The private option shouldn’t be the paid one.
Notes are where the unguarded things go — the diagnosis, the resignation letter, the passwords you meant to move. Most notes apps hold all of it in the clear on someone else’s machine. The ones that don’t usually charge a monthly fee for the part that matters: getting your notes onto your other devices.
We charge for none of it. Encryption, sync, biometric lock, import and export are free, permanently. That isn’t generosity — sync runs on your iCloud, not a service we operate, so there was never anything for us to rent to you. Pro lifts the note limit. That is all it does.
A notes app that cannot read your notes.
Everything you write is sealed with AES-256-GCM through Apple’s CryptoKit, on your device, before anything reaches the disk. Titles, folder names and dates are encrypted too — not just the bodies — so browsing the files shows random identifiers and nothing else. There is no account to create and no server to trust, because we do not run one.
Serious encryption, ordinary to live with.
Encrypted before it touches disk
Note bodies, attachments and the index are sealed with AES-256-GCM via Apple’s CryptoKit on your device — not locked behind a passcode screen with the text still readable underneath. Unlock with Face ID, Touch ID or Optic ID, with your passcode as the fallback.
No account. No server. No networking.
Nothing to sign up for, nothing to sign in to, and no hYYa backend anywhere. The app contains no networking code at all — so this is a structural fact about the binary, not a policy we could quietly change.
Sync across your devices — free
iPhone, iPad and Mac, through your own iCloud Drive. Files sync already encrypted, so iCloud only ever holds ciphertext. Most encrypted notes apps charge a subscription for exactly this; we cannot, because it was never our server. One file per note, so editing on two devices never collides — and if the same note genuinely changes in two places, both versions are kept rather than one silently winning.
Your words are not handed to AI
Apple’s Writing Tools are explicitly switched off in the note editor, so your note text is never passed to system AI features. It is a small line of code and a rare one — very few notes apps can claim it.
Even the titles are encrypted
Titles, folder names and dates are ciphertext at rest, not just note bodies. Metadata is where most notes apps leak — a file called Divorce lawyer.md tells the story without anyone opening it. Here the files are random identifiers.
Search that never writes your words down
Full-text search across everything, from an index built in memory after you unlock and dropped again when you lock. No plaintext index is ever written to disk — writing one would leave readable note text sitting beside the encrypted notes, quietly undoing the encryption.
Yours to take out, any time
Export everything as plain Markdown, free, never behind the paywall. Coming the other way, import reads Markdown, text, HTML, RTF and RTFD, and Evernote .enex — so notes from Apple Notes, Bear, Obsidian, Joplin and Evernote come across, read entirely on your device.
A real native app, not a web wrapper
SwiftUI on all three platforms, with a full Mac menu bar, keyboard shortcuts, printing and a proper Settings window. Folders, pinning, colour labels, checklists and live Markdown formatting; images inline and any other file as a chip you can tap to preview. Dynamic Type, VoiceOver and Reduce Motion throughout, in light and dark.
Encryption you can forget is there.
Real screens from the Mac, iPhone and iPad apps — one for each thing it does.
On iPhone
On iPad
There is no server.
Not a server we promise not to look at. Not a server with a good privacy policy. There isn’t one. The app contains no networking code at all, so there is no account database, no note store, and no telemetry pipe — nothing on our side that has ever held a word you wrote.
Nothing to subpoena
If we were handed a legal demand for your notes, we could not produce them. We do not hold them and cannot decrypt them.
Nothing to leak
No accounts, no analytics, no advertising identifier, no third-party SDKs. A breach needs a database; there isn’t one.
Nothing to shut down
Your notes are files on your own devices, in your own iCloud. If hYYa disappeared tomorrow, they would still open, and export would still work.
The honest flip side, stated plainly: your key never reaches us, so we cannot recover your notes for you either. If the key is gone and there is no recovery passphrase, nobody can decrypt them — including us. That is the consequence of the design, not an oversight. It is all set out in the privacy policy.
Free where it counts. One payment for the rest.
Encryption, sync, biometric lock, import and export are free and stay free. Pro lifts the note limit — one payment, once, covering iPhone, iPad and Mac.
- Up to 15 notes — no time limit, no nagging
- AES-256-GCM encryption
- iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac
- Face ID, Touch ID or Optic ID lock
- Full-text search, folders, checklists and attachments
- Markdown export and import — never paywalled
- Unlimited notes — the only thing Pro changes
- iPhone, iPad and Mac in one purchase
- 30-day free trial, everything unlimited
- When the trial ends or the limit applies again, nothing is locked or deleted — everything you have written stays readable, editable, searchable and exportable
One payment. Yours forever. No subscription.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it really encrypted, or just hidden behind a lock screen?
Really encrypted. Plenty of "private notes" apps only put a passcode screen in front of notes that are still sitting readable on disk underneath. hYYa Encrypted Notes encrypts note bodies, attachments and the index with AES-256-GCM through Apple's CryptoKit, on your device, before anything is written to disk. Browsing the files reveals random identifiers and nothing readable.
Do I need an account or an internet connection?
Neither. There is no account to create, nothing to sign in to, and no hYYa server anywhere. The app contains no networking code at all, so it works with the internet switched off. If you never turn on iCloud sync, nothing you write ever leaves the device.
Can hYYa read my notes, or recover them for me?
No, and that is a property of the design rather than a promise. Your key is generated on your device and kept in the Apple Keychain; it syncs only between your own devices, through Apple's end-to-end encrypted iCloud Keychain. We never receive it and we run no server that could hold your notes. The consequence is honest and worth knowing before you start: if your key is gone and you have no recovery passphrase, nobody can decrypt your notes — including us. Keep your own backups of anything irreplaceable.
What happens if I lose my device?
If you use iCloud sync, your notes are already on your other devices and your key arrives there through iCloud Keychain, so you carry on as normal. You can also set an optional recovery passphrase, which wraps your key into a small file inside your own library as a fallback for a device that has not received the key yet. We never receive that passphrase and cannot reset it.
Is sync really free?
Yes — and so are encryption, biometric lock, import and export. Most encrypted notes apps put sync behind a subscription. Sync here runs through your own iCloud Drive rather than a service we operate, so there is nothing for us to charge rent on. Files sync already encrypted, which means iCloud only ever stores ciphertext. Your iCloud account is governed by Apple's terms, not ours.
What happens when the free trial ends?
Nothing is locked and nothing is deleted. Every note you have already written stays readable, editable, searchable and exportable — forever. The free plan's 15-note limit simply applies again to new notes. The 30-day trial gives you unlimited notes, and it starts only when you choose to start it.
Can I get my notes back out again?
Any time, free, and never behind the paywall. Export writes plain Markdown to a folder you choose — ordinary files that any other app can open. Once exported they are no longer protected by this app's encryption, so keep them somewhere you are happy with. Import works the same way in reverse, reading Markdown, plain text, HTML, RTF and RTFD, and Evernote .enex files entirely on your device.
Is my note text sent to Apple Intelligence?
No. Apple's Writing Tools are explicitly switched off in the note editor, so your note text is not handed to system AI features. Very few notes apps can say that.
When can I get it, and on what?
It is coming to iPhone, iPad and Mac — all three, under one purchase. It is not on the App Store yet, so there is nothing to download from this page today and we would rather say so than put a dead button here. There is no date to announce; when there is, it will be on this page. If you would like a note when it lands, send us a line through the contact form.