PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE
How Kept is engineered
Kept's privacy and design principles are implemented directly in the software architecture: hardware-backed encryption keys, ephemeral synthesis pipelines, and prompt-free interfaces. Explore our technical deep dives below.
Encrypted Offline Storage
Kept was engineered from the ground up without an account database or cloud sync server. All writing is encrypted with SQLCipher on your device, with keys held in the iOS Keychain.
One-Page Summaries
Kept transforms weeks of scattered entries into a single structured page. Every number is counted on device, quotes are extracted verbatim from your sentences, and three questions guide your reflection.
Insights & Echo
Kept notices which words keep coming back, which went quiet, and which two entries belong together — and every observation opens to the exact entries behind it.
Photo Backfill Onboarding
Starting an empty journal often leads to abandonment by day ninety. Kept lets you select five photos from your library to establish a year of dated entries and visual marks in twenty minutes.
Visual Marks & Year Grid
Every entry in Kept receives a unique abstract mark — a closed mathematical curve generated from that entry's identity. Browse a year of entries on your screen without exposing your words to nearby observers.
Passphrase Encrypted Backups
Export a complete encrypted archive of your journal entries and photos at any time, secured with scrypt key derivation and XChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption.
The Pledge & Self-Accountability
Kept replaces gamified streak counters with a simple measured pledge. You set your rhythm during setup, and the app states your consistency back without grading or judgment.
Local FTS5 Full-Text Search
Find any thought, date, or specific phrase from years ago in milliseconds. Kept runs an embedded SQLite FTS5 search index directly inside your encrypted database.
Nocturne Design & Ambient Field
Kept features a bespoke aesthetic system called Nocturne: ambient fractional Brownian motion shaders, contrast-clamped typography, and tactile vector glyphs.
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