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With iOS 18, the Notes app is set to gain several new features. There aren't many updates to the overall design, but Notes has deeper integrations with other apps that add all kinds of new functionality. There are also a few nifty iPad-only Notes features that involve the Apple Pencil.

iOS-18-Notes-Feature.jpg

Math Notes

Notes integrates with the Calculator app in iOS 18 for a new feature called Math Notes. Math Notes is designed to let you solve equations, so you can do things like add up your monthly budget, calculate what people owe for a group trip, or split a restaurant bill.

ios-18-notes-app.jpg

Math Notes works directly in the Notes app or in 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.

If you define several variables, you can then use those definitions in your calculations. If you write dinner = $42, movies = $24, and dessert = $18 in the Notes app, you can then type in dinner + movies + dessert and add an equals sign to get the total. Variables can be used in equations and graphs (with a relevant equation) and adjusted later to change the results.

ios-18-math-notes.jpg

You can even do unit conversions with Math Notes. Just type in what you want to convert, and you'll get the result. If you type in 10 euros to pounds in a note and then add an equals sign, the Notes app will give you the answer.

Apple says that Math Notes is able to solve all of the same functions as a scientific calculator.

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

Math Notes in iPadOS 18

On the iPad, you can use Math Notes with the Apple Pencil. Just write out equations by hand and add an equals sign to have the Notes app solve them.

ipados-18-math-notes.jpg

All of the Math Notes features work with handwriting, including unit conversions.

Audio Recording and Transcription

The Notes app can be used to record any audio, taking advantage 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.

ios-18-notes-app-voice-recording.jpg

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

All recordings that you capture with the Notes app are automatically transcribed in real-time so you can read through what was recorded and even search for key phrases.

Audio recording and transcribing is 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 initiate a recording of a phone call, that recording is stored in the Notes app. Phone app recordings have all of the same functionality as audio recordings made in the Notes app, with transcriptions provided.

ios-18-1-call-recording-2.jpg

Transcription Summaries (Apple Intelligence)

Apple Intelligence can be used to summarize a transcript of an audio recording or a recorded phone call in the Notes app.

ios-18-notes-transcript-summary.jpg

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

Collapsible Sections

If you have long notes with multiple headings, you can now collapse those headings down to create a more compact note.

ios-18-notes-collapsible-headings.jpg

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

Highlight Colors

The Notes app supports colors for typed text for the first time, allowing for highlighting. Apple added five colors, including pink, purple, orange, mint, and blue, with the colors able to be added through the formatting interface. Just tap on the Aa button to get to the color options when a word or phrase is selected.

iOS-18-Notes-Highlight-Feature.jpg

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 like bold and italics.

Attach Files

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

ios-18-attach-file.jpg

Before now, you had to copy and paste a file into notes to add it, a process that required several steps.

The prior Choose Photo or Video, Scan Documents, Take Photo or Video, and Scan Text options remain. To denote the new functionality, the icon for the tool is now a paperclip instead of a camera.

As an alternative to using the toolbar, you can long press on a note to attach a file, an option that wasn't previously available.

Notes Settings

If you tap on the icon that has three dots at the top right of a note, you can get to the Notes settings, where there are a number of new options... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: iOS 18 Notes App: All the New Features
 
With these changes, I think I am finally ready to move to Notes from Evernote. The only thing that would be holding me back at this stage is the inability to do web clipping. Evernotes web-clipper isn't perfect, but it does the job. It recognizes headers, etc. Whereas Apple Notes is still based on cut and paste, so if you want to put whole articles into your "notes" and mark them up, etc., you have some extra work to do.

Does anyone have any ideas as to possible workarounds for this, using Apple Notes? Like, say, something like a Shortcut to port the Safari reader view version of an article over to Notes?
 
I’m pretty stoked for iOS 18. Math Notes is going to come in really handy, replacing my frequent usage of Wolfram Alpha for most calculations, and being offline means no issues with internet connectivity. Tons of other stuff across the OS looks good too.
 
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I love the variables concept in Math Notes for being able to write any equations with them. But it would be a nice touch if you could add, immediately after a list of expenses (e.g.), the line "Total =" and it sums the list above it, so you wouldn’t have to type all those variables out again in an equation. ‘Course, it would have to be smart enough to know the start of the list. But easy enough, I think, with a blank line above it.
 
I would use Notes more if it had better bulk import and export options.

Notes on macOS can import TXT, RTF, RTFD, HTML or Evernote XML Export (ENEX) format.
Notes on iOS/iPadOS can only import ENEX.

Notes on macOS can only be exported to PDF.
Notes on iOS/iPadOS can be exported to ‘.rtfd’ files by selecting multiple notes and dragging them to a folder in the Files app.

So, for import and export you need to have both an iPhone/iPad and a Mac. Export to ‘rtfd’ on iPhone/iPad and then import those on Mac.

I want to save all notes to an external drive in case of an iCloud sync issue or if a note is accidentally edited since there is no version history.
 
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Question:

Are files attached by making a copy that lives inside the note, or it a reference to a file that remains where it is? Or can I choose?
 
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I am not able to transcribe on the Notes app on iOS18 beta. Does anyone know how to do this? Or is this a feature for 18.1?
 
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Best check state law on that one. If you do it without notifying the person on the other end it may be illegal.


“When you tap on the record button, everyone on the call is informed that the call is being recorded through an audible message. The message repeats for each person that is recording, so if two ‌iPhone‌ users are on a call and both record, the message will play twice.”


 
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I want to save all notes to an external drive in case of an iCloud sync issue or if a note is accidentally edited since there is no version history.
This is my NO.2 gripe of notes: no version history whatsoever. Also no ”undo my undo” option, my NO.1 gripe. I lost tons of stuff I typed in notes just by accidentally pressing Cmd+Z on my keyboard more than once. Apple can’t just add new features without making It’s editing feature easy and reliable to use.
 
Still waiting to be able to at least view a note on my Apple Watch.
Seriously FFS. Don’t need to compile anything on the watch (although I don’t see the big deal with voice dictation and the watch keyboard- third party notes apps can already do this) but at the very least just to reference a note would be nice.
 
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With the developer beta I’ve just switched off the Apple Intelligence features.

I found that having to use an American keyboard instead of UK too much to handle.

The simple act of having to long press the $sign in order to get the £ sign outweighed ALL of the benefits of Apple Intelligence.

I wasn’t expecting that
 
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This is my NO.2 gripe of notes: no version history whatsoever. Also no ”undo my undo” option, my NO.1 gripe. I lost tons of stuff I typed in notes just by accidentally pressing Cmd+Z on my keyboard more than once. Apple can’t just add new features without making It’s editing feature easy and reliable to use.

On the Mac notes app this ("Redo") is shift-command-Z. I expected it to be command-Y for some reason, but it does work.
 
It‘s a nice feature, but weirdly limited.

If you type usd instead of USD, it won’t work. If you type 15€ = dinner instead of dinner = 15€, it won’t work.

🤷‍♂️
 
it would be nice if they gave us an option in macOS or the ability to pull down or some other option in iOS to refresh a note. There are many times where I know I updated a note in one device and it’s still showing the old note on another device on iCloud typically I need to kill the app and re-launch it in order for it to be forced updated.
 
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