Answers
What is end-to-end encryption?
End-to-end encryption means data is encrypted on your device and can only be decrypted on another device you (or the person you are sending it to) control. Any server it passes through or is stored on sees only scrambled data it cannot read.
End-to-end versus “encrypted”
Many services say your data is “encrypted” and mean two weaker things: encrypted in transit, which protects it on the way to their servers, and encrypted at rest, which protects their disks. In both cases the company holds the key and can read your data on its own servers.
End-to-end encryption moves the key to your devices. The service can store and relay your data, but it cannot read it.
End-to-end versus zero-knowledge
The terms overlap. End-to-end describes data moving between devices; zero-knowledge describes a provider that never holds a key. A notes app that syncs your notes end-to-end encrypted, and has no way to reset your password, is usually both.
How it applies to notes apps
Most popular notes apps are not end-to-end encrypted by default. Apple Notes can be, if you turn on Advanced Data Protection. Are Apple Notes end-to-end encrypted?
Prevon encrypts every note on your device before storing it. Its sync, Ghost Sync, is designed to carry only encrypted data, but it is switched off in the private beta — today your notes do not leave your device at all. Prevon is in a private beta and has not had an independent security audit. It is designed so that we cannot read your notes; until someone outside the company has checked that, “designed” is the accurate word.
Prevon is in private beta.
There is no public download yet. Leave an email and we write once, when it opens to everyone.