PrivacyTools.io
Reviewed by Gabriel Bachmann
PrivacyNotes logo

PrivacyNotes

privacynotes.app/go/ptio
4.8 (104)
GitHub ★ 648
Website →
OUR APP Notebooks Calendars Pastebins Password Managers Cloud Storage File Encryption Health & Fitness Open Source E2E encrypted No account Windows macOS Linux Android iOS Web Freemium United States
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PrivacyNotes keeps notes, tasks, a calendar, files, passwords, contacts, bookmarks and a journal in one app, unlocked by a 12-word recovery phrase instead of an email and password. A BIP-39 phrase generated on your device derives every key through HKDF-SHA256, and your content is encrypted on your device with XChaCha20-Poly1305, so the synced copy on servers in Zurich, Switzerland, is ciphertext.

The journal doubles as a health tracker: mood, sleep and medication, plus heart rate, steps, caffeine, pain or a tracker of your own, each a tap a day. The medication tracker puts every dose on a schedule with a phone reminder, logs it as taken, skipped or missed, and follows refills and adherence against your mood. Patterns ranks each tracker by its effect on your mood in plain words, Explore checks one against the same day or the next, and a printable doctor report or an AI-ready prompt is computed on your device.

The calendar repeats events with up to five alerts, turns one typed line into an event with quick add, and imports Google Calendar and .ics files. The vault holds passwords, cards and SSH keys, the address book imports and exports vCard files, and ‘Share & Burn After Reading’ notes cover one-off secrets. A local Markdown mode edits a folder of files on your own disk without syncing it. The client is open source, with signed apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS and the web.

Threat level
Covered

A covered pick. Anyone can use it as a private drop-in, with no setup or know-how. Enough for most people. Threat levels

Screenshot of the PrivacyNotes website
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Our take

This is the private workspace we wanted to exist, so we built it. Sign up with a phrase alone and no email or password is tied to you: the recovery phrase is the key, and with self-custody only you hold it. That matters most for the data you would never put in Notion, a dose change or a hard week, which is why mood and medication tracking sit behind the same encryption as your notes. The client is open source, so you can read how it works. Pick it if you want one app for everything personal, encrypted on your device.

GitHub at a glance
LifetimeLabsHQ/PrivacyNotes.app
Star on GitHub
AGPL-3.0 client-side-encryptioncryptographye2eeencrypted-notesencryptionend-to-end-encryptionevernotegoogle-keeplocal-firstmarkdownnote-takingnote-taking-appnotesnotes-appnotion-alternativepersonal-knowledge-baseprivacyprivacy-toolssecurityzero-knowledge-encryption
Stars
648
+71 this week
Forks
45
6 watching
Last commit
1d ago
healthy
Latest release
v0.722.0
1d ago, 42 total
Star history
Issues
94% closed
38
open
547
closed
+184 / -202
opened / closed, last 4 weeks
Opened vs closed, last 12 weeks
Commits, last 26 weeks
22 commits, active 8 of 26 weeks
1 contributor since May 2026
Languages
  • TypeScript 91.8%
  • Rust 3.5%
  • CSS 1.7%
  • Other 3%
Updated daily from the GitHub API. Star tracking since Jun 15, 2026.
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Website at a glance
privacynotes.app
A+ score 115
Strong website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested 1d ago
Inspect this site yourself
Mozilla Observatory web-check urlscan.io SSL Labs Security Headers

Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.

PrivacyNotes alternatives

Standard Notes Free accounts come with a good set of features already, even in the long run if you are fine with plain text notes.
Notesnook Developers decided recently to open-source their application. Comes with a generous free version, rich text editor and import functionality from: Files (txt, html, and .md…
Joplin Synchronize notes across devices, publish and collaboration are for paid subscriptions only.
Anytype A local-first, end-to-end encrypted knowledge base and note-taking app with peer-to-peer sync, built as a privacy-respecting alternative to Notion.
Cryptee Free accounts come with 100MB storage. Your documents are encrypted before they leave your device, so Cryptee can't see your documents. Use the code "privacytools" at the…
Turtl Free accounts come with storage of up to 50MB of note data and collaborate with 3 people each space.
PrivacyNotes license, in plain English
AGPL-3.0
Strong copyleft · network

Free to use, even commercially. Changes must be published under the same license, and running a modified version as a network service counts as distributing it.

Permits

  • Commercial use
  • Modification
  • Distribution
  • Patent use
  • Private use

Requires

  • Disclose source
  • Network use is distribution
  • Same license
  • State changes
  • License and copyright notice

Does not provide

  • Liability cover
  • Warranty

Why it matters: The network clause is the point. Anyone who runs a modified version as a hosted service has to publish those changes, so the code handling your data stays inspectable. This is why privacy-first projects reach for AGPL.

Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.