Questions

The journal, tasks, notes and figures live in a local file on your Mac, which you can open, back up or delete. An encrypted copy goes to our servers so your devices stay in agreement: encryption happens on your machine, with a key derived from your password, which we don't have. So we store data we can't read.

It's the flip side of end-to-end encryption: since the key is derived from your password, no one here can decrypt the sync copy for you. The local file on your Mac, however, stays accessible.

Yes, for everything local: tasks, calendar, journal, timer, goals, notes, finances. Only sync between devices and assisted features need the network.

No. Shale is published by a sole proprietorship under the French VAT exemption scheme: 12 € a month for Shale, 19 € for Shale Pro, 29 € per seat for Business — that's the price paid. Invoices carry the mention “TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI”.

Yes, in two cases. For the fourteen days after subscribing, you can withdraw with a simple message, no reason needed. And before that, the trial is there to decide: cancelled before day 8, it costs nothing.

Not one more module: the first plan contains the whole app. Pro adds priority support and early access to new modules. It's a plan for those who want to support development and be served first.

As soon as the company pays instead of the individual: Business sells the commercial right to use Shale, from two seats, invoiced in the company's name with its VAT number. Each seat keeps its own data — Shale isn't a team tool, nothing is shared between members. See Shale Business.

The trial lasts 7 days. Your card is saved at sign-up, but nothing is charged before day 8: cancel before then and you pay nothing. The app then goes read-only — your data stays on your machine, exportable.

Yes, both ways and at any time, from your account: the change takes effect immediately and the difference is prorated. Nothing to reinstall, nothing to re-import.

In your account space, on this site: the secure billing portal handles plan changes (prorated), invoices, payment method and cancellation. Sign in.

From the sign-in page, “Forgot password?” sends a link that restores access to your account and billing. However, the sync copy already encrypted with the old password stays unreadable to us: you start again from the data on your Mac, and sync rebuilds itself.

macOS on Apple Silicon (M1 and later) today — it's the only released version. Windows and iPhone are on the roadmap, not distributed: what the site shows of them is a preview, never a download. Write to us to hear when Windows ships.