# Lightwave notes app

12 Hacker News commenters recommended Lightwave notes app and 7 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for a slick, simple real-time notes app; critics cite missing shortcuts and a poor mobile layout.

## Why people recommend it

- Slick, simple UI and approach (3 comments): "Slick UI and well thought through, like the simplicity of the approach." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47028676)) "This is a nice alternative that doesn't try to do too much." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47028645)) "really nicely implemented" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47028648))
- Hand-built from scratch, dogfooded (2 comments): "Respect for building the client from scratch." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47098489)) "Dogfooding like that is pretty cool" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47044669))

## What people warn about

- Missing standard text-editing shortcuts (2 comments): "I can't CTRL + Backspace to delete words, or CTRL + Shift to select words (Selects whole line)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47033090)) "Can't triple click and drag to highlight words... I'm out." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47027773))
- Poor mobile and iPhone experience (2 comments): "Looks horrendous on mobile. I love the effort" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47034571)) "I am sorry but this is unusable and an awful experience on my iPhone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47027955))
- Onboarding flow and sign-up bugs (2 comments): "The test acc. UX flow is shit IMHO: I do not want to see the first user tips" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47028229)) ""Create Account" button leads to /undefined, both in Chrome and Firefox." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47027554))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Obsidian](https://hackerapproved.com/p/obsidian.md): 447 recommend
- [Org mode](https://hackerapproved.com/p/org-mode.md): 175 recommend
- [Notion](https://hackerapproved.com/p/notion.md): 91 recommend
- [Logseq](https://hackerapproved.com/p/logseq.md): 52 recommend
- [Apple Notes](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-notes.md): 39 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.lightwave3d.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Lightwave notes app", https://hackerapproved.com/p/lightwave/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).