Notes is, without a doubt, one of the most useful apps in the Apple ecosystem. It’s one of the best note-taking apps for iPhone, can include multiple collaborators, and has plenty of extra features, such as a built-in document scanner. With iOS 18, Apple is making Notes even better. Here are the best new Apple Notes features you can try once you’ve installed the new operating system.
Taking voice notes on iOS
Credit: Pranay Parab
Apple Notes now supports voice recordings in iOS 18. The app lets you take quick voice notes and embed them inline into your text. Plus, once you’ve recorded a voice note, you can also share the audio file with other people. This means you don’t have to share the entire note just to pass along an audio recording. You can choose any individual voice note and share it with whoever you want.
To record a voice memo, create a new memo and tap the paper clip icon, then select Record audioThen press the red record button when you’re ready and start talking. Press the pause button to pause a recording or press Made to end.
Your iPhone will even transcribe your voice memos
With iOS 18, Notes can also transcribe your voice memo, saving you the hassle of having to manually type out everything you just recorded. This feature is available on iPhone 12 or later and currently only supports one language: English. That said, it will work with the following regional differences:
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English (Australia)
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English (Canada)
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English (Ireland)
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English (New Zealand)
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English (South Africa)
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UK English)
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English (US).
Interestingly, iPhones also support two additional variants of English i.e. English (India) and English (Singapore), but live audio transcription is not yet available for these.
To transcribe audio into notes, tap any audio recording in Notes, then the quotation marks at the bottom left of the screen.
Solve math problems
Credit: Pranay Parab
Apple Notes appears to be following Soulver’s lead and adding a feature that lets you solve math problems. You can quickly set up a bunch of variables and define their values inside notes, like x=10, y=20, and z=30, and Notes will be able to tell you what x+y+z is. You can also give your variables full names and Notes will still perform your calculations without a hitch. Support includes common math calculations like addition, multiplication, division, and subtraction. Math in Notes uses the same technology that powers the new Math Notes section of the Calculator app.
Navigate large notes with ease
Notes has allowed you to split your notes into sections for some time, but adding too many sections used to make your notes difficult to read quickly. In iOS 18, you can collapse sections you want to skip, which significantly reduces the amount of scrolling needed to get to the end. Don’t worry: collapsing a section of notes won’t delete it. To use this feature, apply the Qualification style to any note section, then tap the header to collapse it.
Add some color to your notes
Some people like to use different colors when they write. Maybe you want to highlight important parts of your note or separate topics by color. In Notes for iOS 18, you can easily try out different colors by tapping the AA Button on the Notes toolbar on the keyboard, and then select the circle in the second row. You can choose from the following options: purple, pink, orange, mint, and blue.
