Highlighting Color Options in iOS 18 Notes

Apple’s iOS 18 introduces dedicated text highlighting and color customization directly within the Notes app, giving users five distinct color options: Purple, Pink, Orange, Mint, and Blue. This article explores each available color, explains how these accents interact with existing typographical styles—such as titles, headings, bolding, and lists—and outlines the best ways to pair colors with formatting to create organized, scannable documents.

The Five iOS 18 Highlight Colors

iOS 18 provides a streamlined palette designed to maintain high readability across both Light and Dark modes. When applied, these options tint both the selected text and its immediate background:

• Purple: A deep, regal accent that provides a strong visual anchor without overwhelming standard text.
• Pink: A vibrant, eye-catching shade ideal for urgent action items and critical reminders.
• Orange: A warm, energetic tone that draws immediate attention to warnings, key takeaways, and deadlines.
• Mint: A soft, refreshing green that indicates success, completed tasks, financial notes, or approved steps.
• Blue: A calm, neutral tone suited for informational callouts, reference links, and contextual annotations.

Complementing Custom Typography and Styles

Pairing iOS 18’s colors with the built-in formatting tools enhances visual hierarchy and prevents visual clutter.

1. Titles and Headings

Applying Orange or Purple to Title and Heading styles creates immediate structural separation. Because iOS 18 automatically resizes text for hierarchy, using a bold color on major section headers establishes clear visual anchors before diving into detailed body sections.

2. Collapsible Sections

iOS 18 adds collapsible section headers. Applying Blue or Mint to these headers signals a categorized cluster of information. Blue works well for technical or archival data, while Mint helps identify secondary reference material that can remain collapsed until needed.

3. Bold, Italic, and Underline Accents

Combining inline styling with color increases emphasis:

• Bold + Pink: Best reserved for critical alerts, blocking issues, or hard deadlines inside body text.
• Italic + Blue: Ideal for source citations, verbatim quotes, or contextual notes that should remain distinct from core copy.
• Strikethrough + Mint: A clean way to mark completed milestones or resolved issues while keeping the content legible.

4. Block Quotes and Monospaced Text

Pairing Purple with block quotes turns standard callouts into distinct thematic sidebars. For code snippets or monospaced text, a Mint or Blue highlight keeps technical syntax separated from surrounding narrative prose.

Best Practices for Readability

To maintain a clean and accessible aesthetic:

• Limit to two colors per note: Select one primary accent color for major structure (e.g., Purple for headings) and one secondary accent for inline callouts (e.g., Orange for tasks).
• Leverage contrast in Dark Mode: The iOS 18 color palette automatically adjusts contrast levels between Light and Dark modes. Avoid stacking multiple bright colors side by side to ensure the system’s adaptive contrast remains comfortable to read.