Apple Notes Expected to Gain Support for Exporting in Markdown in iOS 26

[MacRumors]

Apple's Notes app is rumored to be getting limited Markdown support in iOS 26 and macOS 26, according to 9to5Mac. The feature would allow users to export text in the markdown format.

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that some writers prefer to use over rich text. Rather than using HTML for bold, italics, links, and headers, Markdown uses quick character shortcuts like **bold** or #header. It sounds like the feature will only add support for exporting text with markdown formatting and not writing in markdown directly.

If the rumor holds up, it's likely to be unveiled at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference alongside other iOS 26 improvements, including automatic translation and polls in Messages, not to mention a major visual redesign.

Article Link: Apple Notes Expected to Gain Support for Exporting in Markdown in iOS 26

 

[vegetassj4]

Apple is finally moving into the 20th century

 

[klasma]

This is weird, because typing Markdown isn't exactly convenient on the standard iOS keyboard. Maybe improve the keyboard/UI instead?

 

[Stella]

This is weird, because typing Markdown isn't exactly convenient on the standard iOS keyboard. Maybe improve the keyboard/UI instead?

Weird - not really, it's being added to Mac OS as well, so it's good that functionality is consistent across all platforms.

 

[- rob -]

This is weird, because typing Markdown isn't exactly convenient on the standard iOS keyboard. Maybe improve the keyboard/UI instead?

It is because markdown is the primary formatting method for LLM prompting. It is incredibly important for inference. Google Docs added export to markdown--basically any ecosystem not supporting this is locking content away from its users.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Notes replaced Evernote for me a few years go. Glad they continue to improve it. I don't want to have third party calendar, mail, todo apps, notes when all the features I need are included and syncing to all my devices and without subscription fees.

 

[spaxxedout]

The fact Apple turned their nose up at John Gruber by not accepting his invite for The Talk Show and now they’re shipping markdown (which he invented) to 4 billion people.

 

[klasma]

It is because markdown is the primary formatting method for LLM prompting. It is incredibly important for inference. Google Docs added export to markdown--basically any ecosystem not supporting this is locking content away from its users.

Export to Markdown is fine and useful (*), but it doesn’t sound like that's what it's solely about.

(*) though necessarily lossy, or nonportable, given all the features Notes supports

 

[mystery hill]

I'd like to export all or multiple notes to an external drive as a backup, and also want to batch import notes on iOS.

Only a fraction of the notes are exported when selecting multiple notes and dragging them to the Files app.

 

[GrassShark]

The addition would put Apple Notes on par with popular note-taking apps like Obsidian, Notion, and Bear, which have long supported the lightweight markup language. For developers and writers already familiar with Markdown from platforms like GitHub or Reddit, it would also eliminate the need to switch between apps.

Not really. There are other reasons to switch between apps beyond just being able to use markdown. In fact, having multiple apps that can read and edit markdown files is a bonus because then you can point multiple apps to the same files and edit them easily from a range of apps. I want to see Apple open up Notes so it's not a black box that my stuff gets locked away in. Let me access my notes from other apps.

 

[MacMan988]

Next iPhone to be marketed as "Built for Markdown"

 

[jchap]

There are different "flavors" of Markdown—wonder which one they'll implement?

Whatever the variant, Markdown would definitely be a long-overdue feature for Notes. Wonder what took them so long?

 

[jchap]

I want to see Apple open up Notes so it's not a black box that my stuff gets locked away in. Let me access my notes from other apps.

To do that, Apple Notes would need to switch to handling notes on a file system basis, rather than the current method of notes in a database.

They might allow import of Markdown-formatted text files to the existing Apple Notes database, but chances are slim to none that they will move away from their existing database architecture that powers Notes on each platform. Once you're locked into Apple Notes, you won't be able to easily share content with other text editing apps.

In short, if the rumor is true, Markdown formatting may be supported, but Notes will likely not be able to readily work with Markdown notes saved as Markdown text files to the file system.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

This would be very handy on macOS.

Maybe we need a dedicated Markdown keyboard for iOS/iPadOS, with [], (), !, #, etc. readily available?

 

[applicious84]

I'd like to export all or multiple notes to an external drive as a backup, and also want to batch import notes on iOS.

Only a fraction of the notes are exported when selecting multiple notes and dragging them to the Files app.

Yeah, I've wanted to but have never gone to notes because of how difficult and unsupported (when I last checked) exporting notes is. If this makes it easier to export notes, it could be a useful app for me

 

[bLackjackj]

Hey Apple, can you please fix iCloud Notes?

iCloud is STILL unable to replicate font changes, specifically colors and dot points. Did no programmer see these design issues?

Why is this so hard??

 

[urtules]

This is bad news for apps like LinkEdit, it was just released for iOS and visionOS.

 

[CalMin]

Genuine question. (And not trolling I promise.)

Can someone explain to this muggle what’s so useful about markdown? I live in MS Office, so I tend to find markdown annoying rather than useful. In fact, I use ChatGPT to convert markdown to rich text when I come across it.

 

[Reverend Beavis]

I would love to replace Evernote with Apple Notes, but won’t until I can edit the “Created” date.

 

[mblm85]

Is it too late to swap that for reliable synchronisation of notes between devices?

 

[cjsuk]

Genuine question. (And not trolling I promise.)

Can someone explain to this muggle what’s so useful about markdown? I live in MS Office, so I tend to find markdown annoying rather than useful. In fact, I use ChatGPT to convert markdown to rich text when I come across it.

It's pretty awful.

This is quite accurate...

 

[bluecoast]

Something for Gruber to talk about in his show.

In all seriousness, it must be very flattering to him.

 

[ypl]

Great news. I was looking forward to having markdown in Notes. I just hate current text formatting implementation. At least there's a reason to upgrade to 26.

 

[ksec]

The fact Apple turned their nose up at John Gruber by not accepting his invite for The Talk Show and now they’re shipping markdown (which he invented) to 4 billion people.

Also wondering if Gruber allow Apple to use the name markdown. Which I believe at one point he refused to allow others to use it.

 

[cylack]

Apple should just buy Evernote and revert it back to how it was 10 years ago. I left Evernote for Apple Notes a while back, due to Evernote’s increasing greed and adding features to make it bloated and slow, but I miss the web clipper.