A note about a trip to Vancouver: two phrases marked with a yellow highlighter, two ticked checklist items struck through and three still to do.A noteA grocery list of seven items, two of them ticked, with Untick all and Clear ticked under it.ChecklistJotter’s list of notes: a search field, folder chips, pinned notes on white cards with a progress bar under each list, and the New list and New note buttons.Jotter
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Jotter

The notes app for iPhone and iPad that gets out of your way

Open it and start typing. There is no title to invent, no folder to choose and no save button: the first line names the note, and it is saved before you finish the sentence. Checklists, Apple Pencil handwriting, photos, scans and voice notes sit in the same note, and everything syncs through your own iCloud.

Jotter is on the App Store Notes, checklists and handwriting · Free
Download on the App Store
See the screenshots How the privacy works Questions? Get in touch

Free on the App Store — no subscription, no ads, nothing locked. Made in Canada by The Big Head.

What it looks like

One list and one page, and on iPad the two side by side with your folders. Nothing here is a mockup — these are screenshots of the app.

New in 1.5 Link your notes together and tap a link to jump straight there, tap a #tag to see every note with it, and open a note from search to land on the word you searched for, lit up. Plus Find in note, swipe right anywhere on a note to go back, and PDFs that wear your theme — your title highlighter, checkboxes and cross-offs.

Jotter’s list of notes: a search field, folder chips, pinned notes on white cards with a progress bar under each list, and the New list and New note buttons.
Notes
A note about a trip to Vancouver: two phrases marked with a yellow highlighter, two ticked checklist items struck through and three still to do.
A note
A grocery list of seven items, two of them ticked, with Untick all and Clear ticked under it.
Checklist
Searching for “lavender”: one matching note, with the word shown in the sentence it came from.
Search
The iPhone Home Screen with two Jotter widgets: recent notes with how far through each list you are, and a New note tile.
Widgets
A handwritten page on lined paper: “Saturday”, underlined, with “farmers market 9am” and “call Mum back!” below it.
Handwriting
Jotter on iPad: folders and tags down the side, the list of notes in the middle and the open note beside it.
iPad

Seven themes, all free

Each one changes the colours, the type, the highlighter, the checkboxes, the sticky notes and the buttons. Your Home Screen icon can match.

Jotter’s Classic theme: white notes, pinned lists as sticky notes and a yellow highlighter under the title.
Classic
Jotter’s Lamplight theme: the notes list in dark brown with warm amber buttons, like writing by a desk lamp.
Lamplight
Jotter’s Herbarium theme: cream paper, serif type and leaf-green buttons, like a field book of pressed ferns.
Herbarium
Jotter’s Blueprint theme: navy paper with a drafting grid, pale blue buttons and outlined sticky notes.
Blueprint
Jotter’s Airmail theme: pale blue paper, typewriter text and an airmail stripe under the title.
Airmail
Jotter’s Washi theme: rice-paper white with taped-on sticky notes and deep red buttons.
Washi
Jotter’s Velvet theme: deep plum with gold buttons and a wax-seal dot on each sticky note.
Velvet

PDFs in your theme

Share a note as a PDF and it keeps your theme’s highlighter, checkboxes and cross-offs. These are real exports of one note in four themes.

A Jotter note exported as a PDF in the Lamplight theme: the title on a yellow highlighter stroke, star bullets, gold ticks and crossed-off items.
Lamplight
The same note as a PDF in the Airmail theme: a navy title with a red and blue airmail underline, round ticks and plain checkboxes.
Airmail
The same note as a PDF in the Velvet theme: a plum serif title, diamond bullets and diamond checkboxes.
Velvet
The same note as a PDF in the Washi theme: the title on a pink tape stroke, flower bullets and pink ticks.
Washi
✓

Lists that tick

Tap New, then List, name it, press return, and every return adds the next item. Tick one and it fills, strikes through and sinks below what is still to get. Afterwards, untick the lot to use the list again.

✎

Handwriting

Write or draw with Apple Pencil on iPad, or your finger on iPhone, on blank, lined, grid or dotted paper. Your handwriting is read on the device, so it turns up in search.

