Version 1.0
Your vault, in your pocket
Capture a thought in one tap, search everything you have written, and read the same folder of Markdown your Mac opens. No account, no sync service, no lock-in.
What it is for
Skein for iPhone is built for the two things a phone is actually good at: writing something down before you lose it, and finding something you wrote. It does both quickly, on a vault that can hold thousands of notes.
The Mac is still where a long piece gets built - the local graph, split panes, the full canvas, export. Both read and write the same folder, so there is no import, no sync service, and nothing to keep in step.
Both apps are free. Skein is one record on the App Store, so the Mac app and the iPhone app arrive together - nothing to buy twice, and no account either way.
What it does
Write it down in one tap
The app opens on a capture field. Type the thought and send it - the first line becomes the note's title, and it lands in the folder you chose. No dialog, and no naming a file before you have written anything.
Markdown, read properly
Headings, lists, task lists, tables, footnotes, code blocks, callouts, highlights and wikilinks. A keyboard bar puts the things you reach for above the keys - including arrows that move by character and by word - and you choose which of them appear.
Find the line, not just the note
Titles match the moment you start typing. Once the index is built, search reads inside every note and ranks the results, showing the matching lines with their numbers. Tap one and land on it.
Canvas
Open a JSON Canvas board, move cards, connect them, colour them and write on them. The same file and the same format Obsidian writes, so a board made on the Mac opens here and goes back again.
One field for name, tag and folder
The vault filters on what you type: a name, a #tag, a folder/, or all three at once. Tags are real - tap one anywhere in the app to see everything carrying it, including everything filed underneath it.
It keeps your writing safe
Skein keeps earlier versions of a note as you edit, so you can go back to what you wrote this morning. When the same note has been changed in two places it keeps both and asks - it never picks a winner quietly.
Your files stay your files
Your vault is a folder of plain Markdown on your device or in iCloud Drive. Skein reads and writes those files directly - the same folder you open in Skein on the Mac, or in any other editor. Nothing is locked in a database, and there is no service in the middle.
There is no account, no server and no telemetry. Your notes never leave your device except through iCloud Drive, which is yours.
Free · Mac and iPhone · iOS 17 or later
Looking for the Mac app? Start here, or read what it does.