When comparing Letterspace vs Apple Notes, the Slant community recommends Apple Notes for most people. In the question“What is the best note taking app for Mac?” Apple Notes is ranked 8th while Letterspace is ranked 22nd. The most important reason people chose Apple Notes is:
It syncs with iCloud, and surprisingly, also with Gmail and possibly other services too.
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Pros
Pro Full featured iOS app
This was a iOS first app and that is clear. Great swipe bar interface on iOS.
Pro Simple, yet powerful interface
Keyboard shortcuts for basic text formatting. A few theme options. Full screen mode and swipe gestures.
Pro @mentions and #tags for easy organization
Pro Advanced Markdown support
Features Markdown support that many other text editors don't; such as Todo's ( -[x] ) and Strikethrough.
Pro Sync with other Apple devices via iCloud, other cloud/email services
It syncs with iCloud, and surprisingly, also with Gmail and possibly other services too.
Pro Built-in
It's a default system app, making it easy to find and use since it is already installed.
Pro Rich-text editing
Allows for simple text formatting and making TODO lists with checkboxes.
Pro Attachments
You can add files to notes and then filter notes by attachment types.
Pro Supports sharing
Pro It's fast, and syncing is very dependable
The app launches quickly on both Mac and iOS, it also syncs quickly (in seconds) and very dependably across different Apple devices.
Pro It remains simple to use with a gentle learning curve
Despite the significant new updates in iOS 9 and iOS 10, you can start using Notes immediately, then try/master new features with ease — definitely a gentle learning curve.
Cons
Con No in-app Markdown preview
You can export to PDF or HTML with formatting, but no preview in the Mac app.
Con Cannot export to a format that can be imported again
This makes it obscure and cumbersome to back up your notes as files that could be managed by your backup system. You can export to PDF, but not in bulk; and this isn't the native format that you can easily recover with.
Apple compounds the problem by using some undocumented format for notes. You can, however, back them all up by backing up the files found in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes