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The Skiff Privacy Fiasco, or How not to Shutdown Your Startup

On February 9th, 2024 Skiff Privacy discontinued its services. In this blog post, I want to do an informal case study of how Skiff shut down its operation and what they could have done better.
Abdullah AttaFebruary 11, 2024
PrivacyNotesnookDevelopment

Recent posts

The Skiff Privacy Fiasco, or How not to Shutdown Your Startup

On February 9th, 2024 Skiff Privacy discontinued its services. In this blog post, I want to do an informal case study of how Skiff shut down its operation and what they could have done better.
Abdullah AttaFebruary 11, 2024
Development

Introducing Notesnook Importer 2.0

Supporting Evernote web clips, Obsidian file embeds, and a lot of bug fixes.
Abdullah AttaJuly 21, 2023
Notesnook

Notesnook is on Privacy Guides

Notesnook is now (finally & officially) recommended by the Privacy Guides — the de-facto resource for well-vetted & truly privacy friendly alternatives.
Abdullah AttaJune 27, 2023

Telemetry in Notesnook: Opt-in vs Opt-out

To opt-in or not to opt-in. That is the question. Which is more ethical? Opt-in? Opt-out? Zero telemetry?
Abdullah AttaFebruary 15, 2023

It's time to leave Bitwarden

Bitwarden recently raised a $100M seed fund. What does this mean for you as a user? Is Bitwarden going to become another example of what happens when innocent looking startups get seed funded?
Abdullah AttaSeptember 06, 2022
Privacy

Why Notesnook Requires an Email Address

Email is a necessary part of our digital lives & learning to share it safely is essential for our online privacy. Learn why Notesnook continues to require an email address during sign up instead of a more anonymous approach.
Abdullah AttaJuly 30, 2022

Using Javascript to Render Invalid HTML

HTML is an extremely flexible markup language but that doesn't mean there are no rules. Over the course of many years, browser engines became quite resilient to malformed HTML. But they weren't ready for Javascript.
Abdullah AttaMay 24, 2022

Using React Native Skia to Build a 60 FPS Free-hand Drawing App

Let's explore @spotify/react-native-skia by building a fully native, 60 FPS, free-hand drawing app that allows us to change stroke color, width & export the drawing as an SVG file.
Ammar AhmedMarch 22, 2022
Development

Scoped Storage in React Native: New Android 10 API for File System Access

Up until Android 10 it was possible to get access to the whole user's device. To fix this, Google introduced Scoped Storage API in Android 10.
Ammar AhmedJanuary 15, 2022

React useRef Hook for Dummies: How to Use useRef Correctly with Examples

React useRef hook is much more 'useful' than you might think at first. useRef is especially useful when you need to access functions of a component.
Ammar AhmedOctober 09, 2021

Privacy on WhatsApp: Are We Ready for a World Without Privacy of Data?

We are unknowingly beckoning the devil: a world where our every word will be watched and sold. The changes to Whatsapp privacy policy are a clear indication.
Abdullah AttaJuly 26, 2021

React Native JSI: Part 1 - Getting Started

React Native JSI (Javascript Interface) is the new layer that helps in communication between Javascript and Native Platforms easier and faster.
Ammar AhmedJune 28, 2021

Why We Made Another Note Taking App?

There are many online notepad and note taking apps. All can be used for writing notes. But none care about privacy of data. Notesnook is here to change that.
Abdullah AttaJune 20, 2021
Notesnook

What's new in v2.6.0

Custom themes, improved copy/pasting, more reliable attachments uploading and more!
Abdullah AttaAugust 09, 2023

Getting rid of Lerna

A story about how and why we got rid of Lerna for package management in the Notesnook monorepo.
Abdullah AttaJuly 18, 2023

May 2023 in Review

Attachment previews, new attachment manager, Notesnook on F-Droid and more!
Abdullah AttaJune 01, 2023
Notesnook

Introducing Notesnook for Education

A new step towards making Notesnook accessible and private for everyone. Privacy is not just for the priviledged few — it's for everyone.
Abdullah AttaNovember 01, 2022

Notesnook is going open source!

I am so excited to open source Notesnook this month! This blog will give you a clear idea about why we are open sourcing, what we aim to accomplish & how you can help.
Abdullah AttaAugust 09, 2022

Is DuckDuckGo Search & Browser Really Private?

I don't trust Microsoft and consequentially I can't trust DuckDuckGo. Microsoft holds all the cards when it comes to DuckDuckGo which is a ticking bomb. In short, can DuckDuckGo exist without Bing? No.
Abdullah AttaMay 27, 2022

Improving User Account Security with Two-factor Authentication

Our 1st priority was always to make our users' notes secure, and 2FA was a huge step towards that. Learn how we added 2-factor authentication & why we made certain decisions.
Abdullah AttaMarch 25, 2022

NeutralinoJS: The Next Best Alternative to Electron & Tauri

NeutralinoJS was not a new idea — instead of packaging the whole Node + Chromium with every app, why not reuse the already installed browser each OS comes with?
Abdullah AttaJanuary 22, 2022

Notesnook v1.6.0: Encrypted File Attachments, Notification Notes, Compact Mode & Widgets!

After about a month and a half of battling with encryption, S3 APIs, bugs, and testing, we are finally here with version 1.6.0.
Abdullah AttaNovember 02, 2021

React Native JSI: Part 2 - Converting Native Modules to JSI Modules

React Native JSI seems daunting but JSI is, by far, the best way to deliver native performance. And the best part? No overhead. No unnecessary Promises.
Ammar AhmedAugust 11, 2021

A More Native Desktop Experience, Faster Sync, Vault Deletion & Improved Account Security

This release feels more like v1.5 than v1.4.1 but eh... there's now a more native desktop experience, a faster sync, better security, and improved UX.
Abdullah AttaJuly 08, 2021
Notesnook

Notesnook v1.4: Monographs, UI Updates, and Yearly Plan

This release brings note publishing via Monographs, many UI improvements, bug fixes, and a new yearly plan.
Abdullah AttaJune 26, 2021