What is Apple Notes used for?

Apple Notes is Apple's built-in notes app with folders, checklists, drawings, document scanning and iCloud sync across Apple devices. It is a good fit for capturing quick thoughts on iPhone or Mac, scanning documents into notes and keeping shared checklists.

Yes. Apple Notes is free to use.

Is Apple Notes open source?

No. Apple Notes is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to Apple Notes include FSNotes, Joplin and Notesnook.

What are some alternatives to Apple Notes?

Apple Notes competes with Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote and Evernote. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Apple Notes alternatives.

Apple Notes: features, pricing and alternatives

About Apple Notes

Apple Notes is the notes app that comes built into Apple devices, used to jot down a quick thought or keep longer, detailed notes. Notes can contain text, checklists, images, web links and other content, and they can be organized into folders and synced across devices through iCloud.

The Mac user guide describes adding freehand drawings, shapes and text boxes with the Markup palette, recording audio inside a note and generating searchable live transcripts, and solving arithmetic and expressions inline as soon as you type an equals sign. Highlight styles let you mark up text, and you can drag in pictures, videos, PDFs and other files, or add content from Safari, Maps and other apps.

Notes is proprietary Apple software and is included as a built-in app on Apple devices, with no separate hosting or self-hosting options.

Key features

Folders and checklists for organizing notes
Freehand drawings and shapes
Audio recording with searchable transcripts
Inline math and expression solving
Attachments of photos, files and PDFs
iCloud sync across devices

Good fit for

→Capturing quick thoughts on iPhone or Mac
→Scanning documents into notes
→Keeping shared checklists

Tags: note-taking; apple; icloud; checklists; document-scanning; macos; ios

Apple Notes: questions and answers

What is Apple Notes used for?: Apple Notes is Apple's built-in notes app with folders, checklists, drawings, document scanning and iCloud sync across Apple devices. It is a good fit for capturing quick thoughts on iPhone or Mac, scanning documents into notes and keeping shared checklists.
Is Apple Notes free?: Yes. Apple Notes is free to use.
Is Apple Notes open source?: No. Apple Notes is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to Apple Notes include FSNotes, Joplin and Notesnook.
What are some alternatives to Apple Notes?: Apple Notes competes with Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote and Evernote. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Apple Notes alternatives.