Alvaro Ramirez has a cute iOS application called ⋆scratch⋆. The idea is that it provides an Emacs-like scratch buffer on your iPhone. If you’re like me, your first reaction is, “why would I want this?” But the use case is those situations where you want to capture a note as seamlessly as possible. One reason you wouldn’t need it is that iOS has the Notes app that’s for exactly that purpose.
I use Notes all the time. In particular I use it for my Memo Book where I record the significant events of my day. But notes has a bit of friction. You have to choose the appropriate note or start a new one. The nice thing about ⋆scratch⋆ is that you just bring it up and write whatever you want. It’s got some simple Org-like formatting but that’s not really necessary.
I wasn’t really convinced I needed it but it was only 99¢ so I bought it on a whim. A couple of days later I was out to dinner with some friends who told me about a wine they really liked. I thought it was worth trying out so I brought up ⋆scratch⋆ to capture its name. It was seamless and easy and just like that I became a ⋆scratch⋆ fan.
I’ve only had the app for a few days so I am by no means an expert on its use but the nice thing is that there’s not much to know. Bring it up and capture your data. You can share it or erase it or start a new scratch buffer but all that is after that fact. When you want to capture some data, you just bring up the app and capture it. I recommend it to iPhone users who occasionally want to capture some data.