Apple Notes Is Amazing… But Here’s What’s Still Broken

7 Missing Features

May 02, 2025

In a recent post, I praised Apple Notes for what it’s become and how I even start replacing my Notion workflow with it.

And I stand by that. It’s fast. It’s native. It’s surprisingly powerful. But let’s not get carried away.

Because for every “Wow, this is slick,” there’s a “Wait, why can’t I just…?”

If you’ve been using Apple Notes as your daily driver you know this.

So let’s reality-check.

Here are some downsides of the Apple Notes app, workflow, and ecosystem.

Why Apple Notes Is Still a Beast

Just to remind you: Apple Notes can already do some impressive things in 2025:

Linking between notes like a personal wiki
Audio recordings with transcriptions
Scanned documents and OCR for text
Collapsible headers, checklists, and tables
Fast sync (and offline use)
Strong privacy + encryption

If you use it alongside Apple Reminders, it becomes a native stack that rivals Notion in many ways, for me at least.

But now let’s get to the wishlist…

1. Note Link Sharing Is Awkward at Best

Let’s say you write a brilliant idea in Notes and want to share it with a friend.

Apple Notes lets you share a whole note via iCloud collaboration. Or just a copy. You can obtain a link from the share menu or send via fitting applications.

But what if you want to simply get a URL for a note to open. It’s not as easy as it should be. A shame.

A simple right-click menu item with “Copy Link to Note” would be pretty cool, Apple!

2. No Apple Watch App (Seriously?)

You can scribble notes with your Apple Pencil. You can dictate notes with Siri. You can organize an entire second brain on your iPhone or iPad.

But you can’t even glance at your notes on Apple Watch.

There is still no dedicated Apple Notes app for Apple Watch. I don’t know why.

Sure, you can ask Siri to “take a note,” and she’ll comply… but you can’t browse, edit, or even read your notes back without pulling out your phone.

Meanwhile, Reminders has a solid Watch app.

So what gives?

Even a basic Watch view for pinned notes, checklists, or a scratchpad would go a long way. For now, you’re stuck with without it on Apple Watch, or with a third-party solution.

3. No “True” Local File System

Apple Notes lives in iCloud. That’s fine. But some people want real local file system access on easy mode. Sort of like Obsidian does it.

Sure, you have the option to use Apple Notes locally. You can choose to save certain notes to your device only. But you don’t have easily accessible local files for these notes.

Backup is harder because of this, too. Of course, iCloud can be your backup, but locally saved notes don’t have a backup, unless you use Time Machine.

Other backup options? Basically:

PDF export (one note at a time… yikes)
Copy + paste
Use a third-party app to scrape your own content

Compare that to Notion (which offers Markdown export with folders) or Obsidian (which literally is a local file system), it’s not great.

Sure, Apple Notes is smooth. But what happens if you want to leave?

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4. No Templates or Automation

Apple Notes has no real concept of templates. You can create a note and duplicate it, sure, but that’s hardly a feature. I make up for this with plugins I recently introduced here. But it would be nice to have templates natively. Even Apple Reminders has templates now.

There’s no:

Template gallery
“Insert template” option
Dynamic fields like dates or placeholders
Integration with Shortcuts to auto-fill notes with variables

This isn’t a deal-breaker if you’re writing casual notes.

But if you’re managing blog drafts, client SOPs, or recurring planning templates, it’s painful.

5. Tags Are Great, Until They’re Not

Yes, Apple finally added tags to Notes relatively recently. And they work well!

You can filter notes, build Smart Folders, and mimic a GTD system, or in my case create my Forever✱notes framework.

But tags have a downside:

Tags only exist as flat strings. There’s no hierarchy. No nested tags. No grouped views. No aliases.

And the tag management UI? Isn’t really there.

You can rename a tag or delete it. That’s it.

6. No Note Version History

Accidentally deleted a paragraph in a note? Hit CMD+Z as fast as you can, because once you closed the app… too bad.

There’s no “undo” once the app was quit.

No “note history” like in Google Docs or Notion. No version control. For a platform that values reliability, this could be greatly improved.

Even a simple “revert to last version” or “history” button would be a lifesaver.

7. Collaboration Is Limited (Unless You’re All Apple)

Collaboration exists, yes. You can share notes with other iCloud users.

You can @mention someone, and they’ll get a notification. This is all awesome and “just works” brilliantly… if you’re an Apple user.

But if you’re not on an Apple device? Or not signed in with iCloud? Or just not particularly tech-savvy?

It’s not so great.

Some of this is by design. Apple wants you in their ecosystem. I get that. But a few things could be improved anyway.

Should You Still Use Apple Notes?

Yes, if you’re an Apple user, you should.

If you’re solo, or working with other Apple users, Apple Notes is still a fantastic tool:

Fast
Private
Secure
Deeply integrated with the system
Simply powerful

But if you need shareable links, cross-platform access, backups, automation, or team workflows?

You might need to look elsewhere, like Notion, Obsidian, or even more simple competitors like Bear Notes.

The good news is that Apple Notes is still evolving. With Apple Intelligence creeping into iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, we’ll likely see smarter suggestions, summaries, and maybe even AI-powered templates in the future.

The Bottom Line

No app is perfect. You can’t be super simple and very complex at the same time. That shows here.

Apple Notes can a great productivity system — especially when paired with Reminders — but it’s not perfect.

Use it for what it’s good at: fast capture, organized reference, deep focus.