About Noted
Noted is a local-only note-taking app, developed by Nathanial W. Heard — no account, no data collection, just a digital notebook. Everything you create is stored encrypted on your own device.
How it works
Noted has no way to send your notes anywhere on its own. They stay on your device until you choose to export or share them. Exports can be locked with a password, so a backup stays encrypted and re-imports only with that same password.
What you can do
- Write in markdown — CommonMark plus GitHub-flavored tables, task lists, code blocks, blockquotes, and links, with a formatting toolbar and live preview.
- Organize freely — group entries into collections with cover images, pin important notes, and switch between list and grid views.
- Draw inline — sketch directly inside an entry with multiple brush styles, fill, on-canvas text, undo / redo, and a full-screen canvas.
- Record audio — capture voice memos attached to any entry.
- Attach images — add photos and pictures alongside your text.
- Search instantly — find anything across your notes with match highlighting.
- Export & import — back up to an encrypted or plain archive, or round-trip individual entries as markdown.
How your data is protected
Noted encrypts everything at rest. Your notes and collections are stored in a local database on your device, fully encrypted with AES-256 (via SQLCipher). Images, drawings, and voice recordings are saved as separate files, each individually encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The encryption keys are held in the operating system's secure key storage, and you can lock the app behind a PIN or password.
Enhanced Security (optional). For the strongest protection, Noted can tie the database's encryption key directly to your PIN or password and biometric unlock, removing the standard key fallback — so your notes can't be decrypted without your secret, even on a rooted device. The trade-off is that there's no recovery: if you forget your PIN or password, the data is permanently lost. To enable it, first set an app lock, then open the ⋮ menu on the main screen and tap Enable enhanced security.
Just as important is what Noted doesn't do: no analytics, no telemetry, no crash reporting, no advertising identifiers, no tracking of any kind.
Platforms
- Android — available now
- macOS — in development
- Linux — in development