Catchlight vs Apple Notes.

Apple keeps standard iCloud notes under a key it holds, and new UK users can no longer switch on Advanced Data Protection to stop that. Catchlight holds no key at all, so only you can read your notes, tasks and reminders, and there’s no account to make.

Apple Notes is free, fast and already on your iPhone, and for a lot of people that is exactly enough. This is the honest case for when it isn’t, what happens to your notes in iCloud, what changed for UK users, and where a zero-knowledge app with no account fits instead. There’s no way to know for sure if any government has access to your data, except in the UK where they clearly do, so we tend to land on the side of caution.

At a glance. The short version.

Apple iCloud encryption details verified July 2026. Aside from individually locked notes, Apple Notes are end-to-end encrypted only with Advanced Data Protection, which new UK users cannot enable. Catchlight is pre-launch, its feature set is subject to change before launch.

The honest bit. Is Apple Notes private?

On an iCloud account, your notes are encrypted in transit and on Apple’s servers, but Apple holds the keys, so effectively, no. Apple can technically access them, and can be compelled to hand them over. Apple’s own Advanced Data Protection closes that gap by making iCloud end-to-end encrypted, but it is opt-in, and new users in the UK can no longer turn it on at all.

Catchlight takes the choice off the table. Your Takes are encrypted on your device with a 12-word Privacy Phrase only you hold. There is no setting to enable, no account, and no server of ours for anything to live on. It reads the same in Manchester as it does anywhere else.

We can’t read your Takes. Not because we choose not to, because it’s impossible. We’ve answered the blunt version of this in the Journal, can Apple read your notes.

One place, not two. What about tasks and reminders?

Apple keeps notes and reminders in two different apps. A thought that is half a note and half a reminder has to live in one or the other, or get copied between them.

In Catchlight there is one kind of thing, a Take. Write, and it’s a note. Add a checkbox and it’s a task. Add a date and it’s a reminder that notifies you. You never have to choose upfront, and you never juggle two apps for one thought.

Being fair. Where Apple Notes is the better choice.

Apple Notes is good if you want something free and already on every phone, tablet or computer, deeply tied into the ecosystem, and good enough for notes you are not worried about anyone seeing. If your threat model is low and you are happy trusting Apple with your data, it is a genuinely excellent app and costs nothing.

Where Catchlight is the better choice.

Catchlight is the better choice if you want your notes to be private by architecture rather than by policy, if you would rather hold your own key than trust a company with it, if losing Advanced Data Protection in the UK bothered you, and if you would like a note, a task and a reminder to finally be the same thing in one safe place.

Quick answers. Common questions.

Can Apple really read my notes?

On a standard iCloud account, yes, Apple holds the encryption keys for Notes and can access them or be compelled to. Only Advanced Data Protection makes them end-to-end encrypted, and that is now unavailable to new UK users. Catchlight is always zero-knowledge, only you hold the key.

Do I need an account for Catchlight, like an Apple ID?

No. Catchlight needs no account, no email and no sign-up. You are given a 12-word Privacy Phrase on first launch, and that is your key.

Does Catchlight do reminders like Apple Reminders?

Yes, but in the same place as your notes. One Take can be a note, a task and a time or location reminder at once, so there is no separate reminders app to keep in step.

All comparisons → · See what Catchlight is → · Questions, answered →