How to Change the Background Color of Notes on iPhone and iPad - MacRumors
Skip to Content

How to Change the Background Color of Notes on iPhone and iPad

by

In iOS, you can set the system appearance to Dark or Light Mode, which changes the look of every native app on your Apple device, including Notes. If you set your iPhone or iPad to Dark Mode, for example, each note in the Notes app appears by default as white text on a black background.

light-dark-mode
However, Apple Notes also allows you to switch the background color of individual notes or all of your notes when you're using ‌Dark Mode‌. This means you can make notes appear as black text on a white background, regardless of what system appearance mode you're using. Keep reading to learn how it's done.

How to Change the Background Color of a Specific Note on iPhone and iPad

  1. Launch the Notes app on your iOS device.
  2. Create a note and start typing your note, or select an existing one from the list. (Bear in mind that you won't see the option to change the background for a note unless you type something in it.)
  3. Tap the icon showing three encircled dots in the top-right corner of the note.
    notes

  4. Scroll down the actions menu that appears, then tap Use Light Background.
    notes

How to Change the Background Color of All Notes on iPhone and iPad

  1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or ‌iPad‌.
  2. Scroll down and tap Notes.
  3. Scroll down and tap Note Backgrounds.
  4. Select Dark or Light.
    settings

Bear in mind that the Note app's main menu will continue to use your system-wide appearance setting, despite what background you choose for your notes.

Popular Stories

WWDC26 MR Live Coverage Article

WWDC 2026 Apple Event Live Keynote Coverage: iOS 27, Revamped Siri, and More

Monday June 8, 2026 9:15 am PDT by
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) starts today with the traditional keynote kicking things off at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. MacRumors is on hand for the event and we'll be sharing details and our thoughts throughout the day. We're expecting to see a number of software-related announcements today, headlined by a reset on Apple's push into AI that should see a significant overhaul...
Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple Says CarPlay Ultra is Coming to These Vehicle Brands

Thursday May 21, 2026 11:53 am PDT by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly a year later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. CarPlay Ultra...
macOS Golden Gate Mac

Apple Announces macOS Golden Gate

Monday June 8, 2026 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today announced that macOS 27 is named macOS Golden Gate. Much like Mac OS X Snow Leopard in 2009, Apple said it focused on improving macOS's performance and dozens of underlying technologies this year. Apple says macOS Golden Gate offers quicker AirDrop transfers, faster network file browsing, improved syncing in the Messages app, better Spotlight search suggestions, and other...