Sticky Notes for Mac

Sticky Notes for Mac That Behave Like Paper

Notes that behave like paper.

Write on the top sheet, peel it off the pad and stick it to your desktop or MacBook screen. Checklists, a Touch ID lock and four papers, free to start.

Download on the Mac App Store

Free download · macOS 13 Ventura or later · No account

Your AI assistant can leave you a note

Notes From Your AI Assistant

Your AI Assistant Can Leave You a Note

Most sticky notes wait for you to type. With Peel & Stick, the AI assistants you already work with can leave notes on your screen too: on paper that feels real, signed, and safe.

Hand a long job to Claude Code, Codex, Gemini or any assistant that runs on your Mac, and get on with your day. When the job is done, a result is ready, or a reminder you asked for is due, a note peels onto your screen.

Notes arrive at the top right, one step down and to the left of the last.

  • It Tells You Who Left ItEvery note carries a small sparkle and its sender’s name, “From Claude” or “From your assistant”, so you never mistake it for one you wrote.
  • Your Assistant Knows It LandedEach note gets an answer back: on your screen, on your pad, or turned away and why. Your assistant can tell you instead of guessing.
  • It Sizes Itself to FitShort notes are square; longer ones grow into tall slips of paper, all lined up neatly at the top right.
  • Nothing Gets LostIf a note can’t go on screen, it waits on top of your pad.
  • Safe by DesignIt’s off until you turn it on, and only assistants you give your private key to can write. Notes are always plain text: links and code are just words, and nothing in a note can run. Hidden characters and impersonating signatures are filtered out.
  • PoliteAt most 3 notes a minute and 20 an hour. They never steal focus, and nothing ever leaves your Mac.

Set Up in a Minute

  1. Turn it onIn Settings ▸ “AI Assistant”, turn on “Let your AI assistant leave notes on your screen”.
  2. Copy the instructionsClick “Copy Instructions for Your Assistant”. They include your private key, so give them only to your assistant.
  3. Give them to your assistantPaste them into a chat with it, or add them to your project’s CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md.

ProIncluded with Peel & Stick Pro.

Notes From Your AI Assistant: the Guide

Peel & Stick is an independent app, not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft or any other AI provider. All product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Peel

Peel It Off. Stick It Anywhere.

A sheet is glued along its top edge. Pull from the bottom and the glue holds, then gives, and the paper curls away in your hand. Let go on your desktop and it stays where you set it down.

Try it: drag the bottom of the top sheet off the pad.

  • Above Your WindowsA pinned note floats above your other windows and follows you to every Space.
  • Never Takes FocusTick a checkbox on a pinned note without leaving what you’re doing.
  • The Size It WasA note lands at the size and shape of the sheet it came from, tilted a little, like paper.
  • Blank Sheets GoPeel a sheet with nothing on it and it’s tossed, so it never takes a spot on your desktop.

A pinned note is for reading and ticking. To change the words, double-click it and it goes back to the pad for editing. Sticky Notes on Your Mac Desktop

Pads

Three Pads on One Board

The “Board” is one frosted tray holding three pads, with your pens lying beside them. Pick a pad with ⌘1, ⌘2 or ⌘3 and start writing.

“Tall pad” Free

A tall slip for lists. Each sheet you peel hands you the next color: Mint, Canary, Soft Pink, Vellum Blue.

“Vellum pad” Free

Starts with Vellum Blue, which looks solid on the pad and turns see-through once you pin it.

“Cloud pad” Pro

A pad of clouds you write on in raised letters. The name is about the shape, not cloud storage: nothing syncs.

“Classic pad” Free

Prefer one pad? ⌥⌘B swaps the Board for the single yellow Classic pad. Your notes stay where they are.

All Four Pads A Simple Notes App for Mac

Paper

Paper With a Grain You Can See

Four papers are free: Canary, Soft Pink, Mint and Vellum Blue. Peel & Stick Pro adds eight more, from Kraft to Chalkboard, and four cloud styles: 16 in all.

  • Generated, Not PhotographedEach paper’s grain is drawn by the app, the same on every launch, with fiber in Kraft, Linen and Washi.
  • A Band of GlueThe top 17% of every paper sheet is the glued band (clouds have none). A plain first line becomes the note’s title there.
  • Readable by DefaultEvery paper’s own text color keeps at least 6:1 contrast, dark papers included.
  • See-Through VellumPin a Vellum Blue note and your desktop shows through it, softly blurred.

