How to draw or handwrite on a Freeform board on iPhone

You can sketch or jot a handwritten note with your finger. You can edit and work with handwritten text just as you do with typed text, and you can solve handwritten math problems.

As you draw in the Freeform app, your strokes are grouped together. You don’t have to keep them that way: you can separate or merge them, or delete, resize, or straighten parts of a drawing. You can even fill a closed shape with color.

Draw or handwrite

Your strokes are grouped when you draw in the Freeform app. You can break a drawing apart by separating your strokes, or merge them, and you can also delete, resize, or straighten parts of a drawing.

1. Open the Freeform app on your iPhone.
2. Open a board, or tap the New Board button to start a new one.
3. Tap the Drawing and Handwriting Tools button and then draw with your finger.

   Tip: Hold your finger still for a moment when you finish the drawing to smooth or straighten its shape.

   

4. Do any of the following:
   • Switch tools: Tap a tool. Swipe to see other tools, such as Fill, Crayon, Fountain Pen, Reed Pen, or Watercolor Brush.
   • Change a tool’s qualities (such as angle, thickness, or opacity): Tap any tool a second time.
   • Fill a shape with color: Tap the Fill tool (the paint tube) and tap within a closed shape.
   • Draw a straight line: Tap the Ruler tool. Rotate the ruler by placing two fingers on it and turning your hand.
   • Select, edit, and straighten parts of your drawing: Tap the Lasso tool (between the Eraser and Ruler) in the drawing tools and tap or circle the part of the drawing you want to select. Tap an option or tap the More button to see other options.

   Tip: Choose Snap to Shapes to smooth or straighten hand-drawn lines.

5. Tap the Done button when you’re finished drawing.

Work with handwritten text

Handwriting in the Freeform app is recognized as words, so you can search text you handwrite the same way you search typed text. And you can select your handwriting, straighten it, translate it, or copy and paste it as text.

1. After you draw or write on your Freeform board with the drawing tools, tap the Lasso tool (between the Eraser and Ruler) in the drawing tools.
2. To select text, tap, double-tap, or circle the words, tap the More button, and then do any of the following:
   • Make text more legible, smooth, and straight: Tap Refine.
   • Make your writing more level: Tap Straighten.
   • Correct spelling: Tap an underlined word and choose how you want to correct it. The fix appears in your own writing style.
   • Move handwritten text: Touch and hold the selected text and then drag it to a new position.
   • Drag and drop: Touch and hold the text.
   • Erase text: Strike through the writing. Then hold down your finger on your iPhone. (Supported when using a markup tool such as Pen, Mono line, or Marker.)

To see other options, tap the Forward button in the menu that appears above the selected text.

When you tap a handwritten link, address, phone number, or date, it may open a menu or another related app.

Solve handwritten math problems

1. Open the Freeform app on your iPhone.
2. Open a board, or tap the New Board button to start a new one.
3. Tap the More button, tap Math Results, and choose how you want your iPhone to respond to the math problems you enter:
   • If you want it to solve them: Choose Insert Results. (The answer appears in writing that matches your own.)
   • If you want suggestions to appear: Choose Suggest Results. (A Solve button appears that, when tapped, adds the answer in writing that matches your own.)
4. Tap the Drawing and Handwriting Tools button. Then start writing a math equation.
5. Write an equal sign or draw a horizontal line below a stack of numbers and then do one of the following:
   • In Insert Results mode: Tap the answer to open the equation. You can tap the Close button to delete the answer. Tap the expression to show the hint again, or draw the equal sign again.
   • In Suggest Results mode: Tap Solve to add the answer in writing that matches your own.

Pick whichever mode you want to use, or turn off math hints.

You can also use variables, edit equations, and update results, the same as in the Calculator app.

Any text in sticky notes, shapes, and text boxes can include equations to be solved.