What does offline-first mean?

That the copy on your device is the real one. The app reads and writes locally, and any network activity is an optional extra that syncs changes afterwards. The opposite arrangement, where the server holds the truth and your device shows a cached view, is what most cloud apps do.

How is that different from offline-capable?

Offline-capable apps degrade when the connection drops: some features stop, edits queue, and reconnecting can produce conflicts or lost changes. Offline-first apps do not have a degraded mode, because they were never depending on the network to function.

How does Dash store data on each platform?

On the desktop, as JSON files in Dash’s application directory, written atomically so a crash cannot leave a half-written note. On iPhone and in the browser, in the device’s own database. Locked notes are stored as ciphertext on every platform.

Does Dash sync between devices?

Optionally. Dash Sync is a subscription at $4.99 a month or $47.99 a year with a seven-day trial, and it encrypts every change on your device before upload so the relay stores only ciphertext. It is off by default, and the app is complete without it.

What happens if I lose my device?

That is the honest trade-off of local storage: notes that existed only there are gone. Export encrypted .dashpack backups on a schedule, or turn on sync so an encrypted copy lives on your other devices.

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Guide

What Offline-First Actually Means

Not “works on a plane”. It means the copy on your device is the real one, and the network is a convenience layered on top.

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Updated September 2026 · Dash team

Software spent fifteen years moving into the browser, and notes went with it. The result is normal now: an app that shows a spinner before your own writing, refuses to open an old note in a tunnel, and belongs to a company that could change the terms next quarter.

Offline-first is the alternative arrangement. This guide covers what it means technically, what it changes for you, and where Dash sits.

Where the truth lives

The whole distinction is one question: if your device and the server disagree, which one is right?

In a cloud app, the server is right. Your device holds a cache, edits are requests, and being offline means operating on a stale copy while hoping the reconciliation goes well. In an offline-first app, your device is right. Edits are simply writes to local storage, and sync, if it exists, propagates them afterwards.

That is why the two feel so different in ordinary use. Offline-first apps open instantly, never lose a keystroke to a network hiccup, and have no concept of being degraded.

What follows from it

Speed. Local reads and writes are microseconds. No round trip can compete, and no amount of optimistic UI hides one perfectly.
Privacy. If the app does not need your notes on a server to work, they do not have to be on one. Offline-first and private are the same decision seen from two angles.
Longevity. A service can shut down, change hands or reprice. A folder of files on your machine keeps working.
Ownership. Export stops being a feature request and becomes a file operation.
The trade-off: backups are your responsibility, and multi-device sync becomes something to design rather than something you get for free.

How Dash does it

Notes are files in Dash’s directory on the desktop, written atomically: the app writes a complete new file and swaps it in, so a crash or a flat battery cannot produce a half-saved note. On iPhone and in the browser they live in the device’s own database. Search, folders, tags, [[links]] and encryption all run locally, and the local AI assistant talks to a model on your own machine, so even that works with no connection.

Sync is layered on top rather than built in underneath. When you turn it on, changes are encrypted on the device before they are sent, so the relay stores ciphertext it cannot read; when it is off, the app makes no requests carrying your content. Turning it off does not remove your notes, because they were never the server’s in the first place.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

Offline notes appWhat working without a connection looks like in practice.Private notes appNotes that stay on your device, with no account.Privacy-first note takingWhat zero-knowledge design means in practice.

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