Notesnook (Privacy Oriented Notetaking App) Just Paywalled Its App Lock Feature.

Notesnook is a privacy oriented notetaking app that's been popularly recommended for many years. It provides encryption for notes. The app offers cloud syncing and various subscription tiers, including a free tier. The app does not require creating an account to operate.

In its most recent update, Notesnook removed the ability to lock the app (a feature that allowed users to open the app with a custom pin or fingerprint) from it's free tier. As a result, this updates strips the app of one of its biggest privacy features and asks users to now pay money for what they were getting for free all this time.

What is further perplexing is that this feature required no cloud usage. This is a completely offline feature that didn't cost the dev anything when used. And yet, it was paywalled beyond a subscription model.

This raises an alarming precedent- that a privacy oriented app can rescind it's privacy at any time. Trust can be broken that easily.