Guides

iOS 18 Notes App: New features coming to your iPhone

iOS 18 Notes App New features coming to your iPhone

In iOS 18, the overall design of the Notes app doesn't have many updates, but it has deeper integration with other apps, adds various new features, and can also be used on iPad with Apple Pencil.

Here OTOFLY share how to use the new features in iOS 18 Notes, so that it is more convenient for you to record on the go after updating iOS 18. 

Turn Notes into a Calculator with Math Notes

Notes integrates with the Calculator app in iOS 18 with a new feature called Math Notes. As long as you enter (handwritten or typed) a complete formula (no matter vertical or horizontal, as long as it is a complete formula), the iOS 18 Calculator will automatically work out the answer for you. For example, ordinary addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, trigonometric functions, equations are no problem. See another instructional article on iOS 18 Calculator for details.

The above is also supported on iPad Notes and when handwriting an equation with Apple Pencil, Apple Intelligence will mimic the user's handwriting to generate the final result. However, it is currently understood that this feature only supports the English version.

Turn Notes into a Calculator with Math Notes

Audio Recording and Transcription

In the new version, notes can also be recorded. You only need to click the recording icon in the toolbar to start recording, and when using the notes recording, you can directly realize the effect of voice to text, which is very suitable for taking notes when listening to lectures and meetings.

However, the recording and transcription feature is currently only available on iPhone 12 and above, and it only supports English (US, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, UK). Therefore, if you want to try the new feature, you need to open "Settings" > "General" > "Language & Region" and set the preferred language to English.

Access All Your Call Recordings

iOS 18 supports call recording, and presumably many users who downloaded the iOS 18 beta version have already experienced this feature. After call recording is enabled, the recorded content will be saved directly in the Notes and the transcribed content will be provided directly.

Apple Intelligence can be used to summarize transcripts of audio or call recordings in the Notes app. This feature requires devices that support Apple Intelligence, including iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max and later models, as well as Macs and iPads equipped with M-series chips.

How to Record Calls on iOS 18

Read more: How to Record Calls on iOS 18

Organize Cluttered Notes with Collapsible Sections

If you often save long text in your Notes app, it is recommended to learn the iOS 18 Notes collapsible sections feature, which allows you to easily manage long memos.

Any section heading can be collapsed, including headings, subheadings, and titles. Just tap on the heading, then click on the down arrow to collapse it. Tap the arrow again to open it up.

Highlight Colors for Text

For the first time, the Notes app supports the color of input text. Apple has now added five colors to Notes, including pink, purple, orange, mint, and blue. When you select some words or phrases, just tap on the Aa button to highlight the color. Multiple colors can be used for the same sentence, and the colors can be used for titles and headings, as well as combined with text formatting such as bold and italics.

Color-text-Apple-Notes

Perfect Your Notes with AI Writing Tools

Writing Tools is an Apple Intelligence feature that can improve your writing. Although the writing tool cannot generate text directly, it can check grammar, modify and polish, and create summaries based on what the user writes.

  • Proofread text for spelling and grammatical errors, including word choice and sentence structure. Users can choose to accept all suggestions or interpret them one by one.
  • Rewrite to organize what users have written and change the tone without affecting the content.
  • Options for selecting text and summarizing it. Users can choose to create paragraphs, pull out key points, make lists, or create tables.

Image Wand with Apple Intelligence

The Notes app is designed to integrate with Image Playground, Apple's upcoming AI image generation app. On the iPad, users can draw a rough sketch of what they want to generate and then have Apple Intelligence generate a more polished version. It is not clear when it will be implemented, and it may not even be supported by iPadOS 18.1.

iOS 18 Notes has evolved again, adding new features like audio recording, transcription,mathematical calculations and more to make Notes easy to use. Are you looking forward to the new Notes? Let's wait for the release of iOS 18 in October.

Reading next

Apple is Opening Up the iPhone's NFC Chip in iOS 18.1
Apple Working on New Magic Keyboard for Entry-Level iPads