I’m using Standard Notes and want to switch to a good notes app. Before jumping to another service, I want to clear my confusion about whether local notes apps or cloud-based notes apps offer better privacy. Privacy is always my top priority, followed by multi-device sync. I have no problem with any type of note-taking app.
If you suggest that locally stored notes apps offer better privacy, then I’d upload the database to the cloud and download it from another device. I’ll follow these steps every time I create a new entry. Since I don’t host any server, syncing the database through my own server is not possible.
Based on PG’s recommendation page, I have two options for cloud-based note-taking apps: Notesnook and Cryptee. While I have some experience with Notesnook in the past, I need to try Cryptee.
I think Notesnook and Cryptee offers great privacy and is what you’re looking for. They’re recommended on here for a reason. Go with either, you can’t go wrong. Though I personally like Notesnook. Its more versatile and feels like a more traditional Notes app especially coming from Standard Notes.
I think the less footprint you make, the more private you are; utilise existing tools, or tools that dont increase your network footprint would be the best.
If not possible then use new but privacy friendly tool would be a good idea.
Standard Notes has the best privacy but lacking features. Notesnook is promising but lacks any audit. I wouldn’t yet trust it with the most important notes (2FA codes and whatnot) because of that.
Define best? Notesnook and Cryptee are pretty great too. So, not sure how you mean this.
And for the record, a software not having an audit doesn’t at all by default mean they are not worth using or recommending. It is a great tool that’s highly privacy respecting that is secure enough for almost all threat models.
SN has gone through 4 audits and is quite established. Notesnook/Cryptee may be totally fine, but at the same time bugs exist, especially in fast moving products, and without an audit you’re just less sure if there isn’t an unnoticed critical bug that would bypass other security measures. To flip the question, is there anything on the security front that makes Cryptee or Notesnook stand out as better alternative?
Notesnook has also done somewhat sketchy things from security/privacy perspective, like suddenly removing app lock feature from the free/essential tiers. Taking back features like that is a red flag for me in any product.