Frequently Asked Questions

The current beta is available on macOS and iPhone. On iPhone, you can capture photos, scan documents, and share web pages from Safari or any mobile browser today. Chrome and Safari extensions are under development and coming soon. Android and Windows are planned after the current beta stabilizes.

Yes. Clevernotes is currently free during the beta period with no feature limits. We may introduce paid plans in the future, but you will never be charged without your explicit consent. We'll provide advance notice before any pricing changes.

Beta means the app is feature-complete enough for daily use but still under active development. Features may change, and you might encounter occasional bugs. We use the beta period to gather feedback and improve the experience before a full public launch.

Request beta access from the homepage form and we will email you when the next invite wave opens. Once invited, you can sign in with Google or create an account with your email inside the app.

The current beta is on macOS and iPhone. Web pages can already be shared into Clevernotes from iPhone browsers today, while Chrome and Safari extensions are under development and coming soon. Android and Windows are planned after the current beta stabilizes.

Both browser extensions are under development and coming soon. For now, the best way to save web content is from the iPhone share sheet, which already preserves extracted page content instead of a bare URL.

Sparks are AI-generated suggestions that appear after every capture. When you record a voice note, type a thought, or snap a photo, AI analyzes the content and suggests concrete next steps: tasks to create, items to add to lists, reminders to set, or events to schedule. You review each Spark and accept or dismiss it with a single tap.

Say you record a voice note: "Had lunch with Sarah. She recommended that new Thai place on Elm Street. I need to send her the project brief by Wednesday." Sparks might suggest: add "Thai place on Elm Street" to your Restaurants to Try list, create a task "Send project brief to Sarah" due Wednesday, and set a reminder to follow up.

No. While capture is the starting point, Clevernotes also includes projects, tasks with priorities and due dates, recurring reminders, curated lists (restaurants, books, gift ideas, etc.), a calendar with agenda view, and Focus surfaces that help you see what deserves attention today. On macOS, the People view also keeps recurring relationships tied back to the right notes and meetings.

CleverPal isn't just for asking questions about your notes. You can ask it to find and remove duplicate tasks, move items between projects, plan your week, draft follow-ups from meeting notes, or clean up your task list. When retrieval is the better answer, it can also return structured search results with source-backed context instead of a vague summary.

Goals let you define meaningful outcomes and track real progress toward them. Break goals into milestones, link them to projects and tasks, and watch as your daily captures align toward the things that matter most. AI reads your captures and suggests tasks that move your goals forward.

Habits let you define daily or weekly routines and track consistency over time. Check in from Focus view, watch streaks grow, and link habits to goals so every routine serves a purpose. Clevernotes surfaces gentle observations in Focus and Review when a habit starts slipping, without nagging.

Goals connect to projects, tasks, habits, and your AI memory. Habit progress feeds into goal progress. Sparks can suggest tasks aligned with your goals, and the Focus brief shows goal and habit status alongside your daily schedule. The Review dashboard includes goal and habit progress in your weekly reflection.

Clevernotes uses the Google Gemini API (via the Firebase AI SDK) as the primary provider for transcription, image analysis, summarization, memory extraction, semantic search, Sparks, Goals, Habits, and CleverPal. CleverPal also supports an optional secondary provider — currently xAI / Grok — that you can select from the model picker. Some features like local search indexing run entirely on your device.

No. Your content is not used to train AI models. Google's Gemini API paid-tier data processing terms ensure that your data is processed for your request only and is not retained for model training. xAI's API terms similarly do not use API input or output for model training. See our Privacy Policy for full details.

When you capture content, relevant data is sent to Google Gemini for processing: audio for transcription, images for vision analysis, text for summarization and insight extraction. We minimize what's sent by only transmitting the specific content needed for each operation. Processed results (transcripts, summaries, insights) are stored in your account.

Semantic search uses vector embeddings to understand the meaning of your query, not just the keywords. When you search for "that restaurant Sarah recommended," it finds notes that match the concept even if the word "restaurant" never appears. This works alongside traditional keyword search.

The memory system is a structured knowledge base that grows as you use the app. AI extracts facts, preferences, relationships, and context from your notes over time. This helps the AI give you more relevant, personalized answers and surface connections across your entire collection.

Your data is stored locally on your device first (local-first architecture). Cloud sync via Google Firebase stores an encrypted copy in the us-central1 region (United States) for cross-device access and backup. All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256).

Yes. Because of the local-first architecture, you can capture and browse your notes offline. AI features that require the Gemini API (like transcription and image analysis) need an internet connection, but local search and note creation work without one. Changes sync automatically when you reconnect.

Yes. You can export all your content at any time from within the app. You can also request a full copy of your stored data by contacting us at privacy@clevernotes.ai.

Yes. You can delete your account and all associated cloud data from the app settings at any time. Cloud data is permanently deleted within 30 days. Local data on your devices is not affected — uninstall the app to remove it.

Yes. Data Controls let you keep Cloud MCP off by default, choose whether approved tools can access note text, attachments, memory, meeting insights, or write actions, and set expiry or re-authentication rules. You can also control generated memory, semantic embeddings, and meeting analytics, delete existing derived data, and opt in to crash diagnostics.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, and others access external tools and data sources. Clevernotes implements an MCP server, which means you can connect your notes to any MCP-compatible AI and give it access to your knowledge base.

No. MCP is entirely opt-in. No external AI assistant can access your data unless you explicitly configure and authorize the connection. Data Controls let you choose what those tools can read or write, whether re-approval is required, and how long access lasts.

With MCP connected, an AI assistant can search your notes, create and manage todos, set reminders, organize projects and lists, access calendar events, manage goals and habits, and use AI-powered search to answer questions about your knowledge base. There are 20 tools available in total.

For privacy and data questions, email privacy@clevernotes.ai. For general support and feedback, email hello@clevernotes.ai. We'd love to hear from you.