Three questions that decide whether an app is private
Encryption claims are easy to write and hard to check. These three questions cut through most of them, and each one has a short, factual answer for any app you are evaluating.
First: who holds the keys? If the company can reset your password and give you your notes back, it holds a key that can read them. In a zero-knowledge design, keys are derived on your device and the server stores only ciphertext. Losing your recovery phrase is then a real risk, and that tradeoff is the price of the guarantee.
Second: where do your notes live when you are not syncing? Some encrypted apps keep notes in their own local database, so the readable copy only exists inside the app. Others keep notes as ordinary files on your disk, which you can open, back up, and search with any tool.
Third: what happens offline and without an account? A private app should open, edit, and search your notes with no network and, ideally, no sign-up. Sync should be something you add, not a requirement for reading your own writing.
A quick test
Ask support whether they can recover your notes if you forget your password. If the answer is yes, the service can read them.
memrynote: encrypted sync over plain Markdown files
memrynote is a local-first workspace for notes, tasks, a calendar, and a daily journal. Your vault is a folder you choose. Notes are plain Markdown files with YAML frontmatter, so they open in any text editor and stay readable without memrynote installed.
When you turn on sync, every note, task, and journal entry is encrypted on your device with XChaCha20-Poly1305 before upload. Keys are derived on your machine with Argon2id, each device signs its changes with its own Ed25519 key, and the sync server stores only ciphertext. memrynote cannot read your notes and cannot hand them to anyone else.
The app works fully offline with no account. Local use is free; hosted sync starts at $5 a month. memrynote is open source under AGPL-3.0, so the encryption code is public. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux today, with mobile apps planned.
Moving in is straightforward. memrynote imports Markdown folders (including Obsidian vaults), Notion, Evernote, Apple Notes, Bear, Google Keep, and more, and the same vault holds your tasks and journal instead of spreading them across separate apps.
How the other end-to-end encrypted apps compare
Each app below offers end-to-end encryption in some form. The differences are in where notes live, which platforms are covered, and how much of your day the app handles beyond notes.
Standard Notes and Notesnook are encrypted note apps with mobile and web clients. Both keep notes in their own encrypted storage and offer exports. Joplin is open source and can encrypt notes before syncing them to Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, or WebDAV; encryption is a setting you turn on. Obsidian stores notes as local Markdown files and encrypts them end to end when you use its paid Obsidian Sync add-on.
If you mainly need encrypted notes on your phone today, the apps with mobile clients cover that. If you want your notes as plain files you own, with tasks, a calendar, and a journal in the same encrypted vault, that is the gap memrynote is built for.
| App | Where your notes live | Encryption |
|---|---|---|
| memrynote | Plain Markdown files in a folder you choose | Zero-knowledge E2EE sync, included |
| Standard Notes | Encrypted storage inside the app | E2EE by default |
| Notesnook | Encrypted storage inside the app | E2EE by default |
| Joplin | Local app database, Markdown on export | Optional E2EE |
| Obsidian | Plain Markdown files in a folder you choose | E2EE with paid Obsidian Sync |
Which one should you pick?
Start from the question that matters most to you. If it is who can read your notes, any app in the table qualifies once encryption is on. If it is whether your notes outlive the app, look for plain files on disk. If it is having one place for notes, tasks, and reflection, count how many separate apps you would otherwise need.
memrynote answers all three the same way: encryption on your device, Markdown files in your folder, and one workspace for the whole day. You can try it with your existing notes for free, without an account, and turn on sync only when you want it.
Key Takeaways
- End-to-end encryption means only your devices hold the keys. If support can recover your notes, the service can read them.
- Encrypted apps differ in where notes live: inside an app database or as plain files you can open anywhere.
- memrynote combines zero-knowledge encrypted sync with plain Markdown files, offline use, and no required account.
- Pick by the question that matters most to you: who can read your notes, whether they outlive the app, or how many apps you need.
In Memrynote
Read the Security Architecture
How memrynote derives keys, encrypts every item, and keeps the sync server blind to your content.
Learn moreWritten by Kaan Karaca
Building memrynote — a local-first, zero-knowledge encrypted second brain for thought, tasks, and daily writing.
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