Summary
You can use Noterat without an account, and then the app sends us nothing and we can't read your notes. A few optional features (sharing a notebook as a link, sharing it live, and connecting your own Claude or ChatGPT) need a Noterat account, made with Sign in with Apple, and go through a server we run. Section 6 explains exactly what that server sees and keeps. The app contains no analytics, advertising or tracking, and neither does this website.
- Your notebooks are stored on your device.
- If you turn on iCloud sync, a copy is kept in your own iCloud account. We can't read it. Apple can, unless you have turned on Advanced Data Protection.
- If you turn on backups to Google Drive or OneDrive, copies of your library are saved in your own Google Drive or OneDrive. We can't read them either.
- Your notes are also part of your normal device backup, which Apple or your own computer handles.
- A few iOS features, such as Spotlight search and the clipboard, also handle your notes. Section 7 explains how.
- If you sign in, we store an anonymous account identifier from Apple. We never receive your name or email address.
- Pages you share as a link are stored on our server until the link expires or you stop sharing. Live sharing and the Claude/ChatGPT MCP pass your content through our server without storing it.
- Noterat Pro is bought through Apple. We don't receive your payment details.
- Otherwise we only receive what you choose to send us (an email or TestFlight feedback), and whatever anonymous statistics Apple passes on if you've allowed it.
The numbered sections below are the policy itself.
1. Who is responsible
Noterat is published by Westin Digital AB. We are the controller under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the limited processing described here.
This policy covers Noterat for iOS and iPadOS, including the same app running on a Mac with Apple silicon, from the version current on the date above, and the website noterat.app. Settings paths are given for iOS. On a Mac, the same settings are found in System Settings.
2. What Noterat does not do
We have checked the first four points against the app's source code. The last two are commitments from us.
- No account unless you want one. Everything except the features in section 6 works without signing in. If you do sign in, it is with Sign in with Apple; there is no password of ours.
- No network requests you haven't asked for. The app only goes online for services you turn on or use yourself: iCloud sync, which talks only to your own iCloud (section 4); backups to your own Google Drive or OneDrive (section 5); the account features in section 6, including an image that Claude or ChatGPT asks the app to download from a web address; and a YouTube video you choose to play in a note (section 7). iOS itself communicates with Apple regardless of which app you use; section 7 covers where that involves your notes.
- No analytics or tracking. No usage statistics, crash-reporting service, advertising or advertising identifier, and no tracking across apps or websites. The app never asks for tracking permission because it has no reason to.
- No third-party SDKs for analytics, advertising, attribution or crash reporting (see section 14).
- No selling or sharing of personal data. What can reach us is never sold and is shared with no one except the providers listed in section 11.
- No cookies or tracking on this website. noterat.app, including notebooks shared as links at noterat.app/s, sets no cookies, uses no analytics and loads nothing from other sites: fonts, images and scripts are all served from noterat.app itself, so visiting the site sends nothing to Google or anyone else. Links to other sites send nothing until you follow them. The site is hosted by Cloudflare, which processes visitors' IP addresses and ordinary request data (such as the page requested, time, browser type and referring page) to deliver the pages and protect the site against abuse. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in running a working and secure website (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)). We keep no logs of our own and don't use this data to identify visitors; Cloudflare keeps it only for a short time under its own rules.
3. Your notes
Everything you create in Noterat is saved on your device, in the app's own storage, which other apps can't read. That includes handwriting, typed text, drawings, flashcards, inserted photos, scanned documents, imported PDFs, voice recordings and their transcripts, teleprompter scripts and calculations. If you turn on iCloud sync, a copy also goes to your own iCloud (section 4), and if you turn on backups, to your own Google Drive or OneDrive (section 5).
To make notes searchable, the app extracts text from each page, including recognised handwriting and text in imported PDFs and images, and stores it with the notebook. This happens on your device (section 9).
Deleted notebooks go to the app's Trash, where they are kept for 30 days by default before being deleted permanently. You can change this period in the app's settings.
