Everything Stickies does well, and the four things it does not.
Stickies is free, floats on top, and stays put on the desktop. It cannot hide from a screen share, lock a note, keep a list you can browse, or answer an agent.
Get HushNotesPay once. macOS 14 or later.
One key, already bound
The Make Sticky Service is there once you assign it a key.
Stays over full screen
Stickies floats on top, and full screen is not documented.
Out of the screen share
A sticky note is in the capture like any other window.
Locked with Touch ID
Apple's Stickies guide offers no lock of any kind.
What each one gives you.
Every line Stickies wins is here too.
| Capability | HushNotes | Stickies |
|---|---|---|
| Capture selected text from any app with one key | Yes, one key | PartialA Service you bind yourself |
| Keeps where the text came from | YesApp, title and page URL | Not documented |
| Floats above other apps, full screen included | Yes, full screen too | Floats, yesFull 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 | No |
| Give each note its own paper and opacity | Six papers, 10–100%The paper fades, never the ink | Colour and translucentTranslucent is on or off |
| Works without an account | Yes, none exists | Yes |
| Syncs to iPhone and iPad | NoMac only | No sync |
| Export your notes | NoDoes not ship today | Text, RTF, RTFD |
| Agents can read your notes | Yes, four toolsOff by default, no delete | None |
| Price | $9.99 once33% off at launch | Free |
Keep the stickies. Add a library.
The notes on the desktop can stay there. What you capture while you work now has somewhere to go, and a search that finds it later.
Get HushNotesNine things it does, four it will not.
Stickies covers one of the second list: it exports to plain text, RTF and RTFD.
HushNotes does
- Keep a selection from any app, one key
- Store the app, title and URL with it
- 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
- Set each note’s paper and opacity
- Work with no account, offline, paid once
- Answer an agent, on your machine only
HushNotes does not
- Sync to your iPhone or iPad
- Share a note with another person
- Export your notes anywhere
- Organise anything by tags
One of these is free.
Stickies comes with macOS and always has. $9.99 once, down from $14.99, is the whole price of the other one.
$9.99
One payment, three Macs.
Free
Included with macOS.
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.
It is Apple's mechanism rather than ours, so treat it as a strong privacy measure and not a guarantee, and check it against your own setup before a call that matters.
The awkward ones, answered.
Can Stickies capture a selection already?
Yes, through a macOS Service called Make Sticky. It is not bound to a key on a clean install and Apple's Stickies guide does not document it, so you find it in Keyboard Shortcuts and assign the key yourself first.
Does HushNotes float the way Stickies does?
Yes, and over full-screen apps as well. Apple documents Float on Top for Stickies but says nothing about a full-screen Space, so that row reads Not documented rather than No.
Can I lock a sticky note?
Apple's guide offers no lock for Stickies. Any HushNotes note locks from its gear menu and opens again with Touch ID, or with your account password on a Mac without the sensor.
Can I find an old note again?
Stickies can find across all notes, but there is no list to browse: every note is a window you have to have kept open. HushNotes keeps every note and every capture in one Shelf with instant local keyword search over titles, bodies and a capture's source.
What does screen-share invisibility not cover?
The menu bar item's own window, which AppKit owns and which holds no note content, and a camera pointed at your display. Treat it as a strong privacy measure and not a guarantee.
What does "Not documented" mean?
That the vendor publishes no answer. Nothing there was proven absent, only left undocumented, which is why it does not read No.
