Catchlight
@catchlight.app
A private, no-account iPhone app where a note, a task and a reminder are one thing, a Take.
Zero-knowledge, encrypted on your device, open-source, so it can be verified.
Calm, offline-first. Building in the open, launching soon. catchlight.app
Zero-knowledge, encrypted on your device, open-source, so it can be verified.
Calm, offline-first. Building in the open, launching soon. catchlight.app
Pinned
Catchlight
@catchlight.app
· Jun 25
Catchlight, Every thought deserves a moment of clarity.
A private, beautifully simple iPhone app for your notes, reminders, and tasks. End-to-end encrypted by default, not as a feature, not as an upgrade tier.
catchlight.app
Catchlight: a private notes, tasks and reminders app for iPhone, where all three are one thing.
No account, zero-knowledge, encrypted on your device.
Open source, so the privacy can be verified.
Launching soon.
catchlight.app #Privacy #BuildInPublic
No account, zero-knowledge, encrypted on your device.
Open source, so the privacy can be verified.
Launching soon.
catchlight.app #Privacy #BuildInPublic
Will your notes app send what you write to an AI?
Cloud-based AI is, by its very nature, not private.
Catchlight has no AI of its own. Apple's Writing Tools stay off inside a Take unless you switch them on.
Cloud-based AI is, by its very nature, not private.
Catchlight has no AI of its own. Apple's Writing Tools stay off inside a Take unless you switch them on.
October 8, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Will your notes app send what you write to an AI?
Cloud-based AI is, by its very nature, not private.
Catchlight has no AI of its own. Apple's Writing Tools stay off inside a Take unless you switch them on.
Cloud-based AI is, by its very nature, not private.
Catchlight has no AI of its own. Apple's Writing Tools stay off inside a Take unless you switch them on.
How long from a locked phone to a saved thought, for you?
More than a second or two to jot a thought and I stop using it.
In Catchlight it's the lock-screen widget, Control Centre, the Action button, or Siri, which asks what your Take is and saves it.
More than a second or two to jot a thought and I stop using it.
In Catchlight it's the lock-screen widget, Control Centre, the Action button, or Siri, which asks what your Take is and saves it.
October 7, 2026 at 12:30 PM
How long from a locked phone to a saved thought, for you?
More than a second or two to jot a thought and I stop using it.
In Catchlight it's the lock-screen widget, Control Centre, the Action button, or Siri, which asks what your Take is and saves it.
More than a second or two to jot a thought and I stop using it.
In Catchlight it's the lock-screen widget, Control Centre, the Action button, or Siri, which asks what your Take is and saves it.
A reminder repeats on the 31st. What should it do in February?
The 28th, fine. The tricky month is March, and until this week my own build stayed on the 28th from then on.
Catchlight now keeps the day you picked, so March is the 31st again.
What does yours do?
The 28th, fine. The tricky month is March, and until this week my own build stayed on the 28th from then on.
Catchlight now keeps the day you picked, so March is the 31st again.
What does yours do?
October 7, 2026 at 9:01 AM
A reminder repeats on the 31st. What should it do in February?
The 28th, fine. The tricky month is March, and until this week my own build stayed on the 28th from then on.
Catchlight now keeps the day you picked, so March is the 31st again.
What does yours do?
The 28th, fine. The tricky month is March, and until this week my own build stayed on the 28th from then on.
Catchlight now keeps the day you picked, so March is the 31st again.
What does yours do?
A restaurant near me has a hatch cut through to the kitchen. I've never once properly watched.
A kitchen that anyone might look into at any moment is run differently from one behind a closed door. Nobody has to actually look.
It's why Catchlight's code, encryption included, is public.
A kitchen that anyone might look into at any moment is run differently from one behind a closed door. Nobody has to actually look.
It's why Catchlight's code, encryption included, is public.
October 6, 2026 at 12:30 PM
A restaurant near me has a hatch cut through to the kitchen. I've never once properly watched.
