What is the best note taking app for iPhone?

Apple Notes, for most people. It's free and already installed, it turns recordings into text on an iPhone 12 or later, and its search reads your handwriting and scanned pages. For calm writing with tags, get Bear.

What is the best free note taking app for iPhone?

Apple Notes, which is free and already on your phone. Obsidian is free without limits and OneNote is free on the iPhone, while Evernote's free plan stops at 50 notes on 1 device.

Can I use Apple Notes on a Windows computer?

Only in a web browser. Sign in at iCloud.com to read and edit the notes you keep in iCloud. If you want an app on the Windows laptop as well as the iPhone, use OneNote or UpNote.

Which note app is best for handwriting on iPhone?

Goodnotes, if you also write on an iPad: its handwritten pages are searchable and stay in step with your iPhone. On an iPhone alone, Apple Notes takes finger handwriting for free.

Is there a note taking app for iPhone without a subscription?

Yes. Apple Notes and Obsidian cost nothing, and UpNote's upgrade is a one-time US$39.99. Bear Pro, Drafts Pro, Goodnotes and Evernote's paid plans are subscriptions.

How do I lock a note on iPhone?

Go to Settings, Apps, Notes, Password and choose your device passcode, then lock the note in Apple Notes. A custom password works too, but if you forget it, Apple can't help you get those notes back.

9 best note taking apps for iPhone in 2026, free and paid

How we chose

The best note taking app for iPhone is the one that's open before the thought is gone. For most people that's Apple Notes, because it's already on the phone and costs nothing. Each of the other eight had to do one job better than Notes: a calmer place to write, pages of handwriting, a Windows laptop, notes kept as plain files.

We asked six questions of every app:

What does it cost, and what does the free version leave out?
How fast can you start a note without opening the app first?
Will search find a word you wrote by hand, or a word inside a photo?
Does it run on your other devices, a Windows laptop included?
Can you get your notes out as files if you leave?
What does it do better than Apple Notes? No answer meant no place on the list.

We read every price and feature on the maker's own pages or App Store listing on 29 October 2026. We didn't install and time the apps ourselves, so you won't find star ratings or speed tests here. Want an app that records a meeting and writes the summary for you? Start with the best AI note taking apps.

The 9 best note taking apps for iPhone

They run from the app that suits the most people to the ones built for one job. Stop at the first that fits how you write.

1. Apple Notes: best for most people

Apple Notes is free and comes on every iPhone. A note can hold a checklist, a photo or a scanned page beside the text, and you file it in a folder or with a tag typed straight into it, like #recipes. iCloud keeps the same notes on your iPad and Mac, and Apple's iCloud guide says you can open them in a web browser at iCloud.com too.

Three features put it ahead of most paid apps. On an iPhone 12 or later, Notes records audio and writes out the words in ten languages, English and Spanish among them, and an iPhone 15 Pro or newer with Apple Intelligence adds a summary of the recording. Search reads your handwriting and the text in scanned documents, and it spots objects in photos. And a note can be locked behind your passcode or Face ID.

To lock notes, set a password under Settings, Apps, Notes, Password. Pick your device passcode over a custom password: Apple's lock page says that if you forget a custom one, Apple can't help you get those notes back.

Share one note or a whole folder, choose who can edit it, and everyone sees the changes as they happen.

Pick it if your devices are Apple and you want everything free. Skip it if you think in notebooks with sections and pages, or your working day is on a Windows laptop. From Windows, Notes is a browser tab at iCloud.com, not an app.

2. Bear: best for calm writing with tags

Bear is for the notes you write, not just jot, like a journal or a talk you're planning. It formats with Markdown, so typing ## at the start of a line makes a heading, and it files notes by tags instead of folders. Photos and to-do lists sit in the same note as the words.

The free version keeps your notes on one device, scans documents and exports to Markdown, plain text and RTF. Bear Pro adds iCloud sync between your iPhone, iPad and Mac, search inside photos and PDFs, export to PDF, DOCX and HTML, and more themes. It costs US$2.99 a month or US$29.99 a year after a 7-day free trial.

Pick it if you want writing on your phone to feel quiet and look good. Skip it if any of your devices isn't Apple, because Bear is made for Apple devices only.

3. Microsoft OneNote: best if your laptop runs Windows

OneNote is free on the iPhone and files everything in notebooks, which split into sections and pages. A notebook for the house, a section for each room and a page for each builder's quote keeps a year of notes in order. The iPhone app takes ink as well as typing and pulls the text out of scanned documents. Dictation works in 27 languages.