Imported files are copied into the notebook; Noterat doesn't read the original where it lies. If a file you import contains other people's personal data, it is your decision to store it and your responsibility.
If you use flashcards, the app keeps a record on the device of how you did on each card so it can decide what to show next. This record is not synced.
4. iCloud sync
Noterat can keep your library in sync across your devices using Apple's CloudKit. Sync is off on a new installation and you turn it on in the app's settings.
One exception: if an earlier version of Noterat synced your library through iCloud Drive and you had that turned on, upgrading turns on the new sync automatically. It uses a different storage location from the one you originally chose. If you'd rather not sync, turn it off in Settings after upgrading.
With sync on, your library is stored in the private CloudKit database of your own Apple Account, in Noterat's iCloud container, using your iCloud storage. Only the Apple Account signed in on the device can reach it. Westin Digital AB has no access to it and no way of reading, retrieving or restoring what you sync. Nothing passes through systems of ours.
Apple, on the other hand, holds the encryption keys under standard iCloud and can be legally compelled to hand over data. If you don't want that, turn on Advanced Data Protection in Settings → [your name] → iCloud. It covers Noterat's data and your iCloud Backup in the same way as other apps'.
What is uploaded: notebooks and pages; handwriting; typed text and page objects; inserted images; scanned documents; imported PDFs, Markdown files and DXF drawings; voice recordings and their transcripts; flashcard decks; teleprompter scripts; saved elements, patterns and your own templates; folders, tags and favourites; and, for Markdown notes and DXF drawings, when you last opened them. Standalone Markdown notes, DXF drawings, saved elements and patterns include a small preview image.
What is not uploaded: notebook page thumbnails and extracted search text. Each device rebuilds these itself.
Technical data that sync needs: file and notebook names, internal identifiers, file types, modification times, revision counters, and a generic device label such as “iPad”, used to name a conflicting copy if the same page is edited on two devices at once.
Apple is the storage provider, and your use of iCloud is governed by your agreement with Apple and Apple's Privacy Policy. Sync also uses Apple's push service to tell your devices that something has changed. These messages are silent and carry no content; Noterat never shows you notifications. They may wake the app briefly in the background to fetch changes. Apart from that, Noterat only works in the background while it is recording an audio note (section 8).
Turning sync off stops further syncing but does not remove what is already in your iCloud. While sync is on, deleted items are removed from iCloud when they are purged from the Trash. After you turn sync off, nothing more is sent, so anything already uploaded stays until you delete it.
To delete the iCloud copy, go to Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Storage (Manage Account Storage on some devices), tap Noterat and choose Delete Data from iCloud. Deleting the app does not do this, because iOS keeps an app's iCloud data. Since we can't see that data, only you can delete it (section 12).
If you used an older version that kept your library in iCloud Drive, Noterat can still read that folder to move your library back to your device. It doesn't write anything new there. That older copy is deleted the same way, under Noterat in your iCloud storage, and isn't visible in the Files app.
5. Backups to Google Drive and OneDrive
You can keep backups of your library in your own Google Drive or OneDrive, under Settings → Backup and import in the app. You can connect one, both or neither. Nothing is sent to Google or Microsoft until you connect an account there.
What is uploaded. Backups are kept in one folder called “Noterat Backups” in your Drive or OneDrive. There are two kinds, and each has a single fixed place there:
- Full backup: one file, “Noterat.noteratbackup”, containing your whole library, including folders, tags, the Trash, version history and your templates, elements and patterns. Device settings and account connections are not included. Each new full backup replaces the previous one.
- PDF backup: a folder called “PDF” with a PDF of each notebook, plus your Markdown notes and DXF drawings in their original format. It is kept in step with your library: only what has changed is uploaded, and a document you delete in the app is also removed from this folder. A small index file there records which files have been uploaded.
When the app removes or replaces a backup file, the old version goes to your Drive's or OneDrive's trash or version history, under that service's own rules; the app never deletes anything permanently. It only changes “Noterat.noteratbackup” and the “PDF” folder inside Noterat Backups, and removes the dated backups earlier versions of the app made there. Nothing else in your storage is touched.
