iOS 26: What's New With Notes and Reminders

[MacRumors]

Apple is updating almost all of its built-in apps with new features and design changes in iOS 26, including Notes and Reminders. Many of the changes to the apps are visual, but there is some useful new functionality available that you won't want to miss.

Liquid Glass

The Notes and Reminders apps adopt the Liquid Glass design that's been introduced in iOS 26. Signs of Liquid Glass are more subtle in these apps than apps like Camera, but everything looks a little different.

The Notes app's toolbar has rounded corners and is more compact with a frosted glass look, and the keyboard also has rounded edges. Buttons at the top are circles or pills, with the Liquid Glass effect.

In Reminders, the different inbox sections are full color instead of white, and all of the various buttons are rounder than before with a translucent aesthetic. Interfaces for entering and editing reminders also have the rounded edges that are part of the new design.

Reminders

The changes in the Reminders app go beyond simple design updates, with Apple introducing some useful new AI features. The new Reminders features require a device that supports Apple Intelligence.

Siri Suggestions

Apple added a Siri Suggestions section to the Reminders app, which will bring up items that you might want to add to your to-do lists that are found in conversations in Mail and Messages. Reminders is able to suggest tasks automatically, taking in information from notes, grocery items in a list, and more.

You'll also see Reminder suggestions in apps like Mail, and you can tap these to add a reminder without opening the Reminders app.

Suggestions for reminders are contextual and personalized to each user, and are designed to make it easier to create reminders with fewer interactions. Apple says users will see suggestions for tasks, grocery items, and follow-ups based on emails and other text on the iPhone.

Automatic Categorization

The Reminders app is able to categorize related tasks into sections that are grouped together. If you need to pick up several items at the grocery store, for example, the Reminders app can aggregate these in one area.

If you have several work tasks and errands to run, the Reminders app is able to separate them out, so you don't need to spend time manually sorting your lists.

Control Center

There's now a Control Center option for creating a new reminder. You can use it from the Control Center, assign it to the Action Button, or access it from the Lock Screen by assigning it to one of the Lock Screen buttons.

Notes

There are fewer updates in the Notes app in iOS 26, but Apple made a couple of changes that will be useful to users.

Math Notes

Math Notes now supports creating 3D graphs using three-variable equations. An equation like z=sin(x2 + y2), for example, will create a ripple graph.

Using this feature can be done by typing in an equation and then tapping on one of the variables. From there, choose the Insert 3D graph option. 3D graphs can be enlarged, resized, and moved using tap and drag gestures.

3D graphs are also supported in iPadOS 26, including with handwritten equations.

Scrolling Toolbar

You can now swipe along the toolbar in Notes to see all of the available tool options. Before, you had to tap into a tool section to get to all of the features. Even though swiping is an option to get to more tools, you can still tap to open different submenus for formatting, image generation, lists, tables, and more.

Markdown

The Notes app supports exporting content in Markdown in iOS 26, so you can save notes as Markdown (.md) files that can be imported into third-party apps that support Markdown. Writing in Markdown is not supported in the Notes app.

Search

The Folders view of the Notes app now has an always-visible search bar at the bottom rather than a hidden bar that's accessible with a swipe from the top of the app.

Call Recordings

Conversations from the new Phone app on the iPad and the Mac can be saved as audio recordings with transcriptions in the Notes app. This was previously available on the iPhone in iOS 18, but with the Phone app expanding to new devices, the call recording functionality has expanded as well. Transcriptions require Apple Intelligence.

Read More

We have an iOS 26 roundup that has more information on all of the new features that are available in iOS 26.

