NoteDove
A Home Screen widget for short notes from the few people you approve.
A Home Screen widget that shows a short note — text, emoji, an icon or a photo — from a small set of people you have explicitly approved. The note stays put until it’s replaced or you dismiss it. No feed, no follower count, nothing to scroll.
What it looks like
Captured from the app running on an iPhone.
On the recipient’s Home Screen
The same note at each widget size.
How it works.
01Approved senders only
Nobody reaches your Home Screen without a reciprocal pairing you agreed to. There is no discovery, no suggestions, and no way to be added by a stranger.
02One note at a time
The widget shows a single note. If more than one arrived today, tappable page dots move through them. Yesterday’s notes stay in the app.
03A live send preview
Before you send, you see the note rendered by the same view the widget uses, at the size the recipient actually has installed. What you see is what lands.
04Widget groups
Each widget shows one group and each person belongs to exactly one group, so moving someone between widgets is automatic — nobody can appear on two widgets, or none.
05Photos arrive blurred
A photo reaches the widget as a low-resolution rendition — the detail genuinely isn’t in the file the widget can read. Revealing it opens the app.
06Dismiss without telling anyone
Clear a note straight from the widget. It’s local only, the sender is never told, and dismissed isn’t deleted — it’s still in the conversation.
07Mute and block, quietly
Muting and blocking are separate, and the design is that neither notifies the other person — blocking just removes them.
What it costs.
Seven days of everything, free
The trial starts when you first connect with someone, not when you install — the app has nothing to show you until there is someone on the other end. No card required, and nothing held back during it.
Then $19.99 a year, or $49.99 once
Either one includes a Partner Pass: one person you are connected to gets full access without paying anything. A note needs two people, and charging both of them for one conversation is a toll booth rather than a business. Extra Partner Passes are $9.99 each.
Your data and privacy.
Nothing is collected. No accounts, no analytics, no tracking, no advertising identifiers, and no third-party code of any kind. The App Store privacy label reads “Data Not Collected”, because there is nothing to declare.
When you send a note it goes straight into the recipient’s own iCloud, in fields Apple encrypts end to end. There is no server of ours in the middle. Even the notification that wakes a phone carries no content: the device fetches the note and decrypts it locally, then writes the banner itself. Full policy: itotallyneedthat.com/notedove/privacy.
NoteDove is available for pre-order on the App Store and releases on 5 November 2026 for iPhone running iOS 26 or later. Everything on this page describes the shipping app.
Hear when it’s out.
One email on 5 November, and one a week later explaining the Partner Pass. Nothing else.