How to pin notes on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Learn how to pin notes in order to do a better job of organizing your stack of notes in the Apple Notes app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Pinned notes in Apple Notes app on iPhone

When you pin a note in the Notes app, this keeps the item at the top of the list. And you can pin several notes. So you always have quick access to those items you need most. This could include notes you use over and over, like a constantly updated list of tasks, an editable daily summary, or a group of web links for reference.

Since you can pin and unpin notes easily, you can keep them at the top temporarily as well. You might pin a note you need for a week, a specific project, or a current assignment and then unpin it when you finish with it.

Since pinned notes sync via iCloud, you only need to pin a note on one of your Apple devices, and it will appear at the top of the Notes app on all your iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

Pin a note on iPhone or iPad

  1. Open the Apple Notes app.
  2. Go to the All iCloud or another folder where you have your notes.
  3. Swipe right on a note and tap the pin icon. You can also touch and hold a note and tap Pin Note from the menu.
  4. If the note is already open, tap the three dots icon from the top and choose Pin.
Pin note in iPhone Notes app

This note will appear under the Pinned heading and stay on the top of the folder (see the first image of this article). Any new note you create will be stacked below your pinned notes.

You have the ability to collapse the pinned notes section. This is extremely handy for keeping things nice and neat in the Notes app. You can simply tap the arrow to expand when you need a pinned note and tap again to collapse it when you’re done.

Collapse Expand Pinned Notes iPad

Unpin a pinned note: Repeat the swiping gesture from left to right and tap the crossed pin icon. You can also touch and hold a pinned note and tap Unpin Note.

Unpin note in iPhone Notes app

Pin notes on Mac

  1. Open the Notes app and go to a folder to see your notes.
  2. Right-click over a note name and choose Pin Note.
Right-click to pin note on Mac

You can also swipe right on a note using your Mac’s mouse or trackpad and click the pin icon.

Pin note in Notes app on Mac with a right swipe

Yet another method is to drag a note from the Notes list to the Pinned section.

Unpin pinned note: Right-click over a pinned note and select Unpin Note. You can also swipe right over a note and click the slashed pin icon.

Unpin pinned note on Mac

Pin elsewhere: