Notes: the Modern Private Diary

2008: view from office with first iPhone

I began using the Notes app when I got my first iPhone 16 years ago. It was the repositor of random musings, then shopping and to-do lists, passwords, progress on YMCA exercise machines, drafts of emails not sent (but too good to trash), and sundry items. There are now 53 Notes in total; one could almost say Notes has become an extension of my brain.

For lots of people, the Notes app has become an extension of their brains. Its popularity has spurred Apple to introduce richer features like document scanning and checklists with check boxes. But users and tech-industry analysts alike say its simplicity is what has made Notes a cultural touchstone since its 2007 debut. Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and other celebrities use it to express their feelings in a relatable way—so do the keepers of world-famous pygmy hippos.

Apple doesn’t say how many people use Notes, though it’s preinstalled on most of the 2.2 billion Apple devices active globally. Goodnotes, Notion and other similar services with more features—and broader compatibility with Android and Windows—have each been downloaded around 50 million times from 2021 to October 2024, according to market-intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

...TikTok has become a repository where people share what they deem their most “unhinged” Notes app entries.

The hashtag #notesapp has more than 90,000 posts, with users sharing revenge speeches, breakup rationales, love-song lyrics and cry logs. (Yes, people use Notes to record the days when they cry.) One popular trend, which even singer Chappell Roan jumped on, was “never go through a girl’s notes app.”

Apple's iPhone data is encrypted and therefore gives users a (false?) sense of privacy. It's a place to vent, save inappropriate jokes, and store our true impressions of people. Just be careful which icon you tap: Notes are very easy to send to or share with other people.