Three good Mac note apps, and the gap they leave.
Capture with its source, floating over full screen, out of the screen share, locked with Touch ID. One small app does all four. None of the three does.
Floats on topOut of screen sharesOne-key capture$9.99 once
The short answer.
If you only read one part of this page, read this.
Choose HushNotes if…
- You save lines from many apps and want one key to do it
- You want notes over your work, full-screen apps included
- Your notes must stay out of screen shares and screenshots
- You want every note gone with one key, and back again
- You’d rather pay once than subscribe
Choose Apple Notes if…
- You need to sync to your iPhone or iPad
- You need to share a note with another person
- You need to hold scans, drawings and attachments
- You need to export your notes anywhere
- Free matters most. iCloud past 5 GB from $0.99 a month.
Choose Stickies if…
- You need to export your notes: Text, RTF, RTFD
- Free matters most. Included with macOS.
Choose Bear if…
- You need to sync to your iPhone or iPad
- You need to export your notes anywhere
- You need to organise anything by tags
- You need to find the words inside a picture
Many people use both: their library where it is, and HushNotes for what needs to be on screen right now.
What each one
gives you.
Every line the other apps win is here too. Each cell comes from the vendor’s own documentation.
| Capability | HushNotes | Apple Notes | Stickies | Bear |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capture selected text from any app with one key | Yes, one key | No, Quick Note takes a Safari selection by right-click | Partial, A Service you bind yourself | Partial, Right-click only |
| Keeps where the text came from | Yes, The app, and the page from Safari or Chrome | Partial, A Safari link, via Quick Note | Not documented | Not documented |
| Floats above other apps, full screen included | Yes, full screen too | Quick Note, yes, Full screen not documented | Floats, yes, Full screen not documented | Floats, yes, Full screen not documented |
| Hidden from screen sharing and screenshots | Yes, by default | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| Hide every note from another app, with one key | Yes, one key, ⌥⇧H, and it relocks | No, ⌘H hides the front app only | No, ⌘H hides the front app only | No, ⌘H hides the front app only |
| Lock a note behind Touch ID | Yes, per note | Yes, With documented exclusions | No | Yes, on Pro |
| Paper per note, opacity per window | Six papers, 10–100%, The paper fades, never the ink | Not documented, Appearance settings are app-wide | Colour and translucent, Translucent is on or off | Not documented, Themes, scope not documented |
| Works without an account | Yes, none exists | Yes, The On My Mac account | Yes | Yes, CloudKit, no registration |
| Syncs to iPhone and iPad | No, Between Macs, through iCloud | Yes, free | No sync | Yes, on Pro |
| Export your notes | No, Does not ship today | PDF and Markdown | Text, RTF, RTFD | Yes, full on Pro |
| Agents can read your notes | Yes, four tools, Off by default, no delete | Not documented, Shortcuts can organise, not read | None | Yes, wider reach |
| Price | $9.99 once33% off at launch | Free | Free | $2.99 a month |
Nine things it does, four it will not.
HushNotes does a few things well. Here are the limits too, so you can decide with both lists in front of you.
HushNotes does
- Keep a selection from any app, one key
- Keep the app it came from, and the page from a browser
- Float over full-screen apps
- Stay out of screen shares and screenshots
- Clear the desk from wherever you are
- Lock a note behind Touch ID
- Give each note its own paper; opacity per window
- Work with no account, offline, paid once
- Answer an agent, on your machine only
HushNotes doesn’t
- Sync to your iPhone or iPad
- Share a note with another person
- Export your notes anywhere
- Organise anything by tags
Apple Notes and Bear cover all four of the second list. Stickies exports to plain text, RTF and RTFD.
Two of these are free.
$9.99 once is under four months of Bear Pro, and nothing after that. That is 33% off at launch, down from $14.99.
Pay once, keep it forever.
No account to make, no server behind it, and nothing to cancel later.
Your notes are on your screen,
not in the share.
Every note window is left out of screen shares, recordings and screenshots, on by default. Apple Notes, Stickies and Bear don’t offer this.
The awkward ones,
answered.
Asked the way people ask them.
Between your Macs, through your own iCloud, if you switch it on. It is off by default, and your Mac keeps the original. There is no iPhone or iPad app.
No. HushNotes is a Mac app, macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel. There is nothing to install on a phone.
No. There is no import, so you start from today and keep the old library where it is. Most people run HushNotes alongside Apple Notes rather than instead of it.
The menu bar icon, which macOS always shows and which holds no note content, and a camera pointed at your display. Treat it as a strong privacy measure and not a guarantee.
Only if you switch it on. The listener is off by default and stays on the loopback address. Four tools, read-only to begin with, no delete and no edit, and locked notes are filtered out.
That the vendor publishes no answer. Nothing there was proven absent, only left undocumented, which is why it does not read No.