Apple Notes is a great app for jotting down your thoughts. It comes with your iPhone, syncs reliably between Apple devices, has great features like sharing, and best of all, it's free. Even so, there are many simple ways to improve your application that you may not be aware of.
Not every note needs a title
By default, the first line in each note is automatically formatted as a title, which means it will be bold and use a large font. Some people like this, but if you want to use a different font size, go to Settings > Notes > New Note Start . You can choose to start your note with a title , subtitle , or body text instead of a title. For normal-sized words, body text is the right choice. The other two settings let you keep the title at the beginning of each note, but with a smaller font size compared to the default.
Change how your list is sorted
You can make lists using Apple Notes, which is useful if you use the app to create shared to-do lists or shopping lists. By default, when you check an item in these lists, Notes leaves it in place. Some people like to move completed items to the bottom of the list, you can set this up by going to Settings > Annotations > Sort Checked Items and selecting Automatic .
Use different background colors
Apple doesn't let you choose a custom background color for Notes, but you still have a few options. If your phone is in dark mode, you can still force your notes to use a white background. This is great for people who generally prefer dark mode but find it easier to read text on a white background. Make this adjustment by going to Settings > Notes > Note Background and selecting Light . If you're using light mode on your phone, this option won't appear at all - it's only available to users who have dark mode enabled.
Choose a line or grid for handwriting
Apple Notes allows you to write notes by hand using a stylus, but the default setting displays a blank page when you start writing. If you prefer a gridded notebook, go to Settings > Notes > Lines & Grid and make your selection.
Let sorting work for you
Apple Notes' default sorting options are fine, but you can still change them if you prefer a different option. Go to Settings > Annotations and scroll down to the View section. If you don't like notes grouped by date, you can disable that option, but I don't recommend it. You can also choose to sort your notes by and select a creation date or title . The former will stop reordering notes every time you make changes to old notes, while the latter will sort notes alphabetically.
View your notes as a gallery
If you're tired of viewing your notes in a text-based list, you can switch to gallery view. Some people find gallery view easier to browse, while others prefer it because of its aesthetics. Switch by opening the Notes app on your iPhone and tapping the three-dot icon in the upper right corner. Select "View as Gallery" to switch.
Take some notes on your iPhone
You may have all your notes associated with your account in the cloud, which is convenient when switching between devices. But if you want to save some notes exclusively on one device, like your iPhone, you can do that too. Go to Settings > Notes and enable the On My iPhone account . This will display a new folder in Apple Notes: notes in this folder will not appear on other devices. However, if you enable Notes for iCloud, this folder will be included in your iPhone's iCloud backup.
Embrace your notes wherever you are
If you add the app to Control Center, your iPhone will let you access your notes from anywhere on your iPhone, including the lock screen. Just go to Settings > Control Center and add Notes . Now, when you open the app from Control Center, it automatically opens a new note. You can also ask the app to open your recent notes. To do this, go to Settings > Notes > Access Notes from Lock Screen and select Restore Previous Note .
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