WindowNote
Notes that belong to a window, not to a notes app.
Hit ⌃⌥⌘N over any window and pin a note to it: "migration running, don't close", "waiting on numbers from Marc", "feature done, tests missing". The note follows the window as it moves, hides when the window is covered or minimised — and comes back when the window does, including after a restart. That works because notes are anchored to a fingerprint of the app, window title and document path rather than to a throwaway window ID. Per note you choose whether it follows the window or the content inside it, so a note can belong to exactly this conversation, this page, this file. Editing happens right on the note, without the app underneath losing focus. Local-first: everything stays on your device. For macOS and Windows.
Secure payment & invoice via Lemon Squeezy. Billed in EUR — your bank handles the conversion. License key arrives by email.
The context is in the window. The note is in a different app. That's the problem.
Four terminals open, three of them waiting on something. A spreadsheet where you no longer remember whether the numbers are final. An editor window from yesterday. The information you need exists — it's just sitting in a notes app, where you have to search for it first and then work out which note belongs to which window.
WindowNote turns that around: the note lives on the window.
One hotkey, one note
Press ⌃⌥⌘N over whatever window you're in — Ctrl+Alt+Win+N on Windows. A note appears on it, you type, done. Editing happens right on the note — and because it runs as a non-activating panel, the app underneath never loses focus. You type into the note while your terminal stays active, and looks it.
The note follows the window as it moves and resizes, hides when the window is covered, minimised, or on another Space or virtual desktop, and comes back when the window does. It behaves like part of the window rather than an overlay permanently floating in your way.
What happens after a restart
An operating-system window ID is worthless the moment the window closes. So notes aren't anchored to one. They're anchored to a fingerprint: which app, which document path, what the title looked like. On the next launch those fingerprints are matched against the windows that are open now — strongest signal first, from an exact document match through the window title down to the project name inside it.
How certain the match was is shown alongside. A confidently wrong match is worse than an admitted guess, and two different documents in the same app are never confused with each other, however similar their titles.
Window or content — your call
"Per tab" usually fails because tabs aren't windows. But in many apps the real context sits in the window title: the conversation in Messages, the page in Safari, the working directory in Terminal.
So you decide per note:
- This content — the note only comes back when that exact conversation, page or file is open again. Otherwise it waits instead of guessing.
- This window — the note follows the window even as the title changes. Right for a project window you spend all day moving between files in.
Arrange them
Several notes on one window stack up. Drag any of them exactly where it belongs — the position is stored relative to the window and travels with it. Or stick them to the outside edge of the window where they cover nothing, like real sticky notes along the side of a monitor.
Status and colour make a screen full of notes readable at a glance: in progress, blocked, waiting, review, done.
What is read — and what isn't
WindowNote has to read window information from the operating system — through the Accessibility permission on macOS, through the system's window interfaces on Windows. Both are technically broad, so here's exactly where the line sits:
Read: the app's name and bundle identifier, the window title, its position and size — on macOS also the document path when the app offers one. On Windows no document path is read; there, matching runs on the app and the window title.
Not read: the contents of your windows, keystrokes, the clipboard, passwords, or the accessibility tree inside other apps.
Notes live in a SQLite database in your user folder. No account, no cloud, no telemetry. The only thing that ever leaves your device is the licence key during activation.
Price
Free for two windows, with no time limit — no trial that runs out. Beyond that: € 14,99 per year, up to three devices.
The limit is on windows, not notes — you can keep as many notes as you like on those two windows. And whatever you've written stays readable and editable even if a subscription lapses.
*Early Access.*
The note stays put
- 01A window you're waiting on. The context lives only in your head.
- 02⌃⌥⌘N — the note sticks to the window. Not to a notes app.
- 03Move the window? The note moves with it.
- 04Window closed — the note waits in the library.
- 05Window back? Note back. Even after a restart.