Article Link: iOS 26: What's New With Notes and Reminders

 

[TomaxXamot]

I use the Notes app a lot and there are some bugs that have persisted for me for years that I wish they’d fix. Sometimes the toolbar is missing until I force quit. Find In Note is often unusable in my longer notes, like my gym log. I’ll search for a keyword and I’ll have to scroll and scroll to find the highlighted word. That ones drives me crazy. Sometimes the cursor is flashing between lines and then when I type it jumps up or down the page to some random place. Tapping on a longer note often has a delay before anything happens. I’m on an iPhone 15 Pro and it should be able to handle a text based app with ease.

 

[Macbookey]

Pretty light on features for these two apps that have seen a ton added in recent years. Would have like to have seen “repeat upon completion” added to Reminders, but the option for a Lock Screen widget to add Reminder quickly is great. A lot of things like Calendar, Mail, Stage Manager, and Mac systems settings need some more work and thought, but a lot of time is going to be spent working out what Liquid Glass should or should not be.

Naming the OS by year might make sense on one hand, but it dooms them to have to make sure they have something ready each year. Long standing bugs will be brushed aside, and a lot will be about marketing focus. Shipping on schedule is never shipping when ready. They really need to do soul searching on the software front. They pioneered interfaces and “it just works.” It’s time to get back to that and clear the decks of the underperforming divisions.

 

[Gclef]

iOS keyboard is terrible for predictive Turkish text. Plus adding a number row on top of the keyboard mustn’t be so difficult…

 

[mazz0]

All this graphing stuff seems really niche for what’s otherwise a very generalist app.

 

[chriscl]

Come on, you've missed maybe the biggest new thing in Notes - synchronisation with the Apple Watch, finally, after nearly ten years.

You can now sync and view your Notes on Apple Watch directly, which was never supported before, For me, this is a real game changer for Notes, and will ensure that I use it more in the future, because my needed Notes will always be on my Watch, too.

 

[ThrowerGB]

I use the Notes app a lot and there are some bugs that have persisted for me for years that I wish they’d fix.

Long standing bugs will be brushed aside, and a lot will be about marketing focus.

Many of the changes to the apps are visual, but there is some useful new functionality

The first few comments address the problem Apple has with not fixing "persisting" and "Long standing bugs". @TomaxXamot does a good job of highlighting some really annoying bugs in Notes, and @Macbookey highlights some negative consequences of Apple's introduction of naming it's various OS's by year.
I wish MacRumors would pay as much attention as its readers. The topic comes up more and more in recent years. Instead, they ignore it completely as in this MacRumor.

 

[coolfactor]

Is the keyboard layout in those screenshots set to something other than US-English? That "Return" key using the arrow is just wrong, the label on the Space bar is not English, and they changed the font/weight, or was that a custom setting by the author?

Clarification — It's just helpful to know what a screenshot is showing so we can do an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

[coolfactor]

iOS keyboard is terrible for predictive Turkish text. Plus adding a number row on top of the keyboard mustn’t be so difficult…

It's a single tap to get the number row, and if software authors do it properly, a number keypad should appear automatically when needed.

I don't want them to overcrowd the screen. Then what's the point of the most optimal keyboard layout at any given time?

That said, can't custom keyboard layouts be installed?

 

[Macbookey]

I use the Notes app a lot and there are some bugs that have persisted for me for years that I wish they’d fix.

I especially love when I am editing an existing note and the back button disappears from the top left, and swiping back does nothing. I have to quit the app and kill it and then reload to have it reappear, just to get back to my parent lists again. Why is the back button on the top left anyways. As screens get bigger and phones get heavier, where is the human in the interface? It really is maddening and some of the ones you mentioned I can only nod in agreement.

 

[svish]

Search option for the notes is better positioned. As for the liquid glass redesign, not sure how much Apple will backtrack by the time the final version ships. Good to see math notes improving on iPadOS.

 

[red elma]

iOS keyboard is terrible for predictive Turkish text. Plus adding a number row on top of the keyboard mustn’t be so difficult…

It’s not the best in its native language, let alone Turkish or any other language.
The current keyboard layout is fine. Number and symbol rows are easily accessible with a single click, so there’s no need for screen clutter.

