Privacy Guarantees

How Witflo protects your privacy and what data practices we follow.

Core Privacy Principles

1. Zero data collection - We don't collect analytics, telemetry, or usage data
2. Zero knowledge - Your notes are encrypted on your device with keys only you have
3. No tracking - No cookies, pixels, or third-party trackers
4. Offline-first - Works completely without internet connection
5. Open source - Code is auditable by anyone

Your Data Stays Private

Everything Is Encrypted Locally

All your data is stored encrypted on your device:

Data Type	Location	Encrypted
Note content	Local file system	✅ Yes
Note titles	SQLite database	✅ Yes
Note metadata	SQLite database	✅ Yes
Tags & Notebooks	SQLite database	✅ Yes
Workspace settings	Local config	✅ Yes
App preferences	Local config	Only non-sensitive data

Storage Locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/witflo/
• Linux: ~/.local/share/witflo/
• Windows: %APPDATA%/witflo/
• iOS: App sandbox
• Android: App-private storage

What We Collect

The Short Answer: Nothing

Witflo is designed to collect zero information about you or your usage.

Personal Information

• No name, email, or contact information required
• No account registration
• No user profiles

Usage Data

• No analytics (Google Analytics, etc.)
• No telemetry
• No feature usage tracking
• No crash reports sent automatically

Note Content

• Your notes stay on your device, encrypted
• We never see your note content
• No search queries logged
• No content indexing on our servers

Metadata

• No timestamp tracking on our servers
• No device fingerprinting
• No IP address logging
• No geolocation tracking

Technical Data

• No automatic error reporting
• No performance metrics collection
• No A/B testing
• No behavioral analytics

How Sync Works (When Enabled)

Only Encrypted Data Leaves Your Device

When you enable sync (optional feature):

What the server receives:

• Encrypted note blobs (unreadable ciphertext)
• Encrypted metadata (unreadable ciphertext)
• Sync timestamps (for conflict resolution)
• Workspace ID (random UUID, non-identifying)

What the server never sees:

• Your password or encryption keys
• Note content in readable form
• Note titles in readable form
• Tags or notebook names in readable form
• Any personal information

Network Activity

Witflo is offline-first and connects to the internet only for:

1. Sync (Optional)

• Only when you enable and configure sync
• Only encrypted data transmitted
• End-to-end encrypted before leaving your device

2. Updates (Optional)

• Checks for new app versions
• Connects to GitHub API (not controlled by us)
• Can be disabled in settings

3. Nothing Else

• No analytics requests
• No telemetry transmissions
• No tracking pixels or beacons

Self-Hosting

Take complete control of your data:

• Run your own sync server
• No third-party involvement
• Full ownership of all data
• Open-source sync server code (coming soon)

Browser & Web Version

Local Storage Only

What's stored in your browser:

• Encrypted workspace state in IndexedDB
• Session storage for encrypted data
• Cleared automatically when you lock the workspace

What's NOT in your browser:

• Third-party cookies
• Tracking scripts
• Analytics code
• Any unencrypted note data

Mobile Apps

Minimal Permissions

Witflo only requests permissions it actually needs:

Permission	Required?	Why?
Storage	✅ Yes	Store your encrypted notes
Network	Optional	Only if using sync
Biometric	Optional	Biometric unlock feature
Camera	❌ Never	Not used
Microphone	❌ Never	Not used
Location	❌ Never	Not used
Contacts	❌ Never	Not used

App Store Privacy Labels

iOS Privacy Nutrition Label:

• Data collected: None
• Data linked to you: None
• Data used to track you: None

Google Play Data Safety:

• No data shared with third parties
• No data collected

Third-Party Services

What We Use

For core functionality: Nothing

Optional services:

• GitHub - For app updates only (if you enable update checks)
• Your sync server - If you configure self-hosted sync

What We Don't Use

Witflo includes zero third-party tracking or analytics:

• No Google Analytics
• No Firebase Analytics
• No Sentry crash reporting
• No Crashlytics
• No Facebook SDK
• No advertising networks
• No tracking SDKs of any kind

Data Retention

On Your Device

Your data stays on your device until you delete it:

• Stored indefinitely in encrypted form
• Removed when you delete a workspace
• Completely erased when you uninstall the app

On Sync Server (If Using Sync)

Active data:

• Stored encrypted on the sync server
• Only you can decrypt it

Deleted notes:

• Soft deleted for 30 days (for conflict resolution)
• Permanently removed after 30 days

Account deletion:

• All data immediately purged from sync server
• No recovery possible after deletion

Privacy Compliance

GDPR (Europe)

Witflo is GDPR-compliant by design:

• ✅ No personal data collected
• ✅ Data minimization (only what's necessary)
• ✅ Encryption by design and default
• ✅ Right to deletion (built into the app)
• ✅ Data portability (export feature)
• ✅ No automated decision-making

CCPA (California)

Witflo respects your privacy rights:

• ✅ No personal information sold (we don't collect it)
• ✅ No personal information shared
• ✅ No personal information collected

Other Regulations

• HIPAA: Not certified (independent audit not performed)
• COPPA: No data collection, suitable for all ages
• SOC 2: Not certified (small project)

Privacy Comparison

See how Witflo compares to other note-taking apps:

Feature	Witflo	Evernote	Notion	Apple Notes
E2E Encryption	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No	Partial
Zero-knowledge	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No	Partial
Analytics	❌ None	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Limited
Open source	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No
Self-hosting	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No

Transparency Commitment

How We Ensure Privacy

1. Open source code - All code is public and auditable on GitHub
2. No accounts needed - No registration or login required
3. Local-first architecture - Data stays on your device
4. Minimal network use - Only encrypted sync traffic when enabled
5. Zero telemetry - No data collection infrastructure

Our Privacy Promise

Your notes are encrypted on your device. Only you have the keys to decrypt them. We build privacy into every feature from day one.

Common Questions

Can Witflo read my notes?

No. Your notes are encrypted on your device before storage or sync. We only ever see encrypted data that is useless without your password.

What about government requests?

We only have encrypted data and cannot decrypt it. If legally required to provide data, we can only share:

• Encrypted data blobs (unreadable without your password)
• Sync timestamps
• Workspace IDs (random, non-identifying)

We never have access to:

• Your password or encryption keys
• Readable note content
• Personal information (we don't collect it)

Can you recover my password?

No. By design, we have no way to recover passwords. This is a security feature. No backdoors means complete privacy - no one (including us) can access your data without your password.

Will privacy practices change?

We commit to:

• ✅ Never collecting personal data
• ✅ Never selling any data
• ✅ Never adding tracking
• ✅ Remaining open source forever

If we ever need to collect any data (for example, to prevent fraud), we will:

1. Announce changes publicly
2. Update the privacy policy
3. Make collection optional
4. Keep data collection minimal

Contact

Have privacy concerns or questions?

• Email: privacy@witflo.app (coming soon)
• Open source: View code on GitHub

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Last updated: February 2025
Effective date: February 2025