notegirl

How Notegirl works

A photo, a file, a link: it's on one device and you need it on the other. Somehow that still means typing your password on both devices, then a code from your inbox, then AirDrop that only works if everything is Apple, or a cable that's in the bag you left at home. Notegirl is one web page: open it on both, type three words, and there it is. Nothing is saved anywhere.

Three steps

  1. Open notegirl.com on both devices. Your phone and your computer, or your phone and a friend's. Each one shows three words, like lemon otter cabin. That is its code.
  2. One of you types the other's code. Your code goes in the FROM box, the other device's code in the TO box. It doesn't matter which device types. Tap Connect.
  3. Send anything. Type a note, or drop in photos and files. They appear on the other screen in a few seconds, at full quality. Photos are not shrunk or compressed the way messaging apps do.

It works between iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac, the browser on your TV, and quite possibly the browser on your refrigerator. Nothing to install, no account, no sign-in.

Why it's safe

Your things go straight from one device to the other. They travel over an encrypted connection, the same kind video calls use, and they are not uploaded to Notegirl or anyone else. There is no inbox, no history, and no server holding your files.

Nothing is stored, so there is nothing to leak. Everything you send lives only on the two screens. Close the tab and it's gone. You don't have to remember to delete anything, because there was never a copy online.

A code only works while you're both there. The three words exist only while your tab is open, and only the first device to connect gets through. Once you close the tab, the code is gone.

Guessing a code is not realistic. There are over 450 possible words in each spot, so three words make more than ninety million combinations. To guess yours, someone would need to hit the exact three words during the few minutes your tab is open. A short code would not protect you the same way, which is why it's three words and not two.

The honest small print

If your friend saves a photo, they have it. Notegirl doesn't keep a copy, but the person you sent it to can save it to their device, just as if you'd handed them a printed one. "Delete everything" clears both screens; it can't reach into someone's saved photos.

Sometimes a relay carries the connection. A few networks, such as some office or mobile networks, block devices from talking directly. When that happens, an encrypted relay passes the scrambled data along. It can't read what it's carrying, and it keeps nothing.

Both pages need to stay open while sending. Phones pause background tabs, so keep Notegirl in front until the photo says sent.

Files up to 2 GB on a computer, 500 MB when a phone is on the receiving end. Big videos totally work; they just take a little while on slower Wi-Fi.

Guides

More pages

Pass a note now