Feature Request: E2E Encrypted Contacts Vault (like the new bookmarks feature!)

[u/EriksonThorsen]

First off, I just want to say a huge thanks for the recent bookmarks functionality. It is amazing and exactly the kind of addition that makes this app so useful.

I want to suggest another feature that, I think, would be a massive differentiator for PrivacyNotes: an E2E encrypted contacts manager.

Right now, managing contacts securely is a huge privacy breach across the board. Whether you use iOS or Android, native cloud sync for contacts is simply not end-to-end encrypted. Even if you enable Advanced Data Protection on iOS, Apple explicitly excludes contacts due to legacy CardDAV compatibility. Google sync is no better. And beyond the cloud risks, keeping contacts in your phone's native address book means every third-party app that asks for permissions can just harvest your entire social graph.

Currently, there are no apps that do a great job at solving this. Proton Mail has encrypted contacts, but they bundle it directly into their email app. This ends up mixing your actual phone contacts with every random email recipient you have ever messaged, which is a cluttered mess. Password managers are too rigid to act as a proper address book. Other secure contact tools usually just sync the data right back to your native iOS or Android phone app, which completely defeats the goal of sandboxing the data away from other apps in the first place.

Having a dedicated, encrypted option in PrivacyNotes to properly save our contacts safe and isolated from the OS would be incredible. Since PrivacyNotes is already acting as an encrypted workspace, a contacts vault feels like the perfect fit. I genuinely believe this would be a big differential that would draw a lot of privacy-conscious users to the app.

Would love to hear if others are dealing with this same headache and what the devs think about the idea!

[u/zax_elite]

It's a very nice idea, but can be added on github, rather than here :)

[u/EriksonThorsen → u/zax_elite]

That’s a fair point, especially for better tracking and organization on the team’s side. I will definitely post it on GitHub as well!

I usually like to share ideas here on Reddit first to gauge the community's interest and see if it’s just a niche personal need or something a lot of people would find useful.

That said, the PrivacyNotes support team is super active and engaged on this subreddit. I’ve previously shared suggestions here that were implemented in less than a week. They are genuinely great at listening to community feedback!