How Soot looks after your notes
Which company made your phone or computer shouldn’t decide whether you can reach your notes.
That’s why Soot keeps your notes in ordinary files and has its own sync service. Other apps can open the files, and sync is built to work across platforms.
Today, Soot runs on Mac, iPhone and iPad. Windows, Linux and Android are planned. The editor is free, and Soot Pro is the optional paid service that keeps your notes up to date between devices.
Your notes are ordinary files
On a Mac, your library is a folder you choose. On iPhone and iPad, you can find your notes in Files, under On My iPhone ▸ Soot or On My iPad ▸ Soot.
They’re plain Markdown files, a text format that other apps can open. You don’t need Soot to read them, and you can keep reading and editing them in Soot without paying.
Backups and sync do different jobs
Your notes are included in your iPhone or iPad’s iCloud Backup. If you restore that backup onto a new device, your notes come back too. You don’t need Soot Pro for this.
Deleting Soot from an iPhone or iPad deletes the notes stored in it too. If you use Soot Pro, reinstalling Soot, signing in and unlocking your library with your encryption password or recovery phrase brings back the notes that had synced.
On a Mac, deleting the app leaves your library folder alone. You still need to include that folder in your backups.
A backup gives you an earlier copy to restore. Sync keeps your devices up to date with each other. Deleting a note syncs too, but deleted notes stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days, where you can restore them.
How Soot Pro syncs
Soot Pro doesn’t use iCloud, because iCloud only works on Apple devices, and Soot won’t stop there.
Your notes are stored on each device, so you can read and edit them without an internet connection. Changes sync when you’re connected again.
If you edit a note on two devices before they catch up, Soot Pro merges the changes where it can. If two changes can’t be merged, it keeps a second copy for you to check.
The server can’t read your notes
Soot Pro encrypts your notes and attachments before they leave your device, including the file and folder names. Your other devices decrypt them when they arrive. This is what “end-to-end encrypted” means.
The server stores the encrypted files. It can’t read what you’ve written.
When you set up sync, you choose an encryption password. You’ll need it to unlock your library on a new device. Keep it in a password manager.
If you forget your encryption password and haven’t made a recovery phrase, I can’t unlock your synced notes for you. The notes already on your devices stay where they are. You can make a recovery phrase in Settings ▸ Soot Pro.
If you want to use iCloud Drive
On a Mac, you can keep your library in iCloud Drive or Dropbox and let that service copy it between Macs. You don’t need Soot Pro for this.
Those services copy whole files. If you edit the same note on two Macs before they catch up, one version can replace the other, or you can end up with a second copy.
You can’t use Soot Pro on a library that another service is also syncing. Soot keeps a record of what has synced inside the library folder. If another service copies that record between Macs, Soot can lose track of what changed. To use Soot Pro, keep your library outside those folders.
On iPhone and iPad, Soot stores its notes in its own local folder. Soot Pro is how they sync with your other devices.
Why sync is paid
Soot Pro costs $2.49 a month or $24.99 a year, with 10 GB of storage for notes and attachments.
Storing and syncing your files has an ongoing cost. The subscription pays for that and for my work developing Soot, keeping the editor free on every device.
I’d rather build Soot around a paid service than promise free sync and rely on future customers to fund it.
If you stop subscribing, the notes already on your devices stay there. You can carry on reading and editing them in Soot.