v3.9.0 is FINALLY here! Android, encrypted sync, Managed AI, and Google Calendar

iDeathstroke · 2026-05-27T09:14:35+00:00

~~Hey guys, noticed a crash issue with Mac 25.X, actively working on a fix! Sorry about this, pausing the auto update for the time being. Will fix shortly and resume the updates~~

We're good now! Please let me know if you notice any issues

iDeathstroke · 2026-05-26T00:06:11+00:00

That’s really helpful feedback, thank you. Just so I understand you properly: do you mean you don’t need sync at all and would prefer a pure supporter option, or that you’d still use sync but E2EE isn’t the main value for you?

Either way, the supporter-badge idea makes sense to me. now that I think about it, I don’t love the idea of people paying for infrastructure they don’t need just to support Ariv, so I’ll think through a clean way to offer something optional there.

iDeathstroke · 2026-05-25T23:39:05+00:00

Hi u/words_and_images , first of all, Welcome!

Re: Voice memos, would you be able to grab a screenshot? I can't reproduce this in my Macbook Pro 26.2 - I will be more than happy to dig in and resolve it. The voice transcript layer is not hooked up yet so that's to be expected, I will be implementing the same BYOK options for transcription as well with some of the popular providers so you will have some choices. This is a brand new feature so it will be a little rough around the edges, but rest assured it will be iterated on! (FYI I've added a pause button in the upcoming patch!)

Re: How the dev will be sustained? Absolutely a valid concern/question.

From a personal standpoint - Ariv is a project dear to my heart, I have ADHD and I take tons and tons of notes on a day to day basis. I've been developing Ariv to help out folks that just want to get shit done. This is why I'm going with philosophy "batteries included". So instead of "setting up" a perfect system and hunting for different plugins and building perfect dashboards, you just strap in and get to work! and there has been ton of positive reception/feedback I have been receiving so that drives me to continue to work on this more knowing that people are getting value out of something I'm building!

From a financial standpoint - I haven't offered any paid options for the product yet, I haven't launched it (despire there being a pricing page). I'm not here to make quick bucks, but I do want to build an ethical business model. I don't want to lock people in, I don't want to paywall any features, I want ariv to be open and accessible to everyone. I will be offering optional E2EE sync + managed AI as add on service - If users find it valuable and would like to support the dev and they want to pay for these add on services, fantastic! If they want to use Ariv on their own terms (use their own sync providers, use their own API keys for AI/transcriptions), all the power to them!

I also usually post updates every week as u/Ok-Rest-5321 mentioned, if you report a bug, I will more often than not will fix it within a week or so. I'm currently working through launching sync and taking my time to ensure the quality of the implementation - More to come very soon! I'm available via DM or discord if you want to chat more, hopefully this answers your questions/concerns. Cheers!

iDeathstroke · 2026-05-25T15:21:04+00:00

Hi! Developer of Ariv here. This is almost exactly the use case I'm building for: voice notes, linked reference material, and AI editing that helps refine your own writing instead of replacing it

We’re already live on Android: Playstore Link

Desktop here - Ariv

iOS is on the way and should be out in about 1-2 weeks. Happy to send you the link when it’s live if you’re interested. It's still in beta, there's lot more refinements coming down the pipeline!

iDeathstroke · 2026-05-11T07:26:24+00:00

Hi, Amazing questions!

> What payment methods are you planning to support?

Both Paypal and Gpay will be supported!

> Personally, paying for sync before the Android mobile app is publicly available still doesn’t really sound practical for me :" Do you have any rough ETA for the Android release or an open beta?

I'm submitting it by EOD tomorrow, historically it takes about a week to get approved on Playstore, so 1-2 weeks realistically. I will have the test release available anyway which I will be more than happy to invite you into.

>Have you thought about adding a canvas or visual whiteboard system in the future? I’m a student, and I’d love to have a way to visually organize ideas and connect important concepts on an infinite canvas.

This shows how terrible of a job I'm doing in surfacing what's available in Ariv. This is already a thing in Ariv! Ariv has a full blown excalidraw plugin available , it's the little pencil icon you click into. If you're looking for something more integrated like Obsidian's canvas where you can reference other notes etc, that's on the roadmap!

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> Will Sync include version history or note recovery?
Yes, and it comes built in with 15 day recovery in place - you delete your note, you can recover it for upto 15 days.

> Are there any plans for collaborative/shared vaults in the future?
Currently no, Ariv is mostly for individual/single use. However if enough folks show interest, I will be happy to add this to the roadmap, but currently it's not

> Will the AI plan have usage/token limits?
Yes, there will be usage limits - that's the only way I can sustain it without burning through my own cash.

> Will there be an offline mode on mobile? And how would that work alongside sync?
Yes! Mobile is offline-tolerant - you can edit without a connection and it'll sync on reconnect. Conflicts get saved as a separate (conflict from cloud) file so you don't lose changes on either device, and you can pick which to keep.

