Sunday, 6:20 p.m. You want to write down a half-formed idea before dinner gets cold. You open Zen Slate, type three lines, close it. No folder prompt, no account picker, nothing quietly syncing in the background unless you asked it to.
That last detail, nothing syncing unless you asked, is the actual difference this article is about.
The default nobody asks you about
Sign into iCloud on a new iPhone and Notes usually starts syncing the moment you open the app, because the Notes toggle in iCloud settings is on by default for most people. That is convenient, and for most users it is entirely fine. It also means your notes leave the device automatically unless you go looking for the switch that turns it off, and most people never do, because most people never think to.
What Zen Slate does instead
Zen Slate keeps notes on your device by default. Nothing syncs anywhere until you choose Zen Slate Pro and turn sync on, and when you do, it rides your own Apple ID through CloudKit, the same category of private database many independent Apple apps use, not a ZENPRODUCTS server. It is live on the App Store today.
Folders and tags, or categories and tags
Apple Notes organizes around folders and tags, with pinned notes for what you check daily. Zen Slate uses color-coded categories alongside tags and favorites, so a note can carry a project color and still cross-reference under a tag, without nesting folders inside folders to get there.
What the editor covers
- Bold, italic, headings, lists, and checklists
- Code blocks for anything technical
- Images with captions
- Search and filters that stay fast as the library grows
Zen Slate vs Apple Notes at a glance
A fair comparison for people deciding where to keep daily notes. Feature sets change with releases; verify current behavior in each app before you migrate a large notebook.
| Area | Zen Slate | Apple Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Where notes live by default | On your device; nothing syncs until you choose Pro | On device, but syncs to iCloud automatically once Notes is enabled for your Apple ID, which is the default for most people |
| Cross-device sync | Optional, through your Apple ID via CloudKit, with Zen Slate Pro | Built in and free through iCloud |
| Organization model | Color-coded categories, plus tags, plus favorites | Folders, plus tags, plus pinned notes |
| Rich text editing | Bold, headings, lists, checklists, code blocks, images | Rich text, tables, checklists, and drawing |
| Document scanning and handwriting | Not available today | Built-in document scanner and Apple Pencil markup |
| Sharing a note with someone else | Single-user notebook; no shared notes | Shared notes and folders with other people |
| Cost | Free for five slates; Pro removes the limit and adds sync, widgets, backup, and export | Free, built into every Apple device |
| Best for | A dedicated notes app kept separate from the rest of your Apple data | People happy for notes to live in the same iCloud account as everything else |
Trust: what "on your device" buys you here
Notes can hold journal entries, medical details, and half-finished drafts. Zen Slate does not run ads against your text or build a profile from what you write. With Pro, sync rides Apple's CloudKit private database tied to your Apple ID, not a ZENPRODUCTS notes server. Read the Zen Slate privacy policy for the exact wording.
Choose Zen Slate if, stay on Apple Notes if
Choose Zen Slate if you want a focused writing app kept separate from Reminders, Shared Albums, and the rest of your Apple data, and you would rather sync be a deliberate purchase than an assumed default. Stay on Apple Notes if you rely on document scanning, handwriting with Apple Pencil, or sharing notes with other people day to day, since Zen Slate does not cover those jobs today.
For an editor-focused comparison against a paid subscription app, read Zen Slate vs Bear. For how CloudKit sync actually behaves once you turn it on, read Notes that sync across iPhone and iPad, privately. For the wider case for a focused editor, read Distraction-free note-taking on iPhone and iPad.
Start on the Zen Slate app page, download on the App Store, and write one note you would actually open tomorrow. Questions welcome at hello@zenproducts.ai.