Apple Notes vs. Ember: Which Is Better for a Commonplace Book?

Not long ago, someone told me, “I use the Notes app on my phone. Why use Ember?”

It’s a fair question. And honestly, I love it, because it gets right to the heart of why I built Ember in the first place.

The Notes app is a fine place to save ideas. But saving an idea and thinking with it are two different things. That gap is what this piece is about.

So I made a video to answer that question the best way I know how: by showing you. I set up a commonplace book and journal in Apple Notes and try to actually think with a quote. Then I do the same thing in Ember so you can see the difference side by side. You’ll see where the friction shows up, how Ember’s sparks and questions help you “turn the rock,” and how your saved ideas can start talking back to you.

Below the video, I’ve included a cleaned-up transcript with timestamps. If you’d rather read than watch, or want to jump to a certain part, it’s all there.

0:00 Saving vs. Thinking
0:15 Setting Up a Commonplace Book and Journal in Apple Notes
2:13 The Friction of Finding Related Ideas
5:02 Browsing and Linking Limits
6:59 Ember's Home Screen: The Daily Idea
7:47 The Mantle: Pinning Your Core Ideas
8:58 Capturing and Cleaning Up Quotes
10:15 Reflecting in Ember: Thinking Like a Conversation
12:05 Sparks and Questions: Surfacing Related Ideas
14:29 Connecting Past Reflections and Highlights
17:07 Searching the Commonplace Book: Vibe vs. Keyword
18:32 Readwise Integration and Sorting
20:09 Using Ember on Mobile

[0:00] Saving vs. Thinking

Apple Notes or Ember. Which one do you choose? Which one helps you save ideas, and which one helps you think with them? That’s what we’re going to talk about today. Let’s start with Apple Notes.

[0:15] Setting Up a Commonplace Book and Journal in Apple Notes

I’ve set up two folders in Apple Notes. One is a commonplace book, where my quotes go. The other is a journal. This is how Ember is set up too: two tools in one. So I tried to recreate that in Apple Notes.

To save an idea, I create a new note, type in the quote, and add the author. Let’s say it’s Dr. Seuss.

Now let’s say I don’t just want to save it for later. I want to think about it. What does this mean to me? So I go over to my journal and start a new note called “New Reflection.”

Apple Notes does let you link to other notes. If I type two arrows, it pulls up recent notes, and I can link to the Dr. Seuss quote. Great. Then I start typing out my thoughts. I keep going, maybe add another paragraph, and here we are.

[2:13] The Friction of Finding Related Ideas

Now what if, after I’ve spilled my guts on this idea, I want to keep going? What if another quote could give me a new angle?

In Apple Notes, I have to leave where I am. I go back to the commonplace book, which means I’ve left my space of thinking. I was in my reflection, and now I’m off hunting.

I could search, but search is by keyword. So I already have to know what I’m looking for. If I want that quote about how children are not a distraction from more important work, I have to search for “children.” It’s very manual.

There’s another problem. In a past reflection, I linked to a C.S. Lewis quote. The full quote lives in my commonplace book, but in the journal I only see about half of it. When I’m thinking about something, I like to write, then look back at the words. Sometimes I take a quote apart and think through one piece at a time. I can’t really do that here. Maybe you could edit the link name, but now it’s getting really manual. When I’m in thinking mode, I just want to brain dump and go after it.

[5:02] Browsing and Linking Limits

What if I just want to browse and be inspired by ideas I saved in the past? I have to open the commonplace book and go through each note one by one. Now imagine hundreds or thousands of them.

You could keep all your quotes in one long note instead. That works for saving, but then linking to one quote doesn’t really work anymore, because it’s all one big note.

It feels mechanical. I think there’s a better way to be inspired. What if I could see one idea at a time, and when I’m ready to think about it, hit a button and be taken right into a space to reflect?

In Apple Notes, I’d have to start a new journal note, title it, link the quote, and even then I lose part of the quote. I’m not a fan of that.

So now let’s look at Ember.

[6:59] Ember’s Home Screen: The Daily Idea

Ember’s home screen is simple. It shows you one quote from your commonplace book each day, and it changes every day.

You can shuffle to a new idea. And every idea here is one I know will resonate with me, because I wrote it down for a reason. It already resonated.

There are two other buttons: Add to Mantle and Reflect on This.

[7:47] The Mantle: Pinning Your Core Ideas

Add to Mantle pins an idea to the mantle in your commonplace book. It’s a way of saying, “This idea matters to me and I want to see it often.”

You can only put five ideas on the mantle, and that’s on purpose. Think about a real fireplace mantle. There isn’t a ton of space, so you have to be picky.

When I’m done with an idea, I click the little flame icon and it comes off the mantle.

