Free Idea Capture App for iPhone — Voice, Screenshot, or Text in One Tap

Nemos is a free idea capture app for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch built around a simple observation: the best ideas happen away from desks, and the friction between having an idea and saving it is the reason most ideas get lost. Nemos minimizes that friction with one-tap capture from every Apple surface — Share Sheet, Control Center, Action Button, Apple Watch, Siri, Home Screen widgets, Lock Screen widgets. Every captured idea gets auto-named, auto-filed into a Smart Space, and auto-transcribed (for voice) or auto-OCR'd (for screenshots) using Apple's Foundation Models API — all on-device. Search any word from any idea months later and jump to the exact moment you captured it.

Related Pages

For voice-specific capture, see the voice memo app page. For Apple Watch capture, see the Apple Watch memo app page. For capture speed specifically, see the one-tap capture app page. For writers specifically, see the Nemos for writers page.

Built for writers

Every idea, captured in the moment it happens. Organized by the time you need it.

Nemos is a free idea capture app for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch where the best ideas — the ones that strike during walks, showers, commutes, or half-asleep moments — actually get captured and found later. Voice memos auto-transcribe on-device, screenshots get OCR'd and named, text notes get AI-generated titles. All ideas flow into a single searchable library that builds itself.

Free to join. No spam. We'll notify you when Nemos is ready.

|By the Nemos team

Sound familiar?

If you've felt any of these frustrations, you're not alone. Writers, founders, creatives, designers — anyone whose best ideas happen away from a desk deal with this every day.

1

The best ideas happen at the worst times — in the shower, on a walk, during a commute, in the half-asleep moment before bed. By the time you're back at a desk and ready to write them down, most of them are gone.

2

Apple Voice Memos works for recording but doesn't transcribe, so finding a specific idea later means listening through 47 recordings labeled 'New Recording 147', 'New Recording 148'.

3

Apple Notes has a Lock Screen widget but it's text-only and requires typing — useless for capturing an idea mid-walk when your hands are full or you're wearing gloves.

Here's how Nemos helps

Nemos was built to solve exactly these problems — automatically.

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Capture ideas via voice from iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch with one tap. Recordings transcribe on-device using Apple's Foundation Models API in under 2 seconds per minute of audio. The transcript is searchable by any word immediately.

✓

Capture visual ideas via screenshot — a photo, a sketch, a whiteboard, a sticky note. Nemos OCRs the text, generates a meaningful title, and files it into a Smart Space automatically.

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Capture text ideas via Share Sheet, Action Button, Siri, or quick text widget. Every capture gets an AI-generated title and auto-classification. No manual folder, no tagging, no thinking about filing.

Features that matter for writers

Voice Idea Capture

Start recording from Apple Watch, Control Center, or Siri in under 500ms. Ideas get transcribed and searchable before you're back at your desk.

Visual Idea Capture

Screenshot a sketch, a whiteboard, a moodboard, or an inspiration photo. On-device OCR makes the text inside searchable.

AI Auto-Titling

Every captured idea gets a meaningful name generated by Foundation Models from its content. No more 'Untitled Note 312'.

Smart Spaces for Creative Work

Ideas auto-cluster by topic, project, or theme. Your 'Novel Ideas', 'Startup Concepts', or 'Design Inspiration' Smart Spaces fill themselves.

"I'm a screenwriter. I used to record voice memos and promise myself I'd transcribe them later. I never did. Nemos transcribes them automatically and I find ideas from 6 months ago by typing one keyword. Changed how I write."

Nadia F.

Nadia F.

Screenwriter

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best idea capture app for iPhone?+
Nemos is the best free idea capture app for iPhone because it combines three capture surfaces (voice, visual, text) with on-device AI that automatically names, files, and indexes every captured idea. Apple Voice Memos captures audio but doesn't transcribe. Apple Notes captures text but not audio. Nemos does both, plus screenshots, plus links, plus PDFs — all in one app with zero manual filing.
How do I capture an idea while walking without pulling out my phone?+
Use Apple Watch. The Nemos Watch app lets you start a voice recording with one tap from your wrist. When you're back in range of your iPhone, the recording transcribes automatically via Foundation Models. Perfect for walks, runs, hikes, or any situation where pulling out a phone isn't practical.
How do I find an old idea I captured months ago?+
Type any word from the idea into Nemos search. Works across voice transcripts, OCR'd screenshots, text notes, and saved links simultaneously. Even partial words work via fuzzy matching. Ideas from a year ago surface instantly if you remember a single keyword.
Is Nemos a good replacement for Apple Voice Memos?+
For idea capture specifically, yes. Apple Voice Memos is great for recording but terrible for retrieval — there's no transcription, no search inside recordings, no auto-naming. Nemos adds all three via on-device Apple Intelligence. You can still use Apple Voice Memos alongside Nemos for long-form recordings; Nemos is better for idea capture workflows.

Capture the Next Idea

Save anything. Find it instantly. Free on the App Store.

Free to join. No spam. We'll notify you when Nemos is ready.

See how Nemos compares

See detailed feature comparisons with other popular apps:

Nemos vs Apple NotesNemos vs Bear