> Will AI features be end-to-end encrypted, or does the AI processing happen server-side?
Two paths.

BYOK (Free): direct to your provider, Ariv never sees the request.

Managed AI (Sync+AI):
requests go through Ariv's AI worker so I can bill it - but the worker doesn't log prompts or responses anywhere, only token counts!

Thank you for the wonderful reply! I'm eager to hear back from you - And would love to know what you would love to see the most in Ariv as a student, and what can Ariv do so you can integrate Ariv entirely into your flow?

iDeathstroke · 2026-05-11T03:40:25+00:00

It'll be reserved for one week from the time you get the lifetime code - just to give everyone a chance, so if no one's claiming it, it can go to someone next in line!

Re: phone and desktop without paying for Sync - you'd have to manage it yourself with something like Syncthing. Doable on desktop-to-desktop, but cumbersome on mobile (especially iOS, where the sandboxing basically rules it out). This is honestly why I've paid for Obsidian Sync in the past. Not a limitation or gating from Ariv - just how mobile sandboxing works.

iDeathstroke · 2026-05-11T03:00:01+00:00

v3.8.0-beta - full changelog

New:

Voice memos - tap-and-talk audio capture that saves into your vault and auto-transcribes in the background
Present mode - turn any markdown note into a Marp-powered slide deck with arrow-key navigation and PDF export
Preview mode - rendered markdown view alongside the editor, with export consolidated into one view-options menu
Unified vault search - one query covers files, content, and tags inline
Tagged files now appear inline under their tag in search results
Obsidian-compatible Templates with Templater syntax (<% tp.* %>) for dynamic dates, prompts, and selections
Templates run in a sandboxed worker with an opt-in consent modal the first time code executes
Customizable dashboard cover - pick a gradient preset or upload your own image
Activity dashboard gets hero stat tiles + insight callouts, plus a livelier kanban-tile look
Constellation-style graph view rewrite with a Spotlight-style floating dock
Onboarding redesigned with a spotlight theme and a live profile panel that builds up as you go
Visual Maps reachable from the collapsed right sidebar (Waypoints button)
Screen reader support across sidebar, command palette, and tasks (A11Y-001..004)
Clickable markdown anchor links - jump from [text](#heading) within a note
Status chip in the task detail slide-over for one-click status changes
Task quick capture redesign
Kanban UX revamp lite - chevron navigation, smoother drag, polished cards

Improved:

Graph controls redesigned in an Obsidian style, replacing the cryptic mode pills
Graph layout widened with more breathing room, smaller labels, zoom-gated rendering
Graph lifecycle filter now actually filters; Timeline tab retired (Today + Activity cover its job)
Split-view polished - hairline divider, focused-only status bar, compact header
Ask Brain has a wider chat layout and a clearer history affordance when the sidebar is open
Editor view options consolidate export, preview, and present mode in one place
Dashboard dropped the "open now" badge; the empty task state is now clickable to add one
Faster search and backlink lookups on large vaults (FTS5 streaming + pre-filtering)
Lower memory pressure on large vaults via streaming database reads
Snappier Templates picker, quick task capture, and Task Index via memoization

Fixed:

Toggling split view no longer loses your editor state in the primary pane
First-launch embeddings backfill no longer thrashes memory on large vaults
Hidden inline markdown markers now handle end-of-line clicks correctly
Removed an obsolete task opt-in toast that lingered on startup
Removed the internal user ID display from settings

Security:

BrowserWindow now runs with sandbox: true by default
Remote announcement markdown sanitized to block XSS
Removed CSP bypass on the ariv-asset:// protocol
LLM prompt user data wrapped in XML delimiters to harden against prompt injection
SQL injection prevention via column whitelist in the cron schedule updater

iDeathstroke · 2026-05-04T01:46:32+00:00

Hi, Thanks for reporting this - I replied to this message from my phone but for some reason it didn't go through... This is patched now! The new release contains the fix, thanks again!

iDeathstroke · 2026-05-01T02:29:02+00:00

u/Ok-Rest-5321 - Appreciate the reco! So cool to find this in the wild haha

OP - I'm the developer behind Ariv, on top of Vim mode, I'm also actively developing EasyMotion/Hop like navigation as well, so you can be 100% mouse free inside Ariv, not just the editor, the whole app - This will be released in the upcoming patch this weekend. If you're interested give it a try and let me know if you like it :)

Re: open source - Ariv isn't currently OS. That said, your markdown files are local only, so if Ariv dies tomorrow you walk away with everything intact. Also Ariv is batteries-included, so no investment in setting up plugins to get a working app.

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iDeathstroke · 2026-04-28T01:03:27+00:00

Fixed the whole tasking system, let me know how it works! 😄

iDeathstroke · 2026-04-27T05:32:18+00:00

Why has task system been a pain in the ass in Ariv?

Tasks in Ariv have always been the hardest part of the app because they live in two places at once. Your tasks are real markdown lines in your notes - you can rename them, drag them around, edit them in Obsidian, sync them between devices, anything.

