Learn how to use the new built-in Notes app on your Apple Watch to capture quick thoughts, view notes with rich text styling synced from other devices, and more.
The watchOS 26 update packs an Apple Watch version of the built-in Notes app on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. On older watchOS versions, Apple Watch owners had to rely on third-party options like Bear, Notebook, and Microsoft OneNote.
The app lets you create new notes, access your iCloud notes on your wrist, and more, with changes automatically syncing across devices. Follow along with us as we show you how to use the new Apple Notes app on your Apple Watch.
How to use Apple Notes for Apple Watch for the first time
Open the Notes app on your Apple Watch and wait for existing notes to sync via iCloud for the first time. Only iCloud Notes will be synced; notes from external accounts like Gmail or Outlook and locally stored notes (“On My iPhone”) don’t sync with the watch.
When the initial sync finishes, scroll through the app to make sure all your iCloud notes are there, then tap any note to view details.
The Apple Watch version doesn’t support folders like the Notes app for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Instead, everything is on a single pane. Of course, scrolling through hundreds of notes isn’t fun, but you can hit the arrow next to Pinned, Today, Yesterday, Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days, Months, and Years to collapse these categories. This will reduce excessive scrolling to help you find an old entry.
Opening locked notes
To open a locked note, tap it and enter your Apple Watch passcode to unlock the note. To lock the note again, tap the padlock icon in the upper-right corner.
Viewing notes with text styling
You can only view notes with rich text formatting, media, and other extras on your wrist, not create them. The app renders the following text styles on the small screen:
- Title
- Heading
- Subheading
- Bold
- Italic
- Underline
Strikethrough- Monostyled
- Block Quote
- Bulleted, Dashed, Numbered Lists
- Checklist
- Highlights
- Colored text
- Bigger and smaller text sizes
- Centered text, etc.
Inline images are also supported. However, other note attachments, such as PDFs and tables, can’t be viewed in the Apple Watch version of Notes.
Creating a new note
To create a regular note without rich text formatting, attachments, and other bells and whistles, hit the compose button in the bottom-right corner. Type your note using the onscreen keyboard or dictation and hit Done to save it.
New notes created on the watch appear automatically in the Notes app on your iPhone, and vice versa. Once they sync with iCloud, new notes will also be pushed to all your devices that use the same Apple account.
Using Notes complications
The Notes app brings three new complications for your watch face. Hold the watch face until it zooms out a little, then tap Edit.
Now swipe to Complications, tap a spot on the watch face, and choose from three Notes complications. These act as shortcuts to create a new note, edit the last note, or launch the Notes app.
Customizing the Notes app
You can customize some aspects of the app in Settings > Notes, like sort order (date edited, date created, note title). You can also turn off grouping by date, but I don’t recommend doing that, as you’ll need to scroll like an animal to browse all your notes.
Missing features
The constrained interface of the Apple Watch limits what you can do in Notes. I’m not holding my breath for an exact functional replica of the iPhone app, but I do wish Notes for Apple Watch would let me access my existing folders.
And add a search button, please, so I can find the right note more easily. Also, all notes created on the watch are saved in an iCloud folder named “Notes,” but I’d love the option to pick a custom folder for notes created on my wrist.
And wouldn’t it be great if Notes supported selective sync? Like, only sync cherry-picked notes or specific note folders to my wrist. I want to use Notes like a pro, keeping only essential notes on my wrist to keep things simple on the tiny screen.
Your take on Notes for Apple Watch
What are your thoughts on the new Notes app on Apple Watch? Have you tried it yet? If so, what are your favorite features, and how would you improve the app? Please let us know by leaving a comment below.