Notes that remind you at a place on iPhone

The iPhone can already remind you of something when you get somewhere: Apple's Reminders app will notify you when you arrive at or leave a location. That is the right tool for a single to-do. When the thing you need at that place is a whole note, like a shopping list with a photo of the part, or last visit's measurements, TackNote for iPhone lets you tack the note itself to the place, and it finds you when you arrive.

TackNote for iPhone is a free beta on TestFlight. Here is how place reminders work on the iPhone, what Reminders already covers, and where tacking a note to a place fits instead.

The built-in way: location reminders in Reminders

In Apple's Reminders app, you tap the Location button on a reminder, pick one of the suggested places or a custom location, choose whether to be notified when arriving or leaving, and set the perimeter of the area. Location Services has to be on for it to work (Apple Support).

If what you need at the door is one line of text, like "return the library book", Reminders is free, already on your phone, and does the job well. It even handles the leaving case, which TackNote does not.

When a reminder is not enough

A reminder is a line. A lot of what people need at a place is more than a line:

• At the hardware store: the list, plus a photo of the broken part and its measurements.
• In a parking garage: a photo of the level and the pillar number.
• At a job site or a client's office: what was said last time, including the recording, and the checklist of what is still open.
• At the meter cupboard or the storage unit: the photo that shows which switch or which box.

In TackNote the note is the container. The text, the checklist, the photos, the voice recording with its transcript and the place all live on the same note. When the notification tells you that you have arrived, everything you need is already on the note.

How to tack a note to a place in TackNote

1. Stand where the note belongs. Open the note and tap the pin.
2. Call it something. Give the place a name, like "The hardware store". The name is what the notification shows.
3. Choose how close is close enough. A slider sets the area from 50 to 500 meters. The default is 150.
4. Tap Tack it here. The first time, TackNote asks for location access and permission to send notifications. It does not ask at launch, only when you choose to tack a note.

The next time you walk into that area, a notification shows the place's name and the note's title. Open TackNote and the note is at the top of the Places screen, which lists tacked notes nearest first. To change your mind, open the note's place and tap Move it here or Untack this note.

Seeing which places are being watched

The Places screen lists every tacked note, and each one says what state it is in: "Watching" with the distance, "You are here now", or a plain explanation when location is off. There is a reason for that.

iOS lets an app watch only a limited number of places at a time. Rather than asking you to manage that budget, TackNote watches the 18 tacked places nearest to you and re-ranks them as you move. A note that is too far away says so ("It will start watching as you get closer") instead of silently never firing. We would rather tell you a note is not being watched than let you find out at the store.

While Using or Always

Location access matters here. With While Using, notes reach you while TackNote is open. With Always, a tacked note can reach you when the app is closed. You set this in the iPhone's Settings, and the Places screen tells you which one is in effect.

Where your location goes

Where you are stays on the iPhone. TackNote uses it to tell when you have arrived at a place you tacked a note to, and nothing about it is sent to us. Transcription and summaries on the same notes also run on the phone, and notes are sealed on the device with AES-256.

There is one more location feature, and it is deliberately separate. In Settings, "Remember where notes are written" records the spot each new note was made, so a site visit or a meeting sits on a map under Places. It is off until you turn it on, it does not change notes you already have, and the map says how many notes have no location rather than pretending the pins are everything.

Where it falls short today

• You tack a note where you are standing. There is no address search yet, so you cannot tack a note to a store you have not been to. Reminders can do that.
• Arriving only. TackNote does not alert you when you leave a place.
• It is a beta. TackNote for iPhone is on TestFlight, not in the App Store yet, and it needs iOS 26 or later.
• Syncing with the Mac is not in the beta yet. TackNote for iPhone is built to pair with TackNote for Mac (a separate purchase), with notes traveling end to end encrypted through your own iCloud. Until that ships, the phone keeps its own notes.

On the Mac, TackNote does the same thing for your work instead of your whereabouts: a note is tacked to a window, a browser tab, a document or a folder, and shows up only when that work is in front. Our comparison of sticky notes apps for Mac covers where it fits, and pinning a note to a browser tab shows the idea in practice.

Common questions

Can an iPhone remind you of something when you arrive somewhere?

Yes. Apple's Reminders app can notify you when you arrive at or leave a location, as long as Location Services is on. TackNote for iPhone does the same for a whole note, so the checklist, photo or recording on it arrives with the alert.

Does TackNote track where you go?

It watches only the places you tack notes to, so it can tell when you arrive. Where you are stays on the iPhone. Recording where each new note was written is a separate setting, and it is off until you turn it on.

Will a tacked note reach you when the app is closed?

With location access set to Always, yes. With While Using, notes reach you while TackNote is open. The Places screen says which one applies.

Is TackNote for iPhone in the App Store?

Not yet. It is in public testing on TestFlight, which is free to join, and it needs iOS 26 or later.