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Best Markdown Note-Taking Apps for iPhone (2026)
Quick answer
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal is the top-ranked of the 7 tiered markdown note-taking apps on iPhone, at S tier with 4.6/5 from 28,527 ratings.
Tier list
Top 5
Key takeaways
- Bear Markdown Notes & Journal ranks #1 of the 7 tiered markdown note-taking apps, S tier with a score of 95 out of 100.
- The highest-ranked free app with no in-app purchases is Obsidian (#3).
- Bear Markdown Notes & Journal has the most App Store ratings here: 28,527, averaging 4.6/5.
- 4 of the 7 tiered apps reach S or A tier.
- Bear Markdown Notes & Journal carries Apple's Editors' Choice badge.
What belongs in this list
Take notes in Markdown and keep them as formatted text.
Not here: A plain text notes app alone; A rich text editor with toolbar buttons alone; A Markdown file viewer alone; A meeting transcription tool alone; A code editor alone
How we pick
For this list we ask the App Store the same searches a person would, in several countries, and keep every app it returns. A model reads each app's listing and rejects the ones that only mention the use case. Every app that stays is scored out of 100 from four parts, each 0 to 100 and averaged: its App Store rating, how many people rated it, where the App Store itself ranks it for this list's searches, and how recently its current version shipped. An app showing Apple's Editors' Choice badge gets a fifth part of 100, which can only lift its score. Apps whose maker has verified ownership get a small score component, because an active maker is a sign the app is kept up to date. It never decides a tier on its own. Updated daily. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. Read the full method →
Compare every app
| # | App | Tier | Score | Rating | Ratings | Price | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Bear Markdown Notes & JournalBest overall | S | 95.3 | 4.6 | 28,527 | Free + IAP | |
| 2 |  MWeb - Markdown Writing, NotesMost recently updated | A | 89.8 | 4.5 | 1,795 | Free + IAP | |
| 3 |  Obsidian - Connected NotesBest free | A | 89.6 | 4.4 | 9,949 | Free download | |
| 4 | A | 88.0 | 4.7 | 3,532 | Free + IAP | ||
| 5 |  Smolpad - markdown notesprovisional | C | 60.8 | 5.0 | 2 | Free + IAP | |
| 6 |  Notelane - Markdown Editorprovisional | D | 54.1 | 4.2 | 21 | Free download | |
| 7 |  TakeNote: AI Markdown Notesprovisional | F | 40.9 | 3.8 | 6 | Free download |
Questions people ask
What is the best markdown note-taking app for iPhone?
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal, S tier, ranked #1 of 7, rated 4.6 by 28,527 people.
Which markdown note-taking apps are free?
7 of 7 are free to download: Bear Markdown Notes & Journal (S), MWeb - Markdown Writing, Notes (A), Obsidian - Connected Notes (A), NotePlan - To-Do List & Notes (A) and more. 4 of them sell in-app purchases. 3 report no in-app purchases.
Which markdown note-taking app has the best App Store rating?
NotePlan - To-Do List & Notes at 4.7 from 3,532 ratings.
How many markdown note-taking apps reach S or A tier?
4 of 7.