Frequently Asked Questions

It means your entries are encrypted on your device before they ever touch storage or sync. The encryption key is derived from your passphrase via PBKDF2 and lives only in your iCloud Keychain — accessible via Face ID or Touch ID. No Memoir server, no Apple server, and no third party can read your entries. If someone were to breach our infrastructure, they would find only random-looking ciphertext.

Your encrypted journal syncs through your iCloud private database, so restoring it on a new device is automatic. Sign in with the same Apple ID, open Memoir, enter your passphrase (or unlock with biometrics after setup), and your journal is ready. Your passphrase is the only way to decrypt your entries — keep it somewhere safe.

No. Family sharing in Memoir uses per-share key derivation (HKDF-from-hash). When you explicitly share a memory, a new derived key grants access only to that specific entry. Your main journal key is never shared. A family member cannot browse your journal, only the memories you've chosen to share.

Memoir will launch with a free tier that covers core journaling, encryption, and sync. Extended features — such as the Memory Graph, Year-in-Review insights, and advanced reflection prompts — may require a subscription. Pricing will be announced before the beta opens.

Memoir requires iOS 18 or later and macOS 15 Sequoia or later. Both apps share the same SwiftUI codebase and sync seamlessly over iCloud. Android and web versions are not planned — we believe a truly private, native experience requires the Apple platform's security primitives.

Yes. You can export your entire journal as decrypted Markdown files or a structured JSON archive at any time. We believe your memories belong to you, and you should be able to take them anywhere. Export is not behind a paywall.

When you mark a memory as shareable, Memoir derives a unique encryption key for that entry using HKDF (a cryptographic key derivation function). That derived key is shared with your family member's device — your primary key never leaves your iCloud Keychain. The family member's app uses the derived key to decrypt only that entry. No other entries in your journal are accessible.

The leader feed shows posts from Memoir users who have explicitly chosen to make specific entries public. These posts are cryptographically signed so that readers know they haven't been altered. Sharing to the public feed is an intentional opt-in — no entry becomes public by default or by accident.

Not currently planned. Memoir's privacy architecture depends on iCloud Keychain, Face ID, SFSpeechRecognizer for on-device transcription, and Apple's NLEmbedding framework for semantic search. These capabilities have no reliable equivalent on Android that would allow us to maintain the same privacy guarantees.

Your journal is continuously synced to your iCloud private database in encrypted form — this is your automatic off-device backup. For an additional local backup, use the export function to save decrypted Markdown or JSON files, which you can then store anywhere (external drive, another cloud service, etc.).

Encrypted blobs are stored in your iCloud private database — a partition of iCloud that only your account can access. Client-side AES-GCM-256 encryption is applied before any data leaves your device, so even Apple's servers hold only ciphertext. Memoir's own servers handle only metadata like waitlist signups and the public leader feed — never your journal content.

No. On-device semantic search uses Apple's NLEmbedding framework running entirely on your device's Neural Engine. Your entries and their embeddings never leave your device for search purposes. Spotlight integration, if offered, would use the same on-device indexing Apple uses for Mail and Notes.

Multiple journals (notebooks) are planned for a post-launch update. The first release focuses on a single, well-organised journal with tags, wikilinks, and views for navigating your entries. Multi-journal support will be added based on feedback from early users.

There is no passphrase reset — this is intentional. Because Memoir uses zero-knowledge encryption, we have no copy of your key and no way to recover it. Your passphrase is the sole root of your encryption key. We strongly recommend storing it in your iCloud Keychain, Apple's Passwords app, or a password manager. If you lose it without a backup, your encrypted journal content cannot be recovered.