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Help for LightNote for Android

The phone app, companion to LightNote on the computer: the same notes, written by the same core.

Desktop · Windows and Linux Android app (preview)

LightNote for Android — Help

The phone app is a companion to LightNote on your computer: it opens the same notes folder, reads and writes the same files, and writes them through the same core — the code that understands Markdown, task boards, tables and flashcards is the same in both. What you write on the phone opens on the computer without conversion, and vice versa.

Contents

Install and update (preview)

The app is not on Google Play yet: it is a free preview, distributed as an APK on GitHub, at github.com/nglczr/LightNote-Android. It needs Android 9 or newer, on a 64-bit ARM phone.

  • Install. Download the .apk with the phone's browser and tap it. Android asks you to allow installing apps from the browser or the file manager, and Play Protect may warn about an unknown developer.
  • Check the origin. Every LightNote APK is signed with the same key; the SHA-256 fingerprint of the certificate is in the repository README and in every release.
  • Update. Install the new APK over the old one: your notes stay. Do not uninstall to update — uninstalling deletes the workspaces that were not synced by Git nor exported with Export vault (.zip). The Obtainium app, given the repository address, tells you about new versions.

When LightNote reaches Google Play, it will be a paid app with a one-time price (not yet set). The preview does not include the store version, and the GitHub APKs may stop being updated after the launch.

Getting started: the vault on the phone

The app keeps workspaces: each is a folder of its own on the device, with or without a Git repository. Tap the workspace name at the top of the home screen to switch workspaces or bring another one:

  • Choose from a Git account — add the account (GitHub, GitLab, Gitea/Forgejo or another server) with an access token, and the app lists its repositories; tapping one clones it as a new workspace. This is the recommended way: from then on, changes go back and forth on their own (see Sync).
  • Scan the QR code from the computer — in LightNote on the computer, Open on phone… (in the Git menu) shows a QR with the address of the folder's repository and the commit author. If the computer included the access, the app asks for the password set there, checks the token with the server and saves the account; with a wrong password, just type it again. Scanning the QR needs Google Play services; on a device without them the app says so, and the way in is Clone by address.
  • Clone by address — paste the repository's HTTPS address. Under Access, a public repository needs nothing; for a private one, paste an access token (Create a token opens the server's page). The user is asked only on a server that is neither GitHub nor GitLab.
  • Import vault (.zip) — zip the folder on the computer, send the file to the phone and choose Import vault (.zip) in the folder menu. It is a copy: nothing links the two folders afterwards. Export vault (.zip), in the same menu, goes the other way: a .zip of the whole space, to keep or take to the computer.

The home screen leads to what you do every day: Today opens the daily note already editing, Quick capture adds a line to it, and right below are the recent notes and the sync status. The folder's files come after. When there are open tasks, the Pending section lists the checkboxes from the notes and the tasks from the boards, with the board name; See all shows the whole list. The Sync, Spaces, Git accounts, Flashcards and board screens have a Help button (the question mark) that opens this page at their section.

Notes: reading and editing

Tapping a note opens it for reading: the formatted note, with headings, lists, tables, quotes, callouts, LaTeX formulas, Mermaid diagrams and chemical structures drawn by the same engine as on the computer. Links between notes ([[note]] and [[note#section]]) open the note inside the app; web links go to the browser.

The Edit button at the top switches to the note's text, in Markdown, with colored markup. A bar above the keyboard has undo and redo, heading, bold, italic, list, task checkbox, [[ ]] link and code. Saving is automatic: the text is saved a moment after you stop typing — and also when you go back, rotate the device or leave the app.

The + button in the bottom corner of every folder creates a new note there and opens the editor with the keyboard already in the text. At the top is the note name, suggested from the first line you write (until then, the date and time); tap it to choose another. The file is only created once there is text, and a note left empty does not stay in the folder. The same field renames a note that already exists.

New note from template (in the ⋮ menu) uses the templates in the vault's Templates (or Modelos) folder — the same ones as on the computer, with the {{title}} and {{date}} fields filled in.

Touch and hold a file or folder to rename, move or delete it; New folder is in the folder menu. Renaming a task board or a table takes its attachments folder along. The Back button returns to the previous screen — from a note opened by search, back to the search.

Lists and tasks. In the editor, a task checkbox is drawn as a box and toggled with a tap; a done task is struck through, and the Markdown markup (#, **, [[ ]]) disappears outside the line you are on — the text looks formatted — and comes back, dimmed, when the cursor enters it. The bold button (and the italic and code ones) toggles on and off, as in a formatted editor. Enter continues the list — the bullet, the task (which starts open) and the number (which goes up) — and Enter on an empty item leaves the list. The bar has numbered list, Indent and Outdent, which move the item to the right column to become a sublist. The file is still the Markdown you wrote.

Capturing: today's note, sharing and the widget

  • Today opens the daily note, the same one the computer uses.
  • Quick capture appends a line to today's note, with the time, without opening the note.
  • Sharing from another app and choosing LightNote: a link or a short sentence becomes a line in today's note (Gemini, for example, shares the conversation as a link). A text with several lines — an AI's answer, an excerpt from an article — becomes a new note, with the text intact, and today's note gets a link to it. Photos and PDFs, one or several at once, go to the attachments folder of today's note, with a link in the note. Afterwards, the note that received it opens on screen.
  • The home-screen widget has both shortcuts: open today's note and quick capture.

