Sownote Privacy Policy
Last updated: 19 October 2026
Sownote is a notes app made by DODSWORKS (Pty) Ltd, trading as DodsWorks Software ("we"). This policy explains what happens to your information when you use it.
The short version
- Your notes stay on your device, and in your own iCloud or Google Drive if you turn sync on.
- Sownote has no servers and no accounts. We never receive, see or store your notes or any other personal information.
- There are no ads, no analytics and no tracking.
What Sownote keeps on your device
Sownote stores what you put in it on your phone or tablet: notes, to-dos, tags, photos, PDFs, voice memos, sketches and your settings. If you set an app lock PIN, only a scrambled (hashed) form of it is kept, in your device's secure storage.
The app lock hides Sownote behind a PIN, fingerprint or face. It does not encrypt your notes. Your notes are protected at rest by your device's own encryption, so keep a screen lock on your device.
Fingerprint and face unlock are handled by your device. Sownote never receives your fingerprint or face data; it is only told whether the unlock succeeded.
Sync (optional, off unless you turn it on)
On iPhone and iPad, sync uses your iCloud Drive. Your notes are stored in Sownote's folder in your iCloud account and are covered by Apple's privacy policy. We cannot access them.
On Android, sync uses your Google Drive. When you turn it on, you sign in with Google and Sownote asks for one permission: access to its own hidden app folder in your Drive. It cannot see, open or change any of your other Drive files. Your Google email address is shown in Sownote's settings and stays on your device. Your notes in that folder are covered by Google's privacy policy. We cannot access them.
Sownote's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Sownote uses Google Drive only to sync your own notes between your own devices. The data is never used for advertising, never sold and never shown to people.
Permissions
Sownote asks for these only when you use the feature that needs them:
- Camera and photos: to add pictures to your notes. On Android, you pick photos with the system picker, so Sownote sees only the ones you choose.
- Microphone: to record voice memos.
- Notifications and alarms: to remind you of to-dos at the time you set.
- Internet: only to sync with your own iCloud or Google Drive.
Sharing
Sownote shares something only when you choose to: for example, when you share a note or a PDF, or make a backup ZIP file. Where it goes is up to you. Backup files are not encrypted, so keep them somewhere safe.
If you add the home-screen widget, it shows today's open to-dos on your home screen, where anyone looking at your screen can see them.
Children
Sownote is not aimed at children under 13. Sownote does not collect personal information from anyone, children included.
Deleting your information
- On this device: uninstall Sownote, which removes everything it stored on the device. If sync is on, you can instead turn it off and tick "Also remove my notes from this device".
- In your cloud: when you turn sync off, Sownote asks whether to remove the copy in your iCloud or Google Drive.
- Google access: you can remove Sownote's access at any time at https://myaccount.google.com/permissions.
- iCloud: Settings, then your name, then iCloud, then Manage Storage.
Because we hold no information about you, there is nothing for us to hand over or delete on request. You can still contact us with any question.
Your rights
We are based in South Africa, so the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) applies to us. Our Information Officer is Keagan Troy Dodsworth, who can be reached at the contact email below. If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Information Regulator (https://inforegulator.org.za). If you live elsewhere, you also have the rights your own country's privacy laws give you.
Changes to this policy
If Sownote ever starts handling information differently, for example by adding crash reports, we will update this policy before that version is released and change the date at the top.