One-time setup. After that, your Apple Notes can flow in automatically — every night, every morning, whenever you want. Duplicates are skipped, so it never imports the same note twice.
STEP 1 — YOUR PRIVATE KEY
Tap "Generate" once. You'll paste this into your phone in step 2. Keep it private — it's like a password for your notes account.
Tap below to generate your key…
STEP 2 — SET UP THE SHORTCUT ON YOUR DEVICE
Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone. (Built-in app. Dark blue icon with two overlapping squares. If you deleted it, get it free from the App Store.)
Tap the "+" in the top-right to create a new shortcut. Up top where it says "New Shortcut", tap that name and rename it "Sync Notes to Becoming You".
Tap "Add Action". A search bar opens with category chips ("Scripting / Controls / Device"). Important: the chips are filters that hide most actions. Make sure no chip is selected — if one is highlighted blue, tap it once to deselect.
Then in the search bar, type just "Notes" (not "Find All Notes" — Apple renamed it). If nothing shows up, scroll down in the action list and look for an "Apps" section → tap Notes → you'll see all Notes actions.
From the results, tap "Find Notes". (Not "Create Note", "Show Note", or "Open Note" — those are different.)
It'll appear in your shortcut as "Find Notes where" — do not add a filter. With no filter, it returns every note in your library. You can tap the action and set Limit to a high number (like 1000) if you want, otherwise it returns up to a default of ~100. For full sync, set Limit to 9999.
Tap the search bar at the bottom (or the + Add Action button) to add another step.
Search "Get Contents" and tap "Get Contents of URL".
On the new action, tap the "URL" field (it says "URL" in light gray) and paste: https://becomingyou.ai/api/notes/import/apple
Tap "Show More" (or the ▼ arrow) under "Get Contents of URL" to reveal more fields:
• Method: tap → choose POST
• Headers: tap "Add new header"
– Key: type Authorization
– Text: type Bearer (capital B, then a space) then paste the key you copied in Step 1
• Request Body: tap → choose JSON
– Tap "Add new field" → choose Array
– Key: type notes
– For the value: tap the field → "Select Variable" → pick "Notes" (the magic variable from step 4). It should appear as a blue chip labeled "Notes".
Tap "Done" (top-right). Your shortcut is built.
First run — test it: back on the shortcuts list, tap "Sync Notes to Becoming You".
It'll ask permission to read your Notes — tap OK. Then permission to contact becomingyou.ai — tap Always Allow. Within a few seconds you should see a "Done" notification. Come back to this page and refresh — all your notes will be here. (If you see an error: tap the shortcut, tap the ⓘ at the top, then "Show in Share Sheet" off, and try running again.)
Make it automatic (optional but recommended):
In Shortcuts, tap the Automation tab at the bottom → tap + (or "Create Personal Automation") → Time of Day → set 3:00 AM Daily → Next → tap "Add Action" → search "Run Shortcut" → pick your "Sync Notes" shortcut. Toggle OFF "Ask Before Running" and toggle OFF "Notify When Run" so it runs silently every night.
Tap Done. You're set forever.
iPad is identical to iPhone — same Shortcuts app, same actions. The buttons might be in slightly different places because the screen is bigger, but everything is named the same.
Differences vs iPhone:
The Shortcuts + button is in the same place (top-right).
The action list opens as a sidebar on iPad instead of a sheet from the bottom.
Automation tab is at the bottom too — same flow.
Switch to the iPhone tab above and follow those steps. They work identically on iPad.
⚠ One thing to remember: the action is called "Find Notes", not "Find All Notes". Apple renamed it. If your search comes up empty for "Find All Notes", that's why.
Open the Shortcuts app on your Mac. (macOS Monterey or newer. Press Cmd+Space → type "Shortcuts" → press Enter.)
In the top menu bar: File → New Shortcut (or press Cmd+N).
Rename it by clicking "New Shortcut" at the top — call it "Sync Notes to Becoming You".
On the right side, you'll see the action library.
• If you see category chips at the top (Scripting / Apps / etc.), click Apps → scroll to Notes.
• Or just type "Notes" in the search at the top of the action library.
Find "Find Notes" (Apple renamed this — it used to be "Find All Notes"). Drag it into the editor or double-click it.
Leave it as "Find Notes where" with no filter. Optionally click Show More and set Limit to 9999 so you don't cap at the default.
Search for "Get Contents of URL" and drag it in below.
Click the URL field and paste: https://becomingyou.ai/api/notes/import/apple
Click ▼ Show More on the Get Contents action:
• Method: POST
• Headers: click +
– Key: Authorization
– Text: Bearer + the key from Step 1
• Request Body: choose JSON
– Click + → Dictionary
– Key: notes · Value: drag the Notes variable from step 3 into the value field
Click the ▶ Play button top-right to run it.
Allow Notes access. Allow contact to becomingyou.ai. You should see a "Dictionary" output with imported/skipped counts.
Make it automatic:
With the shortcut open: File → Add to Menu Bar (one click to run anytime) OR set a schedule with macOS's built-in Automator or Calendar alert. On Mac there's no per-shortcut scheduler in Shortcuts itself (yet). Easiest: also run the iPhone version and let the phone do the nightly sync — Apple Notes sync across iCloud, so importing on iPhone catches everything you wrote on Mac.
✓ ABOUT DUPLICATES (no thinking required)
Every time the shortcut runs, we look at each note's title + body. If we've already imported that exact note, we skip it silently. So running it 10 times in a row imports nothing new — only fresh or edited notes ever get added.
Translation: you can re-run the shortcut as often as you want with zero risk. If you tweak a note in Apple Notes and re-run, it'll come in as a new version (because the text changed = new hash).