What is the best free note taking app for iPhone?

Apple Notes, for most people. It's built in and free, and it syncs through the 5 GB of iCloud storage every account gets. Its search reads handwriting and scanned pages. On a Windows laptop, take Microsoft OneNote.

Which note taking app is totally free?

Google Keep and Simplenote. Neither sells anything. Apple Notes is free as well, with more iCloud space the only thing on sale around it.

Is Notability totally free?

No. The free Starter plan holds 5 notes, and you need the paid Lite plan for unlimited ones.

Is Apple Notes better than Goodnotes?

For typed notes on an iPhone, yes. Apple Notes is free and searches handwriting and scanned pages, while the free Goodnotes plan stops at 3 files. Goodnotes is the better pick for drawing on a PDF.

Can I use Apple Notes on a Windows laptop?

Yes, in a web browser. Go to icloud.com/notes and sign in with your Apple Account. If you'll write a lot on Windows, OneNote in the browser or Joplin's Windows app suits it better.

9 best free note taking apps for iPhone in 2026

How we chose

Apple Notes is the best free note taking app for iPhone for most people. It came with the phone and costs nothing. Its search even finds words you wrote by hand or scanned from a page. If your laptop runs Windows, take Microsoft OneNote instead, which is free on the iPhone and free in a web browser on the laptop too.

Every app below is free to start. What changes is where that version stops: a cap on notes, sync for one device only, or text with no pictures. We put five questions to each one:

What does the free version hold back, and what does the first paid step cost?
Will it sync your notes to a second device without a bill?
Can one note hold a photo, a PDF or a voice memo?
Which iOS version does it need, and will your phone run it?
Can you export your notes as files on the day you leave?

We read each price, limit and requirement on the maker's own pages and its App Store listing on 31 October 2026. We didn't install or time the apps, so you won't find star ratings or test scores here. Prices are in US dollars unless the maker charges in euros. Paying is worth it for some people, and the best note taking apps for iPhone shows who: Bear for calm writing, Goodnotes for handwriting.

The 9 best free note taking apps for iPhone

Read down the list until one sounds like the way you already write things down, then stop there.

1. Apple Notes: best for most people

Apple Notes is already on your iPhone. Nothing inside it is for sale, and your notes sync through iCloud, where Apple's iCloud storage guide says every account starts with 5 GB free, shared with your photos and iCloud Drive files.

Search is why Notes takes the top spot. Apple's search guide says it looks through typed and handwritten text, objects in pictures and the words on documents you scan. A locked note shows only its title in the results. When you leave, Apple's export guide has you tap Export as Markdown on a note, or save a PDF instead.

Pick it if your computer is a Mac. Skip it if you'd write long notes on a Windows laptop. There, Apple's setup guide sends you to a web browser at icloud.com/notes, which suits reading a list more than writing an essay.

2. Microsoft OneNote: best if your laptop runs Windows

OneNote's App Store listing says the app is free on iPhone once you sign in with a Microsoft account. Notes live in notebooks with sections and pages, and a page takes ink as easily as typing. Scan a printed page and OneNote pulls out the text, or dictate a note in 27 languages. There's an Apple Watch app as well.

Microsoft 365 Basic's plan table lists OneNote as free on the web, iOS and Android. When your cloud space runs short, Basic adds 100 GB for $19.99 a year, as of October 2026.

Pick it if school or work already gave you a Microsoft account. Skip it if your iPhone can't update, because the listing requires iOS 26.0 or later.

3. Google Keep: best for lists you share

Google Keep is free, with nothing to buy in the App Store. It's built for short things, like a checklist or a voice memo that Keep turns into text. You sort notes with labels and colours. A reminder can go off at a set time, or when you arrive somewhere, so the grocery list pops up as you walk into the shop.

Share a list and you watch the other person tick items off as they go. Keep also reads the words in a photo, so search finds that note later. On a computer it opens at keep.google.com, and Keep's requirements page lists Chrome and Firefox, plus Edge on Windows and Safari on a Mac. The Android app runs on Android phones and Wear OS watches.

Pick it if your household is half iPhone, half Android. Skip it if you want folders, since Keep only has labels and colours. The listing needs iOS 18.0 or later.

4. Simplenote: best for plain text

Simplenote's home page promises free apps and free sync, with backups thrown in. You sign in with an email address or a WordPress.com account and start typing. Its App Store listing adds tags and pins for order, plus a passcode lock. You can even publish a note to the web as a link.

