Privacy¶
Melanite keeps your data on your own computer. Files, notes, tags, links, and location data live only inside the library folder you chose. Nothing is synced to a server, and nothing is backed up anywhere else.
This page spells out, without hedging, what does leave your machine.
What is never sent¶
- No account is required. There is no sign-up, no login, and no identifier for you
- No usage data is collected. There is no analytics, telemetry, or crash reporting in the app. Which features you use, and what files you keep, are sent to no one
- No update checks. The app never contacts a server on launch to compare versions
- Your library stays put. File contents, note text, tag names, and the terms you search for are not sent anywhere (the one exception is the place search below)
The three times data leaves¶
Network requests happen in exactly three situations, and each one only follows something you did. Nothing is sent in the background.
| Situation | Goes to | What it reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Opening the map view | OpenStreetMap tile server | the map area you are looking at |
| Searching for a place | OpenStreetMap Nominatim | the text you typed |
| Importing from a URL | the URL you supplied | a download request to that server |
As with any web request, the server on the other end sees your IP address and the
time of the request. Melanite also identifies itself as Melanite/<version>,
because the OpenStreetMap terms require an app to be identifiable.
When you open the map view¶
Background images (tiles) are fetched from OpenStreetMap. What this reveals is the tile coordinates — the area you are viewing. Your pins, and the coordinates stored in your photos, are not uploaded.
Tiles you have already fetched stay on your computer, so revisiting the same area sends nothing. If you never open the map view, none of this happens.
When you search for a place¶
The text you type into the map's search box is sent to Nominatim (OpenStreetMap's place search), which returns coordinates. Your search text is passed along verbatim.
It is sent only when you press Enter. Melanite does not send keystrokes as you type, so there is no as-you-type lookup.
Searching for your home address
Search text goes to an external service. If you would not want a place name or address seen by a third party, keep that in mind before typing it here. Panning the map there by hand avoids the search entirely.
When you import from a URL¶
Importing from a URL fetches the file from the address you provide. The destination is whatever server you pointed it at.
When that address is a web page, Melanite saves its article text as a Markdown note (Web clipping). Even then, the only thing fetched is the URL you gave it — images in the text are not downloaded (see "Remote images and styles in previews").
About portable packs¶
A portable pack is a single file for reading your library on a phone, and exporting one only writes that file where you chose to save it. Melanite never sends a pack anywhere, and this feature adds nothing to the three cases above.
How the file reaches your device — AirDrop, iCloud Drive, a cable — is your choice. Note that passing it through a cloud service means entrusting that service with what the pack holds: your tags, the text of your notes, and thumbnails.
For the app that reads a pack (Melanite Viewer), see → Melanite Viewer privacy
Remote images and styles in previews¶
If a note references an external image with , or an
HTML file references external images or style sheets,
opening it would normally contact the remote server each time. Melanite does not load
these by default.
This keeps merely opening a file from handing your IP address and reading time to someone else. A single setting turns loading on. Even with it on, an HTML file's JavaScript never runs and its forms cannot be submitted.
Web-clipped notes are exactly this case
Notes saved with Web clipping keep their images pointing at the original page. They only appear when this setting is on, and with it on, opening such a note fetches those images from the original site.
On a company or school network¶
If your computer is configured to use a proxy, all three requests above go through it. Your network administrator can see the destinations, just as with ordinary web browsing.
Working offline¶
Without a network connection, nearly everything still works — importing, tagging, searching, and editing notes included. The only differences are that map backgrounds do not appear and URL import is unavailable. Map areas you have already viewed still render while offline.
→ FAQ