Screenshots
Tech stack
- Flutter
- Swift
- AppKit
- Accessibility API
- Win32
- SQLite
Platforms
- macOS
- Windows
Tags
- Productivity
- Notes
- Window Management
Articles about this app.
- №01│August 15, 2026
BalaneDisk and FlowVisual are in the Microsoft Store
BalaneDisk and FlowVisual are now in the Microsoft Store, WindowNote follows. No SmartScreen dialog, updates from there. The installer stays.
→ Read article - №02│August 5, 2026
August Update 2026: a chess game, an X-ray of your machine, and three Odoo modules
Four weeks after the summer update: Chessplosion 1.0 for the Mac, BalaneDisk in public preview, Balane Desk and usable.software in the works, three free Odoo modules — plus updates for WindowNote and FlowVisual.
→ Read article - №03│July 22, 2026
WindowNote: four terminals open — and each one tells you what it is running
If you work across many windows, what you lose isn't the windows — it's what you knew about them. WindowNote pins the note to the window you were working in. It survives a restart and finds its window again. No account, no cloud, macOS and Windows.
→ Read article
Legal.
Purchase and payment are handled by Lemon Squeezy as Merchant of Record (the legal seller). Their terms and refund policy govern the purchase; use of the software is governed by the license agreement below. Lemon Squeezy buyer terms.
Show license agreement (EULA)
WindowNote – Licence Agreement (EULA)
Last updated: 2026-07-21 Provider: Balane GmbH, Balanstraße 84, 81541 Munich, Germany · HRB 301320, Amtsgericht München · support@balane.tech
This agreement governs use of the application "WindowNote" for macOS and Windows (the Software). By installing or using the Software you accept these terms.
Scope: This agreement applies to the build obtained directly from balane.app. For the build obtained from the Mac App Store, Apple's standard *Licensed Application End User License Agreement* applies; there is no separate WindowNote EULA there, and where the purchase runs through Apple, purchase, subscription, invoicing, cancellation and refunds are handled by Apple. The provider's privacy policy, by contrast, applies to all builds.
The offering is aimed at both consumers and businesses.
1. Sale and contracting party
The Pro licence is sold through Lemon Squeezy (Lemon Squeezy LLC) acting as Merchant of Record. For the purchase contract (payment, VAT, invoicing, withdrawal), your counterparty is Lemon Squeezy and their buyer terms apply. Pro is unlocked with a licence key.
This agreement covers solely the licence to use the Software, granted by the provider.
2. Free use and Pro licence
The Software is free to use with no time limit. In free use, notes can be pinned to up to two windows; the number of notes per window is unlimited.
The Pro licence removes that limit and is offered as an annual subscription. It permits activation on up to three devices at a time. A device activation can be released at any time, either in the Software or in the customer portal.
3. After a subscription ends
When a subscription ends, the Software returns to free use. Notes you have already created remain fully readable, editable and exportable. No user data is locked, deleted or made inaccessible; only pinning to further windows becomes limited again.
4. Right of withdrawal for consumers
Consumers generally have a 14-day right of withdrawal for distance contracts. For digital content this right expires early if you expressly consent to immediate performance and acknowledge that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal (§ 356(5) German Civil Code). Obtaining this consent and handling any withdrawal is done through Lemon Squeezy; their withdrawal policy and buyer terms govern.
5. System requirements and permissions
macOS: The Software requires macOS 11 or later and the operating-system-managed Accessibility permission. Without it the Software cannot perform its core function — recognising and tracking windows. You grant this permission in System Settings; the provider has no influence over it.
Windows: The Software requires Windows 10 (version 1809) or later. It performs the same core function through the Windows window interfaces (enumerating visible windows, window titles, window events). Windows does not require a separate, user-granted system permission for this.
One difference from macOS: on Windows the Software reads no document path. There, notes are re-identified from the application and the window title alone.
The macOS build is signed with an Apple Developer ID, notarised by Apple and carries a built-in updater; it also exists in the Mac App Store, where Apple's terms apply (see Scope above). The Windows build is available as a signed installer directly from balane.app.
