Apple Notes in OS 26 – What’s New, What Changes?

Matthias

In iOS 26 and macOS 26 (coming this fall), Apple Notes will finally let you export any note as a Markdown file. That’s great. It doesn’t mean full Markdown support in the app (yet), but it’s a real step toward openness — and might be enough to convince some people who’ve avoided Apple Notes because they felt too locked in. If you can easily move your notes elsewhere when needed, does that make Apple Notes a more viable long-term option?

Also: Apple Notes is coming to the Apple Watch too — you’ll be able to create and view notes from your wrist, and even use Siri to start a new one.

What do you think? Is Markdown export a game-changer?

tr4jan

Matthias
Well, this will extend the functionality, but for me as someone who consciously stays in the Apple ecosystem, I don't think I will benefit from it. I think it may play into the hands of the small group of people who want to get out of Apple Notes, although as far as I know there are already tools to extract Apple Notes into Markdown format (if you really want to). If I contemplate a mite about the content of this forum, I think that simplifying links to and from notes and simplifying the compilation of shortcuts in correspondence with notes would be a bigger quick-win for users than a Markdown export function.

Matthias

tr4jan I totally agree with you! I was hoping to make creating the Forever ✱ Notes setup using Shortcuts a bit easier and quicker.

SteveF

Unless it’s just text, whatever app you use, migrating always seems to have issues. Links, tags, images, tables, text formatting. There always seems to be something that causes a lot of post migration work.

Give me resizable images, linking to calendar events, adjustable width table columns, simple formulas in tables or a better way to go back and forth between notes any day.

Matthias

I do look forward to the integration of Apple Intelligence in Shortcuts. I think it can help streamline especially capturing new notes.

tr4jan

Matthias

I look at it with a laughing and a crying eye and primarily hope that with OS26 bugs, that Notes has under Sequoia/iOS15 , will finally disappear. And that apple doesn't build in any new ones.

But yes, maybe Apple Intelligence really is coming, functional and beneficial this time 😉.