Apple Notes has become one of Apple’s most consistently updated apps, and iOS 26 includes a few solid new additions. Here’s everything new for Apple Notes in iOS 26.

New Liquid Glass design

Easily the biggest change for Notes this year is the brand new design with Liquid Glass.

Though the basic structure of the app remains the same, everything looks and feels more modern thanks to app-wide UI revisions.

Buttons and other UI elements have been updated, moved around, and enhanced. Search has been made prominently available at the bottom of the screen. Line spacing is tweaked. The Notes toolbar can now be swiped through horizontally.

There’s even a revised app icon, seen above in the ‘Clear’ variant.

In all, Notes’ new design is a comprehensive overhaul that feels familiar, yet fresh at the same time.

Markdown import and export

Markdown is now supported by Apple Notes—sort of.

Import and export of Markdown has been added to Notes in iOS 26. The app won’t offer any styling for Markdown syntax, but you can write a note entirely in Markdown then easily export it via the new share sheet option.

Importing Markdown files also happens via the share sheet (or menu bar on iPad). Copy/pasting Markdown text won’t trigger a Notes conversion on its own.

Wondering what this ‘Markdown’ thing is? It was created by John Gruber as a “text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers. Markdown allows you to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid HTML.” Over the years it’s grown popular for writers who publish on the web.

Reed pen for calligraphy

Apple Notes includes a tool palette designed especially for use with Apple Pencil, but it’s available on iPhones too.

In iOS and iPadOS 26, that palette adds a new tool option: a reed pen.

The reed pen enables you to have a traditional calligraphy experience inside Apple Notes, with stroke-angle presets built into the tool.

Maybe coming: Image Playground additions

Image Playground is the home for Apple Intelligence image creation tools, and it’s been baked into Apple Notes since iOS 18.2 launched.

In iOS 26, Apple brings the powers behind ChatGPT’s viral image creation trends earlier this year directly to its own Apple Intelligence feature. This means you’ll be able to make new images using ChatGPT styles like Anime, or by typing any description you’d like.

As of iOS 26 beta 1 though, while the new ChatGPT options are included in the dedicated Image Playground app, the Notes app only shows iOS 18’s existing Animation, Illustration, and Sketch styles.

This might be due to Notes having the added wrinkle of Image Wand functionality, which somewhat confusingly is just called Image Playground in Notes’ UI.

Here’s hoping a future beta will bring the new ChatGPT options to image creation inside Notes. But there’s always a chance Apple won’t introduce that change, and we’ll only get the existing AI styles.

Source: 9to5mac