Alternative cloud locations (iCloud/Dropbox/other)
J
Jan Droid
Ben Hamey, privacy concerns is what brought me here. I love Flow, but I hate the lack of storage choice. Here are my suggestions:
* Let the user decide if they want real time sync to your servers/background sync to a server of their choice/no sync at all
* Let the user decide if they want this to apply for a single document/for all documents
Technically, it should even be possible to have the option of real time cache to your servers plus background sync to a server of the user's choice.
Also, I don't see why background sync to other servers would have to be limited to PDF - if I understand correctly, this is the suggestion here
J
Jeffrey Alan Gregory
Agree.
J
Jeff
Definitely!
w
will love
Some of the most secure password keepers using the hardest encryption sync up via iCloud and dropbox. Why would this notes app be more vulnerable?
Ben Hamey
Hi Douglas, we do offer exporting to iCloud (e.g. you can choose the Files app when exporting any content) but we can't do iCloud storage because our drawing engine isn't built that way. In order for us to do realtime cloud sync (ie. every single stroke as you draw them) and to support a lot of our fundamental features like the infinite canvas, it just wasn't possible. If the way iCloud data works changes in the future we will certainly look into it. One thing we could potentially investigate is some sort of background backup of all your content to iCloud as image files in parallel with the actual data sync to our servers. Would that be something that would benefit you?
A
Adit
Ben Hamey: my primary concern is privacy. It seems like if data is synced to the moleskine servers, then moleskine employees would have access to it?
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Ascanio Vimercati Sanseverino
Ben Hamey: The privacy and security constraints are of terrific importance. iCloud is a widespread used and tested solution customer can trust, while with your solution we have no evidence of actual security. The issue would nit be solved by adding iCloud, as per your reply, but by removing notes from your own cloud. Notes can contain highly sensitive information and many customers could and should have an issue with this (and feedback seems to confirm it). I understand it would be impossible to sync every single stroke, since iCloud sync takes a few seconds, but frankly considering that a priority over privacy and security seems like a terrible trade off to me. I cannot know what features you have in mind that would depend on it, but if that is collaborative real-time drawing I think there is more people interested in privacy than that. I would encourage more transparency on this topic rather than dismissing it with generic answers.
Ben Hamey
Hi Ascanio - thanks for sharing your thoughts. Sorry if my response came across generic - I tried to explain our reasoning, this is not a topic we take lightly. We would've preferred to use iCloud, but it is not an option for the architecture that Flow needs in order to function as promised. Put directly, the whole product couldn't exist. Our backend uses Google infrastructure for secure authentication and storage (Firebase) and is a widely trusted and robust solution that millions of people rely on.
ben
Ben Hamey: Hi Ben, it seems this thread hasn’t been touched in a bit, but your idea above for a background backup of all content to iCloud in parallel with your data sync would absolutely benefit me. Better yet, if I could choose between iCloud or DropBox to sync, and image or PDF for file formats, I’d use this app for pretty much everything. Thanks!
Claire Wilgar
Ben Hamey: I'd definitely want a background backup like that, especially to Google Drive (since you say the backend stuff relies on Google infra anyway).
To me, it's really annoying that if I want to access my notes from my PC I have to go get the iPad and start exporting the ones I want. Being able to jump on Google Drive (or whatever platform) and see my notes there would be so much easier and doesn't need to be real-time/per-stroke - even just "Back up to cloud when I exist the notebook" functionality would be amazing. I don't think the majority of users have ONLY and iPad and especially when making notes for work, ease of getting them from the laptop is paramount. Even the basic Google Keep app is easy to get notes from on a computer.