Cairn vs Dotty

Cairn is a fast, native task and note companion that lives on top of the Markdown files you already own. Point it at your Obsidian vault — or any folder of Markdown notes — and your tasks and notes appear in clean, focused views. Everything you do in Cairn is written straight back to your files as plain text, in the Obsidian Tasks format. YOUR NOTES STAY YOURS • No account, no sign-up, no Cairn cloud database — your tasks live in your own files • Cairn does not send your notes or tasks to the developer • Careful, patch-based edits change only the content you touched, preserving the rest of your note • Works alongside Obsidian, iCloud Drive, Git, or any sync you already use CAPTURE, BROWSE, AND PLAN • Browse and edit Markdown notes directly in your vault • Quick capture into your daily note, with date, tag, and priority tokens parsed as you type • Choose where longer captures are saved • Today, Upcoming, Inbox, and Pool views, plus a global filter for folders, tags, dates, priority, and status • Full support for sub-tasks and task hierarchies • Recurring tasks in Obsidian Tasks format, with safe completion handling • Convert upcoming calendar events into tasks, or mirror your dated tasks into a calendar you choose (optional) STAY ON TRACK • Local reminders for due tasks — including sunrise-relative reminders computed entirely on your device • A Live Activity keeps today's progress on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island • Home Screen widgets and a Control Center quick-capture control • Search across every task in your vault MADE FOR OBSIDIAN — NOT ONLY OBSIDIAN Cairn reads and writes the Obsidian Tasks plugin format (due, scheduled, start, and done dates, priorities, recurrence, tags), so your vault stays fully compatible with your desktop setup. Don't use Obsidian? Create a plain task folder in the Files app and Cairn works as a stand-alone Markdown to-do app. Cairn asks for access only to the folder you pick. Calendar access and location (used to compute local sunrise times) are optional and processed on your device. If you choose iCloud Drive or another Files or calendar provider, that provider's own sync and privacy terms apply.

A private notebook where everyone you know gets a page, including you. Contact apps store phone numbers. Dotty stores the things you would never put in a contact card: that she hates surprise calls, that his sister is called Ada, that his dad had surgery and you should ask. Everything is encrypted on your device. You do not need an account, and nothing leaves your phone unless you decide it should. EVERY PAGE IS YOURS TO SHAPE • Notes, lists, checklists, custom fields, files and folders, mixed in whatever way that person needs • A page for a friend looks nothing like a page for a client, and both are right • You get a page too, for the things you want to remember about yourself THE MAP Your relationships are not folders. The map draws them as a network, so you can see how they actually sit. • People move closer as you stay in touch, and drift apart when you do not • Someone can be family, gym, and work at the same time. You create the circles. • Drifting shows who you have not spoken to in weeks, before it becomes months MOMENTS • Birthdays repeat every year on their own, pulled from the person’s page • Reminders repeat when you want them to, like a monthly call or a yearly anniversary • Plans stay on one calendar, with everyone on it • Notifications for events, birthdays, and reminders PRIVATE, EITHER WAY You choose where your people live: on this phone alone, or in an account that follows you. • On-device only means there is no account and no copy stored anywhere else • The database is encrypted with SQLCipher, using standard cryptography • The key stays in your Keychain, marked for this device, and is left out of every backup • Photos and attachments are excluded from backups too, so no readable copy reaches iCloud • Sign in with Apple or Google if you want to sync. There is no password to lose. • No analytics, no ad SDK, no data brokers. Nothing you write is sent to any AI model, and search runs on your device • Export everything as a single file whenever you like, and delete your account in the app, iPhone and iPad. Questions or ideas? Write to us. We read everything.