Text capture
Create notes by typing when you need to capture an idea quickly.
Brev
Brev is a private, offline notes app for Android. It lets you capture typed or voice notes quickly, with everything kept local on your device and no account required.
Overview
Brev is a private, offline-first notes app for Android focused on fast capture. It is built around the idea that a note should take less than a second to create, so the app emphasizes immediate text entry and voice capture rather than heavier organization workflows.
According to the site, notes stay local on the device and no account is required. The app also supports search, pinning, archiving, sharing, JSON import and export, and a Process Text workflow that lets you send text from another Android app into Brev.
Core features
Voice notes
Dictate thoughts using Android Speech Recognition with continuous transcription.
@prefix tagging and grouping
Type an @ prefix to tag a note automatically and group related notes together.
Search
Find notes by keyword or by @ prefix to retrieve captured ideas later.
Note management
Create, edit, delete, pin, archive, and share notes from within the app.
Android share-in capture
Save text from another Android app directly into Brev with Process Text integration.
Common use cases
Fast personal capture
Capture a thought as soon as it appears, using either the keyboard or voice transcription, without signing in or setting up a sync account.
Hands-free voice notes
Record a spoken idea while walking, commuting, or multitasking, then let the app turn it into text through Android Speech Recognition.
Tagged note organization
Group notes by typing an @ prefix so related items can be found together later with prefix-based search.
Save content from other apps
Send text from another Android app into Brev using Process Text when you want to save something without switching contexts.
Offline private notebook
Keep a small, private notes archive on-device when you want local storage instead of cloud sync.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- No account is required to start using it.
- Notes stay stored locally on the device.
- Supports both typed notes and voice capture.
- Includes practical note actions like pin, archive, share, edit, and delete.
- Offers JSON import and export for local data portability.
Cons
- Android-only, based on the available source material.
- Pricing details are not available because the pricing page currently returns a 404.
FAQ
What does Brev do?
Brev is an Android notes app designed for quick capture. It supports text notes, voice notes through Android Speech Recognition, keyword search, and note actions such as pinning, archiving, sharing, editing, and deleting.
Is Brev free and does it require an account?
Yes. The site states that Brev is free on Android, requires no account, and keeps everything local on the device.
Does Brev sync notes to the cloud?
Brev stores note data locally on the user’s device. The llms.txt also says the app does not send data to external servers except for voice transcription via the Android Speech Recognition API.
Can I export or import notes?
Yes. The source lists import and export of notes as JSON, which should help with moving data in and out of the app.
What platform does Brev support?
Brev is built for Android and the source lists support for Android apps and a minimum SDK of 24.
Quick Facts
- Category
- Notes app
- Platform
- Android
- Privacy model
- Local-only storage; no account required
- Input methods
- Text and voice
- Data portability
- JSON import and export
- Source domain
- brevnotes.com
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