Metis: Markdown Notes
Native Markdown editor & notes
Free · In-App Purchases
Metis is a native Markdown editor and local-first knowledge base. Your notes are just .md files in a folder you own - Metis is a fast, beautiful, native view over them. No lock-in, no proprietary format, no account required to write.
WRITE IN LIVE PREVIEW
A clean Obsidian-style editor styles your Markdown as you type - headings, bold, lists, quotes and code - while keeping the raw syntax one tap away. It feels like writing in a document, not in code. On iPad it's a full three-pane workspace with hardware-keyboard shortcuts.
CONNECT YOUR IDEAS
Link any two notes with [[wiki links]]. Backlinks appear automatically, so you always see what references the note you're reading. An interactive link graph shows your whole knowledge base at a glance - zoom, pan, and drag nodes to explore the connections.
READ BEAUTIFULLY
Reading mode renders the full document: headings, tables, task lists, images, syntax-highlighted code, Mermaid diagrams, and real math (LaTeX) rendered natively - no web view.
ORGANIZE YOUR WAY
Tag anything with #tags, group notes into folders, and see typed properties (status, owner, due...) that live as YAML front matter and are preserved as you edit. A fast switcher and full-text search get you anywhere instantly.
ON-DEVICE AI (Apple Intelligence)
Summarize a note, suggest tags or related links, and ask your whole vault a question - all running privately on your device. AI is optional; the app is fully functional without it.
SYNC ACROSS YOUR DEVICES
Keep your vault in iCloud and the same notes are on your Mac, iPad and iPhone - still as plain .md files you can open anywhere. Edits sync in the background, and Metis helps you resolve conflicts if two devices change the same note.
LOCK WHAT MATTERS
Any note can be locked with your notes password and opened with Face ID or Touch ID. Locked notes are encrypted on disk and stay encrypted in iCloud - and they're kept out of search and previews.
PRIVATE AND YOURS
Everything stays in plain files on your device. No tracking, no cloud lock-in. Open the same folder in any other Markdown editor whenever you like. Import an existing folder of notes (from Obsidian or anywhere) and Metis just works.
ONE PURCHASE, ALL YOUR DEVICES
A single one-time purchase unlocks Metis Pro on your Mac, iPad and iPhone - no subscription. Try everything free for 7 days.
Metis is made by Empiric Apps. Questions or feedback? contact@empiricapps.com
more - Link to a block of text, not just to a note: long-press a paragraph, a list item, a table or a code block in Reading (or use the editor's edit menu) and pick Copy Link to Block. Tapping the link opens the note and scrolls straight to that block.
- Block ids follow Obsidian's convention, so your files stay plain Markdown and the links keep working in other editors. The ids stay hidden in Reading, search and the graph.
- Search answers instantly right after opening a large vault, instead of pausing while the index builds.
2.6.0 16 hr ago
Browse your notes as a tree: the note list can nest notes inside their folders, with per-folder counts - flip "View as Tree" in the list menu. The flat list stays the default, and the choice is remembered per vault. Faster vault opening on large vaults - the link graph no longer re-reads every note at launch.
2.5.0 5 days ago
Tabs on iPad: keep several notes open at once, in a row above the editor (regular width - iPhone keeps its familiar one-note flow).
Tap to preview, long-press a note for "Open in New Tab", and use Cmd-Return, Cmd-W, Cmd-1..9 and Ctrl-Tab on a hardware keyboard.
Your open tabs come back next launch, per vault.
2.4.1 26 Aug
Maintenance update. Metis now reports which kind of device it is running on - iPhone or iPad - when it checks your trial or licence. It is the same detail the app already sent once you signed in; no new identifier, and nothing about you or your notes. Nothing else changes.
2.3.1 23 Aug
- Send a note's tasks to Apple Reminders: open items become reminders with their dates and times, in a Metis list of their own or any list you pick. One direction, no duplicates,
nothing written into your Markdown.
- Dates can be written 15/09/2026 or 2026-09-15, with an optional time - a task with a time gets a reminder that rings then.
- iPad: line numbers in the editor (Settings > Editor).
- Fixed: a new note now opens with its name focused, ready to be typed over.
2.3.0 22 Aug
- Mermaid diagrams now render at their natural size instead of filling the page, with Small / Natural / Large / Fit Width in Settings > Editor.
- Room under the last line: once a note fills the screen, the editor keeps space beneath it, so writing at the end of a long note no longer happens against the bottom edge or behind the keyboard.
- Tap the empty space below the last line to put the caret at the end of the note.
2.2.2 21 Aug
- The agenda comes to iPhone and iPad: every task in your vault, grouped by due date, with Open and Completed. Tick an item and it is saved back to its note.
