Use Notes on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

With Notes, you can capture a quick thought, create checklists, sketch ideas and more. And with iCloud, you can keep your notes updated across all of your devices.

Notes icon

Get started

  • Make sure your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch has the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.

  • To use the latest features of Notes, make sure you've set up Notes with iCloud or have some notes saved on your device. Many Notes features won't work with other email providers.

Create a new note

  1. Open Notes.

  2. Tap the Compose buttonCompose button, then create your note.

  3. Tap Done.

The first line of the note will become its title. To change the formatting style of the first line, go to Settings > Apps > Notes > New Notes Start With, then select an option.

You can also access Notes quickly from Control Centre. Go to Settings > Control Centre, and add Notes. Then open Control Centre and tap Notes to create a note. Or just ask Siri to “Start a new note”.

Do more with Notes

With Notes, you can pin your top notes, draw, create checklists, scan and sign documents, and add attachments – such as photos, videos or web links.

Pin a note

To pin a note in iOS, swipe right over the note, then release.

Pin your favourite or most important notes to make them easier to find. To pin a note, swipe right over the note, then release. Or go to the note, tap the More buttonMore button, then tap the Pin buttonPin button. To unpin a note, swipe right over the note again.

Format a note

In Notes in iOS 18, highlight text, then tap the Formatting button to reveal options such as italics or Heading styles.

When you’re in a note, tap the table buttonFormatting icon for a table. or the formatting buttonFormatting icon for titles and headings in the Notes app. to add a table, title, heading or bullet point list. You can also touch and holdFormatting icon for titles and headings in the Notes app. to open a list of formatting options quickly.

In iOS 18, when you format text in Notes as a Title, Heading or Subheading, you can tap the v buttonnull next to the text to collapse any text, images or media in the section below.

Undo changes to a note

If you want to reverse a change you made in a note, tap the Undo buttonNo alt supplied for Image at the top of the screen. You can undo any changes you’ve made while you have the current note open.

Add an attachment

When you add an attachment to a note in iOS 18, you can choose which note to add the attachment to.

To add something from another app, such as a location or website, tap the Share buttonShare button in the app that you want to share from. Tap the Notes app, then select the note that you want to add an attachment to, then tap Save.

Add a photo or video

In iOS 18, tap the Attachment button, which looks like a paperclip, to add a photo or video or scan a document in your note.

To add a photo or video, tap in a note, then tap the Attachment button. Tap Take Photo or Video to create a new photo or video, or Choose Photo or Video to add an existing one. Tap Use Photo or Use Video, or tap Add to add an existing one. You can also scan documents and add them to your notes.

Record and transcribe audio

In iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, you can record and transcribe audio within a note. Tap the Attachment button, then tap Record Audio to get started.

On supported iPhone devices, you can then tap the Transcript button to view the generated text. You can add the transcript text to a note, search the transcript or copy transcript text to other documents. If you have Apple Intelligence turned on, you can summarise the text too.

Find out how to record a call in FaceTime or Phone and get a transcript in Notes on your iPhone

When you record audio in Notes in iOS 18, the recording will appear as an attachment within your open note.

Link to a note

In iOS 17 and later, you can link to other notes within a note:

  1. In a note, touch and hold blank space. Let go to bring up the options menu.

  2. Swipe or tap the Forward buttonNo alt supplied for Image to find Add Link, then tap Add Link.

    To add a link in Notes in iOS 18, touch and hold blank space or highlight text to bring up the options menu. Then tap Add Link.

  3. Enter the title of the note you want to link to and select it from the list.

  4. Turn Use Note Title as Name on or off. Enter different link text if needed.

  5. Tap Done.

You can also type “>>” in the body of your note, enter the title of the note you want to link to and select it from the list.

Create folders

  1. If you’re in the Notes list, tap the back arrow iconYellow arrow to go back to previous screen. to see your Folders list.

  2. In the Folders list, tap the New Folder buttonNew folder icon.

    In Notes on iOS 18, you can view all of your tags and folders simultaneously.

  3. Choose where to add the folder. To create a subfolder, drag the folder that you want to be a subfolder to the main folder. It will move below the main folder and be indented.

  4. Name your folder, then tap Save.

Move a note to a different folder

  1. If you’re in a note, tap the back arrow iconYellow arrow to go back to previous screen. to go back to your Notes list.

