Turtl is one of a number of apps that is trying to be an open source, private and secure alternative to Evernote. Evernote’s recent missteps on user privacy have really driven interest in these, but whether or not they are viable long-term remains to be seen.
Turtl promises data that is encrypted in such a way that only the user has the ability to decrypt it,
Turtl takes your password from when you sign up and uses it to create a cryptographic key. It uses this key to encrypt your data before storing it anywhere on your device or on our servers. Neither your password nor your key are ever stored anywhere. This means that only you and those you choose to share with can read your data.
As well as a commitment to privacy,
Now is a very important time in history. Every aspect of our lives is moving into the digital world faster than we realize. We use apps like Dropbox or Evernote because of their convenience, but in doing so we sacrifice our privacy. What data isn’t sold to advertisers or stolen by hackers is carved up by government surveillance. The only way to keep private data private is to either not put it online at all or encrypt it. Encrypting your data can be a big pain. The tools are difficult to learn and one mistake renders all your work useless.
Turtl has a github repository with its code, as well as a Trello board the devs use to track development.
For now, I’m sticking with Evernote, but it is good to see so many alternatives springing up.