 

[Will Co]

So for the reminders app pretty much a complete nothing burger. I don’t use the AI/Siri stuff because it’s currently garbage. There are so many other simple little changes that would dramatically improve useability but what we’re getting is mostly just prettification. Not quite lipstick on a pig - Reminders is a useful app - but it could be so much better. I know there are paid options elsewhere but I think a good reminder/todo facility should be a built-in, and better than it currently is.

 

[lusty]

It’s not the best in its native language

Let’s not pull punches here, it often changes correctly typed and valid words for different ones and makes me want to smash my phone against the ground. The iphone 3GS had a better typing experience than the current one as it tried to be less clever.

 

[FranApple]

For those of you who use the Notes app, the lack of version history doesn’t bug you at all? That’s the single feature that I’m waiting for to jump back to the Notes app from a third party app.

 

[Kyle-Culpepper]

Notes could use a few more enhancements.
I would appreciate being able to add a horizontal rule, and ability to create links within a long note to help you navigate to that section

I'd welcome buttons (not just hyperlinks) & templates


I like the export to .md (more useful than to PDF), but can you import from .md files? I'm guessing not since you can can't write in MarkDown.

 

[joecomo]

nice stuff Apple,
but please give the contacts app some love - it has been over 15 years now

 

[Macbookey]

For those of you who use the Notes app, the lack of version history doesn’t bug you at all? That’s the single feature that I’m waiting for to jump back to the Notes app from a third party app.

This. Seems so obvious since versions are already a part off the Mac in a Time Machine like UI. Also, for goodness sake please give us an easy way to create backups and archives, as so many rely on storing so much in Notes. A user friendly exportable backup solution as opposed to creating PDF docs for each note, or rummaging through the library folder.

 

[Regbial]

Liquid Glass? uhh... liquid glass is practically gone lil bro... 🚬🗿

 

[Joosst]

The Notes app's toolbar has rounded corners and is more compact

No it’s not more compact. Actually it takes up MORE space than previously.

There’s less usable space for typing now.

Because ✨Liquid Glass adds more space (and blur, and shadows, and gradients) behind every element, in stead of just extending the keyboard like iOS 18 very elegantly did.

 

[DreadedFun]

Is the keyboard layout in those screenshots set to something other than US-English? That "Return" key using the arrow is just wrong, the label on the Space bar is not English, and they changed the font/weight, or was that a custom setting by the author?

Clarification — It's just helpful to know what a screenshot is showing so we can do an apples-to-apples comparison.

The keyboard has been setup for both EN and ES - so English and Spanish. This makes autocorrect, dictionary and swipe writing (whatever it’s called) work with a single keyboard instead of having to switch keyboard between the two languages.

This is based on iOS 18 knowledge. Don’t know about the changes to the enter key - probably just a design change.

 

[con2apple]

I wish MacRumors would pay as much attention as its readers. The topic comes up more and more in recent years. Instead, they ignore it completely as in this MacRumor.

I'm afraid the editorial team finds it difficult to admit that Apple makes mistakes and is just a simple corporation.

Just like many users.
At Macrumors, there are still enough readers/users who are mentally stuck in the 90s: Apple is the little underdog and everyone else is evil.

I can imagine that some of the editorial staff have also fallen prey to this way of thinking.
And it's practically sacrilegious to criticize Apple for mistakes or even point out bugs.

Only when it can no longer be avoided. Like the Siri/AI failure.

 

[MacFan23]

I'm afraid the editorial team finds it difficult to admit that Apple makes mistakes and is just a simple corporation.

What exactly do you want them to do? Write an article about it to appease you? Add a note to every article pointing out that bugs exist? What are you actually asking for here?

 

[AbSoluTc]

A few of these are already in iOS 18. Specifically the automatic categorization in Reminders

 

[MilaM]

I hope Notes still supports syncing with IMAP Mail accounts.