You can back up by hand, or turn on daily backups, which run when you open the app, at most once a day for each kind and service. They don't run in the background. To restore, the app downloads the full backup from the Noterat Backups folder; restored documents are added as new copies.
Sign-in tokens. You always sign in on Google's or Microsoft's own sign-in page, which iOS shows; Noterat never sees your password. The sign-in tokens they issue are kept in the iOS keychain on that device only. They are not synced to your other devices, not included in any backup, and never sent to us.
Where the data goes. Files travel directly between your device and Google or Microsoft over an encrypted connection. They don't pass through any system of ours, and Westin Digital AB has no access to your accounts or your backups. You choose to store your files with Google or Microsoft, so neither is our processor for this data.
Google Drive
Permissions. The app asks only for the permission Google calls drive.file, which lets it see and change files and folders it has created itself and nothing else in your Drive. After you connect, the app asks Google for the account's email address and name to show which account is connected. That is kept in memory while the app runs and is not saved.
Google stores your backups under your agreement with Google and Google's Privacy Policy, and may process them outside the EU/EEA.
Disconnecting. Disconnect in the app removes the tokens from the device and stops backups. Backups already in your Drive stay there until you delete them. To also withdraw Noterat's access at Google, go to Third-party apps & services in your Google Account.
Noterat's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. The information is used only to store and restore your backups. It is not used for advertising, not sold, and not read by anyone at Westin Digital AB.
OneDrive
Permissions. The app asks Microsoft for two permissions: Files.ReadWrite, which lets it read and change files in your OneDrive, and offline_access, which keeps you connected without signing in every time. Files.ReadWrite covers your whole OneDrive, not only the files Noterat has created. The app uses it only to create, list and download backups in the Noterat Backups folder and, when you choose Import a cloud folder…, to show the folders you browse and download the files in the folder you pick. It doesn't read, change or delete anything else. After you connect, the app asks Microsoft for the display name of the OneDrive's owner to show which account is connected. That is kept in memory while the app runs and is not saved.
Importing a folder. PDF, Markdown and DXF files in the chosen folder and its subfolders are downloaded and copied into your library, where they stay on your device like any other imported file (section 3). Other file types are skipped.
Microsoft stores your files under your agreement with Microsoft and the Microsoft Privacy Statement, and may process them outside the EU/EEA. If you use a work or school account, your organisation's own agreement with Microsoft and its policies also apply.
Disconnecting. Disconnect in the app removes the tokens from the device and stops backups. Backups and imported originals already in your OneDrive stay there until you delete them. To also withdraw Noterat's access at Microsoft, go to Apps and services that can access your data for a personal Microsoft account; for a work or school account, ask your organisation's administrator.
6. Noterat account and online features
Three features work through a server that Westin Digital AB runs on Cloudflare: share as link, share live and the Claude/ChatGPT MCP, a connector for your own Claude or ChatGPT. They are part of Noterat Pro and need a Noterat account. Nothing is sent to the server until you sign in, and only while you use one of these features. Everything else in the app works without it.
Account
You sign in with Sign in with Apple. Noterat asks Apple for neither your name nor your email address. Apple gives us an identifier that is unique to you and our developer team, and we store that identifier, a random account number and when the account was created.
For each device you sign in on, we store a random device identifier, the device's model name (such as “iPad”), when you signed in and the day you last used the account. The app keeps its sign-in token in the iOS keychain on that device only; we store only a hash of it.
Legal basis: performing our agreement with you, that is, providing the features you've signed in for (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)). We keep the account until you delete it. Sign out removes the device's sign-in. Delete account, in Settings in the app, deletes the account, every device's sign-in, every Claude or ChatGPT connection and every notebook you share as a link. It doesn't touch your notes on your devices or in iCloud.
