4 Ways into Obsidian from iPhone
When the Official Share Sheet Is Enough — and When It Isn't
In late July 2026, Obsidian mobile 1.13 shipped official share-sheet support. "So do I still need a third-party capture app?" — a fair question, and here is half the answer up front: if all you do is send text from the share sheet into your vault, the official route is enough. This page is an honest comparison for the other half — the people who also need speed, Apple Watch, voice, and automatic tagging.
Premise: all four routes can be the right answer
Here are four common ways to get a note into an Obsidian vault from an iPhone. ① The official 1.13 share sheet (send a URL or selected text from another app into a vault note). ② Shortcuts (the official actions in mobile 1.11+ append without opening the app, while the older obsidian:// URL scheme brings Obsidian to the foreground). ③ QuickAdd and similar community plugins (fine-grained control over templates and destinations inside the vault). ④ Simple Memo - for Obsidian (a dedicated capture app with a measured 0.4-second warm-launch median from tap to keyboard-ready; sent memos then reach email and the vault). Which one fits depends on what you capture, from where, and in what situation. Note: Obsidian Mobile 1.14 early access also introduced native Quick Capture on iOS 26. It opens from the Lock Screen, Control Center or Shortcuts without waiting for the vault to load. This is another route beyond the four in the table; check its public-release availability before relying on it.
Comparison: strengths and weaknesses of the 4 routes
| Criteria | Official share sheet (1.13) | Shortcuts | QuickAdd | Simple Memo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extra app / plugin | None (free) | None (built into iOS) | Plugin install + setup | App install required |
| Best starting point | Sharing from another app (URL, selected text) | Automations and recurring flows | While already working inside Obsidian | A thought from nowhere, typed from zero |
| Speed for a sudden thought | Open the source app, then walk the share sheet | Launch a shortcut + input prompt | Wait for Obsidian to load (varies by vault size) | 0.4s launch (measured, warm) → type immediately |
| Capture on Apple Watch | No (there is no watchOS app) | Effectively no — no vault on the watch | No | Voice input on the watch; sending and vault append via paired iPhone |
| Voice input | iOS keyboard dictation | Partially via Siri | iOS keyboard dictation | Auto-records on open (once turned on in Settings; iOS 26+), on-device transcription |
| Titles & tags | Templates fill in some fields (page title, URL, date) | Manual (templates help a little) | Powerful template control | On-device AI adds them once AI Auto-Tagging is turned on (memo body never leaves the phone for tagging) |
| Offline | Works — local files | Depends on the action | Works — local files | Encrypted Outbox queue, auto-resend |
| Copy outside the vault | None | None (unless you build it) | None | Also lands in your email inbox (redundancy, normal mode) |
| Failure modes | Picking the wrong target note | URL-scheme route: truncated bodies, duplicate notes, wrong-vault writes | Can break on plugin updates | Overkill if you don't want email involved |
| Price | Free | Free | Free (plugin) | Free 3 sends/day · unlimited $2.99/mo (¥500 in Japan) |
Simple Memo's 0.4s figure is tap → keyboard-ready, warm launch, median of 5 runs (measured 2026-08-11 — methodology published here). Shortcut failure modes are detailed in the symptom-by-symptom troubleshooting guide.
Where Simple Memo loses (honestly)
- Sharing a Safari article or anything from another app — the official share sheet wins. Simple Memo has no share-sheet extension; it is a launch-first app, so "send what I'm looking at" belongs to the official route.
- No extra app, completely free — the official route and Shortcuts win on this. Simple Memo's free plan is 3 sends/day; unlimited requires Premium ($2.99/month or $29.99/year in the US; ¥500/month or ¥5,000/year in Japan).
- Controlling insert position and expanding templates inside the vault — QuickAdd is far stronger. Simple Memo only appends to the note you configured.
- Fully local workflows without email — not our design. Email delivery is the core of Simple Memo, and it is not end-to-end encrypted — emails are delivered over standard SMTP (the full data path is documented here).
- If you already live inside Obsidian all day, there may simply be no reason to add another app. That is a perfectly sound conclusion.
The 4 situations where Simple Memo still earns its place
-
1
Typing a thought from zero — a share sheet needs something to share
The share sheet is a tool for when you are looking at something. A thought that strikes you while walking has no source app. Simple Memo goes from tap to keyboard in 0.4 seconds (warm launch, measured median), then one tap to send — no need to open Obsidian or pick a note. Obsidian's early-access Quick Capture also accepts input without waiting for the vault to load. -
2
Voice input from Apple Watch — Obsidian ships no watchOS app
Because there is no Obsidian watch app, there is no app, no vault, and no share sheet on your wrist (full explanation). Simple Memo takes a voice memo on the watch and delivers it to both email and your vault via the paired iPhone. Sending and vault append require iPhone setup and relay. -
3
Voice plus automatic tagging — "open, speak, done"
With "Auto-start voice input on launch" turned on in Settings, recording starts automatically on open and transcription runs on-device (iOS 26+, supported devices); with AI Auto-Tagging turned on, on-device AI (Apple Foundation Models) adds a title of up to 20 characters, 1–3 tags, and a type (todo / idea / log). The memo body is never sent to an external server for tagging, and the note is appended to your vault with its tags intact — no cleanup session later. -
4
Redundancy in your inbox — sent memos also stay in your inbox
In normal mode, each sent memo also goes to your email inbox, on a separate path from the vault append (no email is sent while Obsidian-only saving is on). For memos that have been sent, a copy stays in email even if a sync accident hits your vault or you lose the phone (memos still waiting in the Outbox exist only on the device).
Which should you choose?
- You mostly share URLs, articles, selected text
- You refuse to add another app
- You want template and insert-position control (QuickAdd)
- You don't want email in the loop
- Obsidian is already open all day
- You capture sudden thoughts on the move
- You want to speak into Apple Watch and deliver through your paired iPhone
- You prefer speaking to typing (auto-record, on-device)
- You want titles and tags added automatically
- You want the email + vault redundancy
Using both is the most realistic setup. "Send what I'm looking at" → official share sheet. "Send what just crossed my mind" → Simple Memo. "Structured work inside the vault" → QuickAdd. Tools with different starting points don't compete.
Frequently asked questions
Doesn't Obsidian 1.13's share sheet make Simple Memo unnecessary?
For sending text or URLs from the share sheet into your vault — yes, the official route is enough. Simple Memo earns its place when you want a measured 0.4-second warm launch from tap to typing for thoughts with no source app, voice input on Apple Watch delivered through a paired iPhone, auto-recorded voice, on-device AI tagging, or the email redundancy. If none of those apply, use the official route.
What's the difference between the official Shortcuts actions and the URL scheme?
The official Shortcuts actions (mobile 1.11+) append without opening Obsidian. The older obsidian:// URL scheme always foregrounds the app and is the route where truncated bodies, duplicate notes, and wrong-vault writes happen. We keep a symptom-by-symptom guide.
Does Simple Memo's vault append need a plugin?
No. It writes directly to the vault folder, with a URI fallback when direct file access isn't available. You give up QuickAdd-style template control; in exchange, there is zero setup on the Obsidian side. Details on the Obsidian integration page.
Is my memo body stored on a server somewhere?
Not persistently. Memo bodies pass through the delivery path only during send, and AI tagging runs on-device (Apple Foundation Models) — memos are not sent to an external server for tagging. Note that Simple Memo - for Obsidian is not end-to-end encrypted — emails are delivered over standard SMTP. The complete data path is documented in Privacy Architecture.
Related pages
