Noda

Noda is a free learning and productivity app from Coding Leap LLC for mind mapping in three dimensions. Instead of a flat page or screen, your ideas become nodes that float in the space around you, and you can grab, connect and rearrange them as your thinking develops. It has been on the Meta Horizon Store since July 15, 2021.

What you can do

You pick up nodes with your hands, link them with a gesture and place them wherever they make sense around your body. Speech-to-text lets you dictate during a brainstorm instead of typing. To help you concentrate, Noda offers calm virtual environments with ambient sound. The developer says the app is popular with creators, strategists and neurodivergent thinkers who find abstract ideas easier to handle when they feel physical.

• Mixed reality mode that uses passthrough to place your map in your real room or office.
• Images, web pages and notes pinned directly onto nodes.
• An AI assistant that can suggest connections or expand a branch, meant to support your own ideas rather than replace them.

Suggested uses include planning software architecture, projects and business strategy, outlining stories with character webs and world-building notes, and studying a subject by laying out how its facts relate to one another.

Multiplayer

The store lists Noda under multiplayer interaction, but the description does not explain how shared sessions work or how many people can join a map.

Comfort

Meta rates Noda as comfortable for most people. You can use it sitting, standing or in room-scale, with controllers or hand tracking.

Platforms and what to know before buying

• Price: free on the Meta Horizon Store.
• Headsets: Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2, plus the original Meta Quest.
• Internet: not required.
• Ads: no in-app ads.
• Early access: no.
• Languages: English only.
• Age rating: 3+.