What Is Saber? A Handwriting-First Notes App

Updated

Saber is a free, open-source notes app built specifically for handwriting. It is aimed at people who take notes by hand — on a phone, tablet, or computer — and want those notes synced across devices, kept private, and readable in the dark. If you mainly type your notes, Saber's handwriting focus will matter less to you; if you write with a stylus or finger, it is designed around that workflow.

What Saber Does

The site describes Saber through a small set of core capabilities:

  • Handwriting-first design — it is positioned as "the notes app built for handwriting," rather than a general notes app with a drawing feature bolted on.
  • Cross-platform sync and editing — you can sync and edit your notes across all your devices, whether phone, tablet, or computer.
  • Privacy through encryption — notes are encrypted and stored securely, and according to the site, not even the server can read them. Only you can access your notes.
  • Unlimited nested folders — notes can be organized into as many nested folders as you need, with recent notes reachable from the home screen.
  • A highlighter built for handwriting — the highlighter does not overlap with itself or shift color when you go over the same area twice, and it renders underneath the text so the text stays legible.
  • Cohesive dark mode — dark mode darkens the notes themselves, not just the interface, so handwritten pages stay comfortable to read in low light.
  • Open source — Saber is free and open source software, with the code available on GitHub.

Who It Fits

Your situation How Saber lines up
You write notes by hand with a stylus or finger Core use case — the app is designed around handwriting
You switch between phone, tablet, and computer Cross-platform sync and editing are supported
You care about who can read your notes Notes are described as encrypted, with server-side readability ruled out
You highlight heavily while studying or reviewing The highlighter avoids self-overlap and color shift, and sits under the text
You read notes at night Dark mode applies to the notes, not only the UI
You want to inspect or contribute to the code Open source, with the repository on GitHub
You mostly type long-form text Handwriting is the focus; this is not the primary pitch

Privacy and Openness

Two claims do most of the work here. First, privacy: the site states that only you can access your notes, that syncing happens with encrypted storage, and that the server cannot read them — a privacy policy is linked for details. Second, openness: Saber is free and open source, and the code is published on GitHub, which lets you verify claims rather than take them on faith.

If encryption at rest and server-side unreadability are requirements for you, those are the specific points to check against the linked privacy policy and the source code before committing your notes to the app.

Practical Notes

  • Pricing: the site describes Saber as free and open source software. No paid tiers, subscription details, or payment platforms are mentioned on the page.
  • Account or login requirements: not specified in the available page content.
  • Platform specifics: the site says phone, tablet, and computer, without listing particular operating systems or install methods.

For anything beyond that — exact platform support, sync setup, or account requirements — the GitHub repository and the linked privacy policy are the places to look, since the landing page does not cover them.