10 ms·

Serenity notes: E2E encrypted notes

39 points by domoritz 6y ago

mosselman 6y ago
Is note-taking-application-fatigue a thing yet? I feel like I might have it. I simply cannot look at the pros and cons of yet another application that will finally solve note taking better than what I do now. Trying it out, thinking it might be pretty cool until, 2 hours in, I find out about some total deal breaker yet again. (I won't mention what I am using now as that is besides the point. )
- blfr 6y ago
  Concurred. I have had checking out Notion.so on my TODO for over a year now while simply using Google Keep despite all of its problems.
- stinkytaco 6y ago
  Few things here: 1. Note taking apps are easy to build. 2. Note taking apps are something many of us want and take pretty seriously (you say you find a deal breaker in a workflow as basic as note taking, which seems to indicate this is something you take quite seriously). 3. We have a desire to tweak our setup for whatever reason. Whether it's "if I can solve this one problem everything else will fall into place" syndrome, motivation, solving an actual problem or simply to avoid real work, productivity porn creates clicks. So yeah, I'm pretty tired of it, but I don't think fatigue has yet set it because it scratches and itch in many people.
- asdff 6y ago
  At this point its plain text documents for me. No set rules. If I need it in multiple places/version control/etc I throw it in a git repo.
bluehark 6y ago
Free version lets you create up to 3 (!) notes: https://www.serenity.re/en/notes/pricing https://www.serenity.re/en/notes/pricing
meibo 6y ago
I wonder if building something like this on Matrix would be a good fit. Note "collections" would be rooms, to share collections you can invite people to your encrypted rooms.
- domoritz 6y ago
  They actually do somewhat. The creator talked about it at https://twitter.com/nikgraf/status/1374666231861686274 https://twitter.com/nikgraf/status/1374666231861686274.
qwerty456127 6y ago
Create up to 3 notes? Srsly? :-) I don't need to collaborate to 50 people like a real "pro" would but I won't even bother registering to create 3 notes. Something around 1000 notes would make a reasonable limit for a free personal edition.
- adamhearn 6y ago
  Why? Why does the free edition owe you anything?
  - mcherm 6y ago
    It doesn't. But I'm not going to bother trying it at "3 notes for free".
  - lucideer 6y ago
    It doesn't, but it is odd that this is marketed as something usable. . "Personal Free: Ideal to get started" A 3-note-limit is not "ideal" for anything. It would be better advertised as a free trial (purely for evaluating otherwise paid-only service), rather than pretending they have a free plan.
  - westpfelia 6y ago
    Well from an adoption standpoint it would be nice. I'm not going to even really bother with software that limits its free users so much. I mean I would TRY it but I'm not going to get a true experience out so few notes. And as a result I'm not going to buy it because I wasnt able to try it. I'm not saying 1000 notes is the answer. Maybe its 50, maybe its 500. But 3 certainly is limiting.
  - ryanmcbride 6y ago
    It's not really a matter of being _owed_ anything, it's more that a lot of people aren't likely to pay for something unless they know they're going to use it, and 3 notes doesn't seem like enough to really see if it's sustainable. They don't have to have a free tier at all, and likewise no one has to try the product out. However just because we aren't "owed" anything, doesn't mean we should just accept _anything_.
helschickle 6y ago
I just ran the iOS app. It does not use any client side encryption (i.e. at application level at rest) only in transit. From what I can see it is also using the default iOS data protection class. So while this app might provide good security for data in transit it provides little or no security for a local attack on a device locked but AFU.
egberts 6y ago
Ummm, still no self-hosting method.
loudtieblahblah 6y ago
let me introduce everyone to StandardNotes - Fully FOSS - E2EE - Multi-platform (web, iOS, Android, Linux, macOS, Win) - designed for the "longevity" of your notes (https://standardnotes.org/longevity https://standardnotes.org/longevity) - no limit on notes, all core features of the product itself are 100% free The paid version gives you: - 2FA - a long list of extensions, editors and themes - note version history https://standardnotes.org/ https://standardnotes.org/
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- seppin 6y ago
  +1. UI is a little basic, they could add basic shortcuts (like create a new note command+n), but security and transparency can't be beat.
- LilBytes 6y ago
  I've been a long time subscriber to SN for all the reasons stated above.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- joshka 6y ago
  Neat - that looks significantly more interesting.
- zuhsetaqi 6y ago
  Too bad it’s not possible to selfhost
  - noisem4ker 6y ago
    It is. https://standardnotes.org/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-notes https://standardnotes.org/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-n... https://docs.standardnotes.org/self-hosting/getting-started/ https://docs.standardnotes.org/self-hosting/getting-started/
sammorrowdrums 6y ago
It's actually wrong about Roam - you can now encrypt individual notes by password https://mobile.twitter.com/roamresearch/status/1226658292333568003?lang=en https://mobile.twitter.com/roamresearch/status/1226658292333...
hardwaresofton 6y ago
Also check out Joplin: joplinapp.org/
MrMcDowall 6y ago
There's Obsidian for those that want their notes to stay local, or at the very least decide if you want your information flying around the Internet: http://obsidian.md/ http://obsidian.md/