A kitchen that anyone might look into at any moment is run differently from one behind a closed door. Nobody has to actually look.
It's why Catchlight's code, encryption included, is public.
A kitchen that anyone might look into at any moment is run differently from one behind a closed door. Nobody has to actually look.
It's why Catchlight's code, encryption included, is public.
Every app on the App Store keeps a complaints book, written by the people who use it.
I gathered up 6,483 one and two star reviews of 16 notes and task apps, August to October, and sorted them.
Which complaint do you think came top?
catchlight.app/journal/reviews-taught-about-notes-apps/
I gathered up 6,483 one and two star reviews of 16 notes and task apps, August to October, and sorted them.
Which complaint do you think came top?
catchlight.app/journal/reviews-taught-about-notes-apps/
October 6, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Every app on the App Store keeps a complaints book, written by the people who use it.
I gathered up 6,483 one and two star reviews of 16 notes and task apps, August to October, and sorted them.
Which complaint do you think came top?
catchlight.app/journal/reviews-taught-about-notes-apps/
I gathered up 6,483 one and two star reviews of 16 notes and task apps, August to October, and sorted them.
Which complaint do you think came top?
catchlight.app/journal/reviews-taught-about-notes-apps/
My test for any app I'd pay for is one question. Would the app still work if the company vanished tomorrow?
Catchlight exports every Take as Markdown, free, and export keeps working if your subscription lapses.
Not out yet. Does yours pass?
Catchlight exports every Take as Markdown, free, and export keeps working if your subscription lapses.
Not out yet. Does yours pass?
October 1, 2026 at 9:01 AM
My test for any app I'd pay for is one question. Would the app still work if the company vanished tomorrow?
Catchlight exports every Take as Markdown, free, and export keeps working if your subscription lapses.
Not out yet. Does yours pass?
Catchlight exports every Take as Markdown, free, and export keeps working if your subscription lapses.
Not out yet. Does yours pass?
When you report a bug, what does the app already know about your notes?
Catchlight's diagnostics log holds a timestamp, a category and a message. Never the text of a Take, never a key.
It stays on your phone unless you share it. Not out yet, building in the open.
Catchlight's diagnostics log holds a timestamp, a category and a message. Never the text of a Take, never a key.
It stays on your phone unless you share it. Not out yet, building in the open.
September 30, 2026 at 12:30 PM
When you report a bug, what does the app already know about your notes?
Catchlight's diagnostics log holds a timestamp, a category and a message. Never the text of a Take, never a key.
It stays on your phone unless you share it. Not out yet, building in the open.
Catchlight's diagnostics log holds a timestamp, a category and a message. Never the text of a Take, never a key.
It stays on your phone unless you share it. Not out yet, building in the open.
Notes-app reviewers ask for task features 4 times as often as task-app reviewers ask for notes. That's 3.4% against 0.85%.
From about 19,000 public App Store and Play reviews of 16 apps, matched by keyword, to September 2026.
Does your notes app keep turning into a to-do list?
From about 19,000 public App Store and Play reviews of 16 apps, matched by keyword, to September 2026.
Does your notes app keep turning into a to-do list?
September 30, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Notes-app reviewers ask for task features 4 times as often as task-app reviewers ask for notes. That's 3.4% against 0.85%.
From about 19,000 public App Store and Play reviews of 16 apps, matched by keyword, to September 2026.
Does your notes app keep turning into a to-do list?
From about 19,000 public App Store and Play reviews of 16 apps, matched by keyword, to September 2026.
Does your notes app keep turning into a to-do list?
I filed a note about a supplier's price rise under work. Correct, and completely useless.
Six weeks later I wanted it back, because it had changed my mind about pricing. I couldn't find it.
There's no folder called things that changed my mind. Where would yours have gone?
Six weeks later I wanted it back, because it had changed my mind about pricing. I couldn't find it.
