Two apps, one idea

Software that stays on your phone.

Trace builds iPhone apps that do their work on the device. No account to make, no server to trust, nothing uploaded, because there is nowhere for it to go.

Trace JournalTrace Social

Trace Journal is on the App Store. Trace Social is in development.

Nothing leaves the deviceNo uploads, no sync, no backups you did not ask for. The processing runs on your iPhone.
No accountNothing to sign up for and no profile to delete, because there was never one to begin with.
Nothing to sellWe do not hold your data, so we cannot lose it, share it, or change our minds about it later.

The apps

Two things worth having on your phone.

Different problems, built the same way. One helps you keep track of your own thinking; the other stops an algorithm keeping track of you.

On the App Store

Trace Journal

The journal you talk to. Speak for a minute, get a written entry you can search. Transcription, patterns and weekly insights all run on your iPhone.

In development

Trace Social

Your social apps with the infinite feed taken out. Messages, friends and the things people send you stay. Reels, Shorts and For You do not.

Why local-first

A constraint, not a feature.

Most apps send your life somewhere so it can be processed, stored and eventually monetised. Ours do the work where the data already is. That rules some things out, and it makes what is left better.

It cannot leak

A breach needs a database to breach. There is no account system, no user table, and no server holding your entries or your browsing. The thing that would be stolen does not exist.

It cannot change its mind

Policies get rewritten and companies get acquired. Software that never had your data cannot start using it differently after an update to the terms.

It works offline

Transcription and analysis run on the chip in your phone, so aeroplane mode is not a degraded experience. It is the same experience.

Start with the one
that is already out.

Trace Journal is free on the App Store, and it works without an account.

Download on the App Store