Microsoft's plan page lists OneNote as free on the web, iOS and Android. Microsoft 365 Basic costs US$19.99 a year and adds 100 GB of cloud storage. OneNote's own page covers PCs, Macs, phones and tablets, so a notebook you start elsewhere is waiting on the office PC.

Pick it if your phone is an iPhone and your laptop isn't a Mac. Skip it if your iPhone can't update: the current App Store version requires iOS 26.0 or later.

4. Goodnotes: best for handwriting

Goodnotes makes one handwritten notebook across iPhone, iPad and Mac. Write with a finger or an Apple Pencil and mix typed text with ink on the same page. Handwritten pages are searchable, and a recording plays back in step with what you wrote at that moment. iCloud keeps your notebooks in sync between devices, and you can back them up to Google Drive or OneDrive as well.

The free plan holds 3 files and 20 minutes of audio. Essential, US$11.99 a year, lifts both limits. Pro, US$35.99 a year, adds real-time collaboration and AI features. Both paid plans start with a 7-day free trial.

Pick it if you write by hand on an iPad and want those notebooks on your phone too. Skip it if the iPhone is your only device. A page of notes with a fingertip on a phone screen is slow work, and 3 free files run out fast. Writing on an iPad as well? The best productivity apps for iPad open with Goodnotes.

5. Drafts: best for getting a thought down in two seconds

Drafts opens on a blank page with the keyboard already up, so the thought goes down before you've named anything or picked a folder. Siri, a widget and your Apple Watch start a draft too. Each one waits in an inbox until you deal with it, and actions send the text on, say as a task in Reminders or a file in Dropbox.

The app is free. Drafts Pro, at US$2.99 a month or US$24.99 a year, lets you build your own actions and adds themes and extra widgets.

Pick it if most of your notes are a line or two that belong somewhere else. Skip it if you want a home for long notes full of photos, because Drafts is built for text and runs on Apple devices only.

6. Obsidian: best for notes you keep as files

Obsidian works on a folder of plain text Markdown files, so every note opens in any text editor, now or in twenty years. You link notes to each other, and the mobile app keeps the desktop's command palette and plugins. It's free without limits and asks for no sign-up, and the same notes open on a Windows PC or an Android phone.

On an iPhone you have two ways to sync. Obsidian's help recommends iCloud for keeping a vault in step between iPhone and Mac, which costs nothing extra, and warns that iCloud Drive on Windows can duplicate or corrupt files. Obsidian Sync works on any device and costs US$4 a month billed yearly, or US$5 month to month, with end-to-end encryption and version history.

Pick it if you want notes no app can hold on to and you enjoy setting things up. Skip it if you'd rather not configure anything. Torn between this and Notion? Read Obsidian vs Notion before you move a single note.

7. Notion: best when notes turn into tables and plans

Notion treats each note as a page that can hold tables and more pages. A packing list for a trip becomes a table with a column for who's bringing what. A book list grows columns for the author and whether you finished it.

The Free plan is for one person. Used alone, it takes as many pages and blocks as you like, with files up to 5 MB each and 7 days of page history. Plus starts at US$10 a seat a month and lifts uploads to 5 GB a file. On the Free plan you choose which pages download for offline use, while paid plans download your recent and favourite pages by themselves.

Pick it if your notes keep growing columns, or other people edit them with you. Skip it if you want every note on the phone on a flight with no setup first.

8. Evernote: best for one account on every computer

Evernote has apps for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and the web, so the same account follows you everywhere. Search reaches inside images and documents, and your notes stay readable offline. You can also clip web pages and export whole notebooks as PDFs.

The free plan is small: 50 notes, 1 notebook and 1 device. Starter, US$99 a year or US$8.25 a month, gives you 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks and 3 devices. Advanced, US$249.99 a year, takes away the limits on notes and devices. Paid plans start with a 7-day free trial.

Pick it if you keep years of letters and receipts as scans and need one word from them later. Skip it if you want to stay free. The free plan works on your phone or your laptop, not both.

9. UpNote: best if you'd rather pay once

UpNote is a tidy app for typed notes on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, Linux and Android. You sort notes into notebooks and pin the ones you need, and a focus mode hides everything but the page. It works offline and syncs your notes across every device you use.

The free version takes up to 50 notes. The upgrade, bought inside the iPhone, Android or Mac app, is US$1.99 a month or US$39.99 once for life, and it covers every device you sign in on, Windows included. The App Store listing says it adds locked notes and attachments, and export to Markdown or PDF.

Pick it if subscriptions wear you down and you use Windows or Android alongside an iPhone. Skip it if you write by hand or record audio. Neither UpNote's site nor its listing mentions either.

What each one costs

Prices are as of October 2026.

