Apple Notes is the better fit when…
- You want the fastest note on any iPhone
- You share notes and lists with family
- It’s a grocery list, not a library
iki vs apple notes
Keep Notes. Add a library.
Apple Notes is excellent, free and already on your phone, and IKI doesn’t want to replace it. Quick thoughts belong in Notes. The things you save to come back to need a different home.
Apple NotesIKI
Reads videosNo: Videos stay attachmentsYes: Yes
Transcribes voiceYes: Audio recordings with transcriptsYes: Yes
Picks up screenshotsNo: Text in images is searchable once you add themYes: Yes
Answers with sourcesNo: No questions over your notesYes: Yes
Runs on the phonePartly: On the device or in Apple’s private cloudYes: Yes
Apple Notes is the best junk drawer ever shipped: instant capture, iCloud sync, handwriting, document scans and audio recordings with transcripts, all free and preinstalled. For jotting and lists it’s hard to beat, and we use it daily. It covers less of the other half of remembering. A saved link becomes a preview rather than the article, videos stay attachments, you can’t ask questions across your notes, and notes live in a database rather than in files you can touch. IKI covers that half: full articles, screenshots with their text read, voice notes and reels transcribed, search by meaning and answers with sources, stored as markdown on your device.
IKI is the better fit when…
- You save reels and videos and want to find them by what was said
- You want answers with sources from what you saved
- You save links and want the whole article kept, as a file
side by side
The details.
| Question | Apple Notes | IKI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, preinstalled | Free; Pro $6.99/mo or $49/yr; Founder $99 once (500 seats) |
| Voice | Audio recordings with transcripts | Recorded and transcribed on the device, then searchable and askable |
| Video | Kept as attachments | Speech and on-screen text become searchable |
| Screenshots | Text in images is searchable once you add them | New ones arrive by themselves, text already read |
| Saving a link | A preview card, not the content | The full text, fetched, cleaned and kept |
| Search | Keyword | By meaning and by exact words |
| Ask your library | No | Yes, with sources; says “not in your library” when it isn’t |
| AI | Apple Intelligence summaries of note text | The same on-device models, applied to everything you save |
| Handwriting and Pencil | Excellent | Handwritten pages become searchable text |
| Where your notes live | iCloud and a database on the device; no file access | Markdown files on the device, visible in the Files app |
| Format and export | Per-note markdown via the share sheet (iOS 26); no bulk export on iOS | Already files, Obsidian-compatible; nothing to export |
| Account | Apple Account for iCloud sync | None |
Apple Notes details checked in September 2026.
credit where it’s due
Where Apple Notes wins.
Zero setup
Free, preinstalled, and the fastest path from thought to note on any iPhone.
System integration
iCloud sync across every Apple device, document scanning and notes shared with family.
Quick, shared notes
For disposable and collaborative notes it’s the right tool. IKI isn’t trying to be your grocery list.
moving over
How to move over.
- 1There’s nothing to migrate in bulk, because Notes has no bulk export on iOS.
- 2For a note that belongs in a library: open it, tap Share, choose Export as Markdown and send it to IKI. It becomes a file and a card.
- 3Screenshots of old notes work too. The phone reads the text.
Start with one save.
It’s free to start, and every save is a file you own.
Free · iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac · Made for iOS 27
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