Noterat Pro
The subscription is bought, renewed and cancelled through Apple's App Store. Apple handles the payment and we never receive your payment details. The app asks Apple whether you have an active subscription; our server doesn't know about the purchase. Apple gives us sales reports that don't identify you. Manage or cancel the subscription in Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions.
Share as link
When you share a notebook as a link, the app uploads an image of each page, the notebook's title and the size of each page to our server. The images show everything on the pages, including handwriting. While the app is open, changed pages are uploaded again so the link stays up to date.
Anyone who has the link can see the pages in a web browser, without signing in. The address contains a long random code that can't be guessed, and the pages are marked so search engines don't index them. Who you give the link to is up to you.
The link expires after the time you choose (1, 7, 30 or 90 days, 30 by default), and expired links and their pages are deleted from the server within a day. Stop sharing deletes them at once, and pages you remove from the notebook are removed from the link. Browsers that have already opened a page may keep a copy in their own cache.
Share live
When you share a notebook live, up to four others can write in it together with you. The server creates a room and stores your account number, the notebook's title and when the room was created and ended. The room's key is stored only as a hash. The invite link carries the key in the part of the address browsers never send to a server.
While the room is open, the server passes ink, page objects, images, PDFs and a copy of the notebook between the participants. It doesn't read or store this content. Each participant's chosen display name is shown to the others. Participants keep their copy of the notebook after the session, just as with a file you send. A room ends 10 minutes after the host leaves, and its record is deleted 7 days later.
Claude/ChatGPT MCP
You can connect your own Claude or ChatGPT account to Noterat (a connector using the Model Context Protocol). You sign in with Apple in the assistant's connection window, and the assistant gets access to your Noterat account, which you can withdraw in the app at any time. Access lasts at most 90 days without use.
When the assistant uses a tool, our server forwards the request to the Noterat app on your device, which must be open. The app answers with what the tool asks for, such as a notebook's text and recognised handwriting, calculation results or an image of a page, and the server passes the answer back to the assistant. The server doesn't store this content. It counts how many tool calls are made per day, to limit use, and tells the assistant the name of the connected device's model.
When the assistant adds an image from a web address to a notebook, the app on your device downloads it directly from that address; the image doesn't pass through our server. The server that hosts the image then receives your IP address and ordinary request data, such as the time and that the request comes from Noterat. That server is run by whoever publishes the image, and its own terms apply. The app sends no cookies or sign-in details with the request and only accepts HTTPS addresses on the public internet. The image is saved in your notebook like any other image you insert.
What the assistant does with what it receives is governed by your agreement with its maker and that maker's privacy policy, not by us: Anthropic for Claude (Anthropic's privacy policy) and OpenAI for ChatGPT (OpenAI's privacy policy). Noterat Pro includes no AI usage of its own: the assistant runs on your own account.
Server logs
To protect the server against abuse, it uses your IP address to limit how often sign-ins can be attempted; the address isn't stored. Cloudflare keeps short-term technical logs of requests and errors, which we use only to find faults. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in a working and secure service (Art. 6(1)(f)).
7. Apple features that touch your notes
Some things that happen to your notes are done by iOS rather than by Noterat:
- Spotlight. For each page with text, Noterat adds the notebook title, page number and up to 4,000 characters of text to your device's Spotlight index so you can find notes from system search. The index belongs to iOS and nothing is sent to us. A notebook in the Trash stays in the index until it is permanently deleted. To turn this off, go to Settings → Apps → Noterat → Search and turn off Show App in Search and Show Content in Search.
- Device backup. Noterat excludes nothing from backup. Your notebooks, imported files and recordings are part of your iCloud Backup, which Apple runs under its own terms, and of any backup you make on a computer, encrypted or not.
- Clipboard. Copied handwriting or formulas go to the system clipboard. With Universal Clipboard, iOS may make them available on your other Apple devices.
- Keyboard. Dictation, Scribble, predictive text and Writing Tools are Apple features available in most of our text fields. We add nothing to them and see nothing they produce. In the Markdown editor, the handwriting review sheet and drawing measurement fields we turn off autocorrect and spelling suggestions. Dictation audio is handled by Apple.
