MDash: Writing App & Notes
Markdown text editor & reader
Free · In‑App Purchases
MDash 6.5: made for iPhone Duo, with your notes and the open note side by side, and Version History that shows exactly what changed.
MDash is a Markdown editor that keeps your notes as plain text on your device. No lock-in, no account, no sync you did not ask for. Write on iPhone, iPad and now Mac — the full workspace on every screen.
MARKDOWN, RENDERED LIVE
Type plain Markdown and watch the preview update as you type: headings, lists, task checkboxes, tables, code blocks with syntax awareness, links and images. Show the text, the preview, or both side by side.
MERMAID DIAGRAMS — FREE FOR EVERYONE
Describe a flowchart, sequence diagram, Gantt chart, class diagram or state machine in plain text and MDash draws it instantly. Rendering is built into the app: no network, nothing leaves your device.
ON MAC AND APPLE WATCH
The complete MDash workspace runs on macOS — a three-column library, keyboard-first editing and the same live preview and Mermaid rendering. On Apple Watch, browse your library and read any note on your wrist. One purchase covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and Watch.
YOUR LIBRARY, ORGANIZED
• Pinned notes, Last 7 Days, and Trash with restore
• Full-text search across every note, with jump to match
• In-document find and replace with match highlighting
• Attach photos to notes; files stay ordinary Markdown
• Folders keep related notes together; create one right from the sidebar
• Tags under the title, a Tags section in the sidebar, and search by tag
• Smart folders collect notes automatically from the tags you choose
• Scan documents into a note, and search the text inside photos and scans — on device, free
• Import from Obsidian, Bear, Apple Notes, TextBundle or any folder of Markdown files — free
• Version History keeps earlier versions of every note on device, ready to restore — free
EXPORT AND SHARE
• Export Markdown and plain text — free
• Copy as rich text for mail and documents
• PDF, HTML, Word (DOCX), ePub, RTF, JPG and TextBundle export with MDash Pro
MDASH PRO — LIFETIME OR MONTHLY
MDash Pro unlocks iCloud sync across your devices, export to PDF, HTML, Word, ePub and more, and watermark-free Mermaid diagrams. Choose a one-time lifetime purchase or a monthly subscription — both unlock exactly the same features. The monthly subscription renews automatically until cancelled; manage or cancel it anytime in your App Store account settings.
PRIVATE BY DESIGN
Notes are stored on device; sync is optional and uses your iCloud. Mermaid rendering is local. There is no tracking and no account.
Questions or ideas? Leave a review or reach out through the App Store page — MDash is built by an independent developer and shaped by user feedback.
Terms of Use: https://nightcodeapps.com/apps/markdown-editor/terms/
Privacy Policy: https://nightcodeapps.com/apps/markdown-editor/privacy/
more The only issue is the whole app in light mode (OS-level) gives you light tables with very light text, making it unreadable. It doesn't pick up the OS setting, and is basically defaulted to dark mode. I had to switch to dark mode to get tables properly viewable. Still 5 stars because other than that, it's no frills and super useful.
The only issue is the whole app in light mode (OS-level) gives you light tables with very light text, making it unreadable. It doesn't pick up the OS setting, and is basically defaulted to dark mode. I had to switch to dark mode to get tables properly viewable. Still 5 stars because other than that, it's no frills and super useful.
Great and simple markdown editor that Does ExactlyWhat It Says On The Tin. Light mode issue mentioned by BrooksDuBois seems to have been fixed by forcing dark mode, but I’ve no issues with that. Thanks dev.
Great and simple markdown editor that Does ExactlyWhat It Says On The Tin. Light mode issue mentioned by BrooksDuBois seems to have been fixed by forcing dark mode, but I’ve no issues with that. Thanks dev.
It’s a great app with advanced features. I like all the tools and the previews, especially the mermaid diagrams.
It’s a great app with advanced features. I like all the tools and the previews, especially the mermaid diagrams.
Such a great method for visualizing notes and for importing/exporting markdowns to see better!
Such a great method for visualizing notes and for importing/exporting markdowns to see better!
• Notes and note side by side on iPhone Duo
• Version History: see what changed
MDash 6.5 is made for iPhone Duo. Unfolded, your notes sit on one half and the open note on the other, and nothing you tap lands in the fold. Folding, unfolding or turning it keeps your text, selection and undo. In Version History, Changes shows only the lines that differ from the note now: green lines come back if you replace it, red ones go away.
6.5 4d ago
• Quick Open: find any note or command
• Back up all notes to Files as Markdown
• Sort each folder and tag its own way
MDash 6.4: Quick Open also finds headings and commands. On iPhone, touch and hold the magnifying glass. Backup is free in Settings ▸ Backup and asks before it removes most of a backup. Sort By in a folder or tag now sets that list’s own order, on every device with iCloud Sync (Pro). New users start with one question that picks their tips.
6.4 Oct 26
• Write a book in the new Books section, free: chapters in parts, each with a status and its own word goal
• Keep Notes & Research and Characters & places beside the manuscript, never counted or exported
• Set a Daily target by deadline or by words per day, with a streak and an optional reminder
• Add comments to any note and see all of a book’s open comments in one list
• Read Whole Book in one continuous scroll, Mermaid diagrams included
• Export a book with a title page and contents in three styles: Markdown and text free, EPUB, DOCX and PDF with Pro
• Drag a note onto a book in the sidebar to add it as a chapter, on iPad and Mac
• Send ten MDash stickers in Messages, five of them animated, on iPhone and iPad
MDash 6.3 is made for long writing. Every chapter is an ordinary note, so search, Spotlight, links and iCloud Sync (Pro) work for it as for any note. MDash also has a new icon, a white pen on black. If you’re trying Pro, MDash now reminds you before your free trial ends, and swiping a note in the list now always acts on that note instead of moving the screen. Update MDash on all your devices, Apple Watch and Apple TV included, so book chapters stay out of their note lists.
6.3 Oct 20
MDash 6.2 brings templates for new notes, your notes in Spotlight search, drag and drop for photos, and version history that follows you across devices.
• Start notes from templates: begin with Daily Note, To-Do List or Idea, or save any note as a template; a template can fill in today’s date and put the new note in a folder with tags, and your favorites wait on a long press of the compose button, in the Home Screen quick actions and under New from Template in the menu bar on Mac and iPad
• Find notes in Spotlight on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro: a word from a note’s title, text or tags brings it up and a tap opens it; locked notes never appear, and Settings ▸ Privacy ▸ Show Notes in Search turns it off
• Drag photos from Photos, Safari, Files or Finder into a note, drop them on a folder to start a new note, or drag a photo out of a note into another app; photos now paste in both editing modes too
• With iCloud Sync (Pro), Version History now syncs too: restore a version saved on another device and see which device saved each one
• Thanks to your feedback, swiping the sidebar closed no longer drags the note under your finger, tools you add in Settings ▸ Keyboard Tools can be removed and reordered, and a swipe from the left edge goes back on every Settings page
• Formulas now show Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters, a sketch you make bigger can be drawn on all the way down, and exports keep photos upright and sketches at their size in the note
• Update MDash on all your devices, Apple TV included, so templates stay out of their note lists
6.2 Oct 12
MDash 6.1 brings sketches and note reminders, a new welcome for first-time users, and a yearly Pro plan with a 7-day free trial.
• Draw sketches right in your notes with Apple Pencil or a finger on iPhone and iPad: insert one from the / menu or the editor tools, tap it to keep drawing, and find your handwriting in search; the Mac shows sketches as pictures
• Set a reminder on any note like an alarm: a time on the weekdays you choose, or one date that can repeat monthly or yearly; Done and Snooze work right from the notification, the new Reminders list shows what’s overdue and what’s next, and with Pro the Reminders widget lets you tick them off from the Home Screen
• A short tour now welcomes new users, MDash Pro adds a yearly plan with a 7-day free trial next to monthly and lifetime, and Settings ▸ Notifications ▸ Deals & sales lets you choose whether to hear about Pro sales
• Tables get a filled header row in notes, the preview and every export, and Markdown copied from a code editor such as Xcode or VS Code now pastes exactly as written
• The new ? button beside PRO in the sidebar opens Help in one tap, and on Mac every Help guide now uses Mac menus, shortcuts and pictures
• On iPad, the menu bar now has the same menus as the Mac, keyboard shortcuts included
• On iOS 27, tapping a card near the top of the screen no longer scrolls it away and the keyboard no longer covers the Outline sheet on iPhone; notes also finish saving when you leave the app, the iPad sidebar reaches the top of the screen, and Split has a clearer divider
6.1 Oct 10
MDash 6.0 is our biggest update yet: notes look finished while you type, the plain Markdown underneath never changes, and there’s a new blue icon.
• New MDash mode, now the default: headings, bold, checkboxes, links, photos, tables, math and Mermaid diagrams take shape as you type, and the note stays plain Markdown; Settings ▸ Typography ▸ Writing ▸ Open notes in (Settings ▸ Editor on Mac) switches back to Markdown or Classic
• Text pasted from Safari, Mail, Pages, Notes, Google Docs or Word keeps its headings, lists and links as Markdown, and typing / at the start of a line opens an insert menu
• Link notes by title with [[Note title]], with suggestions as you type, and see which notes link to this one in the new Links tab of Note Info (ⓘ)
• Write math formulas in LaTeX and GitHub-style callouts for notes, tips and warnings; both appear in the preview, in exports and on Apple Watch and Apple TV
• Outline lists a note’s headings in a side panel or sheet and jumps to a section in one tap, and the new Typewriter Scrolling keeps the line you’re typing in the middle
• Sort By Date Modified, Date Created or Title, with pinned notes kept on top and the order synced by iCloud Sync (Pro) to Apple Watch and Apple TV; you can now also change a note’s creation date in Note Info
• A single Return now shows as a new line in the preview and in exports (turn off Keep Line Breaks for the old look), and Settings ▸ General ▸ Diagram Colors gives Mermaid diagrams a fresh default palette with three more to choose from
• On iPad and Mac, a floating formatting bar docks at the bottom or either side of the note; on Mac, Settings and Help open in their own windows, and with Pro, AI assistants such as Claude Code and Codex can search, read, create and organize your notes through Settings ▸ MCP
6.0 Oct 2
MDash 5.2 puts a guide to every feature inside the app.
• New in Settings ▸ Help: seventeen short guides, one per feature, each opening with what it does and why, then a picture of the app and the steps
• Guides run from iCloud Sync, Folders & Smart Folders and Tags to Export & Formats, Note Locking and Widgets, and Pro features carry a PRO mark
• Help is free, built into the app with nothing to download, and written in all 19 of MDash’s languages
• Help tips, the Thursday notification in Settings ▸ Notifications, cover seven more topics such as Version History, Note Locking, Widgets and Pinning Notes, and tapping a tip (clicking on a Mac) opens its guide
• Tips your device can’t act on are skipped, so a Mac never gets a document-scanning tip
• Opening a note from a widget while MDash isn’t running now reliably lands on that note
• Clearer wording: search and sharing now talk about notes rather than files
5.2 Sep 24
MDash 5.1 puts a lock on any note and brings your library to the Home Screen.
• Lock any note behind Face ID, Touch ID or Optic ID, with your device passcode or Mac login password as the fallback
• Unlock once and every locked note stays open until you choose Lock Now, lock your device, or leave MDash for longer than Settings ▸ Privacy ▸ Relock after allows
• Adding a lock is part of MDash Pro, while opening a locked note and Remove Lock stay free, so a lapsed purchase never holds a note hostage
• Locked notes are end-to-end encrypted in iCloud when Advanced Data Protection is on, and Apple Watch and Apple TV show that a note is locked without ever storing its text
• Update every device to MDash 5.1 before you lock a note — an older version shows a placeholder where the text should be
• Four Home Screen widgets with MDash Pro: a rendered note, a list from any folder, smart folder or tag, your library at a glance, and a Checklist you tick off without opening the app
• MDash Pro is now sold as a monthly subscription as well as the one-time lifetime purchase, both unlocking exactly the same features
5.1 Sep 22
MDash 5.0 is a milestone release: MDash arrives on Apple Vision Pro and Apple TV, and the iPhone and iPad editor gains a Tools keyboard, the font of your choosing, and a restrained sense of touch.
• Write in space on Apple Vision Pro — the complete editor, your whole library and iCloud sync, in a glass window you place anywhere
• Slip into Writing Focus on Apple Vision Pro, a dimmed immersive space whose depth you set with the Digital Crown
• Read your notes on the big screen with the new Apple TV app: browse Folders, Smart Folders and Tags, then open any note full screen (Pro)
• Reach every editor tool from the new Tools keyboard, and keep four favourites in the quick bar above it
• Choose any typeface installed on your device in Settings ▸ Typography ▸ Font, each name shown in its own lettering
• Feel a light tap confirm the things you do — pinning, deleting, exporting — and nothing the app did on its own
• Your lifetime Pro purchase unlocks Apple Vision Pro and Apple TV too, at no extra cost
5.0 Sep 14
MDash 4.5 brings the editor closer to the tools you write code in, and makes your library quicker to get around.
• Line numbers in the editor: every source line gets its number, and a wrapped line keeps just one. Turn them off in Settings ▸ Typography
• YAML front matter is kept exactly as you wrote it and shown as a collapsible row above the note — made for Obsidian notes, Jekyll posts and Claude Code skills
• Add front matter from the formatting bar or the ⋯ menu. Markdown and plain-text exports keep it, and imports no longer throw it away
• Tap the title above your notes list to jump straight to any collection, folder or smart folder
• Long-press a sidebar row (right-click on Mac) for more: a new note straight into a folder, New Folder, New Smart Folder and Empty Trash
• New Note opens with the keyboard already up, so you can start typing right away
• Swiping the sidebar open or closed no longer opens a note or switches lists by accident
4.5 Sep 12
MDash 4.4 makes your notes easier to read and your library easier to recognise at a glance.
• Code blocks are syntax-coloured everywhere now — live preview, every export and Apple Watch. Twenty languages, free for everyone
• Give folders and smart folders their own colour and icon, so you can spot the one you want without reading a single label
• Editing is easier to find: the toolbar names the mode — Edit, Preview or Split — instead of asking you to decode a symbol
• The first line of a note now looks like the title it is, and the note scrolls smoothly under the navigation bar
• iCloud sync catches up as soon as the app opens, so a device you had closed is up to date by the time you start reading
• “Last synced” now tells you the truth, and Apple Watch says what it is actually waiting for instead of spinning forever
• On Mac: a tidier File menu with a real New Note command, and a welcome screen that looks right again
4.4 Sep 8
MDash 4.3 is a reliability update: your Pro purchase and your notes now follow you to every device.
• Bought MDash Pro on your iPhone? Your Mac and iPad recognise it on their own — no need to tap Restore Purchases
• The Pro screen now confirms you already own MDash Pro instead of offering to sell it again
• iCloud sync: notes, folders, tags and photos sync reliably again between iPhone, iPad and Mac
• Apple Watch: the watch asks your iPhone for its Pro status by itself, tells you what it is waiting for, and gets a Try again button
• Settings → Sync shows an Apple Watch row so you can see whether the link to your watch is working
4.3 Sep 7
MDash 4.2 brings your notes in from other apps — and keeps every version of them safe.
• Import: bring over Obsidian vaults, Apple Notes Markdown exports, Bear backups, TextBundle and TextPack packages or any folder of Markdown files — images, tags, dates and folder structure preserved (sidebar ⋮ → Import…)
• Version History: every note keeps its earlier versions on your device — open ⋮ → Version History to copy one, restore it as a new note or replace the current text (free)
• New welcome notes introduce Version History and organising with folders, smart folders and tags
• Tapping the rendered preview no longer switches you into Markdown
• Sync: the “Upload failed” badge clears once the upload goes through, and repaired uploads retry on their own
4.2 Sep 6
MDash 4.1 gets your notes out of the app in more formats — and helps you find them faster.
• Export to Word (DOCX), ePub, RTF, JPG and TextBundle, alongside PDF and HTML (Pro)
• Search results show the matching line with your query highlighted, plus the note's date
• Note statistics: tap ⓘ in the note toolbar for words, characters, paragraphs, reading time and creation date
• Pick your split layout — side by side or top and bottom — on iPhone, iPad and Mac
• Dates in the note list and search results follow the app's language
• Thursday tips now introduce app features instead of Markdown syntax
4.1 Sep 4
MDash 4.0 brings your notes to Apple Watch and gives your library real structure.
• Apple Watch app: browse your library and read any note on your wrist, synced through iCloud (Pro)
• Folders: keep notes together, with a new folder created right from the sidebar
• Tags: tag notes under the title, browse them in the sidebar, and search by tag
• Smart folders: collect notes automatically from the tags you choose
• Scan documents straight into a note with the built-in scanner
• Search finds text inside your photos and scans — all on device, free
• A proper title field at the top of every note
• Open .mmd and .mermaid files in place from Files, Mail or Messages, and create notes with Siri and Shortcuts
• Weekly reminders you control from Settings: a Monday check-in and a Thursday tip
• Faster, steadier and less crash-prone across the board
4.0 Sep 3
MDash comes to Mac. Version 3.0 brings the complete workspace to macOS — the three-column library, keyboard-first editing, live preview and Mermaid diagrams, with one purchase covering iPhone, iPad and Mac.
• Mac app with the full library, editor and live preview
• Mermaid diagrams render natively on Mac
• iCloud sync keeps notes current across iPhone, iPad and Mac (Pro)
• Refreshed App Store screenshots and description
3.0 Aug 27
MDash 2.1
• MDash now speaks Japanese — the entire app is fully localized, reviewed for natural, native-quality wording
• Smoother iPad navigation: swipe between the sidebar, note list, and editor, or expand a note to fullscreen with a tap
• Settings rows are now easier to tap
• Bug fixes and polish throughout
2.1 Aug 22
MDash 2.0 — Sync is here!
• iCloud Sync (Pro): your notes now follow you across iPhone and iPad, automatically and privately through your own iCloud
• Per-note sync status, so you always know what's up to date
• Conflict resolution you control: review versions manually or let the newest win
• Redesigned Settings with a dedicated Sync section
• Faster typing and smoother editing
• Bug fixes and polish throughout
2.0 Aug 21
- Rename and delete files — long-press any file in the list
- All Mermaid diagrams in a document now render in the preview
- Smoother typing and preview: no more flicker or stutter
- Your work is safer: files are never overwritten, and the app reopens your last document at launch
- Improved translations and easier-to-tap buttons
- Many stability and reliability fixes
1.1 Jul 24
Your best markdown and mermaid editor
1.0 Mar 6
• Notes and note side by side on iPhone Duo
• Version History: see what changed
MDash 6.5 is made for iPhone Duo. Unfolded, your notes sit on one half and the open note on the other, and nothing you tap lands in the fold. Folding, unfolding or turning it keeps your text, selection and undo. In Version History, Changes shows only the lines that differ from the note now: green lines come back if you replace it, red ones go away.
more Version 6.5 4d ago
Data Not Collected The developer does not collect any data from this app.