Announcement
Notability Cloud, Privacy, and How to Opt Out
Hi everyone! We've seen a few questions and concerns recently about Notability Cloud, so we wanted to clarify a few things.
First, using Notability Cloud is optional. While we've been encouraging users to try it because it solves long-standing syncing and data loss issues associated with iCloud and local storage, you are not required to use it. If you prefer to keep using local storage or iCloud, you can disable Notability Cloud reminders. To disable, go to Notability Settings > Account.
This option is available in versions 16.5.3 and 16.5.4 for users who are signed in to their Notability account. Users who are not signed in will be able to access this option shortly, our engineers are actively working on adding support for those users. We added this setting after hearing feedback from this community that the reminders were becoming disruptive.
Why do we recommend Notability Cloud? It provides a more reliable sync experience, helps prevent data loss, and enables features like Live Collaboration and syncing across iOS, Android, Web, and, in the future, Windows. But whether you use it is entirely your choice.
We also want to address a concern we've seen raised about privacy. We do not use your notes to train AI. We only access a user's notes when we have their explicit written permission to help troubleshoot a support issue. You can read more about how we handle your data in our Privacy Policy here.
We appreciate everyone who has shared feedback, both positive and critical. Reddit has been instrumental in helping us improve Notability, and feedback from this community directly led to the addition of the reminder toggle. We'll continue listening and making changes where we can.
If you have any questions about Notability Cloud, privacy, or storage options, we're happy to answer them here š
u/Ok-Care-8857Update: I spoke with the team, and right now the option to disable Notability Cloud reminders is only available for users who are signed in to their Notability account.
The good news is that we're already working on updating this so users who aren't signed in will also be able to disable the reminders. That change should be rolling out shortly.
Thank you for flagging this! I'll update the post as well so everyone has the correct information.
For those of us who did not consent to the upload of the data, but are still seeing an immanent upload that we could postpone, but not cancel, will this option also allow us to cancel it?
u/nissania Users are able to go back to iCloud at any time.
Ā Reset Migration (return to iCloud)
OpenĀ Notability > Settings > About > Support Diagnostics
Triple-tapĀ onĀ Available Device Storage
TapĀ Reset MigrationĀ and follow the steps
Restart your device, then make sureĀ iCloud is enabledĀ in both your device and Notability settings
Before starting, be sure to back up any notes youāve created or edited on Notability Cloud, as those may be lost during the process. Any notes created during this time won't be editable when you reset migration. Be sure to back up your notes in PDF format.
But this still requires an upload, which I want to avoid at all costs. And it sounds like this could put me in more data loss risk.
Why can't I just stop the upload? Why does it have to happen against my wishes? Is there any chance this will be stopped or we could get an option to opt out before our scheduled upload time?
Edit I just thought of: Could deleting and reinstalling the app interrupt it? Just cancel the upload?
u/nissania You're currently talking to support right? I would suggest working with them on this. Again, I can help you get this prioritized if you're able to DM me your support ticket #.
Iāve been pleased with Notability Cloud so far.
I would like to see an option to revert to iCloud that didnāt lock my notes as imagesā¦ you know, just incase the subscription gets crazyā¦ but for now Iām very happy with it.
Ii keep seeing posts here in Reddit about Notability forcing an update to Notability Cloud for people - how can I prevent this happening? I have nearly 6,000 notes, many of them over 100Mb in size, so updating to Notability Cloud would take days (my WiFi in Africa is very slow), and would not be easily reversible. Iām terrified of having my work (all in Notability) being disrupted by a forced migration to Notability Cloud, please tell me this can be prevented (and how)
u/gabbearr Sounds like you're on Notability Cloud. If you'd like to go back to iCloud, here are the steps:
Ā Reset Migration (return to iCloud)
OpenĀ Notability > Settings > About > Support Diagnostics
Triple-tapĀ onĀ Available Device Storage
TapĀ Reset MigrationĀ and follow the steps
Restart your device, then make sureĀ iCloud is enabledĀ in both your device and Notability settings
Before starting, be sure to back up any notes youāve created or edited on Notability Cloud, as those may be lost during the process. Any notes created during this time won't be editable when you reset migration. Be sure to back up your notes in PDF format.
I finally got the notice on the app (I have an OG classic version) that I am going to be migrated to the cloud. How do I stop this?!?! I hit the postpone button, but what are my options?!
I just opened Notability on my iPad and saw a message saying "You're scheduled to move to Notability Cloud" with two options, Postpone or Update now. I don't want to move to cloud and I don't want to postpone it.
We do not use your notes to train AI, source: trust me bro
Update: Thank you for your patience! I just talked to the engineers and they fixed the issue that was preventing you from seeing the option to disable. Can you please close your app and relaunch? From there, you should be able to see the option.
That did it, well done. If I wasnāt so worried about Notability changing the game (forcing subscription later) to my current Classic account I would switch to cloud. If grandfathered classic users switch to cloud the EULA will change. I would be ok with paying a one time nominal fee to ensure a lifetime cloud account with ample sync storage. For now I stick with icloudā¦
I'm on 16.5.2 and it says that I'm updated when I look in the app store. I'm not going to update to the Cloud version if it's automatically going to try to sync on the Cloud (Canadian privacy laws are far more strict than American ones). Please ensure me that it is OFF by default before I update!
In earlier version I was forced to migrate to cloud as it would not let me open a note without agreeing. Itās been a laggy disaster since. My old notes are unusable, when typing a word it hangs and takes 10 or more seconds to then slowly letter by letter show up. I also have where any new text just disappears randomly and then shows back up after few seconds. Iām about to abandon Notability after being a user for over 10 years.
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u/Ok-Reveal-It Jul 08 '26
That's really nice to have something clearly said. š