Lightwave notes app
Shares rank 16 of 33 note-taking apps by recommenders
Recommended for a slick, simple real-time notes app; critics cite missing shortcuts and a poor mobile layout.
Recommended for a slick, simple real-time notes app; critics cite missing shortcuts and a poor mobile layout.
19 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 63%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Slick, simple UI and approach
“Slick UI and well thought through, like the simplicity of the approach.”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript” “This is a nice alternative that doesn't try to do too much.”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript” “really nicely implemented”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript” Hand-built from scratch, dogfooded
“Respect for building the client from scratch.”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript” “Dogfooding like that is pretty cool”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Missing standard text-editing shortcuts
“I can't CTRL + Backspace to delete words, or CTRL + Shift to select words (Selects whole line)”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript” “Can't triple click and drag to highlight words... I'm out.”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript” Poor mobile and iPhone experience
“Looks horrendous on mobile. I love the effort”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript” “I am sorry but this is unusable and an awful experience on my iPhone.”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript” Onboarding flow and sign-up bugs
“The test acc. UX flow is shit IMHO: I do not want to see the first user tips”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript” “"Create Account" button leads to /undefined, both in Chrome and Firefox.”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript”
Other note-taking apps people recommend
The four most recommended other note-taking apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 33 note-taking apps, rankedWhat people said
18 of the 19 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“so many fun toys to play with on Octane”
“Respect for building the client from scratch.”
“Dogfooding like that is pretty cool”
“after a few minutes of playing around, it's not clear to me how using your product would be significantly better”
“Looks horrendous on mobile. I love the effort”
“I can't CTRL + Backspace to delete words, or CTRL + Shift to select words (Selects whole line)”
“I load tested it with 210 people typing simultaneously in the same doc and it handled it fine”
“Slick UI and well thought through, like the simplicity of the approach.”
“really nicely implemented”
“This is a nice alternative that doesn't try to do too much.”
“The test acc. UX flow is shit IMHO: I do not want to see the first user tips”
“I think it irks me in particular because I feel that "React is slow" isn't really true”
“I am sorry but this is unusable and an awful experience on my iPhone.”
“Can't triple click and drag to highlight words... I'm out.”
“I'm not sure it's a good idea to use someone else's long-standing well-known brand”
“"Create Account" button leads to /undefined, both in Chrome and Firefox.”
“It's incredible that it still lives to this day.”
“Lightwave seems to have sadly fallen off (unfortunately, IMO it was the best at one point, had excellent ray tracing).”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.