For people at risk
When a record could be used against you
More people are finding that an ordinary notebook, a list of contacts, a journal, a plan, can be turned into exposure or evidence. When that is a real possibility, your own thoughts belong somewhere only you can open.
Arcalox was built first for the people who cannot afford a leak. It keeps what you write encrypted on your own device, with no account and no company in the middle, and, in the installed app, with a decoy vault and a fast wipe for the moment you are made to unlock a phone that someone else is watching, sharing, or holding.
You should not have to earn privacy by understanding cryptography. Encryption is on from the first launch and is never a setting to forget.
Who this is for
Made for the people who need it most
Organizers and protesters
Plans, rosters, and contacts stay offline and encrypted, with a decoy for a detention or a search, so a phone does not become a map of everyone you work with.
Survivors of abuse and stalking
A private record of what happened, and a decoy vault for a phone that is shared, checked, or monitored by the person you are trying to be safe from.
Immigrants and mixed-status families
Documents, dates, and family details in a notebook with no account trail, and a realistic decoy if you are asked to open your phone.
LGBTQ+ people
A journal, a name, a plan, kept private on a device you control, out of reach of anyone who would use it to out or target you.
Seeking or providing care
Notes about reproductive or gender-affirming healthcare, kept off any server and out of any account that could later be requested.
Communities under surveillance
Faith and ethnic communities keeping ordinary records without feeding a database, on a tool that phones no one and belongs to no company.
How it protects you
Private by default, and ready for the hard moment
Encrypted, no account
AES-256 at rest, no email or phone number, no server. There is nothing to log in to and nothing for a company to be compelled to hand over.
Decoy and duress
A second passphrase opens a mundane, believable decoy and can wipe the key to your real vault, for the moment you are forced to open your phone.
Panic wipe and quick lock
Remove your real vault fast when you must, and the app locks itself on background, on inactivity, and behind a shield in the task switcher.
Offline, nothing to subpoena
No cloud account holds your notes. You move an encrypted file between your own devices, on storage you already control.
Arcalox is one tool, not a safety plan
It protects the notes you keep, and gives you a decoy and a fast wipe if you are forced to open your phone. It cannot secure your whole device, protect your conversations (use an encrypted messenger like Signal for those), or stop surveillance software already installed on a phone you do not fully control. Please do not treat any single app as the thing that keeps you safe.
If you are at risk, talk to people who do this for a living. EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is a free, plain-language guide for building a plan that fits your situation. Access Now's Digital Security Helpline offers free, confidential help, around the clock, in ten languages, for individuals and groups at risk.
When you are ready
Keep a private record, on your terms
Open it in your browser to start, with nothing to install. For the decoy vault and panic wipe, install the Android or desktop app.
Questions
What people ask, answered honestly
What notes app is safe if my phone is searched or shared?
One that encrypts everything on the device with no account, and that can show a believable decoy when you are made to unlock. Arcalox is built for exactly that. It protects your notes, not your whole phone, so for a full plan start with EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense.
Can a notes app be forced open, and what happens then?
If someone compels you to unlock, a duress passphrase in the installed app opens a realistic, mundane decoy and can wipe the key to your real vault, so the real notes are not there to find. This is a defence, not a guarantee, so think through your situation.
Is there a free private notes app with no account?
Yes. Arcalox is free and open source, needs no account, email, or phone number, and makes no outbound network calls. Your notes are encrypted on your own device, and no company, including us, can read them.