Privacy / Fold Notebook

Fold Notebook privacy policy

Effective date: 2 November 2026. Applies to Fold Notebook for Android and Fold Notebook for iPhone and iPad.

Fold Notebook (“the app”) is made by Tech2XS, an independent app developer in the UK.

What’s stored on your device

Your notebooks, pages, text and formatting, pen and highlighter drawings (ink), pictures you add to pages, cover photos, cover choices and settings are all kept in the app’s private storage on your device. If you turn on sync, the app also keeps a small record of what it last synced and copies of your notebooks from just before each of the last 5 syncs, so Undo last sync can put them back. These stay on the device.

On Android, the system’s automatic cloud backup is turned off for the app. On iPhone and iPad, the app’s storage is included in your device’s own iCloud Backup or computer backup if you use one, as with most apps. Your sign-in to Google and any encryption key are kept in the iPhone or iPad Keychain for this device only, and aren’t included in those backups. Otherwise your notes are only copied off the device by the options you choose, described below.

What we collect

Nothing. The app contains no advertising, analytics or tracking code, there’s no automatic crash reporting, and it has no account system. We have no server that receives your notes, so we can’t see, recover or delete them for you.

Optional sync (off by default)

Sync keeps your notebooks the same on each phone and tablet where you turn it on. It’s off until you choose iCloud or Google Drive in Settings › Sync on iPhone and iPad (from version 1.5.0), or turn on Settings › Sync with Google Drive on Android (from version 1.4.0). Until then the app doesn’t contact Apple’s or Google’s servers for your notes.

• iCloud (iPhone and iPad): your notebooks are kept in your own iCloud account, in the app’s private iCloud database, which only Fold Notebook can use. Android devices can’t use iCloud, so to include an Android device, choose Google Drive on every device.
• Google Drive (iPhone, iPad and Android): your notebooks are kept in your own Google Drive, in the hidden app-data folder that only Fold Notebook can see. The app asks Google only for the drive.appdata permission, so it can’t see or change any of your other Drive files. On iPhone and iPad you sign in to Google on Google’s own page, in the system’s secure sign-in sheet, so the app never sees your Google password.
• What’s uploaded: your notebooks, split into small files (one per page, one per notebook’s title, cover, paper and font, one for the order of your shelf and the page-turn sound setting, and one per picture or cover photo), so only what changed is sent. Each file carries a revision time, a deleted flag and a random tag that’s new on every sync. There’s no device, install or account identifier.
• When: when the app opens, shortly after you stop editing (about 8 seconds on Android, 20 on iPhone and iPad), when you tap Sync now, and in the background while sync is on (on Android about once an hour, on iPhone and iPad when iOS allows). Only on a network connection.
• How: directly between your devices and Apple or Google over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. It never passes through us.
• If the same page is changed on two devices, the latest edit wins, and the earlier version is kept in this device’s last 5 snapshots for Undo last sync.
• Turning sync off (choose Off on iPhone and iPad, or turn off the switch on Android) stops further syncing on that device but leaves the synced copy where it is. On iPhone and iPad, turning off Google Drive sync also signs the app out of Google and asks Google to remove its access.
• Deleting the synced copy: tap Delete the synced copy in iCloud… or Delete the synced copy in Google Drive… in Settings. This turns sync off on that device, so turn sync off on your other devices first, or the next one to sync will put its notebooks back. Your notebooks on the device aren’t touched. You can also remove Fold Notebook’s data under Google Drive › Settings › Manage apps, which removes both the synced copy and any backup.

Optional encryption with a passphrase (iPhone and iPad, from version 1.5.0)

• Off until you turn it on in Settings › Sync › Encryption, with a passphrase of at least 8 characters.
• End-to-end: your synced notebooks, pictures and the daily backup are encrypted on your device (AES-256) before they’re uploaded, so only your devices can read them. Apple or Google can see only that the files exist, their sizes, times and names made from random ids, not what’s in them.
• The passphrase is never stored or sent anywhere. Each device turns it into a key, and keeps the key in its own Keychain (this device only). Your iCloud or Drive holds only a locked copy of that key, which needs your passphrase to open. We never see your passphrase, your key or your notes.
• If you forget your passphrase, nobody can get your synced notebooks back: not us, not Apple, not Google. Your notebooks on each device stay readable there, and you can set a new passphrase from any device that’s still syncing.
• Fold Notebook for Android 1.4 can’t read an encrypted library or backup yet, so leave encryption off if you sync with an Android device until it’s updated. Turning encryption off stores your synced notebooks and backup without encryption again, for every device that syncs.

