# Apple Notes 39 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple Notes and 35 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended for quick startup and reliable sync across Apple devices. Common caveat: it slows with very long notes and is weak on Windows, Linux and the web. ## Why people recommend it - Syncs reliably across devices (5 comments): "Apple Notes and Reminders did the job just fine and worked perfectly across devices" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49153266)) "I appreciate the notes being available offline and syncing across devices" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49524865)) "The seamless cloud sync between devices is much appreciated too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48832120)) - Does its core job well (4 comments): "The best notes app on iOS is Apple Notes because it does a lot of things incredibly well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055965)) "Apple Notes and Reminders did the job just fine and worked perfectly across devices" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49153266)) "Notes and Reminders are extremely good at what they do" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45999308)) - Easy to start using (3 comments): "At their core, a user can open them up and start writing and creating new notes within a a minute of first use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719551)) "anyone can just open it up and start writing without ever needing to know all those options are there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49082869)) "I'm a big fan of the simplicity and ease of use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46847487)) - Convenient across Apple devices (2 comments): "that's also fine since it's convenient to use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46024342)) "Functionality is great across Apple devices." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49154142)) ## What people warn about - Slows down with long notes (3 comments): "My only complaint is Apple Notes becomes buggy when the note gets too long" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46371638)) "God forbid you try to paste too much text into a Note - the paste will crawl to a halt." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47556856)) "once the note gets too long, it gets very laggy on phone and is difficult to navigate" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46237167)) - Poor keyboard navigation (3 comments): "These apps ported from iOS do not understand keyboard navigation and rely heavily on the trackpad or mouse." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50284280)) "Reminders, Notes and others are downright unnavigable and unusable with a keyboard" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46030339)) "none of those work well and cannot be navigated properly using the keyboard" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46115809)) - Weak on web and non-Apple platforms (2 comments): "Apple Notes being decent, but using it in the web browser is basically a joke" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46629685)) "functionality is very limited on Windows and Linux. Apple doesn't expose any APIs for Notes so it cannot be integrated with ChatGPT/Codex/Claud" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49153992)) - Proprietary storage hard to escape (4 comments): "None use the file system in anything like the way their unix underpinning would have files be understood or organised for users." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49944904)) "I've been burned too many times by having my work locked away in some kind of proprietary Apple database." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49946220)) "When you delete text it not gone you can still see it in the sqlite database they use for storage." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47873007)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Obsidian](https://hackerapproved.com/p/obsidian.md): 447 recommend - [Org mode](https://hackerapproved.com/p/org-mode.md): 175 recommend - [Notion](https://hackerapproved.com/p/notion.md): 91 recommend - [Logseq](https://hackerapproved.com/p/logseq.md): 52 recommend - [Tolaria](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tolaria.md): 34 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Notes", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-notes/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).