Everything Apple Notes does well, and the three things it does not.
Apple Notes is free, syncs everywhere and exports to Markdown. It cannot take a selection from any app in one key, stay out of a screen share, or clear every note off the screen from another app.
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 each capture to keep the name of the app it came from
- 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
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.
Many people use both: Apple Notes for the archive, HushNotes for what is on screen right now.
What each one
gives you.
Every line Apple Notes wins is here too. Each cell comes from the vendor’s own documentation.
| Capability | HushNotes | Apple Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Capture selected text from any app with one key | Yes, one key | No, Quick Note takes a Safari selection by right-click |
| Keeps where the text came from | Yes, The app, and the page from Safari or Chrome | Partial, A Safari link, via Quick Note |
| Floats above other apps, full screen included | Yes, full screen too | Quick Note, yes, Full screen not documented |
| Hidden from screen sharing and screenshots | Yes, by default | 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 |
| Lock a note behind Touch ID | Yes, per note | Yes, With documented exclusions |
| Paper per note, opacity per window | Six papers, 10–100%, The paper fades, never the ink | Not documented, Appearance settings are app-wide |
| Works without an account | Yes, none exists | Yes, The On My Mac account |
| Syncs to iPhone and iPad | No, Between Macs, through iCloud | Yes, free |
| Export your notes | No, Does not ship today | PDF and Markdown |
| Agents can read your notes | Yes, four tools, Off by default, no delete | Not documented, Shortcuts can organise, not read |
| Price | $9.99 once33% off at launch | Free |
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
- Hold scans, drawings and attachments
- Export your notes anywhere
Apple Notes covers all four of the second list.
One of these is free.
Apple does not sell anything of yours to keep it that way, and this one is paid once.
Nothing has to move.
The library stays where it is. The line you just pulled out of a log comes here.
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 doesn’t offer this.
The awkward ones,
answered.
Asked the way people ask them.
No, and most people should not. Keep the long-lived library, the scans and anything the phone needs in Apple Notes, and use this for the working line.
No. There is no import, so you start from today and leave the old library where it is.
No. There is no iPhone or iPad app. HushNotes can sync between your Macs through your own iCloud, which is optional and off by default. Apple Notes syncs to your phone for free.
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.
That Apple publishes no answer on that one row. Nothing there was proven absent, only left undocumented, which is why it does not read No.