Notion is adding an offline mode

I used to really like Notion. I switched to it years ago from Evernote as it provided really slick UX for maintaining my notes. I was a happy paying customer for around 6 years and even recommended it to friends all the time.

Over time, small annoyances started to become too much of an issue though. The main problem I had was the lack of offline mode. I had assumed it had one but then I started running into the issues of not being able to access my notes nor create new ones unless I was connected. At that time, I was traveling a lot and that meant I had a lot of time to think and make notes while being offline for long periods of time.

The lack of offline mode led me to giving Obsidian a go a bit over year ago and I never felt the need to look back. The ability to write, read and search my notes anywhere anytime was the killer feature for me and over time other features like storing notes in local Markdown files started to become important too.

One "feature" that changed how I take notes is having an Inbox folder that is the default location for new notes. This means I don't need to think about where the note should live before I start writing. Technically you can achieve the same workflow with Notion but it's nowhere nearly as comfortable and ergonomic.

Last week, I started hearing rumblings in the web that Notion announced they'd add an offline mode in 2025. Now that my main problem with Notion was being solved, what does that mean for my tool choices?

Honestly, it's too little too late for me. There's no way I'd give up the flexibility of local Markdown files, the good performance of Obsidian and the true, first class offline support.

I never relied a lot on Notion's database features in a way that wouldn't be replicable easily in Obsidian. That made it an easier migration when I switched over. Some people would say that I'm not using Notion for what it's built for when I just use it for "flat notes" and that's probably the truth. We grew apart into different directions and I guess we're both happier now.

Their aggressive push on AI features has also been a thing that's been pushing me away. When I make notes, it's part of my thinking and learning process. None of that happens if I ask a large language model to generate stuff for me.

I have been still using Notion as my blog CMS and all the trickery I've had to do to build workarounds around Notion's block system has also made me like the tool less than I used to when I was just using it for notes.