I just keep it simple and use the apple notes folder widget. I like to set it to my quick notes folder so I can quickly write something but also can quickly search something in my notes if I wanted to. They have a quick note specific widget as well.

Apple Notes is pretty good overall, but obviously only works with Apple devices… So unless one is certain they'll exclusively use Apple devices forever, it's not an option 🥲

Whoops! yes good point. idk why when I heard widget I just thought apple when that is not at all an exclusive feature. My apologies for my non-apple friends! Would love to learn of any other good apps people use for this then.

For desktop I've been Mac since the 90's, but for mobile I've switched between iOS and Android a few times. I've been using Google Keep. It's definitely not as polished as Apple Notes, but it's globally cross-platform. Also free.

Desktop: MacOS FTW / Mobile: Android forever — would only switch to iOS if I got paid a lot for it XD

thank you all for your answers! I'm going to try it out!

There is Google Keep that is absolutely optimized, but it lacks in type style formatting and the widget that you've mentioned :(