I sometimes struggle to pay attention to the task at hand, especially when sitting at a desk in front of the screen and typing away. This is what led me to seek an app that would allow my creativity to flow without any distractions to make me want to dip out and waste a few minutes doing something unrelated. That’s when I discovered Apostrophe. I’ve used Gnome extensively but never came across this app while shopping around Gnome Circloe, yet after trying it out, I’ve not been able to go back to anything else, including Obsidian.
Minimalist UI and full-screen writing
Focus on what you’re writing and nothing else
The minimalist user interface is the primary reason Apostrophe is so good for writing. This app was designed from the ground up to be in the background, quite literally. Moving from Obsidian and some other editors, it was immediately apparent how Apostrophe will attempt to stay clear of my creativity and allow it to flow for thousands of words to be typed up in quick succession. That’s not to say Obsidian is bad, because it’s not, and it still plays a vital role in my productivity workflow, but Apostrophe is now my go-to for writing alone.
The minimalist user interface is the primary reason Apostrophe is so good for writing.
Apostrophe is a markdown editor and is best used as such, though you can easily use it for jotting down notes, editing documents, and more. It’s more powerful than initial looks may lead one to believe. Obsidian and other text editors will have longer feature lists, but they can also feel rather bloated, or the UI isn’t focused on creating content but formatting it. This approach works for most people since it’s the same ideology present in most apps of this nature, but Apostrophe does things slightly differently.
Apostrophe is a great app at one thing: typing characters on-screen. It doesn’t try to do too much, which can overlap with other apps and would ruin the experience. When you’re actively typing away, the UI elements fade out and you’re left with a blank canvas. Think of it as a smart notebook that doesn’t require a pen. A few settings are present for configuring the app to your liking, but there’s very little to change since not much is present to begin with, and that’s by design.
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It’s free and perfect
Another open-source gem
Apostrophe is part of the GNOME Circle and is developed for Linux distros. It can be installed through Flatpak and takes very little storage space for a truly minimal experience. Because it’s so compact, this also has the side effect of the app being incredibly lightweight and efficient. It opens almost instantly, unlike some other apps. You’ll barely notice Apostrophe running with minute system resource requirements, requiring around 170 MB for the app to be installed, with a sub-40 MB download.
It’s for this reason that Apostrophe can be a great alternative to Obsidian for making quick edits and notes, which can then be copied over to your vaults. It’s how my workflow has adjusted to improve efficiency and overall productivity. Couple this clutter-free app with a window manager such as Hyprland, and you’ll have one truly amazing platform for creativity. And that’s because you maximize Apostrope to take the entire screen. I didn’t think it would at first, but it looks and works great on a super ultrawide monitor.
Apostrophe allows me to relax, for my mind to conjure up some words, code, and everything in between. It’s just brilliant that we can enjoy software of this calibre for free.
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