[MIUI Central] XDARoni:
The notes app on MIUI has been a very useful and feature-rich note-taking app for past versions of the Xiaomi software. With the new MIUI 12 update, the notes app is now better than ever. A new section that is dedicated to tasks has been added. It is designed implement your to-do list into your daily activities. If you're the type of person that keeps lists to track your daily agenda, tasks are going to be your new best friend. In this thread, I'm going to walk you through all of the new aspects of the notes app, and show you some of the task features in action. I am running MIUI 12 on my Xiaomi Mi 9T.

Notes App

App name: Notes

App Version: 2.1.7

APK name: com.miui.notes

The MIUI notes app is one of the better note-tracking apps available for Android. The simplistic design strikes a nice balance between features and functionality. As someone who uses notes every single day for work, I have used many different note apps. I have found that so many apps go overboard with the features, and end up creating a bloated unusable app. With the MIUI 12 notes app, you have only the features that you need, without any boated extras.

When creating a new note, you'll have the option to include the following content:

Voice note

Image

Checklist

Custom Background

Text formatting

All of these features can be used together on the same note. It's a very quick process, which is important for note-taking. The less time I spend making notes, the better. I tend to make detailed text notes, often using checklists and images. The notes app is very good at making this a quick and easy process. The image below shows what my typical notes will look like when using the MIUI notes app.

You can choose between a grid view or a list view, to preview your notes. The grid view gives you a bit more detail in your previews, which is why I tend to stick with this. However, if my notes pile up, I'll switch to the list view so that I can see more notes on my screen.

Tasks

The new exciting feature in the MIUI 12 update is the tasks section. At the top of the notes app you'll notice an icon that features a checkmark inside of a square. This is where the tasks are located. While notes are more focused on keeping details of things you need to do, tasks are focused on making sure you complete them.

When creating a task you can type out the item description. If you select return, your task will turn into a list of subtasks and it will appear as a checklist. Once you've added all of your details, you can select a reminder. This will alert you at a specific time about the task you need to complete. This is what sets it apart from notes. It's the ability to schedule your tasks and be reminded about them.

Tasks are more barebones than notes, as they only allow text and voice tasks. So I can reviece a reminder that says "Video due today" at which point I'll pull up my notes, to see the more detail content. Notes and tasks work so well together to help you track your daily agenda.

Home screen shortcut

Another aspect of the new tasks feature is the ability to add a shortcut to your homescreen. If all of your tasks are tucked away in another section of a notes app, it can be frustrating to navigate several steps before seeing your tasks for the day. This solution puts your tasks right on your home screen. All you have to do is swipe the tasks shortcut open to see your list. To activate the shortcut, toggle "Use task toolbox" in the notes app settings.

This animation shows the shortcut in use, from the home screen.

As you can see from the animation, the shortcut is non-intrusive. Instead of showing up as another icon, it's a simple drawer tucked away on the left of your screen. By default, your task reminders will be muted when your phone is set to silent. You can change this in the notes app settings by toggling "Ignore Silent mode". When this option is toggled, your task reminders will always have a notification sound, even when the phone is set to silent.

Sync with Xiaomi Cloud

Cloud sync will add your notes to the Xiamoi Cloud, which makes them accessible from other devices signed into your Xiamoi account. If you're on a computer, you'll be able to access and manage your notes from your Xiamoi cloud account via your browser.

So if you've got the MIUI 12 update on your Xiaomi phone, try the new tasks. I've found that they are a great way of keeping track of my daily work.