The limit sits in Simplenote's help page: a note holds text and nothing else. No photos, no PDFs. Offline editing works once your notes have downloaded, and the help page walks through exporting them from the iPhone app.

Pick it if you write only words and want them on a Mac or an Android phone too. Skip it if you snap receipts and whiteboards.

5. Obsidian: best free sync between iPhone and Mac

Obsidian's pricing page says "Free without limits", with no sign-up. Notes are plain Markdown files in a folder Obsidian calls a vault, so any text editor opens them. Obsidian's sync help shows how to keep that vault in iCloud Drive, which syncs it between iOS and macOS for free.

The same page warns that iCloud Drive on Windows can duplicate or corrupt files. Obsidian Sync works on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android, at $4 a month billed yearly or $5 month to month as of October 2026. Weighing it against the app you already have? Read Obsidian vs Apple Notes.

Pick it if you want notes as files and you own a Mac. Skip it if your computer runs Windows and you won't pay for sync.

6. Joplin: best free notebooks with attachments

Joplin's App Store listing has no in-app purchases and promises no tracking or ads. Notes sit in notebooks with tags, and one note can carry photos and PDFs. To-dos carry reminders. Search reads the text inside PDFs and images, and a spoken note gets transcribed. It works offline and catches up when you reconnect.

Joplin's site lists apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. They sync through Dropbox or OneDrive at no charge, or through Joplin Cloud. Notes are saved in an open format and protected with end-to-end encryption. If you'd rather Joplin ran the sync, Joplin Cloud's Basic plan costs EUR 2.99 a month or EUR 28.69 a year for 2 GB, as of October 2026.

Pick it if a Windows laptop needs the same notebooks, PDFs and all, and your Dropbox or OneDrive is already set up. Skip it if you'd rather not link a storage account yourself before the first sync.

7. Notion: best when a note turns into a plan

Notion's pricing page has a Free plan at $0 for individuals organising personal projects and life. A page is a stack of blocks, so a weekend away grows from one line into a packing checklist and a day-by-day plan on the same page.

The Free plan caps each upload at 5 MB and keeps 7 days of page history. For offline use, you choose which pages to download. Plus costs $10 a seat a month as of October 2026, and the App Store listing needs iOS 18.0 or later. Torn between it and the app on your phone? See Notion vs Apple Notes.

Pick it if a note of yours rarely stays a note for long. Skip it if you jot things down in places with no signal, since only the pages you picked work offline.

8. Bear: best for writing on a single iPhone

Bear's App Store listing is free, with a Pro subscription sold inside. The free app gives you Markdown and nested #tags, with tasks inside notes and links from one note to another. Exporting to Markdown or plain text costs nothing.

Pro is where sync lives: it moves notes between your iPhone, iPad and Mac through iCloud. Pro also locks the app with Face ID and searches the text inside images and PDFs. It costs $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year as of October 2026.

Pick it if you write on one iPhone. Skip it if the same notes need to reach a Mac or an iPad without a subscription, because sync sits behind Pro.

9. Goodnotes: best free pick for notes on a PDF

Goodnotes' pricing page lists a Free plan, free forever, with up to 3 files, a 5 MB import limit and 20 minutes of audio recording. Inside those 3 files you can write by hand or type, and draw on a PDF you've imported. Its App Store listing says handwritten notes stay searchable and finished pages export as PDFs.

Essential, at $11.99 a year as of October 2026, removes the file cap and the audio limit. The app needs iOS 18.6 or later.

Pick it if you sign or annotate the odd form on your phone. Skip it if you write lots of short typed notes. Apple Notes is the better free home for those, with handwriting search and scanning built in, and a fourth Goodnotes file means paying.

What the free version gives you

App	The catch	Paid from (Oct 2026)	Needs
Apple Notes	5 GB iCloud, shared	More iCloud space	Built in
OneNote	Microsoft account	$19.99 a year	iOS 26
Google Keep	Labels, no folders	Nothing to buy	iOS 18
Simplenote	Text only	Nothing to buy	iOS 15
Obsidian	Free sync on Apple only	$4 a month	iOS 15.6
Joplin	You link the sync	EUR 2.99 a month	iOS 15.6
Notion	5 MB uploads	$10 a seat a month	iOS 18
Bear	No sync	$2.99 a month	iOS 16
Goodnotes	3 files	$11.99 a year	iOS 18.6

The last column is the oldest iOS each App Store listing accepts. An iPhone that can't update to iOS 26 can't install OneNote today, so check your phone's version in Settings before you pick.

