How to Change Font in iPhone Notes in 2026: A 5-Step Complete Guide

When you open iPhone Notes and try to highlight or take notes with different fonts, you’ll quickly find that the available styles are disappointingly limited—you can’t even change the typeface. That’s just how Apple’s Notes app works: it’s simple to the point of being a bit bare-bones. But if you know how to use it, there are ways to make it look like you’ve customized the font. And if you need more powerful font customization, there are actually mature alternatives available.

This article isn’t just a tutorial. It lays out both “what you can change in iPhone Notes” and “how much font control you actually need.” We’ll pit it head-to-head against Notion, comparing style, color, size, and cross-platform sync, to see which one you should choose.

iPhone Notes vs. Notion: A Quick Overview

iPhone Notes is Apple’s built-in, no-download note-taking app. It follows a minimalist approach, covering the basics like bold, italic, and heading styles. With the iOS 18 update, it also added text color. Notion, on the other hand, is a productivity tool that bundles notes, databases, and documents together. It offers three font options, freely adjustable size and color, not to mention embedding, syncing, and collaboration features.

Price: iPhone Notes → Free
Platforms: iPhone Notes → iOS, macOS, web (iCloud); Notion → iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, web
Key difference: iPhone Notes lets you “jot things down quickly,” while Notion helps you “turn notes into output.”
This article compares four dimensions—font style, color, size, and platform integration—and provides clear recommendations at the end.

Dimension 1: Font Style Options

The “font” options in iPhone Notes aren’t what you might think. There’s no typeface menu; you can only apply built-in paragraph styles: Title, Heading, Subheading, Body, and Monospaced. After selecting text, tap the format button (the small “Aa” icon) to apply bold, italic, underline, or strikethrough—but you still can’t change the typeface.

Notion blows iPhone Notes out of the water here. It offers three typefaces (Default, Serif, and Monospaced), and you can switch between them on any text with a single tap. It also includes bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, code, and color highlighting, and you can mix and match them as you like. In comparison, iPhone Notes can’t even do basic typeface switching—it just fakes variation with paragraph styles.

→ This dimension: Notion is the clear winner.

Dimension 2: Font Color Customization

Before iOS 18, iPhone Notes couldn’t change text color at all. To get colorful notes, you had to open the Mac version of Notes, make the changes, and then sync back to your phone to see them. Now you can finally select text on your iPhone, tap “Format,” and press the color icon to choose from six colors: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. It’s serviceable, but Notion gives you a full color palette—you can use any color you want, set a default color, and even change the background color.

→ This dimension: Notion offers more freedom, but iPhone Notes has at least improved from zero to usable. Overall, Notion wins.

Dimension 3: Font Size Adjustment

iPhone Notes has no font size slider, and you can’t adjust the point size. You can only go to “Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Larger Text” to change the system-wide font scale, which forces all apps to become larger at once. That’s not practical if you just want the note text bigger and the title smaller.

Notion, by contrast, lets you choose among three sizes for a line of text: small, medium, and large. You can also mix sizes on the same page, giving you nearly unlimited layout freedom.

→ This dimension: Notion completely outclasses iPhone Notes.

Dimension 4: Cross-Platform Sync and Future Use

iPhone Notes syncs across Apple devices via iCloud, but if you need to access it on Windows or Android, you’re stuck with the iCloud web version, which isn’t as smooth. Notion, on the other hand, is cloud-native, with native apps on every platform and zero delay while editing. It also lets you export notes as PDF, Markdown, or HTML, making it easy to reuse your content elsewhere.

→ This dimension: Notion is clearly better for users who need to work across devices.

What Are Each One’s Unique Advantages?

iPhone Notes’ Unique Advantages

• No installation, no learning curve: It’s on your phone by default, and even your grandparents can pick it up instantly.
• Document scanning, handwriting, and drawing: Built-in scanner lets you insert photos directly, and you can write notes with Apple Pencil.
• Password lock: Lock individual notes directly for simple yet effective privacy protection.

Notion’s Unique Advantages

• Flexible fonts and layout: Change typefaces, adjust sizes, and add colors—all with intuitive controls.
• Database-style notes: Turn notes into Kanban boards, calendars, or Gantt charts. It’s not just for recording; you can manage projects too.
• Plenty of templates and community resources: Hundreds of ready-made templates, from meeting minutes to travel planning.

Conclusion: Which One Should You Choose?

• If you just need to jot down ideas on the fly, don’t want another app to download, and won’t use it across different systems → iPhone Notes is sufficient. The color feature in iOS 18 can barely help you highlight key points.
• If you want notes with genuinely customizable fonts, colors, and sizes—or want to turn notes into projects or reports → Notion is the more mature choice.
• If you also need quick handwriting and document scanning without giving up font formatting → you can use both. Let iPhone Notes be your quick-capture inbox and Notion be your knowledge base.

In a nutshell, for most people who want to make their notes “look good,” Notion is currently the most complete solution. If you’re still on the fence, download the free version of Notion and try it out with your own workflow. Chances are you won’t go back.

References

• Create and format notes on iPhone - Apple Support (Taiwan)
• How to Change Font Color and Size in iPhone Notes? These Methods Teach You - Tech Girlz
• Format Notes on Mac - Apple Support (Taiwan)
• How to Change Font Color in iPhone Notes: iOS 18 New Feature Lets You Highlight with Text Color! - Tech Girlz
• How to Change Fonts on iPhone: Full Guide 2026