The Notes App Might Be The Most Intimate & Unhinged Part Of Someone’s Phone

The Notes app is where thoughts become ideas, ideas become Tweets, and Tweets get workshopped. It’s also where apologies are drafted (especially if you’re a celebrity), breakup anti-ghost texts are constructed, and passwords are hidden for safekeeping. The entire make up of our lives resides within the confines of the Notes app, which is why people on social media are making the case that the app is the most intimate — and maybe even unhinged — part of our phones. Think about it: Do you really want people to know what you write in there?

I mean, let’s face it: no one is able to craft the perfect flirty message on the first try. Everyone knows DMs have to go through at least three rounds of edits from the group chat before they’re ready, and if it weren’t for the Notes app, we’d be prematurely hitting that “Send” button way too often. Of course, that’s not the only thing Notes is good for. In fact, the tool is clutch for pretty much anything from making to-do lists to jotting down your dreams first thing in the morning.

The internet’s recent obsession with the iPhone feature likely began around May 21, when Twitter user @CH3RRYMOCHA’s Tweet about the way girls tend to use the tool went viral. The user posited that you can typically find a number of mundane things such as grocery lists, travel plans, and baby names in a girl’s Notes, as well as personal journal-like entries that aren’t exactly meant to be shared with others, like “gut-wrenching paragraphs about worst life experiences,” explorations of childhood trauma, and more. The tweet has been viewed over 35.6 million times as of June 6, and has received nearly 92K likes, so clearly it’s relatable.

Then, another revealing tweet about the feature went viral a few days later, this time from user @chepkirui_m. “Going through your notes app after you've healed is so funny wah I was really going through it,” wrote the creator, along with a series of laughing and crying emojis. What is it about our Notes app that makes us want to pour out our souls?

The theory has even made its way to TikTok, and if you thought your Notes were all over the place, just wait until you see how these creators are using theirs.

Creator @gersonderulo took her followers on a “tour” of her Notes app on May 16 to show viewers why she would be “f*cked” if someone gained access to her app entries, saying, “They will literally learn the deepest, deepest, depths of my soul.”

So what exactly are in these incriminating Notes app entries, you ask? Or maybe a better question would be: what isn’t? The creator seemingly keeps a list of anything you can think of, from favorite words and shower thoughts to “life rules” that include not saving someone’s number until after the third date, and “genius ideas” such as opening an actual club called Club Penguin. She even keeps track of the little things in life that make her happy, as well as all her pet peeves, so ya — pretty much everything you need to know about the TikToker can be found in her Notes.

Similarly, there’s also a trend going around the platform, called #notesapptour, where people give a brief glimpse into what their Notes apps look like via the slideshow tool on TikTok. The hashtag has over 13.2 million views as of June 6 and is ripe with chaotic content.

No matter how you choose to use the tool, the Notes app is a reflection of who you are through and through. And though it can be cringe, it is nice to scroll through your entries and see how your thoughts and feelings have evolved over the years every once in a while. Who knows — maybe you’ll find a “genius idea” you forgot about in the process.