- Create folders and subfolders on iOS, then move notes into them.
- Note properties: set due dates, status, owner and your own custom keys from the phone.
- Resolve iCloud sync conflicts on iOS - see both versions of a note and pick the one that wins.
- Ask Vault now sits beside search, and its answers are formatted instead of raw Markdown.
- Fixes: text no longer overlaps a table in Reading mode after a diagram loads, and a duplicate folder name now tells you.
2.2.0 9 Aug
- Outline: tap the panel button to see every heading in the note, and tap one to jump straight there. A side panel on iPad, a sheet on iPhone.
- The graph beside your note (iPad): see what the open note links to, one or two hops out, without leaving the note. Tap a node to open it.
- Metis Light and Metis Dark: the app's own colour palettes, alongside the ten classics.
- Themes now colour buttons, links and selection too, not just backgrounds.
- The Agenda shows formatted task text instead of raw Markdown.
- Search finds notes whose names contain punctuation.
2.1.0 29 Jul
- Custom colors: pin text, background, headings and links to colors you choose, on top of any theme.
- Peek a link: long-press a [[link]] while reading to see the target note - or just the linked section - without leaving the page.
- Templates on iPhone and iPad: New from Template fills in the title, date and time for you, and you can create templates on device.
- Tags in the graph: turn every tag into its own node to see your clusters.
- Edit Link Text: long-press a link to change what it shows without changing where it goes.
- Faster to notice edits made in other apps.
2.0.0 27 Jul
Reliability fixes for notes and folders.
- Fixed: renaming a note that lives in a folder now keeps it in that folder instead of moving it to the top of your vault.
- Fixed: the note list could show a stale title for a note you had just renamed.
- Fixed: duplicated files (for example a note copied in the Files app) no longer confuse selection - each copy now stands on its own.
- Small fixes and polish under the hood, shared with the Mac app.
1.4.0 25 Jul
- Open Markdown files in Metis straight from the Files app or a share sheet.
- Opening a .md from a new folder offers to open that folder as a vault.
- Polish and fixes.
1.3.4 24 Jul
- Images in subfolder notes render again. An image embedded in a note that lives in a subfolder showed "Image not found" in Reading mode - the vault-relative `attachments/...` link was resolved against the note's own folder instead of the vault root. Now it falls back to the vault root, so already-written notes display correctly (Mac + iPad + iPhone).
- The attachments folder is hidden. The app-managed `attachments/` folder is now flagged hidden, so it stays out of your Finder/Files listings instead of cluttering them (Mac + iOS).
- Paste an image into the editor (Mac). Pasting a copied or screenshotted image now works: the Paste command is enabled for an image-only clipboard (it was greyed out before), and a JPEG-only clipboard is handled too. The image is copied into the vault and linked at the caret.
- Note-properties panel is a session toggle (Mac). The properties bar no longer re-appears on every note that has front matter. Hide it once and it stays hidden for every note you open this session; show it and it stays shown - until you toggle again.
1.3.3 22 Jul
- List & task buttons in the editor. The Wysiwyg formatting bar (Mac floating bar + iOS keyboard bar) now has bulleted list, numbered list, and task list (checkbox) buttons. Tapping one toggles the prefix across the selected lines: same kind again removes it, numbered lists renumber from 1, blank lines are left alone, a checkbox on a numbered item keeps its number, and clicking on an empty line starts a fresh item.
- Nicer task checkboxes. Checkboxes now draw as real, text-sized rounded boxes (Mac + iPad + iPhone) instead of raw [ ] brackets - checked ones fill with the accent colour and a checkmark. The file on disk still stores standard [ ] Markdown.
- Folders open their first note. Selecting a folder now auto-opens its first note in the detail pane instead of leaving it blank (Mac). It keeps your current selection if that note already lives in the folder.
- Clearer lock prompt. Locking a note while your notes session is locked now shows an "Unlock to Lock This Note" prompt that explains the session must be unlocked first, instead of a generic "Unlock Notes" dialog that read like you were opening something.
1.3.2 21 Jul
Attach images to your notes:
- Add photos from your library, or paste an image you copied from another app.
- Attached images now show in Reading mode.
Polish and fixes:
- The theme accent color now carries through the graph and settings screens.
- Notes imported from Obsidian with tag lists now show their tags.
- Fixed the graph "Open" button wrapping its label.
1.3.1 19 Jul
The knowledge graph is now a full navigator on iPhone and iPad:
- Tap a node to light up its connections and dim the rest.
- Color nodes by tag, with a legend.
- Filter the graph by title, and hide notes that have no links.
- Tune the layout with repulsion / link-distance / gravity sliders.
Pinch to zoom and drag nodes to arrange.
