iOS 18 Notes App: All the New Features: Google Must do Better

Multicolour background featuring two Apple-style square icons: One on the left just shows an 18, and the one on the right is their symbol for the Notes app with a yellow bar at the top, and horizontal lines below that.

I only have an iPad left now from the Apple ecosystem, but after testing some of these features out, I must say that Google really needs to just try and catch up with their Notes app. Apple is definitely out-innovating Google here by a mile. Google has really neglected their Notes app quite badly.

Some of the new features I like most with the iOS Notes app are:

  • Notes integrates with the Calculator app in ‌iOS 18‌ for a new feature called Maths Notes. Maths 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.
  • Maths Notes with the ‌Apple Pencil‌. Just write out equations by hand.
  • All audio recordings that you capture with the Notes app are automatically transcribed in real-time.
  • Transcription Summaries.
  • If you have long notes with multiple headings, you can now collapse those headings.
  • Highlight Colours (Google did release this, but it has not become usable across all my notes yet).
  • Smart Script — The feature uses machine learning to recreate your own handwriting style to refine what you’ve written, making messy writing look neater.

See https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-18-notes-app/