Updated 16 October 2026
Apple Notes is for notes you want to keep and reread. Prod is for ideas you need to catch before they're gone, then sort and come back to.
They do different jobs, and many people will use both.
Apple Notes is for notes: text, lists, photos and scans you want to keep and come back to. It's free, it's already on your iPhone, and it syncs through iCloud. It has folders, tags and smart folders, Quick Notes you can open over any app, and you can share and collaborate on notes with other people.
Prod is for ideas: the half-formed thought you need to catch before it's gone, and decide about later. Prod gives every idea a place in a review, and can bring it back to you after a few days, so it doesn't sink under everything else you've saved.
| Prod | Apple Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Catching ideas, then sorting them | Keeping notes you want to reread |
| Organising | None needed. Ideas wait for a swipe review: Active, Paused, Send or Archive | Folders, tags and smart folders |
| Brings ideas back | Yes, a nudge about each idea after a few days | No |
| Quick capture | Capture button, Home Screen widget, Siri and Shortcuts, Apple Watch | Quick Note over any app or from Control Center; Siri |
| Apple Watch | Capture by dictation, Scribble or keyboard; complications | Since watchOS 26: create, view and pin notes; Apple says to edit them on iPhone, iPad or Mac |
| Rich content | Text ideas, with optional details and tasks | Text, checklists, tables, photos, scans, drawings |
| Sharing | Send an idea on through the share sheet | Share and collaborate on notes |
| Price | Free; Prod Pro is optional | Free, built in |
If you mainly want to keep things, Apple Notes may be all you need. Recipes, meeting notes, a packing list, a scanned receipt, a note you share with your family: that's what Notes is for, and it does it well. It's free and already on your devices.
Choose Prod if your ideas tend to disappear into Notes and never come out again. A notes app keeps everything, which is exactly why ideas get buried there. Prod keeps ideas apart from everything else, asks you to sort them when you're ready, and nudges you about the ones you haven't looked at.
Yes, and many people will. Use Prod to catch ideas and sort them. When an idea grows into something you want to write up and keep, send it on through the share sheet, for example into Notes.
For ideas, yes. For everything else you keep in Notes, no. Prod isn't a notes app, and it works well alongside Notes.
You can. The difficulty is that nothing brings them back, and an ideas folder tends to become a place where ideas go to be forgotten. Prod is built around a review step and nudges for exactly that reason.
Yes. Since watchOS 26, Notes on Apple Watch can create a new note with Siri or the keyboard, and view and pin notes. Apple says to edit existing notes on your iPhone, iPad or Mac. Prod on Apple Watch saves the idea and gives it a place in your next review.
Yes. Prod is free to download and use. Prod Pro is an optional upgrade that adds unlimited ideas, Resurfacing, a Weekly Prod and detailed Insights.
Prod is free on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
Questions? See Support or email support@getprod.app.