---
title: "Why Mimir"
description: "Who Mimir is for, what you get from it, what sets it apart from other note-taking apps, and what it leaves to other apps."
---

Mimir is a bullet outliner built around a daily journal. It does fewer
things than most note-taking apps, on purpose.

This page covers who Mimir is for, what sets it apart, and what it leaves
to other apps. For Mimir next to one specific app, see
[Mimir compared](/comparisons).

## Who it's for

Mimir suits you if you recognize yourself here:

- You tried other note-taking apps and spent more time configuring them
  than writing in them.
- You want your notes on your own device, with sync that needs no setup.
- You'd rather have an app that behaves the same every time than one you
  can extend and customize.
- You write every day, and your notes connect through links rather than
  folders.

If you enjoy tinkering with your tools, need database-style queries over
your notes, or want to edit notes together with a team, Mimir feels
limiting. See [What it leaves to other apps](#what-it-leaves-to-other-apps).

## What you get from it

You spend less time managing your tools. There's nothing to set up
before you write, so you open Mimir and start typing. And you learn it
once: when you know bullets, indenting, `[[` links, and the journal, you
know most of Mimir. When Mimir updates, the parts you already use stay
where your hands expect them.

Your notes stay put. They're in one file on your device, and Mimir opens
them without a network. No plugin can stop being maintained, and no
subscription can lapse.

## It's well designed

Mimir feels stable and calm on every device. It responds the moment you
act, behaves the same way every time, and shows you what it did.
Mistakes are easy to undo.

Nothing in it is there for show. There's almost nothing on screen but
your notes, and the care goes into details you might never notice.

## It opens ready to write

Mimir opens on today's journal entry, with the caret in an empty line.
There's no account to create, no welcome screen, and no settings screen.
There are no folders, tags, types, or fields to configure. Everything
you write is a bullet, and a page comes into existence the moment you
link to it with `[[`.

Your notes live on your device, so Mimir works fully offline from the
first launch. Writing, linking, and search never wait on a network.

## Your notes stay yours

All your notes are in one SQLite database file on your device, which any
SQLite browser can open. On a Mac, you can export every page as a
Markdown file at any time. See [Where your notes live](/where-your-notes-live).

Mimir saves as you go. There's no save button, and every change is one
undo step, including deleting and moving bullets.

Mimir has no ads, analytics, or tracking. Your notes stay on your device
unless you turn on Cloud Sync, which encrypts them first. See the
[privacy policy](/privacy-policy).

## Sync with no account

Mimir is free on every device, with every feature. [Cloud
Sync](/sync-across-devices) is the one paid feature, and it's a
one-time purchase. Nothing is sold inside the app on a phone or tablet.

To turn on Cloud Sync, paste your license key. To add another device,
enter the eight words Mimir gives you. There's no account, email address,
or password. Cloud Sync encrypts your notes on your device before it
sends them, and Mimir's servers can't read them.

If you edit the same bullet on two devices while they're offline, Mimir
keeps both versions. When the devices reconnect, the other version
appears as a new bullet above yours, and Mimir never asks you to pick
one. See
[Sync across devices](/sync-across-devices#editing-the-same-bullet-on-two-devices).

## Links show you what you forgot

Typing `[[` links to a page. Every page lists what links to it, with the
text around each link. Where you typed a page's title without linking it,
Mimir underlines it, and one click turns it into a link. See
[Pages & wikilinks](/pages-and-wikilinks).

## What it leaves to other apps

Mimir is where you write and link your own notes. It leaves a few things
to other apps:

- Mimir has no plugins or themes. It works the same for everyone, and the
  same on all your devices.
- Mimir is for one person. You can [share a copy](/publishing-a-page) of
  bullets as a read-only web page that anyone with the link can read, but
  nobody else can edit them.
- Mimir has no AI inside the app. An AI assistant can still read and add
  to your notes through the [mimir command](/automating-with-the-mimir-command)
  or [mimir:// links](/deep-links-and-automation).

## Where it runs

Mimir runs on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Writing, linking, search, and Cloud
Sync work the same on each, and gestures for indenting, moving,
selecting, and undoing make it feel at home on a touchscreen. Backing up,
exporting, and pop-out windows are only on a Mac. See
[Getting started](/getting-started#installing-mimir).