A private notes app with no account and no tracking

Gravity is a private notes app in a plain sense: there's no account to create, no analytics in the app, and it doesn't collect any data about you or your notes. I can't read what you write, because it never reaches me.

I'm Tristan, and I make Gravity on my own. Notes are where people put the things they don't say out loud, so this page sets out exactly what happens to them.

What Gravity doesn't do

• It doesn't ask you to sign up or log in. You open it and type.
• It has no analytics or tracking code, no advertising, and no third-party crash reporting. I don't know how often you open the app or what you search for.
• It has no Gravity server. There is nowhere on my side for your notes to be stored, backed up or leaked from.
• It doesn't sell or share anything, because it has nothing to share.

Gravity's only network feature is iCloud sync, which you have to turn on. Tapping a link in a note opens it in your browser, as in any other app.

Where your notes are

Your notes are stored in a database on your device. Search runs on the device too, so your searches never leave it.

On iPhone, iPad and Mac you can turn on iCloud sync. It's off until you switch it on. When it's on, your notes sync through a private database in your own iCloud account, which Apple runs. I can't see that database. Apple's iCloud security applies, including whatever protection level you've chosen in your Apple account settings. Gravity doesn't add its own layer of encryption on top.

On Android, notes stay on the phone, and you can turn on automatic backups, which save a copy to a folder you choose each day. If that folder is synced by a cloud service, that service's privacy terms apply to the backup.

When you export your notes, as JSON or Markdown, the file goes wherever you send it.

What a private day looks like

Say you use Gravity as a journal. In the morning you write 14 Mar: slept badly, anxious about the review. At lunch you note a symptom to mention to your GP. In the evening you write a few lines about an argument you're still annoyed about.

None of that leaves your phone unless you turn on sync, and then it goes to your iCloud account rather than to me. Nobody is building a profile from it, and there's no "we may use your content to improve our services" clause, because I never receive the content.

If you'd like to try that kind of journal, interstitial journaling is a good place to start.

How it compares

Apple Notes is private in many ways. It needs an Apple account for sync, lets you lock individual notes with a password or Face ID, and supports Apple's Advanced Data Protection.

Google Keep and Notion store your notes on their servers, tied to your Google or Notion account. That's what makes their sharing and web access work.

Obsidian stores notes as local Markdown files and doesn't need an account unless you pay for its sync service. It's a good private option if you want a larger, more configurable app.

Who it's for

Gravity suits people who want to write freely without thinking about who else might see it: journals, health notes, half-formed ideas, the private to-do list. It suits people who want a small, capture-first app with nothing to sign up for.

Questions

Can you read my notes?

No. Your notes are on your device and, if you choose, in your own iCloud account. I have no access to either.

Does Gravity collect any data?

No. There's no account, no analytics and no third-party tracking or crash reporting in the app.

What happens to deleted notes?

They go to Deleted Notes first, where you can restore them. Deleting a note permanently also removes it from iCloud.

Gravity is on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Mac, and on Google Play for Android.