Voice note. The Voice note button on the home screen (or the icon shortcut) records from the microphone — also with the screen off; the notification shows the time and has Stop. The recording goes to the workspace's recordings folder (Recordings, the same as LightNote on the computer) and is added as a line to today's note; tapping it opens the player. The file is an .m4a, the format the computer records and can transcribe: transcription and summary happen there, after syncing.

Search and linked notes

Search looks through the text of every note in the vault and lists each match with its note and line; tapping a result opens the note. At the bottom of each note, Backlinks lists the ones that have a link to it.

Tasks, tables and Bases

  • Task boards (.lnt) open as columns by status. You can move a task to another column, check the items of its checklist, rename and create tasks. Fields the phone does not show stay in the file untouched. Tapping a task opens its fields: the title, the Due date, the Priority and the column, and right there it can be Archived or Deleted.
  • Custom tables (.lnd) open with the computer's columns; you can edit text, number, checkbox and select cells, and add rows. The password column shows as ****: tapping the cell asks for the Passphrase, then Reveal shows the password and Copy puts it on the clipboard, which is cleared after 30 seconds.
  • Bases (.lnq) show the query result, read-only.
  • The Files folder of a task or a row shows in the record, and attachments open from there.

A board or table saved by a newer version of LightNote is not opened: the app says so instead of risking damage to the file. Update the app.

Flashcards

Review flashcards brings the cards due today, from notes tagged #flashcards (or #cartoes) — the same syntax as on the computer. The answer stays hidden until you tap Show answer; the four grades (Again, Hard, Good, Easy) show the next interval for each. The schedule is saved after every answer and syncs with the computer.

Reminders

Tasks due today or already overdue raise a notification when the app opens, and those of the coming days are scheduled for 9 a.m. on the due date. On Android 13 or newer, the notification permission is only requested when there is something to remind you of.

Other files

  • Code opens in color, with the same colors as the editor on the computer. The pencil at the top switches to plain-text editing (without the note formatting), for files up to 1 MB; the file keeps its encoding and line endings.
  • Blocks notebooks (.lnb) open as a single page, with the cells in the notebook’s order and, under each one, the result of the last run made on the computer — nothing runs on the phone. Tapping a cell’s name opens its file for editing.
  • Database connections (.lnc), HTTP tests (.lnh) and SSH connections (.lns) belong to LightNote on the computer, which runs them: on the phone they open read-only, with a sentence saying what they are.
  • Images open with pinch zoom, and PDF page by page.
  • CSV and TSV open as a table (the first rows, when the file is large), with the separator detected automatically.
  • Any other type goes to Open with, which offers the apps on the device that open it.

Secure Markdown

Encrypted notes (.lne) ask for the workspace Passphrase. It stays in memory only while the app is open, and the plain text is never written to disk: the note is decrypted and encrypted again by the same code as on the computer.

Syncing with the computer (Git)

Sync uses a Git repository (GitHub, GitLab, Gitea…), the same one LightNote on the computer uses in the folder. Each cloned workspace syncs with its own repository, using the Git account of its server.

Git accounts. In Git accounts, choose the provider and server and paste an access token with read and write access to the repositories you want on the phone (on GitHub, a personal access token; the Create a token on the site button opens the right page). The app checks the token before keeping it, encrypted on the device. Any other server (Other server) also asks for the user and does not list repositories: cloning is by address.

After cloning, sync runs on its own: when the app opens, when you leave the screens that save (note, board, task, table, flashcards) and when the app goes to the background. With a note open, whatever arrived and would change that note waits until it closes — the editor would write its text over it. The home screen shows when the last one happened, what is left to send and whether it failed; Sync (receive and send) does the same right away. A network failure stays silent and is retried next time.

Commit author. The phone's commits carry a name and an email: the computer's, when the workspace came through the QR, or the Git account's (on GitHub, the profile's noreply email, which links the commit to it). In Sync (Git), Edit, next to the author, changes both.

Conflicts. When the same note changed on the phone and on the computer, changes in different parts are merged. When it was the same part, nothing is lost: the phone's version becomes a copy next to it (Note (phone).md), and the app says which copies it created. Task boards, tables and flashcards are merged record by record.

The phone does not support Git LFS or submodules: with LFS, files arrive as small text pointers (do not edit them on the phone); submodules show up as empty folders. The screen warns you when the repository uses either.

Conflict copies are listed in Sync (Git), one tap away, until they are seen. Remove from phone, in the list of workspaces, deletes the workspace's folder from this phone: what was already synced stays in the repository. On the current workspace, the app switches first; the only workspace cannot be removed. If something has not been sent yet, the app says how many changes would be lost and offers Sync and remove.

What stays on the computer

The phone is for reading, writing and capturing. These stay on the computer: AI assistants and MCP, the SQL client and data analysis, the terminal, export to Word, PDF and other formats, importing from other apps, version history and editing boards in schedule mode. Office documents and EPUB open through Open with.