How to Upgrade to Peel & Stick Pro on Your Mac
Click Something Locked
On the “Board”, the tray that holds your pads, click the “Cloud pad”, a pad of clouds rather than cloud storage. Or choose a paper with a padlock in “Type & Paper” (Aa) ▸ “Paper”, or click a pen with a padlock, such as “Marker”.
Look Before You Choose
The “Peel & Stick Pro” window opens. Its “Every paper” row draws each Pro paper live, clouds included.
Choose a Plan
Pick yearly, monthly or the one-time purchase. Yearly is selected first, and the buy button shows the App Store’s price for the plan you picked, in your currency. Yearly and the one-time purchase carry a “Family Sharing” badge.
Confirm With the App Store
Click the price and confirm with the App Store. Apple handles the payment, Peel & Stick never sees your payment details, and Pro unlocks on this Mac.
Restore on Another Mac
On a Mac signed in to the same Apple Account, open the same window from any locked control and click “Restore Purchases”. When it finds your purchase, Peel & Stick says “Your purchases are back.”
Sticky Notes for Mac as a Free Download, With No Account
To get a free sticky notes app for Mac, download Peel & Stick from the Mac App Store. There is no account and no sign-up. Your notes are stored on your Mac: Peel & Stick has no server and doesn’t send your notes anywhere.
Write on a pad, peel the sheet off and stick it to your desktop. A pinned note floats above your other windows, follows you to every Space and never takes focus, even when you tick a checkbox. The sticky notes on Mac desktop guide shows how.
Looking for a free sticky note app for your MacBook? It is the same download, and it needs macOS 13 Ventura or later. New to sticky notes on a Mac? Start with Does a Mac have sticky notes?
Free Desktop Notes on Mac: What the Free Version Holds
The free version keeps up to three notes pinned at once. Peel a fourth and the sheet flies back onto the pad, and a card on the pad says: “You have three notes pinned, which is everything the free version holds.” Under it: “Peel & Stick Pro lifts the limit entirely. Your three pinned notes stay exactly where they are either way.”
Click “Peel & Stick Pro” to see the plans, or “Not Now” to close the card. To make room, double-click one of your three notes to send it back to its pad.
Locking is free on every plan. Depending on your Mac, a locked note opens with Touch ID, your Apple Watch or your login password. When you lock a note, you can add a PIN of 4–32 characters as another way in: see lock sticky notes on Mac. With no purchase, you also get:
- The “Tall pad” and the “Vellum pad” on the “Board”, or the single “Classic pad” instead (⌥⌘B)
- Four papers: “Canary”, “Soft Pink”, “Mint” and “Vellum Blue”
- The “Pen” and the “Eraser”, nine named inks and any color you mix
- Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, bulleted and numbered lists, and checklists
- “Quick Stick” (⌥⌘N) from any app, “Corkboard Overview”, which shows your notes as cards on cork, and the three Shortcuts actions, which follow the same three-note limit
- Searching your notes, and hiding notes from screen shares that respect macOS window privacy
What Peel & Stick Pro Adds
Peel & Stick Pro lets you pin as many notes as you like. It unlocks all 16 papers, including the four cloud styles, and the “Cloud pad”. It adds three pens, “Marker”, “Highlighter” and “Fountain Pen”: see handwritten sticky notes on Mac.
The “Cloud pad” is a pad of clouds you write on in raised letters. It is a pad of clouds, not cloud storage: nothing syncs. Without Pro, it shows as a preview with a padlock and “Pro”. It hands out no sheet, and clicking it opens the “Peel & Stick Pro” window.
Pro papers and pens stay in sight, each with a small padlock, and clicking one opens the same window. Browse all 16 papers before you decide.
Sticky Notes on Mac Without a Subscription
You don’t need a subscription. Nothing in the free version renews, and Peel & Stick Pro comes as a monthly or yearly subscription, or as a one-time purchase that never renews. The “Peel & Stick Pro” window shows the App Store’s price before you confirm, and Apple handles the purchase.
Monthly and yearly Pro renew automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the period ends. You manage or cancel them in your App Store account settings, not in Peel & Stick. If a renewal payment fails, Pro stays on while the App Store retries.
The “Peel & Stick Pro” window never opens on its own: only when you click something that needs Pro, or the “Peel & Stick Pro” button on the fourth-pin card. The menu bar and Settings have no Pro item.
If Pro Ends, Your Notes Stay
If a subscription ends, every note still opens and can be edited. Nothing unpins, even past three, and each note keeps its paper, Pro papers included. What needs Pro again is anything new: choosing a Pro paper or pen, or pinning a note while three or more are pinned. That includes a note you send back to its pad to edit: when you peel it off again, it counts as a new pin.
Clouds you already wrote still open, and the “Cloud pad” keeps working for the clouds on it, but it hands out no new one. Purchases are checked on your Mac, so Pro keeps working while you are offline.
Questions
Is Peel & Stick free?
It’s a free download from the Mac App Store. Without Pro, you can pin up to three notes at once and use two pads plus the “Classic pad”, four papers, the “Pen” and “Eraser”, checklists and note locking. Pro is optional: it lifts the three-note limit and adds every paper, the “Cloud pad” and three more pens.
Is there a one-time purchase?
Yes. Besides the monthly and yearly subscriptions, Peel & Stick Pro comes as a one-time purchase that never renews. The App Store shows each price in your currency before you confirm. The yearly plan and the one-time purchase also work with Family Sharing, so up to five family members can use Pro.
What happens to my notes if Pro ends?
They stay: every note opens and can be edited, nothing unpins and notes keep their paper. For anything new, you can no longer choose a Pro paper or pen, and the three-note limit returns. A note you send back to its pad counts as a new pin when you peel it off again.
Do I need an account?
No. Peel & Stick has no account. Purchases go through your Apple Account and are checked on your Mac.
Can I see the Pro papers before buying?
Yes. The “Every paper” row in the “Peel & Stick Pro” window draws each one live, clouds included.
How do I restore a purchase on a new Mac?
Click any locked control, such as the “Cloud pad”, to open the “Peel & Stick Pro” window, then click “Restore Purchases”. Use the same Apple Account you bought with.