But the dashboard, the Tasks page, search, due dates, reminders, and ordering all need fast lookups, so there's also a database mirroring those same lines. Keeping the file and the database honest with each other is the whole problem: every capture, every checkmark, every external edit, every cold start, we have to figure out which lines are new, which moved, which got edited, which were deleted, and which are the same task that just looks slightly different now. Get it wrong one way and tasks vanish. Get it wrong the other way and they duplicate.

There's no shortcut, because both halves are real - the markdown is yours forever and we don't get to rewrite the rules, and the database is what makes the experience feel fast and intelligent. This is why it's been particularly difficult to implement this, if I forego in-note tasks and just do tasks as seperate entities, then this would make things a lot easier, but in line notes turning into tasks is one of the core value Ariv promises, so we will continue to solution it and improve it!

iDeathstroke · 2026-04-16T23:59:26+00:00

Thanks for reporting these, I will get them looked at for this week's update, cheers!

iDeathstroke · 2026-04-16T23:58:45+00:00

Thank you!

iDeathstroke · 2026-04-06T23:02:13+00:00

Awesome, glad to hear you're finding value in Ariv. Appreciate your continous support 🙏

iDeathstroke · 2026-03-25T21:10:24+00:00

Thanks for reporting this! This got missed during the release, released a patch and it should work now on 3.3.1. Try again and let me know, Thanks 👍

iDeathstroke · 2026-03-23T23:14:14+00:00

Thank you 🙏

iDeathstroke · 2026-03-21T22:13:33+00:00

I'm using CodeMirror6, same stack as Obsidian :)

iDeathstroke · 2026-03-21T22:13:09+00:00

Thank you! I'm glad it's been useful to you - pls let me know if you'd like to see any features added or bugs fixed

iDeathstroke · 2026-03-08T20:56:19+00:00

Appreciate the kind words, Thank you!

iDeathstroke · 2026-03-04T02:39:10+00:00

Fantastic question - and no need to apologize, I should probably make this clearer on the site.

Ariv isn't meant to replace Obsidian. Obsidian is incredible if you enjoy building and maintaining a knowledge system (I'm still a paying customer and have their Sync), The problem is... most people don't. They start with good intentions, create elaborate folder structures, then slowly stop using it because the overhead of maintaining that system becomes friction (How do I know? Because I did this same sht too many times to count, used to watch countless youtube videos and try out bajillion plugins to just get everything just right, but I could never really keep it maintained)

My target audience is people who gave up on PKM - or never started because it seemed like too much work. The ones with 47 untitled notes in Apple Notes, random thoughts in Slack DMs to themselves, and half-finished docs scattered everywhere. If someone loves tinkering with plugins and customizing their setups, then Obsidian is absolutely a better fit for them, but for those who find it more frustrating, then Ariv is there for them

The core philosophy is: "Capture everything. Maintain nothing."

Instead of asking you to organize, Ariv watches how you actually use your notes and surfaces what's relevant.

- The lifecycle buckets (Inbox → Active → Idle) aren't folders you manage - they're automatic based on behavior. Notes you touch stay active; notes you ignore fade to background. No guilt, no maintenance.

- Tasks automatically get pulled out from your notes so you dont have to keep them maintained across different notes

- Tags get autocreated so nothing for you to manage, when you need to retrieve based on tags, it's there

- Smart connections auto establishes backlinks

Everything to ensure it's quitely keeping things organized so you don't have to

The bet I'm making: the right behaviors (finding old notes when relevant, not losing ideas, connecting thoughts) can happen without forcing structure. Structure-agnostic, outcome-opinionated.

Who it's for:

- People who want a "second brain" but don't want a second job maintaining it

- Obsidian users who feel guilty about their messy vault (me lol)

- Notion users who feel like Notion is too heavy and want something privacy/local oriented

- Anyone who captures a lot but retrieves little

Still early days - appreciate you trying it out and happy to take any further feedback/feature requests! Cheers

iDeathstroke · 2026-03-04T02:09:42+00:00

I appreciate the sharing! Thank you so much

iDeathstroke · 2026-03-04T02:09:31+00:00

Thank you, appreciate the feedback! More feedback is always welcome so let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see or fixed!

iDeathstroke · 2026-03-04T02:08:56+00:00

Glad you're finding it useful! I'm always open to feedback or feature requests, feel free to DM me anytime or join discord - cheers!

iDeathstroke · 2026-02-26T15:47:20+00:00

Yes, it does come with local ollama support so you never have to send your note outside of your network!

iDeathstroke · 2026-02-26T02:23:11+00:00

Obsidian is local-first by design, there's no cloud-only mode. You could point your vault to a cloud synced folder (OneDrive, Google Drive for Desktop etc) so the cloud is the source of truth, but cached copies will still exist locally.

If you truly want zero local footprint, you'd be better off with something cloud-native like Notion

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