I loved apple notes, and have used it for years. I left (for joplin) because there was no easy way to do an export/backup without scripts or workarounds.

I don't use the document scanner tho :(

You can save your notes as emails when you connect your gmail account.

It's a sqlite database so you could pull it from there: https://www.swiftforensics.com/2018/02/reading-notes-databas...

I haven't tried it with Notes but with Apple's Podcast app it's a nice sqlite DB you can query.

I remember I used some notes-cli tool to export notes from Notes.app into txt or markdown files

Maybe it was this https://github.com/xwmx/notes-app-cli

I've been playing around with [0] recently, which has been a good way to learn about how apple notes are structured on the back end as well

[0]: https://github.com/threeplanetssoftware/apple_cloud_notes_pa...

There's an app called "Exporter". http://falcon.star-lord.me/exporter/.

I've used it and it works. Software developer also makes Another note taking app Falcon http://falcon.star-lord.me/#features

NOTE: Exporter works well, but it does NOT decrypt locked notes, nor does it handle anything outside of text (e.g, tables or images).

Not something I had thought about actually. I’d always assumed iCloud was “good enough” for my use, though some interesting points raised below which would definitely be important for more important notes. Most of mine are quite throwaway to be honest.

It’s on iCloud.

Is iCloud a backup or a coordination mechanism? If someone steals an iDevice and starts nuking notes or deleting videos, are they not gone?

It's a tradeoff of convenience vs. security. If someone steals my iPhone they would first have to get into it. Assuming they can do that, I'd have much bigger problems than my notes being tampered with.

Additionally, iOS devices can be locked remotely.

All deleted notes go to a "recently deleted" folder in which they will stay for 30 days. Although they could be permanently deleted from there and then it is really gone...