Your notes, explained.

Your notebook

Cub is provided by Cub. You do not need a Cub account to write locally.

Cub stores notes, tags, links, attachments, history, and library settings on your device. The reviewed app code includes no advertising, cross-app tracking, custom analytics SDK, or developer-operated note-hosting service.

The public iOS Simulator preview and older local-only Mac previews do not provide iCloud sync. The release information for your installed build describes its capabilities.

When you enable iCloud

In a configured build, enabling iCloud sends library records and attachments to your private iCloud database so your devices can synchronize. Records include note content, titles, tags, attachment names and types, recognized text for ordinary attachments, identifiers, and revision information needed to recover competing edits. Ordinary unprotected content is readable to Cub on your signed-in devices.

Apple provides iCloud under its own terms and privacy practices. An Apple iCloud account and available storage are required. Cub separates account-scoped libraries when the iCloud account changes.

Turning off sync does not itself remove records already stored in iCloud. Removing the app does not necessarily remove iCloud data, exported copies, or backups. Use Apple’s iCloud storage controls for that account, and keep a backup before removing a library.

Password-protected notes

Cub encrypts selected note bodies and attachments using Apple’s cryptographic frameworks. Titles, tags, attachment names and types, timestamps, and library identifiers remain readable metadata. Protected bodies and recognized attachment text are excluded from Cub’s persistent search/OCR index.

If you choose to remember an unlock key, Cub stores it in this device’s Keychain with device authentication. The operating system handles that authentication; Cub does not receive your fingerprint, facial template, or device passcode. Cub cannot recover a forgotten note password.

Protection covers current app-managed content and future Cub backups. Previously exported files and older backups retain their original protection. An ordinary export of an unlocked protected note contains the readable content you chose to export.

Files, recognition, and sharing

Cub copies files and photos you select through system pickers into your library. Text recognition for supported images and PDFs uses Apple frameworks on the device. Recognized text can be indexed locally for unprotected notes.

On iPhone and iPad, Save to Cub stages the selected content in a shared app/extension queue and imports it when Cub next becomes active. The extension does not open the notes database or hold note-unlock keys. New captures are unprotected until you protect them in Cub; waiting captures are separate from library backups.

When you export, share, or back up to another app, folder, or provider, that destination handles its copy under its own practices. Opening a note’s web link also contacts the destination you choose.

Website and Mac updates

The website’s sample notebook is an illustration. Its theme preference may be stored in your browser’s local storage; sample editing is not sent to a Cub notes service. The reviewed website loads its own scripts, styles, and images and includes no third-party analytics script.

Direct Mac builds from version 1.2 use Sparkle to check the Cub update feed, retrieve release notes, and download an update when requested. Automatic checks start off and can be enabled in Settings. System-profile submission is disabled, and Cub does not add note content to update requests.

Update and website requests still expose ordinary connection information to the hosting systems, including IP address, request time and path, and user agent. Sparkle’s default user agent identifies the app version and Sparkle version.

Cub’s website, download, and direct Mac update requests use the server’s shared nginx access log. Errors may also be written to its error log. These logs can contain ordinary request and connection details.

The current server configuration schedules daily log rotation and retains up to 14 rotated archives, with older archives compressed. This configured rotation policy does not establish a guaranteed deletion deadline for every entry or any separate copies.

The Mac App Store and iOS builds use Apple’s distribution system for app updates and do not include the direct Mac updater.

Diagnostics and support

The reviewed app source has no custom crash-upload service. Apple may provide TestFlight feedback and platform diagnostics according to your settings and Apple’s terms.

If you choose to contact support, your message may include contact details, device/build information, screenshots, diagnostics, or any note content you supply. We use that information to respond and investigate the issue. Please omit passwords and private content whenever possible.

Support correspondence is kept for as long as needed to respond to and investigate your request. You can ask us to delete information you sent, subject to records we need to retain for legal or security reasons.

For a question or a request about information you voluntarily sent, email bburdick@gmail.com. We will explain what we can access and the available actions; we do not need your note password.

Your choices

You can write locally, choose whether to enable iCloud, choose whether to remember an unlock key, and decide where to save an export or backup. Moving a note to Trash keeps it recoverable. Permanent deletion and sync recovery metadata are separate from deleting an exported file or an older backup.

Copies you export and backups you keep remain at their destination until removed there. Cub’s backup rotation manages only archives owned by that library’s automatic-backup service.

We will update this page when Cub’s data practices change. Contact Cub support for help with these choices.