Evernote used to be among the best note-taking apps, but a messy update released back in 2020 and a steep price hike at the end of 2023 drove many users to alternatives like Google Keep and Apple Notes. Today, with the launch of Evernote v11, developer Bending Spoons is aiming for a comeback and, as expected, is banking heavily on new AI features to win users back.
The most notable addition in the latest release is an AI Assistant that, much like ChatGPT and Gemini, lets users search and retrieve content from a chat window, modify or generate new content, perform bulk actions across multiple entries, and even helps users search the web without leaving the app. Evernote says this feature was developed in “close collaboration” with OpenAI.
Semantic Search is another key AI feature included in the update. It’s capable of understanding the meaning behind natural language queries and can surface more relevant results, even when they don’t exactly match the keywords. For example, searching for “Spain vacation” could now show notes about “Barcelona Trip” or “Valencia Hotel,” even if those exact words aren’t in the notes.
The third major AI addition is Meeting Notes. It builds on Evernote’s AI transcription tool and lets users “record in-person, online, or hybrid meetings and generate a transcript (complete with speaker recognition) and summary.” In its announcement post, Evernote emphasizes that all three AI features were developed with strong security, privacy, and data protection standards, and users can disable them individually if they prefer.
Editor and navigation upgrades for smoother note-taking
Beyond AI, Evernote v11 also brings updated branding and a few improvements for the editor and navigation. The app now offers a more powerful insert menu, a new slash command menu for quick actions, support for custom inline link previews, and inline link calculations.
Evernote v11 is available for download on Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac, though some of the new features are platform-specific. Notably, the AI Assistant is only available on desktop and web versions.