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.

Start a new note.

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

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

Pin your favourite or most important notes to make them easier to find. To pin a note:

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

  2. Tap the Pin button.

You can also pin a note from within a note. Tap the More button, then tap the Pin buttonPin button.

Format a note

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

In iOS 18, when you format text in Notes as a Title, Heading or Subheading, you can tap the v button 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 button at the top of the screen. You can undo any changes you’ve made while you have the current note open.

Add an attachment

To add something from another app, such as a location or website, tap the Share 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.

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

Add a file, photo or video

To add a file, 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.

A note for Lacy's Birthday has a cupcake photo already and the attachment menu open.

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

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.

    iPhone Notes app showing a photo of pastries and a menu with options like 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 the Done button.

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 icon to see your Folders list.

  2. In the Folders list, tap the New Folder button.

    The Folders list in Notes on an iPhone 17 Pro

  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 icon to go back to your Notes list.

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

  3. Tap the notes that you want to move.

    Notes app shows three selected notes.

  4. Tap the Folder button, then select the folder 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 button, then tap View as Gallery.

The Gallery view in Notes on iOS 26.

To sort your notes inside folders:

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

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

  3. Choose how you want to sort your notes.

You can sort all of your notes automatically. In the Settings app, tap Apps, then tap Notes. Scroll then tap Sort Notes By and 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. Find out what to do if you can’t find a note.

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

To search for attachments, go to the Notes list, tap the More 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.

In iOS 27, you can also use Siri AI to search for notes or search within notes. Activate Siri, then say something like, “What was the note with the cookie recipe?"

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.

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

Find out 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.

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.

Apple Intelligence is available in beta starting with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 when your device language and Siri language are set to the same supported language. Learn which iPhone models are compatible with Apple Intelligence.

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

Do more with Notes