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Comment by taminka | Hacker News Reader

> Talking about trust and having illusive pictures and designs..

it's one of the key features of the app that most other alternatives lack, it would be weird for them not to mention this

> And why do I need to login for an offline app?

it's not offline only, it can sync to your other devices over the internet

> Where does the data really go? There is some setting remote storage, and some mb already used, so is in reallity an online-app with some offline-mirroring?

it's stays on your devices, unless you pay for dedicated backups of your data

> and the saved files are just your usual electron-blob-files. Seems there is no way to really access or control my files externally.

your data is encrypted, which is why you can't just access it via your file manager

hope this helps :)

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> it's one of the key features of the app that most other alternatives lack,

That's their claim, but it doesn't hold up much so far.

> it would be weird for them not to mention this

There is a difference between mentioning it, and using it as a selling-point.

> it's not offline only, it can sync to your other devices over the internet

There are many apps who can sync, most of them have it as an option, without a forced login and hidden sync.

> your data is encrypted, which is why you can't just access it via your file manager

So I can't even access my data and must trust in the app to not screw up, and have a well working export. Which considering it takes Notion and its poor export as inspiration, is not really a good sign

> hope this helps :)

Yes, thanks.

>That's their claim, but it doesn't hold up much so far.

are there any arguments?

>There are many apps who can sync, most of them have it as an option, without a forced login and hidden sync.

We don’t have any forced login. It’s just basic keychain that generated on your machine, that only can use, and can use off-line. It’s a way do deal with encryption. Where you see a forced login?

>So I can't even access my data and must trust in the app to not screw up, and have a well working export. Which considering it takes Notion and its poor export as inspiration, is not really a good sign

we have described our data format, so your data is yours, you can write any adaptor to read/write

> We don’t have any forced login.

Then how can I use the app without creating first an account and space which will sync my data without even asking? You talk about trust and offline-first, but the first thing you do is uploading data and don't even talk about it.

> we have described our data format,

Where?

BTW Don't reinvent menus. I just now realized that File->Close does not actually close the app, like in any other app. And for whatever reason, there was no information about the App still running. Kinda sus..

> Then how can I use the app without creating first an account and space which will sync my data without even asking? You talk about trust and offline-first, but the first thing you do is uploading data and don't even talk about it.

It's not an account you create in a classical way using a server. It's locally generated data wallet ( we need it for encryption and sync). We talk via on-boarding that your wallet will be synced, and that your data is encrypted only with the key generated on your machine. It's for people who don't want to mess with self-hosting. If you want you can make your build from GitHub, disconnect sync, or just self-host yours. This way our promise works.

> we have described our data format

we have a GitHub! here it is https://github.com/anyproto/any-block

> BTW Don't reinvent menus. I just now realized that File->Close does not actually close the app, like in any other app. And for whatever reason, there was no information about the App still running. Kinda sus..

good point!

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