◉

Photos, scans and voice

Photos, scanned documents, voice notes and files sit in the note beside your words. The text in your pictures is searchable, and voice notes are transcribed on your device.

⌕

Search that forgives

A word or two, in any order, without minding capitals or accents. Jotter looks through titles, text, tags and the words inside your pictures, and shows you the sentence it found.

How to use Jotter

A 2-minute walkthrough of every feature, filmed on the iPhone simulator with Jotter's own sample notes, in version 1.5. The narration is an AI voice; every screen is the real app.

How to use Jotter: tutorial videoWatch 2:28
Jump to a feature
  1. Your notes, like your desk
  2. Just start typing
  3. Checklists that tick
  4. Handwriting
  5. Photos, scans and voice notes
  6. Search that forgives
  7. Organise later, or never
  8. Seven themes
  9. Share and export
  10. Capture from anywhere
  11. Forgiving and private
  12. Get Jotter

Your notes are not our data

Most notes apps keep your notes on their own servers, behind an account. Jotter has neither. There is nothing to sign up for, nothing to breach, and no terms that can change under your notes later.

  • No Jotter account — you never create a login
  • No Jotter server — notes sync only through your own iCloud
  • Handwriting, photo text and voice notes are read on your device, never uploaded
  • Every note exports as a Markdown file whenever you like
  • No analytics SDK, no advertising identifiers, no third-party code at all

Built for the moment you think “I need to write this down”

Native Swift and SwiftUI throughout — not a web page in a wrapper. That is what makes the small things possible.

From anywhere, in a second

A New note widget on the Home Screen and Lock Screen, a Control Center button, Siri — “Jot down in Jotter” — and the Share button in any app, into a new note or one you already have.

Organise later, or never

Pin what matters. Write a #tag and it becomes a filter. Make a folder when a set of notes wants a name. Or don’t: everything is always in All Notes.

Forgiving

A deleted note waits in Recently Deleted for thirty days, with Undo right there as it goes. A note that holds something private can be locked behind Face ID.

Yours to keep

Export a note as a PDF or as text, or the whole library from Settings as Markdown files with the photos and recordings beside them, one folder per Jotter folder — a format any app can open, now or in twenty years.

Questions

Do I need an account?

No. There is no Jotter account and no Jotter server. Your notes stay on your device and sync between your own iPhone and iPad through your personal iCloud.

What does it cost?

Nothing. Every feature is free, including the widgets, handwriting and iCloud sync. There is no subscription, no premium tier and no ads. The only purchase is an optional tip in Settings, and it unlocks nothing.

Does it work with Apple Pencil?

Yes. On iPad you can write or draw with Apple Pencil on a page that grows as you go, on blank, lined, grid or dotted paper. On iPhone you draw with your finger.

Can I get my notes out?

Yes, any time. Settings → Export all notes writes every note as a Markdown text file, with its photos and recordings beside it. A single note exports as a PDF or as text from its More menu.

Is my handwriting or my voice sent anywhere?

No. Handwriting and the text in your photos and scans are read on your device with Apple’s Vision framework, and voice notes are transcribed on your device with Apple’s Speech framework. If your iPhone cannot transcribe your language on the device, Jotter keeps the recording and skips the transcript rather than send it anywhere.

Does it work offline?

Yes. Everything lives on your device, so every feature works with no connection, and changes sync the next time you are online.

Is there an Android or web version?

No. Jotter is made for iPhone and iPad only, and needs iOS 18 or later. The things it leans on — widgets, Siri, the Share Sheet, Apple Pencil, on-device text recognition — are exactly what a cross-platform build cannot do well.

Is Jotter a free alternative to Apple Notes?

Jotter is free, with no subscription and no ads, and like Apple Notes it syncs through your own iCloud. It opens straight to a blank note, with checklists, Apple Pencil handwriting, scans and voice notes in the same note.

Where Jotter is compared

Every roundup on this site names competitors and gives every app, ours included, a stated drawback.

See how Jotter ranks on TopRankedApps (our site), next to the best Productivity & Notes apps of 2026.

Jotter is free on the App Store

No subscription, no ads, no account to create.

Download on the App Store

Notes app guides

Honest comparisons that include the alternatives, not only our own app.