[8:58] Capturing and Cleaning Up Quotes

If I’m reading an article or book and copy a passage, I can hit Capture a Quote, paste it in, and Ember cleans it up. It puts the author where it belongs and tidies the passage.

If I’ve already saved that quote, Ember tells me, and when I saved it. I can save it again if I want, or cancel.

Ember also shows which ideas you’ve already reflected on. Take this quote: “It is not knowing much, but realizing and relishing things interiorly, that contents and satisfies the soul.” I have one past reflection on it. When I click, it opens the quote along with that reflection, so I can revisit what I wrote and what other ideas came up.

[10:15] Reflecting in Ember: Thinking Like a Conversation

Remember how in Apple Notes there was friction between finding an idea and thinking about it? Ember is built so that when you come across an idea, you save it and then start reflecting on it right away.

When I hit Reflect, it opens a chat-like space. That’s because you’re having a conversation with yourself, with the ideas you’ve saved, and with your past reflections.

Right away, I’ve got the whole quote at the top. Not a link showing half of it. Then I add my own thoughts.

I can also use dictation. I do this all the time on my walks. I tap the microphone and talk out loud about whatever comes to mind. Ember uses OpenAI’s Whisper, so it’s not like regular voice-to-text that messes up half your words. It gets it right, which is awesome.

[12:05] Sparks and Questions: Surfacing Related Ideas

Once I’ve added my thoughts, I might wonder what else in my commonplace book relates to this.

So I hit the Spark button. Ember looks through everything I’ve saved and asks one question: what’s the most related idea I can bring up to stoke this thinking?

Then you keep going, adding as many thoughts as you want. It becomes a conversation with your past self and your commonplace book.

I think of the commonplace book like a mastermind group. Artists, writers, people alive today, and people from 2,000 or 3,000 years ago. You saved their ideas, and now they get to step into this moment and add to your thinking.

I can also stoke things with a Question. Ember comes up with a thoughtful question to help you what I call “turn the rock.” You’ve been looking at one side of the rock, but when you flip it over, there’s a whole other side you haven’t seen. You can shuffle through questions, and you can shuffle through sparks too.

[14:29] Connecting Past Reflections and Highlights

Sparks pull from the commonplace book. But what about other reflections in my journal? I hit Reflection, and Ember brings up a related one. In this case, it’s actually my very first reflection in Ember.

There’s a Highlights button that shows sentences from that past reflection that might relate. I can jump into that old reflection, then come right back to the one I’m in.

I can also save any of those highlights as a spark in my commonplace book, or add it to my current reflection. Here’s one: “If you go to an open road, things flow freely.” I’ll add that right in.

Imagine doing this over and over. You’re not just saving ideas. You’re engaging with them and thinking about them. Some of this might turn into a Substack piece or a YouTube video. (I hate the word “content,” but if you like to share ideas, Ember is a great place to brainstorm and dig deep.)

Or you can just go deep within yourself. Journal about what you notice, what you care about, something at work or with your family, something you’re excited about. And let your commonplace book chime in along the way.

[17:07] Searching the Commonplace Book: Vibe vs. Keyword

In the commonplace book, I can search by theme or phrase. If I search “How should I create?” I get ideas that are specific but also related in meaning. “What should I create?” brings up different ones. So does “the joy of creating.”

That’s Vibe search. I can switch to Keyword, and then it works a lot like Apple Notes. I’d have to think of an exact word like “creativity” to find something like “Creativity is deviation from expectation.” Both are useful, but vibe search helps me find ideas I didn’t know to look for.

I can also view results as a list or a grid.

[18:32] Readwise Integration and Sorting

If you use Readwise or Reader, you can connect it. There’s a link to get your API token. Paste it in, hit connect, and within seconds (or a minute if you have a lot) your commonplace book fills up with your Readwise highlights. Now you can think with those too.

The mantle shows up here as well, keeping your top ideas top of mind.

You can sort by:

• Newest (the default)
• Oldest, to see what you saved a long time ago
• Most reflected on, where each card shows how many reflections it appears in. One quote of mine shows up in 42 reflections, another in 10. Click it to see the quote and every reflection it’s part of.
• Not seen in a while, which is great for rediscovering ideas that might spark something new.

[20:09] Using Ember on Mobile

You might be wondering about mobile. Like I said, I take Ember with me on my walk every morning. I just added the website to my phone’s home screen, and it looks and works just like an app.

There are tabs at the bottom and everything responds well on a small screen. I can start a reflection from something in my commonplace book, or have it surprise me with a random idea. Then I can stoke it with a spark or a question, same as on desktop.

[21:16] Wrap-Up and Free Trial

I hope this was helpful, especially if you’ve used Apple Notes or were thinking about starting a commonplace book there. If your goal is to really think with ideas, and this way of thinking resonates with you, give Ember a try.

Thanks for hanging out with me, my friend. I’ll see you next time.