See Every Paper

Choose a Paper

Canary · Free

Choose an ink

Pick up a pen: Pen

Write

Write It, List It, Draw It

Type, and the first line becomes the title in the glued band. Make lists, tick boxes, or put the pen to paper.

  • Formatting That Stays SimpleBold, Italic, Underline and Strikethrough, plus bulleted and numbered lists.
  • Hand-Drawn CheckboxesEvery box is drawn slightly differently, and the tick goes in as a pen stroke.
  • Nine InksGraphite to Magenta, each mixed for light and dark paper, or any color you pick, with a contrast readout.
  • Pens on the TrayThe Pen and the Eraser are free. Peel & Stick Pro adds the Marker, the Highlighter and the Fountain Pen.

A To-Do List on Your Desktop Handwritten Sticky Notes

Air

It Notices the Air

Sweep the pointer quickly past a pinned note, or set a window down beside it, and its free edge lifts, then settles. Clouds lean and shed wisps instead.

Sweep the pointer quickly across the notes.

  • No permission needed: no Accessibility, no Screen Recording.
  • Reduce Motion turns it off completely.

Private

Private When It Needs to Be

Lock a Single Note

Lock any note and its words stay hidden until Touch ID, your Apple Watch or your login password opens it, whichever your Mac supports. When you lock it, you can add a PIN as another way in. Locking is free on every plan.

  • Locked notes stay out of search and notification text.
  • They close again when your screen sleeps, and pinned ones after 15 minutes untouched.
  • A locked note’s words are encoded, not encrypted: the lock decides who reads them in Peel & Stick, not who can open the file.

Lock Sticky Notes on Mac

Kept Out of Screen Shares

Choose “Keep stickies private” under “When you share your screen”, or set it note by note with “Show When Sharing Screen”, and pinned notes stay out of screen sharing, recordings and screenshots.

When you share your screen “Keep stickies private”

Apps that capture your whole display in their own way may still show them, and the pad, the Corkboard and the Vault aren’t hidden.

Hide Notes When You Share Your Screen Notes During Meetings

Always at Hand

One Shortcut Away, From Any App

Press ⌥⌘N wherever you are and “Quick Stick” hands you a fresh sheet on the pad, ready for typing. No Accessibility permission needed.

  • “Quick Stick”, ⌥⌘N A fresh sheet from any app. Quick Note Shortcut
  • Drop text on a pad Drag text from any app onto a pad and it becomes a new sheet on that pad.
  • In the menu bar “Quick Stick”, the Corkboard, the Vault and Settings are one click away. Turn off “Show in the Dock” and Peel & Stick lives only up there. Your notes stay pinned either way. Notes in the Menu Bar
  • Three Shortcuts actions “Create Note”, “Pin Note” and “Set Reminder”. Reminders arrive only while Peel & Stick is running. Sticky Notes With Shortcuts

Press the keys

Displays

Every Screen, Every Space

Each pinned note remembers the display it’s on. Unplug that display and its notes move to your main screen, in the same relative spot.

  • “Corkboard Overview”, in the menu bar or with ⌥⌘Space, lays your notes out as cards on cork across all your displays, up to 48 at a time.
  • Quit and open Peel & Stick again, and your pinned notes come back where you left them.

Sticky Notes on Multiple Monitors

Your Mac

Your Notes Stay on Your Mac

Peel & Stick has no server and doesn’t send your notes anywhere.

  • No accountOpen it and write. There’s nothing to sign up for.
  • No analytics, no trackingNo advertising either. The privacy manifest declares no data collected.
  • No third-party codeBuilt only on Apple’s own frameworks.
  • Real filesChoose a folder and every unlocked note is also saved there as a readable file you can back up and move. Locked notes stay inside Peel & Stick.
  • One folder, nothing moreA sandboxed Mac app: outside its own storage, Peel & Stick can reach only the folder you pick.
  • No sync, by designNothing syncs to other devices. Your notes are stored on this Mac.

Back Up Your Sticky Notes

Free & Pro

Free to Start. Pro When You Want More.

No account and no time limit on the free version. Pro adds paper, pens and room on your desktop.

