Privacy
Everything you do stays on this Mac.
Slate Drive is an app, not a service. We have no servers, no accounts and no sign-up: the app talks to the reMarkable cloud straight from your Mac, exactly as the official one does. The connect token and your model keys live in the macOS Keychain.
Notes go nowhere except your tablet’s cloud or a service you switched on yourself.
we’ll open the source by the end of 2026 — check it yourself
What goes where
One table instead of a policy
everything cloud-bound waits for your click
| WHAT | WHERE IT GOES | WHEN |
|---|---|---|
| The tablet’s library | The reMarkable cloud | Always, just as with the official app. Straight from your Mac, with no link of ours in between. |
| Handwriting: Apple Vision, Tesseract | Nowhere — they read on this Mac | There’s nothing to agree to. |
| Handwriting: Google Cloud Vision, Yandex Vision OCR | To them, as page images | Only after the prompt when you switch it on. On your own key. |
| An AI model in AI Studio | The provider you connected | Through an action you clicked or a rule you set up. No background summaries. |
| Integrations | Obsidian, Logseq, Bear, Apple Notes, Zotero and DEVONthink — to apps on this Mac; Readwise and Readwise Reader — out to the internet | When you send a result or a document. |
| MCP access | Only to apps on this Mac | Off until you switch it on. From the network it doesn’t exist. |
| Updates | A check for a new version | The app finds updates itself and installs them only with your permission. |
Everything in this table that goes online, apart from the reMarkable cloud, is off after installation. You turn it on, and it’s always clear why a request was made.
The connect token
Your reMarkable code stays on the Mac
no middlemen
The same access the official app has
A connect code doesn’t work any other way. The app uses it to show your library and apply your changes — renames, moves, sends.
Kept in the Keychain
Where the rest of your passwords are, and it never leaves the Mac.
It never passes through us
Unlike middleman services, we never pass it on or keep it on our servers — we simply don’t have any.
Disconnecting, in the right order
One action in settings: first this Mac’s access is revoked on the reMarkable server, then the local data is erased. The library on your tablet is left as it was.
Consent
Everything cloud-bound is off until you switch it on
and off again with one click
Local engines ask nothing
Apple Vision and Tesseract read on this Mac. Pages go nowhere, so there is nothing to agree to.
A cloud engine goes through a prompt
When you switch one on: “Page images will leave this Mac and go to Google Cloud Vision with your key.” Cancel leaves the switch off. Turning it off withdraws the consent — switch it on again and it asks again.
An AI model runs on an action only
Pages go to an AI model through an action you clicked or a rule you set up. There are no background summaries, and every call is written into the log.
A note’s text is data, not an order
In the request to the model your text sits inside a fence, with a note beside it saying this is the author’s material and not a message to the model. A line like “ignore your instructions” written on a page stays part of the page: the app carries it as data and never lets it give orders.
MCP is one switch
Off by default. The server answers only apps on this Mac over a local address; deleting a document asks you first.
What we don’t have
A shorter list than usual
and that’s the point
Servers
There is no link of ours between you and the reMarkable cloud, an AI model or Readwise. No markup, because there’s no transaction.
Sign-up
Download it, enter the connect code, done. No email, no password, no account page.
A format of our own
Notebooks on the drive are PDFs, books are untouched, the library copy is an ordinary folder. All of it opens without Slate Drive.
Analytics and telemetry
No counters, no crash reports, no file names — the app reports nothing about itself. It runs in the macOS sandbox; tokens and keys live in the Keychain, not in preference files or logs.
Closed source — not for long
The license is MIT. We’ll open the source, sync included, by the end of 2026; until then GitHub carries the signed builds. GitHub →
A chat window with an AI model
Every call stands behind something named — an action, a rule, an engine. It’s always clear why a request was made and what went into it.
FAQ
Questions about privacy
- Can you see my notes?
- No — there’s nowhere to see them. We have no servers; the app talks to the reMarkable cloud straight from your Mac.
- What goes to the cloud during recognition?
- With Apple Vision and Tesseract, nothing. Cloud engines get pages as images, and only after you said yes to the prompt when switching one on.
- Who pays for the AI models?
- You do — the provider you connected, at its rates. Nothing passes through us. A rule has a monthly budget, $5 by default.
- How do I turn it all off?
- Disconnect in settings — this Mac’s access is revoked on the server and the local data is erased. Then delete the app. The library backup is an ordinary folder and stays yours.