  2. In the Notes list, tap the More buttonMore button, then tap Select Notes.

  3. Tap the notes that you want to move.

    To move notes to different folders, go to your Notes list and tap the notes you want to move.

  4. Tap Move, then select the folder that you want to move them to.

See your notes in Gallery view

Gallery view gives you a new way to see your notes, making it easier than ever to find the note you're looking for. Open a folder or list of notes, tap the More buttonMore button, then tap View as Gallery.

The Gallery view in Notes on iOS 18.

To sort your notes inside folders:

  1. Go to the folder that you want to sort.

  2. Tap the More buttonMore button, then tap Sort Notes by.

  3. Choose how you want to sort your notes.

To sort all of your notes automatically, go to Settings > Apps > Notes, then tap Sort Notes By. Then choose how you want to sort your notes.

Search for a note or attachment

To search for a specific note, just tap the Search field, then enter what you’re looking for. You can search for typed and handwritten notes. Search can recognise what's in the images inside your notes. For example, if you search for "bike", search will show you all of the images you have with a bike. Search can also find specific text inside scanned documents or images, such as receipts or bills.

To search for something in a specific note, select the note, tap the More buttonMore button, then tap Find in Note and type what you're searching for.

You can also search for attachments. While you're in a Notes list, tap the More buttonMore button, then tap View Attachments. To go to the note with the attachment, touch and hold the thumbnail of the attachment, then tap Show in Note.

Create an instant note from the Lock Screen

You can use an Apple Pencil with a compatible iPad to create an instant note from the Lock Screen or pick up where you left off on your last note. To change these settings, go to Settings > Apps > Notes, tap Access Notes from the Lock Screen, then choose an option.

Tap the Lock Screen with your Apple Pencil and create your note. Whatever you create is saved automatically in Notes.

Keep your notes secure

The Notes app lets you lock any note that you want to keep private from anyone else who uses your device. Depending on your device, you can use your device's passcode or your Mac login password, along with Face ID or Touch ID, to lock and unlock your notes.

Use password protection with your notes

Delete a note

  1. Swipe left over the note in the Notes list.

  2. Tap the Bin button Bin button.

    Swipe left over a note in the Notes list, then tap the Bin button to delete a note in iOS 18.

You can also open the note, tap the More buttonMore button, then tap Delete.

Learn what to do if you're missing notes

Recover a deleted note

  1. In the Notes app, go to the Folders list.

  2. Tap Recently Deleted.

  3. Tap the note you want to keep.

  4. Tap anywhere in the note, then tap Recover.

    In the Folders list in Notes, you can view recently deleted notes, then choose to recover them.

Set up Notes with iCloud

You can use iCloud to update your notes across all of your devices. To set up Notes with iCloud, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud, then turn on Notes. You’ll see your notes on all of your Apple devices that you’ve signed in to with the same Apple Account.

Use iCloud Notes from a web browser

To use Notes on iCloud.com, go to icloud.com and sign in using your Apple Account (the one you use with iCloud). Click on the Notes app.

If you’re using another iCloud app, you can switch to Notes by clicking the app’s name at the top of the icloud.com window.

When working with Notes on iCloud.com, make sure you use a browser recommended in System requirements for iCloud.

If you can only see Pages, Numbers, Keynote and Settings on iCloud.com, you don’t have an iCloud Notes account set up. To save your notes to iCloud, which lets you sync notes between your different devices and lets you access your notes on the web, go to the iCloud Settings > Accounts on your device and turn Notes syncing on.

If you try to use Notes on iCloud.com, but receive a message stating that an iCloud email address is needed, your iCloud isn’t set up with a free @icloud.com email account. iCloud uses this email account to store notes for the original Notes app on iCloud.com and your devices. If you don’t have an @icloud.com email address, you can create one by turning on Notes in iCloud preferences on your Mac or in Settings on your iOS device.

Proofread, summarise and more with Writing Tools and Apple Intelligence in Notes

On Apple Intelligence capable devices with iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1, you can use Writing Tools to proofread, rewrite, summarise or change the tone of text. Select the text you want to change, tap the Forward button >, then tap Writing Tools to get started.

To use Apple Intelligence features, you need an iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max; any iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later; or a Mac with M1 or later. Initially, Apple Intelligence is only available on supported devices with Siri that have the device language set to US English.

Apple Intelligence uses generative models and outputs may vary. Check important information for accuracy.

Find out more about Notes

Published Date: