ZenNotes: Markdown Notes

Productivity

Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.

Plain markdown notes with live math, diagrams, and tasks; now tasks can be in progress, parents can count their subtasks, and diagrams are drawn as you type. ZenNotes is a Markdown notes app for people who want to own their notes. A vault is just a folder of plain .md files: readable in any editor, portable forever, and never locked inside an app. YOUR VAULT, YOUR STORAGE • Keep notes on your device, in your own iCloud Drive, or in any folder you pick through the Files app. • Keep as many vaults as you like and manage them from one screen — create, rename, move between iPhone and iCloud, switch with a tap. • Use iCloud Drive and the same vault opens on your Mac with ZenNotes desktop. No account, no sync service, no server required. • Self-hosting the free ZenNotes server? Connect the app to it and work in that vault live from your phone. • Everything stays plain markdown on disk. Leave anytime and your notes come with you. WRITE AND READ RICH MARKDOWN • Live preview: KaTeX or Typst math, Mermaid diagrams, TikZ, interactive JSXGraph geometry, function plots, tables, callouts, footnotes, highlights. • Paste a URL and turn it into a bookmark card or a video embed, right in the note. • Wikilinks and #tags connect your notes; nested tags group into a tree; backlinks and connections show what points where. • Excalidraw drawings render on iPhone and are fully editable on iPad. CAPTURE FAST • Quick Notes: one tap and type. • Share Extension: send text from any app straight into your vault. • Daily, weekly, and monthly notes with configurable patterns and templates. ORGANIZE WITHOUT CEREMONY • A vault-wide Tasks view: list, week or month calendar, and a kanban board with custom statuses, parsed from ordinary "- [ ]" checkboxes in your notes. • Whole-note task files: tag a note #task and it carries status, due date, and priority in frontmatter. • Table databases stored as CSV: add rows and fields on the phone, filter by multiple fields with and/or logic. • Tags view, Archive, and a recoverable Trash. MADE FOR THE PHONE • A minimal home screen, a floating button that fans out New / Search / Browse / More, full-screen search and commands, and a slide-in vault drawer. • An editing toolbar docked to the keyboard: headings, bold, checkboxes, lists, links, wikilinks, tags, indent. MADE FOR THE IPAD • The full desktop layout: sidebar, tabs, split panes, a reference pane, outline and calendar panels, drawing editing, and the built-in manual. • Vim mode with a hardware keyboard, for those who want it. PRIVATE BY CONSTRUCTION • No account. No analytics. No tracking. The privacy label reads "Data Not Collected" because nothing ever leaves your device except through your own iCloud Drive. ZenNotes for iPhone and iPad is the mobile companion to ZenNotes desktop (free and open on GitHub). Same files, same renderer, same philosophy: keyboard-first on the desk, local-first everywhere.

  • 5.0
    out of 5
    5 Ratings

New in ZenNotes 1.4 Tasks grow up: an in-progress state, subtask progress, and the full task menu under your finger — plus diagrams that draw while you write. • Mark a task in progress — a task can now be "doing", not just done or not done. Write "- [/]" in any note, or long-press a task and choose "Mark in progress". The editor, the Tasks list, the kanban board, and the calendars all show the same half-filled box, and it's the same plain-text marker ZenNotes desktop reads and writes. • Long-press a task for the full menu — mark done or in progress, set due today/tomorrow/next week, set a priority, forward the task to another note, or delete it. It's the same menu desktop opens with right-click, now a press away in the list, the board, and the calendar. • Parent tasks show their progress — indent tasks beneath a task and the parent counts how many subtasks are done, following your list's structure. And archiving a note now retires its tasks, so finished work stops crowding Today. • Kanban keeps your arrangement — cards stay in the order you dragged them when you leave the board and come back, and a card moved onto Today is due today, not tomorrow. • Diagrams draw while you write — a mermaid block renders right in the editor as soon as you move past it, matching your theme. Launch stays light: the diagram engine still loads only when a diagram actually appears. • Type "->" and get "→" — text replacements, on by default and yours to edit in Settings > Editor > Text replacements. Add your own pairs; they only fire while typing. • Safer self-hosted databases — a flaky connection to your own ZenNotes server can no longer be mistaken for "this database has no schema" (which could overwrite the real one). Errors now surface as errors, and databases work even against older servers. • Also: editor tab size is configurable, heading labels stay readable at every width, and vim motions follow wrapped lines.

The developer, Lumary Labs LLC, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

  • Data Not Collected

    The developer does not collect any data from this app.

    Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

    The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More

    Seller
    • Lumary Labs LLC
    Size
    • 67.2 MB
    Category
    • Productivity
    Compatibility
    Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
    • iPhone
      Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
    • iPad
      Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later.
    • iPod touch
      Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
    • Mac
      Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
    • Apple Vision
      Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
    Languages
    • English
    Age Rating
    4+
    Copyright
    • © 2026 Lumary Labs LLC