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Show HN: Notesnook – A cross-platform privacy focused zero-knowledge notes app

notesnook.com

11–20 of 45 posts

Re: Show HN: Notesnook – A cross-platform privacy focused zero-knowledge notes app

#11
post #8

This looks really interesting, will check it out- the privacy aspect is very intriguing. However I must say that I find myself having difficulties adapting to a new note taking environment. I always seem to drift back to simple markdown notes in my preferred editor. Perhaps this is due to ease of access and how efficiently I am able to write markdown. The only real issue I have with this system is organization. It’s…

Hey, thanks for checking Notesnook out. I was myself a pen & paper user for notes. That is why I designed Notesnook organization system around the concept of notebooks & topics because they are very easy to get used to: A notebook has multiple topics that can have multiple notes. (A single note can be under multiple topics - for flexibility). As for markdown, Notesnook supports most of the markdown spec so you won't…

I love the sound of that.

So far I think the UX is incredibly sleek from my brief usage of the iOS app. Writing markdown feels really good, this will be a large improvement from the stock iOS app.

Excited to check out the VS Code extension and desktop experience.

Re: Show HN: Notesnook – A cross-platform privacy focused zero-knowledge notes app

#12
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, thanks for checking Notesnook out. I was myself a pen & paper user for notes. That is why I designed Notesnook organization system around the concept of notebooks & topics because they are very easy to get used to: A notebook has multiple topics that can have multiple notes. (A single note can be under multiple topics - for flexibility). As for markdown, Notesnook supports most of the markdown spec so you won't…

I love the sound of that. So far I think the UX is incredibly sleek from my brief usage of the iOS app. Writing markdown feels really good, this will be a large improvement from the stock iOS app. Excited to check out the VS Code extension and desktop experience.

I am really glad you liked it!

> Excited to check out the VS Code extension and desktop experience.

The VS Code extension & the desktop app are in the works. We also have plans for a Chrome extension and a CLI app (that will greatly make Notesnook editor/platform agnostic).

Re: Show HN: Notesnook – A cross-platform privacy focused zero-knowledge notes app

#14

I like the UI, quite slick. One thing I really care about note taking apps is how easy it is take my data out. Do you provide an API?

Currently there is no API but all notes can be exported as HTML, TXT, PDF, or Markdown. There's also the option to backup.

Re: Show HN: Notesnook – A cross-platform privacy focused zero-knowledge notes app

#16

Can you please elaborate on the zero knowledge encryption aspect of the app? What crypto algorithm does it utilise for zero knowledge encryption.

Hey! Thank you for checking out Notesnook.

We are using Argon2 for password hashing (both on client and server side) and as a KDF. The key is generated client-side on the user's browser/mobile and saved in a secure storage (IndexedDB on the browser & OS Keychain on mobile).

For data encryption we use XChaCha20-IETF-Poly1305 using the well known libsodium library. All the data is encrypted on user's device before being sent to the server.

The main details on how all data with the app is handled is available here: https://notesnook.com/privacy

Re: Show HN: Notesnook – A cross-platform privacy focused zero-knowledge notes app

#18

How does this compare to https://standardnotes.org ?

Standard Notes is an amazing app and it was actually our first inspiration in creating a privacy-focused note-taking app.

Security & encryption wise, both apps use the same encryption algorithms, afaik.

However, Standard Notes is expensive ($9/m) whereas Notesnook is only $4.49/mo.

Notesnook's organization is more flexible; it has tags, colors, notebooks & topics. In comparison, Standard Notes only offers colors and tags.

Notesnook's mobile app experience is almost the same as the web verison. There's almost 1:1 feature parity. Whereas in Standard Notes, the mobile version lacks many of the main features.

We also have more export options (you can export notes as pdf, html, md or txt). On the mobile app, there's also Quick Share that allows you to share any text or link directly into the app without switching contexts (apps).

Re: Show HN: Notesnook – A cross-platform privacy focused zero-knowledge notes app

#19

How does this compare to https://standardnotes.org ?

Standard Notes is an amazing app and it was actually our first inspiration in creating a privacy-focused note-taking app. Security & encryption wise, both apps use the same encryption algorithms, afaik. However, Standard Notes is expensive ($9/m) whereas Notesnook is only $4.49/mo. Notesnook's organization is more flexible; it has tags, colors, notebooks & topics. In comparison, Standard Notes only offers colors and…

The Standard Notes clients, server, and extensions are open source (AGPLv3 license):

https://github.com/standardnotes

There is an empty repo for Notesnook:

https://github.com/streetwriters/notesnook

Will Notesnook also become open source, or will it remain proprietary?

Re: Show HN: Notesnook – A cross-platform privacy focused zero-knowledge notes app

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Standard Notes is an amazing app and it was actually our first inspiration in creating a privacy-focused note-taking app. Security & encryption wise, both apps use the same encryption algorithms, afaik. However, Standard Notes is expensive ($9/m) whereas Notesnook is only $4.49/mo. Notesnook's organization is more flexible; it has tags, colors, notebooks & topics. In comparison, Standard Notes only offers colors and…

The Standard Notes clients, server, and extensions are open source (AGPLv3 license): https://github.com/standardnotes There is an empty repo for Notesnook: https://github.com/streetwriters/notesnook Will Notesnook also become open source, or will it remain proprietary?

I just created the repo for issue tracking etc.

I have plans to make certain parts of Notesnook open source. Especially the security related ones so they can be audited and reviewed by the public.

Notesnook as a product will remain proprietary though.

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