- Web links. Links you write in a note open in your browser when tapped. Noterat has no browser of its own and adds no links.
- YouTube videos. If you add a YouTube video to a note and play it, the video is loaded from YouTube inside the app. YouTube then receives your IP address and ordinary request data and may store cookies in the app's web storage, under Google's Privacy Policy. Nothing is loaded from YouTube until you play a video.
- Live Activity. While an audio note is recording, a Live Activity on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island shows the notebook's title and the recording time. It is updated on the device, not by push.
- Sharing and export. When you share or export, the iOS share sheet passes the file to the app or service you choose, and from then on that recipient's terms apply. Sharing a whole notebook as a Noterat file includes everything in it: pages, original imported PDFs, voice recordings, extracted search text, tags and the name of its folder. The same goes for a full backup saved with Export full backup…, which contains your whole library. Exporting also leaves a temporary copy in the app's temporary storage. iOS may clear it, and it is removed when you delete the app.
Files are protected at rest by iOS Data Protection, which requires a passcode on the device. Noterat doesn't add its own lock or password, and this version has no Face ID or Touch ID lock.
8. Camera, microphone and photos
Noterat uses these only when you ask it to.
| Camera | To take a photo or scan a document into a note. The image goes into your notebook, not your photo library. |
|---|---|
| Microphone | To record an audio note on a page, when you start recording. Recording continues if you leave the app, until you stop it, and the Live Activity shows that it's running (section 7). The recording is saved in the notebook and we never hear it. The teleprompter also uses the microphone, while it is following your voice, to keep track of where you are in the script; what it hears is not saved. |
| Speech recognition | To transcribe your audio notes into text you can read and search, and to let the teleprompter follow your voice. This uses Apple's speech recognition, which runs on your device; iOS may download the language model from Apple the first time. Transcripts are saved with the recording and included in iCloud sync if you have it turned on. No audio or text is sent to us. |
| Photos | To insert a picture. You pick it in Apple's photo picker, which runs outside the app and gives Noterat only the picture you chose. Noterat can't browse or change your photo library. |
You can withdraw camera, microphone or speech recognition access at any time in Settings → Apps → Noterat. Only the related feature stops working.
Noterat doesn't use location, contacts, calendars, reminders, health data, Bluetooth, the local network or motion sensors. Dictation (section 7) is part of the keyboard, not the app.
9. Handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition, reading text from scans and PDFs, and converting writing into text or formulas are done by Apple's on-device recognition, locally on your iPhone or iPad. The recognised text is stored with the notebook for search. No images, pages or recognised text are sent to us or to any recognition service for recognition. They leave the device only if you share them yourself (section 6).
10. Calculations
Calculations run on a mathematics engine (the CPython interpreter with the SymPy and mpmath libraries) that is built into the app and runs on your device. Nothing is downloaded or updated while the app runs, and your expressions are never sent anywhere to be evaluated. This also applies when Claude or ChatGPT adds calculations through the connector (section 6): they are calculated in the app on your device.
Noterat doesn't run program code you write. Input is parsed as a mathematical expression and checked against a fixed list of permitted functions before the engine sees it.
Formulas and results are saved in the note like other content, and are included in iCloud sync if you have it turned on.
11. What we receive
Unless you use the account features in section 6, the app sends us nothing. Information about you can otherwise only reach Westin Digital AB in these ways:
- Email. If you write to support@noterat.app or info@noterat.app, we receive your address, your message and any attachments. We use them to reply and to fix what you report, nothing else. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in providing support (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)). We keep the correspondence while the matter is open and for at most twelve months after, then delete it.
- TestFlight. If we invited you to the beta by email, we have your address from the invitation, and we see your name once you accept. If you send feedback, Apple passes on your text, any screenshot and technical details about your device and app version. Apple also collects crash logs and basic usage data from beta builds and passes them to us whether or not you send feedback; testers can't turn this off. Same legal basis and retention as email. Apple's TestFlight terms also apply.
