Slates Scratchpad

Eight color-coded scratchpads, now on iPhone. Swipe to a color, jot it down, move on. Stored on your device by default; optional iCloud; no analytics.

Slates is a quiet scratchpad for the bits of text you do not want to lose to a chat, a browser tab, or the bottom of a notes app. On iPhone it opens on a slate, ready to type.

You get eight color-coded slates. Swipe sideways to move between them, or tap one in the strip at the top. Keep a door code in one color, a list in another, a draft in a third. The color tells you where you are before you read a word.

WHAT IT’S FOR

Door codes, tracking numbers, a shopping list, a meeting link, a paragraph you are still chewing on, a snippet you will paste three times and then clear.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Write in Rich, Plain, or Code: headings and emphasis that render, syntax colors, and hex colors that show their swatch • Tap a smart bullet to step it through its states, hold it to pick one, or slide the line to move it • Bold, italic, indent, bullets, and five quick keys on a formatting bar above the keyboard • Copy, clear, share, save, or print a slate from the ⋯ menu • Line, word, and character counts at the foot of every slate • Restore an automatic backup, or export a copy of your slates

WITH SLATES ON THE MAC

Turn on Sync with iCloud on each device and the same eight slates follow you between your Mac and iPhone. It is one app on the App Store, free on every device, with no in-app purchase.

PRIVACY

Stored on your device by default. Optional iCloud sync stays off until you turn it on in Settings. Slates does not include analytics, tracking, or advertising. There is no account to create.

Requires iOS 26 or later.