10 Life Hacks Every Apple Notes User Should Know
Apple Notes is a great note-taking app that often goes unnoticed because many of its best features are hidden. The app does a great job of capturing your ideas and syncing them across your Apple devices, but if you dig deeper, you’ll quickly realize there are powerful features hidden under the hood. As someone who has been using the app for over a decade, I’ve discovered quite a few of the best Apple Notes life hacks on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Here are 10 that I think everyone should know.
Secure your notes with Face ID or Touch ID.
In Apple Notes, you can set a password to protect your sensitive notes. On iPhone or iPad, you can do this by tapping and holding any note and selecting “Lock Note.” On a Mac, you can find this option by right-clicking a note. You’ll then be prompted to enter your device passcode to lock the note. You can choose this option or use a custom passcode. However, you don’t have to enter this passcode every time you unlock a note. Instead, you can enable biometric authentication to open locked notes. On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Apps > Notes > Passcode and turn on ” Use Face ID” (or “Touch ID” if you have an iPhone or iPad with a fingerprint sensor). On a Mac, click the “Notes” button in the menu bar, select “Preferences,” and turn on “Use Touch ID.” It’s worth noting that shared notes cannot be locked.
Use the hidden Notes scanner to add documents to your device.
The Notes app on your iPhone has a built-in document scanner, but it’s hidden in an inconspicuous menu, making it difficult to find. You can find it by opening a note and tapping the paperclip icon above the keyboard. Select “Scan Documents” and point your iPhone’s camera at the pages you want to scan. The scanner will automatically detect the document’s boundaries, complete the scan, and open the viewfinder to scan the next page. Once the scan is complete, tap the yellow checkmark in the upper-right corner, and the file will be attached to your note. You can also long-press the Notes app icon to find this option.
Enable offline notes to bypass iCloud syncing.
The Apple Notes app is designed to sync notes between devices, but you can keep some notes offline by enabling the “On My iPhone/iPad/Mac” account on your device. In this case, notes stored in this folder will not sync with other devices using the same iCloud account. However, these notes will not be completely offline. If iCloud Backup is enabled on these devices, Apple will save a copy of your notes from the “On My iPhone/iPad/Mac” folder in the cloud. To enable this folder on your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Apps > Notes and enable ” On My iPhone/iPad” account. On your Mac, click the Notes button in the menu bar, select Preferences , and enable “On My Mac” account .
Use handwriting mode to write with a stylus.
If you have an iPad, you can use handwriting mode to turn your notes into a digital notebook . You can also use Scribble mode to automatically convert your handwriting to typed text. This feature works best with the Apple Pencil: tap the Pen tool in Apple Notes to select the Scribble tool and start writing.
After you’ve finished writing, tap the checkmark button in the upper-right corner, then tap and hold your handwriting to reveal additional options. Select “Align” to make your handwriting more even. You can also tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner of the note, select “Lines & Grid,” and choose an option to make it easier to write in a straight line. I prefer to use an unlined note, but you can choose another option that suits you better. Other handwriting options include “Refine ” (makes your handwriting more legible), “Convert text object to handwriting, ” and “Insert typed text into handwriting.” To use the last two features, you must have handwriting saved in the note containing at least 10 unique lowercase characters, which will allow Apple to convert the text to your handwriting.
Some of these features are also available on the iPhone. You can open any note in the app, select the pen icon in the toolbar above the keyboard, choose one of the tools, and start writing. It’s not as intuitive as using an iPad with an Apple Pencil or other stylus, but it’s perfectly adequate for a quick sketch.
Use advanced search filters to find the note you need.
To find a specific note, use advanced search filters in Apple Notes to narrow your results. In Apple Notes for Mac, click the search bar and then press the Esc key to display a list of available filters. In the iPhone version of the app, all these filters are available by clicking the search bar at the bottom of the screen. This allows you to filter your search results by shared notes, locked notes, to-do notes, tags, drawings, scanned documents, and attachments.
Use the hidden math tool to calculate formulas and equations.
Apple Notes also lets you perform simple arithmetic operations. Type a simple arithmetic operation, such as 625/5, and then release the “=” sign to see the result. By default, Apple Notes suggests the result in the note, and you can press the space bar to confirm it. However, you can change this setting so that the app automatically inserts the result. To do this, tap the three dots in the upper-right corner of any note and select “Math Results” > “Paste Results.” To turn off math results completely, select “Off” from the same menu.
The Notes app supports basic arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), graphing, and restaurant tip calculations, and allows you to assign variables to calculations. For example, you can write something like “Ticket = $80, Food = $45,” and then enter “Ticket + Food.” The Notes app will show you that the total is $125. More examples can be found on Apple’s support page about this feature .
Export your notes for backup or transfer.
If you want to back up your notes offline, the app doesn’t have a bulk export feature. Instead, you’ll need to use third-party tools . One such option is Exporter , which lets you back up all your notes for free. This method is best for offline backups, but if you want to switch to another app, it’s better to use the bulk import tools those apps offer.
Use ProNotes to turn your notes into a text editor.
ProNotes is one of my favorite extensions for Apple Notes on Mac. It adds Markdown support to Apple Notes, a pop-up context menu when selecting text, and slash commands for frequently used actions. All these features speed up common actions like adding a heading, bulleted and numbered lists, or inserting tables. The app is free to download, with additional AI features available for purchase.
Use Smart Folders to automatically sort your notes.
Creating folders to manually sort every note can be tedious. That’s where Smart Folders come in handy. This feature allows you to automatically add notes that share certain characteristics, such as a hashtag, checklist, attachment, or creation date, to name a few. For example, you could create a Smart Folder that automatically includes all notes created in 2026, and it would automatically update as you create new notes. To get started, open the app on your iPhone or iPad and go to the Folders menu. Click the “Create New Folder” button at the top, name the folder, and select “Create Smart Folder.” Now you can select your desired criteria and click the checkmark in the upper-right corner to complete the process. On a Mac, press Command-Shift-N in Apple Notes to create a new folder and select “Create Smart Folder” for the same result.
You can also right-click any folder in Apple Notes for Mac and select “Convert to Smart Folder” to retroactively convert any folder into a Smart Folder. On iPhone and iPad, tap the “Edit” button in the upper-right corner of the folder list, tap the three dots next to any folder, and select “Convert to Smart Folder.”
Combine multiple notes to link similar ideas.
The Apple Notes app supports contextual linking , which allows you to link one note to another. Let’s say you’re studying a subject and taking notes in the app. You can use this feature to reference similar topics you’ve studied previously, making it easier to return to them and remember the information you need. To do this on your iPhone or iPad, open any note and swipe left on the toolbar above the keyboard. This will reveal the hyperlink icon, located next to the formatting options and pencil icon. Tap the hyperlink button and type the title of the note you want to link to. As you type, the app will suggest notes that match that title. You can select a note from the list, confirm your selection, and a link to the old note will appear in the current note. In Apple Notes for Mac, you can right-click inside any note and select “Add Link” to access the same feature.