Scrib: Encrypted Offline Notes

Beeswax Pat

About this app

Scrib is an encrypted offline notepad for Android that keeps your notes private: no accounts, no cloud, no tracking. Every note is protected with AES-256 encryption, stored securely on your device using the Android Keystore system.

YOUR NOTES. YOUR DEVICE. YOUR BUSINESS.

Unlike notes apps that sync to the cloud, Scrib operates completely offline. Your encrypted notes never leave your phone. No internet connection required. No data collection. No accounts to create. Just open and write.

SWITCHING FROM ANOTHER NOTES APP?

Bring your notes with you. Scrib imports plain text and Markdown files, Google Keep exports, Simplenote exports, and Evernote exports, including zip archives. Duplicates are skipped automatically, so importing twice never doubles your notes.

SECURITY FEATURES

• AES-256 Encryption: every note is protected on your device with a hardware-backed key
• PIN Lock: lock the whole app with a PIN, with progressive brute-force protection
• Private Vault: a hidden, PIN-protected space for your most sensitive notes
• Hidden Notes: hide individual notes from your main list
• Per-Note Encryption: choose which notes get extra encryption protection

NOTEPAD FEATURES

• Folders: group notes and filter your list with one tap. Deleting a folder never deletes the notes inside, and you can turn folders off in Settings if you prefer one list.
• Checklists: turn any line into a checkbox and tap to check things off. Checklists mix with regular text in the same note.
• Text Colors: give any note its own text color, picked to stay readable in light and dark themes
• Find in Note: search inside long notes with highlighted matches
• Auto-Bullet Lists: start typing and Scrib handles the formatting
• Voice Input: dictate notes hands-free
• 44 Note Colors: color-code and organize your notes visually
• Trash System: recover deleted notes with configurable retention (7, 14, 30, 90 days, or never)
• Text Scaling: small, medium, or large text sizes for comfortable reading

CUSTOMIZATION

• Dark Theme, Light Theme, or System Default
• 16 Accent Colors
• Full Accessibility Support: screen readers, keyboard navigation, semantic labels

10 LANGUAGES

Scrib supports English, Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Chinese (Simplified) with automatic detection.

ZERO TRACKING. ZERO DATA COLLECTION.

Scrib has zero internet permissions. That means:
• No analytics
• No ads
• No telemetry
• No cloud sync
• No account required
• No data leaves your device

Your notes are encrypted, stored locally, and completely private. Scrib is the secure encrypted notepad that respects your privacy, because your notes are your business.

Download the most private encrypted notes app for Android. Free and always will be.

Ratings and reviews

Bug Report: When editing a note, attempting to move the text cursor somewhere else to either edit, erase, copy and paste content, or add something in between words; the app seems to freak out from this gesture and instead starts to forcibly highlight everything. To cancel this action is nearly impossible to do unless I tab on the empty line at the bottom. If I try to tap an empty line somewhere else, it won't cancel the highlighting at all. This is a problem for me. It occurs on Android 16.

So far it's okay though it's missing a critical and simple FIND feature. Sometimes notes become lengthy and perpetual and searching for a string of characters is really needed to make this app useful. I'd also like to know where this container file is stored so that it could be backed up. With that said, I'd give it 5 if there was a way to search within a note.

Exactly what I wanted with just one wish-list feature: since there's already an export all to .txt files, can't there also be a mass import from .txt files also? I'm migrating from a different notepad app and have 400+ files I don't really want to re-type into Scrib!

What’s new

New in 3.1.1:
• Tap any spot in a note to start editing right there. The cursor now lands where you tapped instead of the text getting selected.
No accounts. No tracking. Still fully offline.