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
There are four main 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 always brings Obsidian to the foreground). ③ QuickAdd and similar community plugins (unbeatable for template insertion and fine-grained control of where text lands). ④ Simple Memo - for Obsidian (a dedicated capture app that launches in 0.4 seconds and delivers to both email and the vault). Which one is right depends on what you capture, from where, and in what situation.
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 |
| Apple Watch alone | No (there is no watchOS app) | Effectively no — no vault on the watch | No | Voice memo from the wrist, appended via iPhone |
| Voice input | iOS keyboard dictation | Partially via Siri | iOS keyboard dictation | Auto-records on open, on-device transcription |
| Titles & tags | Manual | Manual (templates help a little) | Powerful template control | On-device AI adds them (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) |
| 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 ¥500/mo |
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 (¥500/month or ¥5,000/year).
- 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 waiting for Obsidian to load, no picking a note. -
2
Capture from Apple Watch alone — 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 — this is structural, not a setting (full explanation). Simple Memo takes a voice memo on the watch alone and delivers it to both email and your vault via the paired iPhone. -
3
Voice plus automatic tagging — "open, speak, done"
Recording starts automatically on open, transcription runs on-device, and 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 — if the vault breaks, the memo survives
Every memo lands in your email inbox at the same time it is appended to the vault. If a sync accident eats your vault or you lose the phone, the original still exists in email — a platform-independent place no official route gives you.
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 wrist-only capture on Apple Watch
- 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 0.4-second launch for thoughts that have no source app, wrist-only capture on Apple Watch, 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.
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