There's no folder called things that changed my mind. Where would yours have gone?
September 29, 2026 at 12:30 PM
I filed a note about a supplier's price rise under work. Correct, and completely useless.
Six weeks later I wanted it back, because it had changed my mind about pricing. I couldn't find it.
There's no folder called things that changed my mind. Where would yours have gone?
Six weeks later I wanted it back, because it had changed my mind about pricing. I couldn't find it.
There's no folder called things that changed my mind. Where would yours have gone?
Every app on my encrypted notes roundup is encrypted. The word sorts nothing.
A padlock tells you a lock exists. It says nothing about the door, or whether the fitter kept a key.
Who holds the key to yours?
catchlight.app/journal/best-encrypted-notes-apps/
A padlock tells you a lock exists. It says nothing about the door, or whether the fitter kept a key.
Who holds the key to yours?
catchlight.app/journal/best-encrypted-notes-apps/
September 29, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Every app on my encrypted notes roundup is encrypted. The word sorts nothing.
A padlock tells you a lock exists. It says nothing about the door, or whether the fitter kept a key.
Who holds the key to yours?
catchlight.app/journal/best-encrypted-notes-apps/
A padlock tells you a lock exists. It says nothing about the door, or whether the fitter kept a key.
Who holds the key to yours?
catchlight.app/journal/best-encrypted-notes-apps/
A Catchlight reminder on a checklist reads out what's still left, never the bits you've already ticked.
Tick the whole list on a one-off with no prose in it and it doesn't fire at all. Nothing left to be reminded about.
What's the last reminder that told you something you already knew?
Tick the whole list on a one-off with no prose in it and it doesn't fire at all. Nothing left to be reminded about.
What's the last reminder that told you something you already knew?
September 24, 2026 at 9:01 AM
A Catchlight reminder on a checklist reads out what's still left, never the bits you've already ticked.
Tick the whole list on a one-off with no prose in it and it doesn't fire at all. Nothing left to be reminded about.
What's the last reminder that told you something you already knew?
Tick the whole list on a one-off with no prose in it and it doesn't fire at all. Nothing left to be reminded about.
What's the last reminder that told you something you already knew?
Make a Take the Obie in Catchlight and it goes Important as well. Demote it a day later and it stays Important.
Important is a flag and you can have as many as you like. The Obie is the one thing you're on right now, and there's only ever one.
Not out yet.
Important is a flag and you can have as many as you like. The Obie is the one thing you're on right now, and there's only ever one.
Not out yet.
September 23, 2026 at 12:30 PM
Make a Take the Obie in Catchlight and it goes Important as well. Demote it a day later and it stays Important.
Important is a flag and you can have as many as you like. The Obie is the one thing you're on right now, and there's only ever one.
Not out yet.
Important is a flag and you can have as many as you like. The Obie is the one thing you're on right now, and there's only ever one.
Not out yet.
Catchlight's own search reads every word you've written. iOS search never gets any of them.
The phone-wide index is off by default, and switched on it only ever sees what type a Take is. Not a line of the text.
Where else do the words you keep end up?
The phone-wide index is off by default, and switched on it only ever sees what type a Take is. Not a line of the text.
Where else do the words you keep end up?
September 22, 2026 at 12:30 PM
Catchlight's own search reads every word you've written. iOS search never gets any of them.
The phone-wide index is off by default, and switched on it only ever sees what type a Take is. Not a line of the text.
Where else do the words you keep end up?
The phone-wide index is off by default, and switched on it only ever sees what type a Take is. Not a line of the text.
Where else do the words you keep end up?
Every privacy app says it can't read your notes. Mine says it too, and on its own that's worth nothing.
The Catchlight iOS source is public under Apache-2.0, encryption included. You don't have to read it. Somebody can.
The Catchlight iOS source is public under Apache-2.0, encryption included. You don't have to read it. Somebody can.
September 17, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Every privacy app says it can't read your notes. Mine says it too, and on its own that's worth nothing.
The Catchlight iOS source is public under Apache-2.0, encryption included. You don't have to read it. Somebody can.
The Catchlight iOS source is public under Apache-2.0, encryption included. You don't have to read it. Somebody can.
No server of mine in the middle. Your Takes are encrypted files in a folder you picked, in your own iCloud Drive or Dropbox.
Your provider can still count the files, see how big they are and read its own timestamps. That part I can't encrypt away.
Your provider can still count the files, see how big they are and read its own timestamps. That part I can't encrypt away.
September 16, 2026 at 12:30 PM
No server of mine in the middle. Your Takes are encrypted files in a folder you picked, in your own iCloud Drive or Dropbox.
Your provider can still count the files, see how big they are and read its own timestamps. That part I can't encrypt away.
Your provider can still count the files, see how big they are and read its own timestamps. That part I can't encrypt away.
A probe told me the pulse animation never moved the button's accessibility frame. I crossed it off.
The pulse runs 2.5 seconds on launch. The probe started looking a second after it stopped.
It measured nothing, and I read that as innocence. It moves, 44 points to 51.6.
The pulse runs 2.5 seconds on launch. The probe started looking a second after it stopped.
It measured nothing, and I read that as innocence. It moves, 44 points to 51.6.
September 16, 2026 at 9:01 AM
A probe told me the pulse animation never moved the button's accessibility frame. I crossed it off.
The pulse runs 2.5 seconds on launch. The probe started looking a second after it stopped.
It measured nothing, and I read that as innocence. It moves, 44 points to 51.6.
The pulse runs 2.5 seconds on launch. The probe started looking a second after it stopped.
It measured nothing, and I read that as innocence. It moves, 44 points to 51.6.
How long does it take you to go from thought to saved? Lock screen to stored, count it honestly.
More than a few seconds and you won't reach for it when your hands are full and somebody's talking to you.
That's the whole reason Catchlight has a Siri route that never opens an editor.
More than a few seconds and you won't reach for it when your hands are full and somebody's talking to you.
That's the whole reason Catchlight has a Siri route that never opens an editor.
September 15, 2026 at 12:30 PM
How long does it take you to go from thought to saved? Lock screen to stored, count it honestly.
More than a few seconds and you won't reach for it when your hands are full and somebody's talking to you.
That's the whole reason Catchlight has a Siri route that never opens an editor.
More than a few seconds and you won't reach for it when your hands are full and somebody's talking to you.
That's the whole reason Catchlight has a Siri route that never opens an editor.
Nobody unpacks the shopping at the till. Bagging and putting away are two jobs, done at two speeds.
Then you open a notes app and it asks which folder before you've finished the thought.
Where does your filing actually happen, at capture or later?
catchlight.app/journal/note...
Then you open a notes app and it asks which folder before you've finished the thought.
Where does your filing actually happen, at capture or later?
catchlight.app/journal/note...
September 15, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Nobody unpacks the shopping at the till. Bagging and putting away are two jobs, done at two speeds.
Then you open a notes app and it asks which folder before you've finished the thought.
Where does your filing actually happen, at capture or later?
catchlight.app/journal/note...
Then you open a notes app and it asks which folder before you've finished the thought.
Where does your filing actually happen, at capture or later?
catchlight.app/journal/note...
Would the app still work if the company vanished tomorrow?
Catchlight writes Markdown into your own folder and export stays free. If I disappear, your Takes carry on without noticing.
Catchlight writes Markdown into your own folder and export stays free. If I disappear, your Takes carry on without noticing.
September 10, 2026 at 9:02 AM
Would the app still work if the company vanished tomorrow?
Catchlight writes Markdown into your own folder and export stays free. If I disappear, your Takes carry on without noticing.
