iOS 18 Notes app: All the key features and improvements

In iOS 18, the Notes app is ready to receive numerous new features. There aren’t many upgrades to the overall design, but Notes has detailed additions with other apps that integrate all kinds of new options.

Moreover, there are a few great iPad-only Notes features that include the Apple Pencil. Gadinsider has compiled all the new key features of the Notes app.

Math Notes

Notes add the Calculator app in ‌iOS 18‌ for a new feature known as Math Notes. Math Notes is developed to allow you to solve equations, so you can do things that include your monthly budget, calculate what people owe for a group trip, or split a restaurant bill.

Math Notes works directly in the Notes app or the Math Notes section of the Calculator app. Any equation that you type in is automatically solved when you add an equals sign, and there is support for variables.

Math Notes is offered for math written using Western Arabic numerals and common mathematical symbols or typed utilising Arabic (Eastern & Western) and Devanagari numerals and common mathematical symbols.

Math Notes in iPad 18

On the iPad, you can utilise Math Notes with the ‌Apple Pencil‌. Just write out equations by hand and add an equals sign to have the Notes app solve them. All of the Math Notes features work with handwriting, including unit conversions.

Audio Recording and transcription

The Notes app can be utilised to record any audio or music, taking benefits of the microphones in the iPhone. To record audio, tap on the paperclip icon in the toolbar and then tap on the "Record Audio" button.

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From there, on the red record button to start a recording, and the stop button to end it. The choice to record audio right in the Notes app is useful for lectures, meetings, and more.

Audio recording and transcribing are available on the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and later, but the feature only works in English.

Phone app recording

‌iOS 18‌ supports recording phone calls, and when you launch a recording of a phone call, that recording is stored in the Notes app. Phone app recordings have the same functionality as audio recordings made in the Notes app, with transcriptions provided.

Transcription summaries (Apple Intelligence)

Apple Intelligence is set to summarise a transcript of an audio recording or a recorded phone call in the Notes app.

A device that supports Apple Intelligence is required for this feature, and that includes the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max and later along with Macs and iPads with an M-series chip.

Highlight colours

The Notes app supports colours for typed text for the initial time, letting highlight. Apple integrated five colours, including pink, purple, orange, mint, and blue, with the colours capable of being added through the formatting interface. Tap the Aa button to get to the colour choices when a word or phrase is chosen.

Attach files

The toolbar icon that allows you to upload images or scanned documents to a note has been updated to do more in ‌iOS 18‌. Tapping on it lets you attach a file from the Files app, which makes it much simpler to upload documents to a note. You can also use it to record audio, another new feature.

Notes settings

If you click on the icon that has three dots at the top right of a note, you can receive the Notes settings, where there are some new options.

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You can view Recent Notes from this interface, with the Notes app showcasing numerous of your prior notes for quick access. There's also a toggle for Math Notes for selecting between suggested results and results that are automatically inserted when an equals sign is typed, or turning the feature off.

Lock Screen Notes

You can integrate Control Centre controls into the Lock Screen in iOS 18. With the help of this feature, you can include the option to open the Notes app into one of the slots that was earlier taken up by the Flashlight and Camera, offering you an option to immediately note down your thoughts.

Smart Script (iPadOS 18)

On the ‌iPad‌, there's a new feature recognised as Smart Script that's developed to enhance your handwriting with the ‌Apple Pencil‌. The feature utilises machine learning to remake your handwriting style to refine what you've written, making messy writing look neater.

Smart Script doesn't change your handwriting, but it makes it smoother, straighter, and simpler to read.

Writing Tools (Apple Intelligence)

Writing Tools is an Apple Intelligence feature that can enhance your writing. It won't create text from scratch, but it can proofread, helps you rewrite to match a specific tone, and generate summaries.

Proofread text for spelling and grammar errors, including word choice and sentence structure. You can accept all suggestions with a tap or go through them one by one with explanations.

To use Writing Tools in the Notes app, all you are required to do is write something, select your text, and then tap on the quick access Writing Tools options at the top of the keyboard or select Writing Tools by tapping on your selected text.

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Writing Tools won't be offered when ‌iOS 18‌ and iPadOS 18 launch, but the feature is set to arrive in iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 updates expected to be viewed in October.

Image Wand (Apple Intelligence)

The Notes app is developed to add Image Playground, Apple's upcoming artificial intelligence (AI)-powered image generation app. You will be allowed to have the Notes app create an image that goes along with what you've typed up, and on the ‌iPad‌, you can make a rough sketch of what you need to include and then have Apple Intelligence generate a more polished version.