Free

  • Up to 3 notes pinned at once
  • 4 papers: Canary, Soft Pink, Mint and Vellum Blue
  • The Tall and Vellum pads, and the Classic pad
  • The Pen and the Eraser
  • Locking, checklists, screen-share privacy, “Quick Stick”, the Corkboard and Shortcuts

Peel & Stick Pro

  • As many pinned notes as you like
  • Notes from your AI assistant, signed and in plain text
  • All 16 papers, clouds included
  • The Cloud pad
  • The Marker, the Highlighter and the Fountain Pen

Peel & Stick Pro: monthly or yearly, or a one-time purchase. Yearly and the one-time purchase include Family Sharing.

Prices are shown in the App Store for your country, and purchases are handled by Apple. If a subscription ends, every note still opens and stays editable, and pinned notes stay where they are; the Pro papers and pens lock again.

Free Sticky Notes for Mac

Guides

Get More From Your Sticky Notes

Step-by-step guides to what Peel & Stick does, from pinning a checklist to hiding notes on a call.

Sticky Notes That Stay on Your Mac Desktop

Peel a note off the pad and drop it on your Mac desktop. It floats above your other windows and follows you to every Space.

Let Your AI Assistant Leave You a Sticky Note

Claude Code, Codex, Gemini or any assistant on your Mac leaves you a signed note when a job is done.

Lock Any Sticky Note on Your Mac

Lock any single note on your Mac and open it with Touch ID, your Apple Watch, your login password or a PIN. Free on every plan.

Keep Your Sticky Notes Out of Your Screen Share

Keep pinned notes out of screen shares, recordings and screenshots that respect macOS window privacy, per note or for all.

A To-Do List That Sticks to Your Desktop

Write a checklist on a sticky note, stick it on your Mac desktop and tick its boxes without leaving the app you’re in.

A Fresh Sticky Note, One Shortcut Away

Press ⌥⌘N in any app for a fresh sheet on the pad, or drag text onto a pad. No Accessibility permission needed.

Free Sticky Notes for Your Mac, With Pro When You Want It

A free download: three notes pinned at once, two pads, four papers, the Pen and Eraser, and locking. Pro is optional.

All Guides

Questions

Is Peel & Stick free?

Yes, it’s a free download: pin up to three notes at once, with four papers, the Pen and the Eraser, checklists and the lock. Peel & Stick Pro is optional: monthly, yearly or a one-time purchase.

Do notes stay on top of other windows?

A pinned note floats above your other windows and follows you to every Space. Some apps’ windows and some full-screen Spaces can still cover it. While another app fills the screen with video or a presentation, pinned notes fade to 40%; turn off “Fade notes during full-screen video and presentations” in Settings to keep them at full strength.

Can my AI assistant leave me a sticky note?

Yes, with Peel & Stick Pro. Turn on “Let your AI assistant leave notes on your screen” in Settings ▸ “AI Assistant”, then give the instructions it copies to Claude Code, Codex, Gemini or any assistant that runs on your Mac. When a job is done, its note appears at the top right, signed with who left it. How it works.

Is it safe to let an assistant write on my screen?

It’s off until you turn it on, and only an assistant you give your private key to can write. Notes are always plain text, so links and code are just words and nothing in a note can run. At most 3 notes a minute and 20 an hour, they never take focus, and nothing leaves your Mac.

Can I lock a note?

Yes, on the free version and with Pro. Touch ID, your Apple Watch or your login password opens it, whichever your Mac supports, and you can add a PIN as another way in when you lock it. The words are encoded, not encrypted: the lock decides who can read the note in Peel & Stick, not who can open the file. How locking works

Can I hide notes when I share my screen?

Yes. “Keep stickies private” keeps them out of screen sharing, recordings and screenshots that respect macOS window privacy. Apps that capture your whole display in their own way may still show them. Hide notes when you share your screen

Is it a widget?

No. Peel & Stick notes are real windows on your desktop: you peel them off a pad and put them where you like.

Do I need an account?

No. There’s nothing to sign up for, and no analytics or tracking.

Does it sync with my iPhone or other Macs?

No. There’s no sync and no iPhone app; your notes are stored on this Mac. Choose a notes folder and your unlocked notes are saved there as files you can back up like any others.

Which Macs does it run on?

It needs macOS 13 Ventura or later.

Is the app available in other languages?

The app’s interface is in English. This website is available in seven languages.

Start With a Fresh Sheet

The pad is ready. Write on the top sheet, then peel it off.

Download on the Mac App Store

macOS 13 Ventura or later · Mac only · App interface in English