Catchlight writes Markdown into your own folder and export stays free. If I disappear, your Takes carry on without noticing.
One timeline, in the order you had the thoughts. No folders, no inbox, nothing to file.
Warm dark by default, because that's when most of it gets written.
Warm dark by default, because that's when most of it gets written.
September 9, 2026 at 12:30 PM
One timeline, in the order you had the thoughts. No folders, no inbox, nothing to file.
Warm dark by default, because that's when most of it gets written.
Warm dark by default, because that's when most of it gets written.
Brand cards kept rewriting themselves. The cause, 3 interpreters on one machine carrying 2 different fontTools versions.
Both draw text, neither fails, whichever ran last won.
Pinned now. A silent wrong answer beats a loud failure, said nobody.
Both draw text, neither fails, whichever ran last won.
Pinned now. A silent wrong answer beats a loud failure, said nobody.
September 9, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Brand cards kept rewriting themselves. The cause, 3 interpreters on one machine carrying 2 different fontTools versions.
Both draw text, neither fails, whichever ran last won.
Pinned now. A silent wrong answer beats a loud failure, said nobody.
Both draw text, neither fails, whichever ran last won.
Pinned now. A silent wrong answer beats a loud failure, said nobody.
Question for anyone who takes a lot of notes. How often do you decide up front whether a thing is a note, a task or a reminder, and how often is that decision wrong by Thursday?
A Take is all 3 and never asks.
A Take is all 3 and never asks.
September 8, 2026 at 12:30 PM
Question for anyone who takes a lot of notes. How often do you decide up front whether a thing is a note, a task or a reminder, and how often is that decision wrong by Thursday?
A Take is all 3 and never asks.
A Take is all 3 and never asks.
The lock in Apple Notes is a real safe. Encrypted end to end, and Apple cannot read inside it.
It's also opt-in, note by note. How many of yours are actually in it?
catchlight.app/journal/how-...
It's also opt-in, note by note. How many of yours are actually in it?
catchlight.app/journal/how-...
September 8, 2026 at 9:01 AM
The lock in Apple Notes is a real safe. Encrypted end to end, and Apple cannot read inside it.
It's also opt-in, note by note. How many of yours are actually in it?
catchlight.app/journal/how-...
It's also opt-in, note by note. How many of yours are actually in it?
catchlight.app/journal/how-...
Dismiss a Catchlight reminder while the phone is locked and nothing happens straight away. It queues, and lands the moment you unlock.
You would never notice, which is how it should be. Worth knowing if you have ever wondered whether a dismissal took.
catchlight.app #buildinpublic
You would never notice, which is how it should be. Worth knowing if you have ever wondered whether a dismissal took.
catchlight.app #buildinpublic
September 3, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Dismiss a Catchlight reminder while the phone is locked and nothing happens straight away. It queues, and lands the moment you unlock.
You would never notice, which is how it should be. Worth knowing if you have ever wondered whether a dismissal took.
catchlight.app #buildinpublic
You would never notice, which is how it should be. Worth knowing if you have ever wondered whether a dismissal took.
catchlight.app #buildinpublic
There is a row in Catchlight's Appearance settings reading "Coming soon" that does nothing at all. Alternative colour Scenes.
It ships in the app you get on day one, so it is in the first release after. A placeholder outliving the next version stops reading as soon.
catchlight.app #buildinpublic
It ships in the app you get on day one, so it is in the first release after. A placeholder outliving the next version stops reading as soon.
catchlight.app #buildinpublic
September 2, 2026 at 12:30 PM
There is a row in Catchlight's Appearance settings reading "Coming soon" that does nothing at all. Alternative colour Scenes.
It ships in the app you get on day one, so it is in the first release after. A placeholder outliving the next version stops reading as soon.
catchlight.app #buildinpublic
It ships in the app you get on day one, so it is in the first release after. A placeholder outliving the next version stops reading as soon.
catchlight.app #buildinpublic