Which Memo App Is Fastest?
Launch Speed Benchmark 2026

In short-term memory research (Peterson & Peterson, 1959), when rehearsal was prevented, recall of a just-learned string of letters fell sharply within about 18 seconds. The moment you think "I should do X about that project" on the train, the freshness of that idea begins rapidly decaying.

This is where the "capture gap" concept becomes critical. The capture gap is the time between when an idea forms and when you start typing it into a memo app. The larger this gap, the less detail makes it into your note.

Between an app you can type in after 0.4s and one that takes 2.8s, the capture gap differs by 2.4 seconds. That might sound trivial, but apps that make you wait create psychological friction -- "I'll write it later" -- which often means the memo never gets written at all.

• Device: iPhone 16e (A18), iOS 26.5.2
• Method: iOS screen recording of app launches, analyzed frame by frame
• Measurement: From icon tap until the keyboard is fully presented and the app will accept a keystroke — including any taps along the way, such as a new-note button
• Trials: 5 runs per app, median (Apple Notes 10, Google Keep 4)
• Environment: 256GB, 14.29GB free, our app v5.7.3
• Launch condition: Warm launches (each app was force quit from the app switcher with a 5+ second dwell, but on iOS 26.5.2 they come back warm regardless — verified by reviewing every relaunch). Same for every app
• Measured: 2026-08-11 (Bear and Drafts re-recorded the same day under matched conditions)

For the full protocol, see Benchmark Methodology.

There's a reason the table has two columns, "Ready to type" and "To focus." Most memo apps need navigation after launching before you can start typing, and that navigation shows up differently in each column. Every figure below is icon tap until you can type, taps included.

Simple Memo - for Obsidian (0.4s): Launch = input-ready. The cursor is focused (0.2s) and the keyboard is up the instant you open the app. Zero navigation required. This is the most faithful implementation of Captio's design philosophy.

Drafts (0.9s): Same philosophy — it opens straight into a new draft. The figure shown is its fastest of five runs, 0.90s; the other four sat around 1.4s. At its best it is level with Bear, but that is not the typical run — and it is the one row here aggregated differently from the rest, so we say so.

Bear (0.9s): Launching reopens the note you were editing, keyboard still up, so there is no tap at all. It is level with Drafts at the top of the field behind us and the steadiest app measured: five runs inside 0.92–0.95s, where Drafts hit 0.9s once in five. The catch is that this is the speed of coming back to a note you left open. Start from the note list and you have to tap the pencil first, which costs you. Simple Memo is in that state every time; Bear is in it depending on how you left it.

Apple Notes (1.7s): Opens to a note list. Tap "New Note", focus lands at 1.3s, and the keyboard is fully up at 1.7s. Even over 10 runs it ranged 1.20–2.37s.

Notion (2.8s): New page, wait for the page to load, then type. No single step is long; stacked, they come to 2.8s. Measure "how long until I can type" rather than "how fast does it launch" and the difference lands here.

Launch speed isn't just a spec-sheet number. The shorter the wait, the easier it is to start writing at the moments you might otherwise hesitate.

Faster capture makes more memos likely. Apps that open quickly create less friction, so it's easier to jot down even fleeting thoughts (we don't publish per-user memo counts).

Friction works against habits. Habit books and research often recommend reducing the effort it takes to start. When an app keeps you waiting for seconds, it's easy to think "I'll write it later" or "I'll remember it" -- and more thoughts go unwritten.

What you write down is what you can use later. An idea you never wrote down can't be searched for later. The more often a quick app lets you capture, the more material you have to review and use.