Here’s how to save your Apple notes locally

Thanks to iCloud, you have your notes directly on all your Apple devices. But what if you don’t want your notes synced between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac at all? Fortunately, you can save notes locally.

By default, Apple uploads almost everything on your devices to the cloud. In iCloud you will find all your contacts, calendar appointments, photos and therefore also notes. Previously you had the option in the Notes app to manually save notes on, for example, your iPhone or Mac, but you can no longer make that choice. Presumably, it happened too often that users could no longer find documents because they had stored them in different places.

Although the option is no longer available in the app, you can still set up another way that your notes are no longer stored in iCloud by default. Go to the Institutionsapp on you iPhone and then scroll down for the option Notes† In this menu you will find Default account and behind that is presumably iCloud.

Tap to change the default account to on my iPhone, after which any notes you then create will only be saved on your phone. In the Notes app, you can now easily move notes to other folders by holding your finger on a note and choosing move†

You can also choose to have notes saved in Gmail by default. You will find this under Noteson the left side of the menu if you’re signed in to your Gmail account.

On a Mac

If you want to save notes on your Mac, start the app on this device Notes on and click Notes / Preferences and check the option Enable the ‘On My Mac’ account at.

While many users probably like having their notes on all their devices, there could be plenty of reasons why you don’t want this. For example, if you share your user account on your Mac with others in your household and don’t want them to read your notes.

You may want some notes not to sync because you already have a backup of the most important items. By storing them in one place, you prevent your iCloud from filling up with all kinds of nonsensical things.

If you are not happy with Apple’s Notes app, you can of course also opt for another note-taking app for iOS.