1.3.0 17 Jul
iOS is updating from live 1.2.1, so only the items that actually ship on iOS:
- Numbered checklists are now tappable: write "1. [ ] task" and check items off right in the editor.
- Inline emoji: type :rocket: (or :tada:, :bug:, :white_check_mark:...) and pick from the popup to drop in the emoji.
- A fix for numbered lists in Reading mode after pasting.
1.2.2 17 Jul
Encrypted notes now sync across your devices. Lock a note on your Mac and open it on iPhone with the same password - the notes password is now shared through iCloud. (In 1.2.0 each device used its own key, so a locked note couldn't be opened on a second device.)
1..2.1 15 Jul
Lock private notes
- Lock any note with a single password and Face ID. Locked notes are encrypted on disk and in iCloud, and stay out of search - not just hidden.
Wysiwyg editing
- New Settings toggle that hides Markdown markers as you type for a clean, formatted look. Swipe right on a note to lock it fast.
Plus a refreshed welcome screen and polish throughout.
1.2.0 15 Jul
Reliability fixes for notes and folders.
- Fixed: renaming a note that lives in a folder now keeps it in that folder instead of moving it to the top of your vault.
- Fixed: the note list could show a stale title for a note you had just renamed.
- Fixed: duplicated files (for example a note copied in the Files app) no longer confuse selection - each copy now stands on its own.
- Small fixes and polish under the hood, shared with the Mac app.
1.1.4 14 Jul
Markdown now (almost) types itself.
- New: Markdown typing assist. Pairs like **, backticks, brackets and parentheses close themselves as you type, and typing the closing character never doubles it.
- Select some text and type a formatting character to wrap the selection.
- Return continues bullet lists, checklists, numbered lists (auto-numbered) and quotes; Return on an empty item ends the list. Return after closes the code fence for you.
- Prefer typing everything yourself? Turn it off in Settings > Editor.
1.1.3 11 Jul
Code blocks got a serious upgrade.
- Much richer syntax highlighting: types, function calls, attributes and properties are now colored - not just keywords and strings - with dedicated support for Swift, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust, SQL, JSON, YAML, CSS, HTML and shell.
- Reading view now syntax-colors your code and gives it a theme-matched background, so code in your notes reads like code in an editor.
- Every theme (Dracula, Nord, One Dark, Monokai and friends) carries hand-picked colors for the new token kinds.
1.1.2 7 Jul
Security and reliability improvements.
- Signing in with GitHub is now more secure.
- Small fixes and polish throughout the app.
1.1.1 6 Jul
Your daily note now starts with context, not a blank page.
- Open Today's Note and it comes pre-filled: items due today or overdue, unfinished tasks carried over from your last daily note, recently edited notes, and entries from the same day in past years.
- Make it yours: create a "Daily" note in your Templates folder and place the {{agenda}}, {{carryover}}, {{recent}} and {{onthisday}} tokens wherever you like - or remove the ones you don't want. Empty sections stay out of the way.
- Briefing (when Apple Intelligence is available): a short on-device summary of your recent activity is added to the daily note automatically. Your notes never leave your device.
- The daily note now also uses your Daily template on iPhone and iPad, matching the Mac app.
1.1.0 5 Jul
Metis 1.0.11
The biggest update since launch:
• Themes - light, dark, and a dozen tuned color themes (Dracula, Nord, Tokyo
Night, Catppuccin, and more), now in a dedicated Settings screen.
• Sign in with Apple - alongside Google and email; your license unlocks every
device automatically.
• Editor undo & redo - reliable undo/redo with quick buttons on the keyboard bar.
• Rich reading mode - GFM tables, code highlighting, LaTeX math, and Mermaid
diagrams render inline.
• Organize your way - folders, drag notes between them, multi-select for batch
move and delete, and sort by title or date.
• Links and graph - [[wiki-links]], backlinks, unlinked mentions, and an
interactive knowledge graph.
• On-device AI - summarize, suggest tags, and ask your vault questions with
Apple Intelligence (never leaves your device).
• Export and iCloud sync - share notes/vault as HTML; your notes on every device.
Plus faster typing in large notes, a heads-up when a note changes outside the
app, and a confirmation before deleting.
1.0.11 4 Jul
- Link to a block of text, not just to a note: long-press a paragraph, a list item, a table or a code block in Reading (or use the editor's edit menu) and pick Copy Link to Block. Tapping the link opens the note and scrolls straight to that block.
- Block ids follow Obsidian's convention, so your files stay plain Markdown and the links keep working in other editors. The ids stay hidden in Reading, search and the graph.
- Search answers instantly right after opening a large vault, instead of pausing while the index builds.
more Version 2.6.0 16 hr ago
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