Why I built Vault, a mode I can’t read
Most software reads your data because that’s the business model. Sedonis has Vault, a mode I can’t open, so a breach, a buyer or a court order can’t make me hand over what’s inside it.
By Tommy O’Connor, founder
I run my own thing, and for years the tools meant to help me all worked the same way underneath. My money, my clients, my private notes: they sat on someone else’s servers, in plain text, ready to be read, mined, sold, breached, or handed over. That’s not a scandal. It’s just the model. Free or cheap software is usually paid for with your data.
The stuff you run your livelihood on is about the most personal data there is. So when I started building Sedonis, I made one decision that shaped everything after it: give you a mode I can’t read. That mode is Vault.
What that actually means
It would have been easier not to. Encryption you can’t undo is harder to build and harder to support. When Vault is on and locked, it’s locked, even for me. There’s no admin button that quietly opens it.
But that’s the whole point. If I can’t open your Vault, then no breach, no acquirer, and no court order can make me. With Vault on, the privacy isn’t a promise on a page you have to trust me to keep. It’s a property of how the thing is built.
Sedonis is local-first: your data starts on your device and works there, online or off. When you turn on Vault, your data is sealed on your device before it syncs, with a key from your passphrase. What leaves is ciphertext. The key stays with you.
To be precise about the default: if you use cloud sync in Standard mode, the synced copy is readable by us, the same as most software. Vault is the mode I can’t read, and you can use it for everything or only for the sections you choose. It works on every plan, including Free.
The honest trade-off
I want to be straight about the flip side, because trust that skips the fine print isn’t trust. If you lose your passphrase, I can’t recover your Vault data for you. I’d rather tell you that plainly than pretend there’s a magic reset button that quietly means someone else can get in too.
That’s the deal: real privacy, and the responsibility that comes with it. For the kind of data you keep in a business, I think that’s the right trade, and I built Vault for the people who agree.
If that’s you, start with Notch or Turnover. Vault is free on every plan.