Daily backup

• iPhone and iPad: while sync is on, once a day the app also saves one separate backup file of every notebook to the same place: your iCloud, or the hidden Google Drive app-data folder (the same backup file as Fold Notebook for Android uses). It’s encrypted too if you’ve turned on encryption. Restore from the daily backup in Settings › Sync downloads it and only replaces your notebooks when you confirm. Deleting the synced copy doesn’t delete this backup.
• Android: the separate Google Drive backup is described below.

Optional Google Drive backup (Android, off by default)

• Off until you turn it on in Settings › Google Drive backup. Until then the app doesn’t contact Google for it.
• Where it goes: your own Google Drive, in the hidden app-data folder that only Fold Notebook can see, using the same single drive.appdata permission as sync.
• What’s uploaded: one backup file containing all your notebooks and pages (text, formatting and ink), the pictures on your pages, your cover photos and cover choices, and the page-turn sound setting. Each backup replaces the previous file.
• When: when you tap Back up now, or once a day if you turn on Back up automatically every day (only on a network connection).
• How: directly from your device to Google over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. It never passes through us.
• Restore downloads that file and only replaces or adds notebooks when you confirm.
• Deleting it: tap Delete the copy in Google Drive in Settings, or remove Fold Notebook’s data under Google Drive › Settings › Manage apps. Turning the backup off stops further uploads.

Apple and Google

• Data you keep in iCloud is stored by Apple and covered by Apple’s Privacy Policy. Data you keep in Google Drive, and your Google account, are covered by Google’s Privacy Policy. Synced notebooks and backups count towards your iCloud or Google Drive storage.
• Fold Notebook’s use of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Pictures, photos and the camera

• Choosing a photo uses the system photo picker, which gives the app only the photos you pick. On Android the app has no permission to read your photo library.
• Taking a photo: on Android, the app hands over to your camera app, so it has no camera permission of its own. On iPhone and iPad it asks for camera permission first.
• Pictures are copied into the app’s private storage and stay on your device. They’re also included in sync and backups if you turn them on.

App lock

The optional app lock uses your device’s own fingerprint, face or screen-lock check (Face ID, Touch ID or the passcode on iPhone and iPad). The app only receives a yes or no from the system. Your biometric data never leaves your device’s secure hardware, and the app never sees it. When the lock is on, the app’s content is hidden in the recent-apps screen, and the Android home-screen widget shows “Locked” instead of your notebook titles.

Export, share, import and PDF

If you export or share a backup, or export a PDF, the app hands the file to the place or app you choose through the system file picker or share sheet. After that, that app’s or service’s own terms and privacy policy apply. Import only reads the file you pick.

Crash reports (Android, off by default)

There’s no automatic crash reporting. If you turn on Keep a crash report on this phone in Settings, a crash saves one small report file on your device, which keeps only the latest crash. It holds the app and Android versions, the phone model, the time and the technical details of the error, and never your notes or notebook titles. Nothing is sent automatically. You can choose Email crash report, which opens your email app with the report already filled in and addressed to us. You see exactly what will be sent, and you can edit it or cancel. If you send it, we use it only to fix the problem. You can also delete the report from the device.

Network use

The app uses the network only for the optional sync and backup, and only to reach your own iCloud (Apple) or Google Drive and Google’s sign-in. With them turned off, it doesn’t use the network at all.

Keeping and deleting your data

• Your notes stay on your device until you delete them. Delete pages or notebooks in the app, or uninstall the app or clear its storage to remove everything from the device.
• A synced copy or backup stays in your iCloud or Google Drive until you delete it, as described above. You can also manage the app’s Drive data under Google Drive › Settings › Manage apps, and its iCloud data in your iCloud storage settings on iPhone or iPad.
• If you’ve emailed us, you can ask us to delete those emails.

Children

Fold Notebook isn’t aimed at children, and it doesn’t collect personal data from anyone.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we’ll post the new version at the same address with a new effective date. If a change affects what leaves your device, we’ll also mention it in the app’s release notes.

Contact

Tech2XS · support@pingala.com