- Reports from Apple. If you have turned on Share with App Developers in Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements, Apple may give us aggregated statistics and crash reports. Crash reports don't identify you; they contain the device model, iOS version and a technical trace. This comes from Apple, not from the app, and you control it in that setting.
Processors. Two companies handle data on our behalf:
- Cloudflare, which hosts this website and the server for the account features in section 6, stores the data described there, and processes IP addresses and ordinary request logs;
- Apple, which provides our email through iCloud Mail, and which under our developer agreement acts as our processor for data Noterat stores in its iCloud container.
Anthropic and OpenAI are not our processors: when you connect Claude or ChatGPT, you choose to give that account access, and its maker handles what it receives under its own terms (section 6). Nothing from your Google Drive or OneDrive reaches us (section 5). Apple and Cloudflare may process data outside the EU/EEA. These transfers rely on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses, which are part of their agreements with us. Write to us if you'd like to know more. We sell nothing. What Apple does with its own data as part of iCloud, TestFlight or the App Store is governed by Apple's privacy terms.
12. Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask for access to your personal data, have it corrected or erased, and restrict or object to its processing. Write to info@noterat.app to use your rights.
If you have a Noterat account, you can delete it and everything we store for it yourself, with Delete account in the app (section 6). Pages you share as a link can be removed with Stop sharing. You can also write to us, but since we hold no name or email address, we can only find your account with your help from the app, so doing it in the app is simplest.
We answer requests within one month. If a request is complex or we receive many, we may extend this by up to two months, and we'll tell you why within the first month.
For your notes, there is nothing for us to hand over or delete: we don't have them and can't access them. We can't identify you from what is in your iCloud and aren't required to collect more information to do so (Art. 11), so Articles 15–20 can't be exercised against us for your notes. You can do all of it yourself:
- Access: your notes are on your device. Export or share any notebook from the app.
- Correction: edit the note.
- Erasure: delete the notebook and empty the Trash. If sync is on, also delete Noterat's iCloud data (section 4). If you use backups in Google Drive or OneDrive, delete the Noterat Backups folder there (section 5).
- Objection and restriction: turn off iCloud sync, disconnect Google Drive or OneDrive, stop sharing or sign out in the app, or withdraw camera, microphone or speech recognition access in Settings → Apps → Noterat.
If you're unhappy with how we have handled your data, you can complain to the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten, IMY), Box 8114, 104 20 Stockholm, imy@imy.se, imy.se, or to the supervisory authority in the EU/EEA country where you live or work, or where the issue occurred.
We make no automated decisions about you and don't profile you. We haven't appointed a data protection officer and aren't required to (Art. 37). As a company established in Sweden we don't need an EU representative (Art. 27).
13. Children
Noterat is a general note-taking app. It isn't aimed at children and isn't in the App Store's Kids category. Without an account the app sends us nothing. With one, we store only what section 6 describes, which contains no name, email address or age. If we learn that a child has emailed us or sent TestFlight feedback, we use it only to reply and then delete it. Parents and guardians with questions are welcome to contact us.
14. Third-party components
Noterat includes no third-party SDKs. It includes some open-source software, built into the app. None of it collects data or connects to a network:
- SwiftMath, which renders mathematical notation;
- CPython, SymPy and mpmath, the calculation engine in section 10, with the supporting libraries CPython needs.
Backups to Google Drive and OneDrive use Google's and Microsoft's public web interfaces (the Google Drive API and Microsoft Graph) directly. No Google or Microsoft SDK is included in the app. YouTube videos are played with YouTube's own web player, loaded only when you play one (section 7).
15. Changes
If we change how the app handles data, we'll update this page and the date at the top, and describe significant changes in the app's release notes. We don't have your email address and the app sends no notifications, so this page always holds the current version.
16. Contact
Send questions about this policy or about privacy in Noterat to info@noterat.app, or by post to the address in section 1. We answer in Swedish or English.
This policy is published in English, Swedish, Italian and Dutch with the same content. If the versions differ, the English version prevails.