Tide

Tide keeps everything in a local SQLite file and syncs peer to peer over a tiny last-writer-wins CRDT, so there is no server in the middle and no account to make. Your notes never leave devices you own, which is the entire point. I started it because every notes app I tried eventually wanted my email, then a subscription, then my data. The sync was the hard part: I spent two weeks getting conflict resolution to feel boring and predictable instead of clever. Setting up a second device is still clunky and search is naive, but for daily capture it has quietly replaced everything else I used. Encrypted sync and a proper mobile build are next.