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Note-taking app that looks too good to be true? - Siyuan (slrpnk.net)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Recently stumbled upon this note-taking app called SiYuan, but it honestly looks a bit too good to be true(?). Has anyone here used it or got any experience with it? Trying to replace Obsidian is a difficult task, and I've been through almost all note-taking apps there are out there, however this one looks fairly similar.

Link to Repo;

https://github.com/siyuan-note/siyuan

Link to project;

https://b3log.org/siyuan/en/

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

I've downloaded and tested it for a bit and it does look a bit too good to be true. The source code is licensed under AGPL, and the F-Droid app page didn't show any anti-features. And I also really liked the app itself.

However, while it does enable self-host of the same data (and it's pretty easy too. you can even self-host from your phone! I wish more note apps did this) and manual exporting/importing, the cloud syncing (even to a third-party server of your choice) is locked behind a paywall. While I do understand paying for a service to save my data, it does bother me that I can't sync with my own servers, which should not require any service from their part.

The app also includes a login feature that lets you use a specific text-oriented Chinese social media (that also seems to be fully open source and AGPL licensed!). Honestly, I wouldn't be bothered by it especially since it's opt-in, and doesn't seem to do anything with your notes unless logged-in. Though I don't know how self-hostable it is, and even if it were, the app does not give me the option to enter my own server.

And to top it all off, it has a bullshit AI feature (that seems opt-in). I don't think I need to explain why this is very icky.

Considering everything, it seems like an awesome app for people that use the specific social media it is optionally coupled with. But anyone that doesn't and prefers to sync your data to a self-hosted server will be left without options. Also, you must consider that it apparently doesn't seem to phone home, according to F-Droid, though it is very strange that the network, social media, and especially AI features are not mentioned at all as anti-features. So if you would want to be sure, I'd recommend you to read the source code and deduce yourself if it doesn't phone anywhere you haven't allowed to by default.

I personally wouldn't use it myself, but if you trust it doesn't phone home, don't care about manually exporting and importing your data, and isn't bothered by the weird network features, I'd say it's a great notes app.