The rumor mill is churning as we draw closer to WWDC2025, and one of the interesting developments being discussed is a report from 9To5Mac that claimed Apple Notes in iOS 19 iOS 26, will finally get Markdown export capabilities. This caught the attention of many, including the person who actually invented Markdown.
John Gruber, the creator of Markdown, shared his thoughts on this potential new feature on his weblog. For those who don't know, Markdown, which Gruber developed back in 2004 with significant input from Aaron Swartz (RIP!), is a lightweight markup language designed for creating formatted text using a plain text editor. Its main advantage is that it is easy to read and easy to write.
When the news first broke, some interpretations suggested Apple Notes would gain full Markdown support, transforming it into an application where users could directly type and see Markdown syntax, much like how specialized editors like Obsidian operate. These tools are intended for users to work directly within the Markdown framework for all their note-taking. Gruber himself indicated that he does not believe Apple Notes should become a full-fledged "Markdown editor," even as an option. He stated that such a change would be a "huge mistake."
His reasoning is rooted in his original vision for Markdown and his view of Apple Notes' purpose. He reiterated that he initially designed Markdown as a "text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers" and for contexts requiring plain text file storage. He feels Apple Notes serves a different, valuable role with its current WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) rich text editing. This interface, he argues, is excellent for quickly capturing thoughts, particularly on an iPhone, and aligns with the Macintosh philosophy of user-friendliness. He pointed out that creating a syntactically incorrect markdown is trivial, whereas a malformed note should not be possible with Apple Notes.
Despite his reservations about a complete Markdown overhaul for the editing experience, Gruber finds the prospect of exporting notes in Markdown format very appealing. He wrote that this specific capability "sounds awesome." He pointed out, quite rightly, that Apple Notes' current export functions are rather limited, primarily offering PDF and Pages document formats. Adding Markdown export would provide a much more flexible way for users, especially those in the "niche" he identifies with, to move their content out of Notes and into other applications.
Gruber did express curiosity about how Apple might handle images embedded in notes during a Markdown export, as image handling can be a tricky aspect of Markdown.
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