Leaf NotesPrivacy Policy
The short version
- Leaf Notes has no accounts, ads, analytics or tracking. We receive none of your data.
- Your notes, pictures, PDFs and recordings are stored on your device.
- Data leaves your device only when you turn on sync or AI. It then goes straight to the service you picked, and never to us.
- Google Drive access is limited to files Leaf Notes created itself. It can't see anything else in your Drive.
This policy explains how the Leaf Notes app for Linux, Windows and Android (“the app”) and this website handle information. Leaf Notes is made by Nils Briggen, an individual developer in Switzerland (“we”, “us”). The app's source code is public at github.com/NilsBriggen/leaf-notes, so you can check everything described here.
- Data on your device
- Microphone and recordings
- Sync
- Google Drive and Google user data
- AI features
- Permissions
- This website
- Sharing, selling and advertising
- Your choices and rights
- Children
- Changes and contact
1. Data on your device
Everything you create in Leaf Notes is saved in a folder on your own device:
- Linux:
~/.local/share/LeafNotes(or$XDG_DATA_HOME/LeafNotes) - Windows:
%APPDATA%\LeafNotes - Android: the app's private storage
The folder holds your notebooks, pages, ink, flashcards and study progress, plus attached pictures, files, PDF printouts and audio recordings. It also holds your settings.
Passwords, keys and sign-ins. If you set up an AI API key, a WebDAV password or a Google sign-in, the app stores it in your operating system's secure credential store. On Windows that's Credential Manager, and on Linux it's the Secret Service (GNOME Keyring or KWallet). The settings files only keep an empty field. If no keyring is available, for example on a Linux system without one running, the secret stays in the app's own data folder so that it isn't lost. In that case the app's settings window tells you where secrets are kept. On Android the secret stays in the app's private storage, which no other app can read. Settings files from older versions are moved over to the keyring automatically the next time the app saves.
Your notes themselves aren't encrypted by the app. Use your operating system's disk encryption and screen lock to protect them.
The app has no telemetry, crash reporting, analytics or advertising code, and doesn't check in with any server we run. Handwriting recognition runs on your device by default.
2. Microphone and recordings
Leaf Notes uses the microphone only while the red Record button is on. Recordings are saved as audio files next to your notes on your device. They're linked to the notes you write during the recording, which lets you replay what was said at that moment. Recordings leave your device only if you turn on sync, and then they're copied to your chosen sync location like your other attachments. Recordings are never sent to an AI service.
Before you record other people, such as a lecturer, make sure you're allowed to. The rules depend on where you are and on your school's policies.
3. Sync
Sync is off by default. If you turn it on, the app copies your notes and attachments to one location you choose:
- Shared folder (for example Syncthing, Dropbox or OneDrive): the app writes to a folder on your device. Whatever program syncs that folder handles the transfer, under its own privacy terms.
- WebDAV (for example Nextcloud): the app connects directly to the server address you enter, using the user name and password you provide. It requires an encrypted
https://connection, except for servers on your local network. - Google Drive: see the next section.
In every case the data goes straight from your device to that location. We never receive it, can't see it and don't hold any copy of it. The synced copy is a LeafNotes (or Leaf Notes) folder containing notes.json and a files folder.
4. Google Drive and Google user data
If you choose Google Drive sync and sign in with Google, the app asks for these permissions (scopes):
| Scope | What it allows | Why Leaf Notes needs it |
|---|---|---|
drive.file | Access only to files and folders that Leaf Notes itself created or that you opened with it | To create a “Leaf Notes” folder in your Drive and read and write your synced notes and attachments in it |
openid, email | Your Google account's email address | To show which Google account sync is connected to, and to keep sync data from different accounts apart |
What we access: the files inside the app's own “Leaf Notes” folder, and your email address. The app can't see, read or change any other file in your Google Drive.
How it's used: only to provide the sync you asked for, which means uploading your notes and attachments and downloading changes made on your other devices.