Where free runs out

Each free version stops somewhere different. Know where before you put a year of notes in one.

Google Keep and Simplenote sell nothing at all. Joplin and Obsidian are free apps that sell their own sync on their websites, and both work fine without it.
Apple Notes and OneNote are free, and the money goes on cloud space: iCloud+ for Apple, Microsoft 365 Basic for OneNote.
Bear, Notion and Goodnotes give you a free plan with a fence. Bear keeps sync for Pro. Notion caps uploads and page history, and Goodnotes stops at 3 files.

Two well-known apps missed the list on their free plans. Notability's pricing page gives the free Starter plan 5 notes, and unlimited notes start on the paid Lite plan. Evernote's plan page caps its free plan at 50 notes and one notebook, synced on one device. Both are fine for a test drive and too small to live in.

Your notes on a second screen

Sooner or later you want a note on your laptop, or on someone else's phone, and none of these routes costs money.

With a Mac or an iPad, Apple Notes needs one switch: turn on Notes under iCloud in Settings on each device, signed in to the same Apple Account. Obsidian gets there through iCloud Drive. Bear charges for the trip.

With a Windows laptop, OneNote opens free in the browser and Joplin has a proper Windows app. Apple Notes and Keep get a browser tab. Don't put an Obsidian vault in iCloud Drive there, since Obsidian's own help warns that Windows can duplicate or corrupt the files.

With an Android phone in the house, Google Keep, Simplenote, OneNote and Joplin all have Android apps, so a shared list works for both of you. If that Android phone is yours, read the best free note taking apps for Android before you choose.

Try two apps for five minutes

Put your top two side by side and run the same six steps on each:

Write a note with a title, three checklist items and a phone number. Leave the app, open it again and check nothing went missing.
Turn on airplane mode, edit that note and start a new one. Turn airplane mode off and look for both on your other device.
Scan a printed page. Search for one word on it.
Now find a word you typed two notes back.
Export one note and open the file in a different app.
Tap around until the app asks for money, and read what it's selling.

An app that fails step 2 or step 5 is out. One day you'll write on a train with no signal, and one day you'll switch apps and want every note to come with you.

Which one fits your day

Sharing a shopping list with someone on Android? Use Google Keep.
Every screen you own is Apple's? Stay with Apple Notes.
You work on a Windows laptop and your iPhone runs iOS 26. Get OneNote.
You only ever type words. Simplenote keeps them on your phone and your computer for free.
For notes as files on an iPhone and a Mac, take Obsidian.
You need notebooks full of PDFs on a Windows laptop and won't pay. Take Joplin.
Your lists keep turning into plans. Try Notion.
Bear, if you write on one iPhone and care how the page looks.
Now and then you sign a form on your phone. Keep Goodnotes for that.

Most of what you note down is spoken? Start with the best voice notes apps. Whichever you pick, stop at two apps, one for quick lists and one for long notes, because the third app is the one you forget to check.

Half your notes end up as to-dos? ActivityTracker opens in Safari on your iPhone, turns a note you speak into text, searches every note at once, and makes a task from each unticked line of a checklist.

See how notes work

Leah's first week

Made-up example: Leah is redoing her bathroom and runs the rota for her son's Saturday football team. Her iPhone won't update past iOS 18, her laptop runs Windows, and her partner Tom carries an Android phone.

Saturday: OneNote is out before she types a word. The App Store wants iOS 26.

Sunday: she runs the five-minute trial on Apple Notes and Google Keep. Both pass airplane mode, and Apple Notes finds "grout" on the tiler's quote she scanned that morning.

Monday: the bathroom shopping list goes in Keep, shared with Tom, with a reminder set for when she reaches the hardware store. Tom ticks off "sealant" on his lunch break.

Wednesday: the football rota lives in Apple Notes. At her desk she opens icloud.com/notes on the Windows laptop and copies it into an email to the other parents.

Friday: she has 11 notes across 2 apps and hasn't paid for any of it. She exports the rota as Markdown, opens the file on the laptop and keeps both apps.