Support for Note Buddy

About Note Buddy

Note Buddy is a personal note-taking app designed for iPhone Duo, with companion access on iPad and Mac. A note is one scrolling page containing handwritten, typed and attached sections in the order you added them. Notes sync between devices through your private iCloud database.

Free features and optional beer tips

All features are free, with unlimited notes. Handwriting, typing, automatic to-do markers, attachments, private iCloud sync, optional Reminders integration and Apple Intelligence features on supported devices do not require a purchase.

If Note Buddy is useful to you, you can shout me a beer, or part of one, to help cover development costs. Open Settings → Tip Jar → Buy Me a Beer and choose a sip, a swig, half a beer or a beer. The App Store shows your local price before confirmation. Each tip is a separate one-time payment, can be repeated, and unlocks nothing. There is no subscription.

A small invitation may appear after you have created ten notes. Choose Not Now to dismiss it for 30 days. After a tip, automatic invitations stop; the tip jar remains available in Settings. A purchase failure never limits your notes or features.

Create a note

Choose New Note. If you have allowed Calendar access and a meeting is currently in progress, Note Buddy uses that meeting’s title, time and attendees. Otherwise it gives the note a date-and-time title, which you can edit.

Calendar access is optional. You can create, edit and sync notes without it.

Handwrite or type

On iPhone and iPad, switch between the pencil and keyboard. Each kind of content stays in its place on the same page, and new sections continue at the bottom.

On Mac, handwriting is read-only. You can view handwritten sections, type new content and work with action items, but the editable PencilKit canvas is available only on iPhone and iPad.

Add a photo or file

Use the paperclip in the note toolbar to take a photo, choose one from your library or attach a file. On iPhone and iPad, tap a photo or PDF to open it and use Apple’s Markup tools. On Mac, attachments open in Quick Look.

Note Buddy reads text in photos on-device with Apple Vision. It reads text from PDFs with PDFKit or, for scanned pages, Vision. This text becomes searchable and can contribute to summaries and action items.

Automatically flag a to-do with an asterisk

Start a line or end a paragraph with *, either handwritten or typed, to automatically flag it as a to-do. For example, write * Send the proposal or Send the proposal *. This shortcut is free and does not require Apple Intelligence.

Reminders access is optional and controls whether action items can be added to Apple Reminders.

Find a summary and action items

Choose Find Action Items. Note Buddy first recognises handwriting and attachment text on-device, then uses Apple’s on-device Foundation Model on supported devices to write a short summary and find tasks, owners and due dates.

Apple Intelligence must be available and turned on for model-generated results. The asterisk shortcut works independently of model-generated results. If Apple Intelligence is unavailable, Note Buddy also uses simple on-device matching for cues such as TODO, Action, AI:, → or an empty checkbox.

Private Cloud Compute is not enabled in current builds.

Use Reminders

With optional Reminders access, Note Buddy can add open action items to a Reminders list you choose. Completing a linked item in either app updates its completion status in the other when Note Buddy refreshes it. Turn automatic adding off in Note Buddy Settings if you prefer to add items manually.

Share a note

Choose Share to share a text version through the system share sheet. Handwritten sections are included as images, and attached files are included as separate items. You choose the destination; ChargeOut does not receive a copy.

iCloud sync

Sign in to the same Apple Account and enable iCloud Drive on each device. Sync is often quickest while Note Buddy is open and can also continue through Apple’s background CloudKit service.

A note is not appearing on another device

Confirm both devices are online, use the same Apple Account, have iCloud Drive enabled and are running a compatible version of Note Buddy. Open the app on both devices and allow time for iCloud sync to complete.

iCloud is unavailable

Note Buddy can fall back to local storage when the iCloud container cannot be opened. Check Apple’s iCloud status and your device settings before adding important notes you expect to see elsewhere.

Device requirements

Note Buddy requires iOS or iPadOS 26 or later, or macOS 26 or later. Apple Intelligence features also require compatible hardware, an available model and Apple Intelligence enabled in system settings.

On iPhone Duo with iOS 27.1 or later, Note Buddy adapts to the device’s posture: a compact layout when closed, an inner-display workspace with sidebar navigation when open, and a note-above-keyboard layout when propped on its side like a laptop.

Delete a note

Use Delete Note from the note’s context menu or swipe action where available. The deletion syncs through iCloud to your other devices. Deleting a note cannot be undone, so share anything you need to keep first.

Contact

For support, email info@chargeout.net. Please describe your device model, operating-system version and what happened. Do not send private note contents unless you choose to.