Last updated: May 2026
NoteLess is a notes app for macOS, iPhone, and iPad. Your notes live on your devices — and, if you turn on iCloud Drive sync, in your own iCloud account. NoteLess does not collect, transmit, or store any personal information about you on any server we operate.
Each note is stored in a single JSON file in NoteLess’s sandbox on your device. If you’re signed in to iCloud and the OS-level iCloud Drive switch for NoteLess is on, that same file is also kept in your iCloud Drive ubiquity container so the Mac, iPhone, and iPad apps see the same notes. The sync goes directly between your devices and Apple’s iCloud servers, under your Apple ID. We never see it.
If iCloud is unavailable or disabled for NoteLess, notes are kept only on the local device, in ~/Library/Application Support/NoteLess/ on the Mac or the app’s Documents directory on iPhone/iPad.
Hold-Option-to-dictate on the Mac uses Apple’s on-device SFSpeechRecognizer with the on-device flag set. Audio is captured locally, transcribed locally, and the resulting text is inserted into the current card. No audio is recorded, retained, or sent off the device.
The direct-download Mac version (from bendansby.com/apps/noteless) checks for software updates by fetching a public appcast.xml file from this domain. No identifiers are sent — just a plain HTTPS GET. The Mac App Store and iOS App Store versions use Apple’s update mechanism instead and have no such request.
Beyond that, the app makes no network calls. There is no analytics endpoint, no crash reporter, no “phone home.”
None. NoteLess does not embed any third-party SDKs, analytics frameworks, advertising libraries, or trackers. The only open-source library bundled in the app is Sindre Sorhus’s KeyboardShortcuts, used for the global hotkey recorder. It runs entirely on-device and makes no network calls.
Microphone & Speech Recognition (Mac only, when you first hold the Option key to dictate). Required for hold-to-dictate. Both are gated behind the standard macOS permission prompts. NoteLess only opens the microphone while the Option key is held; release it and the audio session ends.
NoteLess does not request Accessibility, Full Disk Access, Contacts, Photos, Location, or any other privacy-protected resource.
NoteLess is a productivity utility, not directed at children. It does not knowingly collect information from anyone, of any age.
If this policy ever changes, the “Last updated” date above will change with it. This page is the canonical source.
Questions? ben.dansby@gmail.com.