39 points by domoritz 6y ago

Is note-taking-application-fatigue a thing yet? I feel like I might have it. I simply cannot look at the pros and cons of yet another application that will finally solve note taking better than what I do now. Trying it out, thinking it might be pretty cool until, 2 hours in, I find out about some total deal breaker yet again. (I won't mention what I am using now as that is besides the point. )

blfr 6y ago
Concurred. I have had checking out Notion.so on my TODO for over a year now while simply using Google Keep despite all of its problems.
stinkytaco 6y ago
Few things here: 1. Note taking apps are easy to build. 2. Note taking apps are something many of us want and take pretty seriously (you say you find a deal breaker in a workflow as basic as note taking, which seems to indicate this is something you take quite seriously). 3. We have a desire to tweak our setup for whatever reason. Whether it's "if I can solve this one problem everything else will fall into place" syndrome, motivation, solving an actual problem or simply to avoid real work, productivity porn creates clicks. So yeah, I'm pretty tired of it, but I don't think fatigue has yet set it because it scratches and itch in many people.
asdff 6y ago
At this point its plain text documents for me. No set rules. If I need it in multiple places/version control/etc I throw it in a git repo.

bluehark 6y ago

Free version lets you create up to 3 (!) notes: https://www.serenity.re/en/notes/pricing https://www.serenity.re/en/notes/pricing

meibo 6y ago

I wonder if building something like this on Matrix would be a good fit. Note "collections" would be rooms, to share collections you can invite people to your encrypted rooms.

domoritz 6y ago
They actually do somewhat. The creator talked about it at https://twitter.com/nikgraf/status/1374666231861686274 https://twitter.com/nikgraf/status/1374666231861686274.

qwerty456127 6y ago

Create up to 3 notes? Srsly? :-) I don't need to collaborate to 50 people like a real "pro" would but I won't even bother registering to create 3 notes. Something around 1000 notes would make a reasonable limit for a free personal edition.

adamhearn 6y ago
Why? Why does the free edition owe you anything?
- mcherm 6y ago
  It doesn't. But I'm not going to bother trying it at "3 notes for free".
- lucideer 6y ago
  It doesn't, but it is odd that this is marketed as something usable. . "Personal Free: Ideal to get started" A 3-note-limit is not "ideal" for anything. It would be better advertised as a free trial (purely for evaluating otherwise paid-only service), rather than pretending they have a free plan.
- westpfelia 6y ago
  Well from an adoption standpoint it would be nice. I'm not going to even really bother with software that limits its free users so much. I mean I would TRY it but I'm not going to get a true experience out so few notes. And as a result I'm not going to buy it because I wasnt able to try it. I'm not saying 1000 notes is the answer. Maybe its 50, maybe its 500. But 3 certainly is limiting.
- ryanmcbride 6y ago
  It's not really a matter of being _owed_ anything, it's more that a lot of people aren't likely to pay for something unless they know they're going to use it, and 3 notes doesn't seem like enough to really see if it's sustainable. They don't have to have a free tier at all, and likewise no one has to try the product out. However just because we aren't "owed" anything, doesn't mean we should just accept _anything_.

helschickle 6y ago

I just ran the iOS app. It does not use any client side encryption (i.e. at application level at rest) only in transit. From what I can see it is also using the default iOS data protection class. So while this app might provide good security for data in transit it provides little or no security for a local attack on a device locked but AFU.

egberts 6y ago

Ummm, still no self-hosting method.

loudtieblahblah 6y ago

let me introduce everyone to StandardNotes - Fully FOSS - E2EE - Multi-platform (web, iOS, Android, Linux, macOS, Win) - designed for the "longevity" of your notes (https://standardnotes.org/longevity https://standardnotes.org/longevity) - no limit on notes, all core features of the product itself are 100% free The paid version gives you: - 2FA - a long list of extensions, editors and themes - note version history https://standardnotes.org/ https://standardnotes.org/

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
seppin 6y ago
+1. UI is a little basic, they could add basic shortcuts (like create a new note command+n), but security and transparency can't be beat.
LilBytes 6y ago
I've been a long time subscriber to SN for all the reasons stated above.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
joshka 6y ago
Neat - that looks significantly more interesting.
zuhsetaqi 6y ago
Too bad it’s not possible to selfhost
- noisem4ker 6y ago
  It is. https://standardnotes.org/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-notes https://standardnotes.org/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-n... https://docs.standardnotes.org/self-hosting/getting-started/ https://docs.standardnotes.org/self-hosting/getting-started/

sammorrowdrums 6y ago

It's actually wrong about Roam - you can now encrypt individual notes by password https://mobile.twitter.com/roamresearch/status/1226658292333568003?lang=en https://mobile.twitter.com/roamresearch/status/1226658292333...

hardwaresofton 6y ago

Also check out Joplin: joplinapp.org/

MrMcDowall 6y ago

There's Obsidian for those that want their notes to stay local, or at the very least decide if you want your information flying around the Internet: http://obsidian.md/ http://obsidian.md/