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📝 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

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

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
• ✅ Slide animations (NEW in v1.5.0) - Smooth transitions

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📊 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 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

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
• ✅ 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

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📌 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

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🌍 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

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💾 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

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🖥️ 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

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🔄 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/

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🔒 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 - MIT 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

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🔋 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 - RecyclerView with ViewHolder
• ✅ Material Design 3 - Native Android UI
• ✅ Kotlin Coroutines - Asynchronous operations
• ✅ Minimal APK size - ~2 MB

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🛠️ 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
• ✅ 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

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📦 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)

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🔮 Future Features

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

v2.0.0 - Legacy Cleanup

• ⏳ Remove deprecated Activities - Replace with Compose equivalents
• ⏳ LocalBroadcastManager → SharedFlow - Modern event architecture
• ⏳ WebDavSyncService split - SyncOrchestrator, NoteUploader, NoteDownloader

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📊 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	✅ MIT	❌	✅ AGPL
APK size	~2 MB	~50 MB	~8 MB
Battery usage	~0.4%/day	~1-2%/day	~0.5%/day

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❓ 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.

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Last update: v1.8.1 (2026-02-11)