Where it's stored: your notes live in your own Google Drive. Your Google sign-in token (a refresh token) is stored only on your device, in the system keyring where one is available (see section 1). Your email address is stored in the app's settings on your device. We run no server for Leaf Notes, so no Google user data ever reaches us.
Sharing: Google user data is not shared with, transferred to or sold to anyone. It isn't used for advertising, and it isn't used to develop, improve or train AI or machine-learning models, whether generalised or not. Google Drive data is never sent to the AI service you may have set up. Only the notes you actively ask the AI about are sent, as described in section 5.
Removing access: press Sign out in Settings ▸ Sync. The app deletes its token and asks Google to revoke it. You can also revoke Leaf Notes' access at any time at myaccount.google.com/permissions. Your synced files stay in your Drive until you delete them.
Leaf Notes' use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
5. AI features
AI features are optional and stay off until you enter your own API key, or the address of a model running on your own computer, such as Ollama. The app then sends requests directly from your device to the provider you chose (for example Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter). We never see these requests. The key stays on your device, in the system keyring where one is available (see section 1).
A request is sent only when you use an AI feature, and it includes only what that feature needs:
- Assistant chat and its shortcuts (Summarize, Action items, Quiz me, Explain): your message, the text of the page you have open, and the last few messages of the conversation.
- Rewrite tools (Fix spelling, Shorter, Continue and similar): the text of the note you're editing.
- Suggest cards: the text of the current page.
- Equation from words: the description you type.
- Handwriting with AI: a picture of the ink you selected. This only happens if you turn on “Use this AI for handwriting”. Otherwise handwriting is read offline.
Once a request reaches the provider, the provider's own terms and privacy policy apply, including whether it keeps or trains on your data. Check them before you add a key. A local model keeps everything on your computer.
6. Permissions
On Android the app asks for:
- Internet, used only for the sync and AI features you turn on
- Microphone (record audio), used only while you're recording
On desktop, the app uses your system's file dialogs to open pictures, files and PDFs that you pick.
7. This website
leafnotes.briggen.dev is a static website with no cookies, analytics, ads or third-party fonts. Like any web server, our server briefly processes technical data for each request, such as your IP address, browser type and the page requested. We use this data only to deliver the site and to protect it against abuse, for example by blocking automated attacks. It isn't used to profile visitors or shared for any other purpose.
To show the latest download links, your browser asks GitHub's public API for the newest release, and downloads come from GitHub. GitHub's privacy statement applies to those requests.
8. Sharing, selling and advertising
We don't collect your data, so we have nothing to sell, share or use for advertising. We don't do any of those things.
9. Your choices and rights
Because your data stays with you, you're always in control:
- See or export: your notes are plain JSON files in the folder listed above. You can export any page as a PDF, or save all notebooks to one backup file in Settings ▸ Your data (pictures and attachments stay in the
filesfolder). - Delete: delete notes in the app (they go to “Recently deleted” first), or delete the data folder or uninstall the app. Also delete the synced copy from your sync location if you used one. Signing out of sync and removing your AI key in Settings deletes those secrets from the keyring as well. Your system's keyring app also lists them under “Leaf Notes”.
- Withdraw access: switch off sync or AI in Settings at any time, and revoke Google access as described in section 4.
Under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP), the EU/UK GDPR and similar laws, you have the right to ask whether we process your personal data and to have it corrected or deleted. In practice we hold none of it, apart from the short-lived web server data described in section 7. You're welcome to contact us with any question, and you may also complain to your data protection authority.
10. Children
Leaf Notes is a general-purpose notes app and collects no personal data from anyone, children included. Children should use the AI or Google Drive features only with a parent's or guardian's permission and within those services' own age rules.
11. Changes and contact
If the way the app handles data changes, for example because of a new feature that connects to the internet, we'll update this policy and the date at the top before that version is released.
Questions or requests: open an issue at github.com/NilsBriggen/leaf-notes/issues. For anything private, write to leafnotes@briggen.dev.