How it works

A real floating window, right in your browser.

AlwaysOnTopNotes turns a browser tab into an always-on-top sticky note. No app to install, no account to create — and your notes never leave your device. Here's exactly how it works.

The trick: Document Picture-in-Picture

You've seen Picture-in-Picture for video — a small player that floats over everything while you do other things. In 2023, Chromium shipped a more powerful version called Document Picture-in-Picture, which lets a website put any HTML into that floating, always-on-top window — not just a video.

That's the whole magic. When you click "Pop out", we move your note's live editor into a Document-PiP window. It's a genuine OS-level window that stays above every other app — including fullscreen video calls and screen shares — something a normal web page simply cannot do. Because we move the same editor (not a copy), every keystroke, your note color, and autosave keep working seamlessly across the hop.

Your first floating note in three steps

  1. 1. Open the app and write a note

    Go to the app — no signup, no install, nothing to download. Press N for a new note and start typing. It autosaves to your browser as you go; nothing is ever uploaded.

  2. 2. Click “Pop out” to float it

    Hit the pop-out button in the header. Your note lifts into a small always-on-top window using the browser’s Document Picture-in-Picture API — a real OS-level floating window, not a fake overlay.

  3. 3. Keep it visible while you work

    The floating note stays on top of every other app — Zoom, your IDE, a fullscreen video, anything. Switch notes, resize it, drag it anywhere. Close it and your note snaps back to the tab.

Which browsers support the floating window?

The floating (always-on-top) window needs Document Picture-in-Picture, which today means a desktop Chromium browser — Chrome, Edge, Brave, or Opera, version 116 or newer.

On Safari and Firefox (and on phones), the floating window isn't available yet — but the rest of the app works perfectly: you can create, edit, search, color, pin, and export notes normally. The pop-out button simply hides itself when your browser can't float, so you never see a broken control.

And your notes? They never leave your device.

Everything you type is stored locally in your browser (IndexedDB) — not on any server. There is no server. The whole app is static files served from a CDN, and the source is MIT-licensed on GitHub so you can verify it yourself. Open DevTools → Network and save a note — you won't see a single upload.