Hi Code-Jack! Can you please check out the docs: Privacy & Encryption | Anytype Docs .
Anytype team explicitly says that “We decrypt these encrypted objects on the fly with your keys, perform some logic and then save the results (i.e. indexes) locally. These indexes are not encrypted, but here we assume that only you have access to your local data, i.e. the access to your local computer is not compromised”. This was never something that Anytype hidden from the users etc and they always said about it.
Encryption of indexes requires a lot of effort to be done properly (because when you have sorted indexes, the encrypted data will have inherently different order, so then you will have to make data structures more complex to allow both encryption and sorting).
Therefore the encryption should be done on a level below (e.g. on a file system level), that’s why Anytypes recommends enabling disk encryption. On MacOs it is enabled by default I guess, on Windows you can use BitLocker or any other applicable software.
[I can’t post two different replies one by one, and I don’t want to wait]
Ok, then a couple of words from me as a long-time Anytype user and contributor (a small rant).
I’m seeing a lot of emotional posts lately — frustration about missing features, disagreeing with the direction, expectations around open source, etc. And honestly, I get it. If it were just up to me, I’d prefer Anytype to stay closer to a collaborative productivity tool with fewer features, very polished, and focused toward small-team collaboration. But that’s just my opinion — it’s not something that was promised to me.
That said, I think people are forgetting some basic facts. Anytype is still a free tool that lets you sync an unlimited amount of documents in real time. How many tools like that exist? I genuinely don’t know any. It has native mobile apps, supports fast file transfers, offers real self-hosting that’s actually not a nightmare to set up — honestly, it’s a lot of free functionality.
Yet from the comments, some people seem perpetually frustrated with Anytype. One recurring complaint: “Why isn’t it fully open source?” Well… why should it be? Some parts are open under MIT (including any-sync, which we spent a lot of time writing and refining). Other components have their code visible but come with more restrictive usage, which is normal — Anytype is still a business. Also Notion is closed source, Obsidian is closed source, so…
Yes, Anytype needs users — traction matters. But the other direction matters too: people should also recognize what they’re getting here. Again it’s a free app that gives you control of your data, offers end-to-end encryption, works across platforms, and covers a wide range of use cases that many other tools don’t even attempt.
so IMO constructive criticism is great, expectations are understandable. But I still don’t get why we have so many negative feelings here