App	Free version	Paid from	Also on
Apple Notes	Everything	Nothing to buy	iPad, Mac, web
Bear	One device	US$29.99 a year	iPad, Mac
OneNote	Phone and web	US$19.99 a year	Windows, Mac, Android
Goodnotes	3 files	US$11.99 a year	iPad, Mac
Drafts	Capture, inbox	US$24.99 a year	iPad, Mac, Watch
Obsidian	Everything	Sync, US$4 a month	Windows, Mac, Android
Notion	One person	US$10 a month	Desktop app
Evernote	50 notes, 1 device	US$99 a year	Windows, Mac, Android
UpNote	50 notes	US$39.99 once	Windows, Mac, Android

Apple Notes is the only app here with nothing to sell you. Obsidian's one charge is Sync, and iPhone and Mac owners can skip it by using iCloud.

Get a note down faster on your iPhone

A note app works only if reaching it is quicker than forgetting. Set these up once in Apple Notes:

Add Quick Note to Control Center. Tap it from any screen and a note opens on top. Tap Save, and it waits under Quick Notes in the Notes app.
Talk instead of typing. In a note, choose Record Audio, and on an iPhone 12 or later the words appear as text while you speak.
Scan paper instead of copying it out. Choose Scan Documents and the camera captures the page by itself once it finds the edges, then saves it as a PDF in the note.
Use your wrist. Notes on Apple Watch starts a new note from dictation or Siri.

Writing by hand on an iPhone

Apple Notes takes handwriting with a finger, and it's better at it than it looks: select what you wrote and it straightens the lines and suggests spelling fixes in your own handwriting style. Apple's guide adds that the folding iPhone Duo takes an Apple Pencil (USB-C).

Page after page of handwriting is still easier on an iPad, read back on the iPhone later, and that's where Goodnotes earns its place. Whichever app you use, type two or three words at the top of each handwritten page. Typed words always turn up in search.

Which one fits your day

Find the line that sounds like you.

Free and simple, all Apple: Apple Notes.
Longer writing that looks good: Bear.
A Windows laptop: OneNote, or UpNote to pay once.
Handwriting on an iPad: Goodnotes.
Quick lines you'll move later: Drafts.
Notes as files no company holds: Obsidian.
Tables and shared plans: Notion.
Scans you'll search years from now: Evernote.
A shopping list shared with someone on Android: Google Keep, where ticked items show up for both of you in real time. On the iPhone it needs iOS 18.0 or later.

Half your notes are reminders with a date on them? A reminder app does that job better, and the best reminder apps start there. Keep two note apps at most, say Drafts for quick lines and Bear for the long ones. A third app is where a note goes missing.

Half your notes are really to-dos? ActivityTracker runs in Safari on your iPhone. Talk a note in and it turns into text, one search looks through every note, and Turn into tasks makes a task from each unticked line of a checklist.

See how notes work

Can you get your notes out later?

Before you move a year of notes into any app, check how they come back out:

Apple Notes: a note exports as a PDF or a Markdown file, or opens in Pages. Watch the scans, because a note's PDF keeps only the first page of a multipage scan.
Bear: Markdown, plain text and RTF for free, PDF and DOCX with Pro.
Obsidian: nothing to export. Each note is already a Markdown file.
Goodnotes and Evernote: PDFs, handwritten pages included for Goodnotes and whole notebooks for Evernote.
UpNote: Markdown or PDF, once you've paid for the upgrade.

Try three notes before you commit: export them, then open the files somewhere else. Notes that need sorting more than moving? Start with how to get organized.

Sam's first week in one app

Made-up example: Sam teaches piano two afternoons a week, shares the weekly shop with his partner, Jo, and is rebuilding an old bike in the garage. His notes live in screenshots and on the backs of receipts. He has an iPhone 15 Pro, and his work laptop runs Windows.

Sunday: he picks Apple Notes, adds Quick Note to Control Center, and shares a folder called House with Jo, who can edit it.

Monday: halfway through a lesson, a pupil's dad asks about the spring recital. Sam opens a Quick Note from Control Center, types the date, taps Save and goes back to scales.

Tuesday: walking home, he records three minutes on what the bike still needs. The words appear in the note as he talks, and a tap on Summary turns them into four lines: chain, brake pads, two tyres, a bell.

Wednesday: he scans the recital programme, two printed pages, into a note.

Thursday: at work, he opens iCloud.com in the laptop's browser and adds bin bags to the House list. Jo ticks them off at the shop that evening.

Friday: he types "Chopin" into search and the scanned programme comes up, because Notes reads the text in scans. Then he counts the week: 16 notes, 2 recordings, 1 scan, 24 items ticked off the shared list, and nothing paid. The receipts go in the recycling.