For iPhone · iPad · Mac

Notes that remember why

A Markdown notes app where tasks, goals and purposes live inside the note you're writing — and the knowledge graph builds itself.

Type # and keep writing

Everything is created from the note you are already in. Type # and a picker appears: #task, #goal, #purpose, #link, #tag, #note, #remind, #date and the rest of the twenty-four supertags. No modal forms and no slash menus — the note underneath stays Markdown.

A real WYSIWYG editor

You never see raw Markdown syntax on screen. Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, highlight and text color compose freely. Headings, bullet and numbered lists, checklists, code blocks and math render live. Tables let you add and remove rows and columns without ever breaking their shape. Images, video, audio and PDFs sit inline in the text and stay playable where you put them.

Two graphs, kept separate

PurposeNotes keeps two graphs side by side: a Purpose graph you shape yourself — purposes hold goals, goals hold tasks — and a knowledge graph that organizes itself out of the links you write.

Canvas

An infinite canvas with more than forty shapes and flowchart symbols, connectors that snap from connection point to connection point, text cards you can write in and color, and a freehand pen with a highlighter and an eraser. Press Tab inside a text card and a new card appears. Undo and redo are buttons on the canvas, and each keeps at least your last twenty actions.

Today and Analytics

Today lists the tasks, goals and purposes that are actually due today. Analytics shows totals, statuses, percent complete and creation time for every purpose, goal and task. The weekly review is one you run yourself, and finishing it saves the review as a note.

Capture from anywhere

Get things into your vault without opening the app first.

Bring your notes with you

Your writing is never locked in. Import runs on Mac; export runs on iPad and Mac.

Sync without an account

There is no PurposeNotes account and no PurposeNotes server. Optional sync runs through your own iCloud private database, and everything that syncs is end-to-end encrypted on your device before it leaves. Attachments are sealed on disk under a per-file key. Your passphrase plus your Apple ID are the only way in; we keep no copy of the passphrase and cannot recover your notes for you.

Optional on-device AI

On supported devices PurposeNotes can summarize a note, suggest which goal a task belongs to, and transcribe audio, all locally. Sending anything to a cloud model is off by default, uses an API key you supply, asks you before every single request, and writes a row into an AI Access Log you can read.

Quiet by design

No streaks, no badges, no confetti, no congratulations. The only notifications are the reminders you set yourself and the occasional signal from your own data — a purpose gone quiet, a goal slipping behind. Every surface works offline, and a note is saved the moment it lands on your device, not when it reaches a server.

Requirements

iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Requires iOS 17 or later, or macOS 14 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon.

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