Jotaid is a note app for people whose problem isn't writing things down — it's seeing how the things they wrote down relate. It is built independently, runs natively on Apple platforms, and keeps your notes on your own devices.
Why JOTAID Exists
Most note apps are very good at capture and quietly bad at everything after it. Notes pile up, and the connections between them stay in your head — or disappear entirely.
Jotaid was built around the step that usually gets skipped: Capture → Organize → Connect → Discover. Backlinks run between concept-level nodes rather than whole notes, a knowledge graph makes the network visible, and a co-occurrence matrix surfaces patterns you never explicitly linked.
The design philosophy is "simple, not simplistic": a minimal surface with real depth underneath. Nothing is added to the interface unless it earns its place.
Who It's For
Jotaid is aimed at people who think for a living and accumulate more material than they can hold in their head:
- Academic researchers tracing arguments and citations across a growing pile of literature notes
- Strategy consultants looking for the pattern that connects a dozen separate client observations
- Product managers turning scattered user research into a structure that holds up under pressure
It doesn't impose one method. Zettelkasten, PARA, or Jotaid's built-in Project → Theme → Note hierarchy all work; pick whichever already matches how you think.
How It's Built
- Native, not Electron — written in Swift and SwiftUI for macOS 14+ and iOS 17+, so it starts fast and stays light
- Local-first — everything works fully offline; iCloud sync and encrypted backups are optional layers on top
- Bring your own AI key — AI requests go straight from your device to the provider you choose, never through a Jotaid server
- AI thinks with you, never for you — it proposes concepts, groupings and possible relations; the judgment stays yours
What JOTAID Does Not Do
- No selling, renting or sharing of your note content — ever
- No training any model on what you write
- No advertising identifiers and no cross-app tracking
- No account required to use the app
The full details are in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
How JOTAID Is Funded
By people paying for it — not by advertising or data. Jotaid is free to start: note-taking, bidirectional backlinks, the knowledge graph and the co-occurrence matrix all work in a free workspace. Pro unlocks the AI features and unlimited projects, and can be bought as a monthly subscription, a yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase; all three unlock exactly the same feature set.
Who Makes JOTAID
Jotaid is designed and built by Leeron Zhang, an independent developer, who also writes the essays on the Jotaid blog. The official places to get Jotaid and its add-ons:
- Jotaid on the App Store — one app for Mac and iPhone
- Raycast extension — send text to the Inbox from Raycast
- PopClip extension — send selected text to the Inbox
Contact
Questions, bug reports and feature requests are all welcome at contact [at] jotaid.com. The guides live at docs.jotaid.com.