Text Highlight Colors in iOS 18 Notes

With the release of iOS 18, Apple added dedicated text highlighting to the native Notes app, making it easier to organize thoughts and make key information stand out. This guide covers the specific text highlight colors natively supported in iOS 18 Notes and details how to apply or remove them from your notes.

Supported Highlight Colors

Apple Notes in iOS 18 natively supports five distinct color options for text highlighting:

• Purple
• Pink
• Orange
• Mint
• Blue

When applied, the feature shades the background behind the selected text in a soft pastel tone while shifting the text font itself to a darker, matching shade of that color.

How to Apply Text Highlighting in iOS 18

To use text highlighting in the Notes app:

1. Open the Notes app on an iPhone running iOS 18.
2. Open an existing note or create a new one.
3. Highlight the text you want to format by double-tapping or dragging the selection handles.
4. Tap the Aa formatting button on the toolbar above the keyboard (or select the color icon from the contextual popover menu).
5. Tap the circular highlight icon to reveal the color palette.
6. Select any of the five available colors: Purple, Pink, Orange, Mint, or Blue.

How to Remove Highlighting

To remove a highlight, select the formatted text, open the color highlight menu using the same steps above, and tap the active color again or tap the Remove button (represented by a circle with a diagonal slash). This returns the text to the standard default color and clears the background tint.