6. Scope of the licence
The provider grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Software within the agreed scope. Resale, rental, sublicensing and circumventing the licence check are not permitted. Decompilation is permitted only within the limits of applicable law.
7. How window recognition works
The Software re-attaches notes to windows using signals such as the application, the window title and the document path. This matching is inherently not always unambiguous, because applications are free to choose and change their window titles. The Software displays how confident each match is and, in case of doubt, declines to match rather than guessing.
The provider does not warrant that every note will under all circumstances be attached to the window originally intended. The Software is a work-organisation aid and is not suitable for purposes where an incorrect or absent match could cause harm.
8. Warranty and liability
Statutory warranty rights apply.
The provider is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, and for injury to life, body or health. For ordinary negligence the provider is liable only for breach of a material contractual obligation, limited to the foreseeable damage typical for this type of contract. Liability is otherwise excluded. Liability under the German Product Liability Act remains unaffected.
Because the Software is local-first and performs no backup of your data, backing up your notes is your responsibility.
9. Changes and final provisions
The provider may continue to develop the Software and change functionality, provided the agreed scope of performance is not materially reduced.
German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. For consumers, this choice of law applies only insofar as it does not deprive them of the protection of mandatory provisions of the state of their habitual residence. Should any provision be invalid, the validity of the remainder is unaffected.
Privacy
Show full privacy policy
Privacy Policy – WindowNote
Last updated: 2026-07-22
Controller under the GDPR: Balane GmbH · Balanstraße 84 · 81541 Munich · Germany Commercial register: HRB 301320, Amtsgericht München · VAT ID: DE455102718 Represented by its managing director Jonas David Höttler support@balane.tech
WindowNote is a local-first app for macOS and Windows. It is built so that your notes, and everything it knows about your windows, never leave your device.
1. Notes and window data
- Your notes are stored exclusively locally, in a SQLite database in your user folder — on macOS at `~/Library/Application Support/app.balane.windownote/`, on Windows at `%APPDATA%\Balane\WindowNote\`.
- This data is never transmitted to the provider or to third parties. There is no account, no sync and no cloud.
2. Access to window information
To keep notes attached to the right windows, the app has to read window information from the operating system: on macOS through the Accessibility permission, on Windows through the system's window interfaces. On macOS you grant that permission yourself in System Settings; on Windows the system requires no separate permission for it.
These interfaces are technically broad; the app deliberately limits how it uses them.
Read, and only this:
- the application's name and bundle identifier
- the window title
- the window's position, size and visibility state
- macOS only: the document path, where the application exposes it through the Accessibility API. On Windows no document path is read.
Not read:
- the contents of your windows
- keystrokes, clipboard, passwords
- the accessibility tree inside other applications
This data is processed and stored locally, to the extent needed to recognise a window again (bundle identifier, window title, document path). It is never transmitted.
3. Purchase and licence
This depends on where you got the app.
Mac App Store: Purchase and subscription run through Apple as an in-app purchase. Apple processes the data required for that as an independent controller; Apple's privacy policy applies. That build uses no licence key and transmits neither a key nor your device name to the provider or to Lemon Squeezy for purchase validation.
Direct from balane.app: Purchases are handled by Lemon Squeezy (Lemon Squeezy LLC) as Merchant of Record. Lemon Squeezy processes the data required for purchase, invoicing and VAT (e.g. name, email address, payment details, country) as an independent controller. Lemon Squeezy's privacy policy applies.
For licence activation and validation, that build transmits to Lemon Squeezy:
- the licence key
- your device name (hostname), so you can tell your activated devices apart in the customer portal
No notes or window data are transmitted. Without a licence key (free use), no data is sent to Lemon Squeezy.
Independently of that, the directly distributed version checks periodically whether a new version is available and fetches a file from balane.app to do so; this transmits your IP address to our hosting provider (see section 4 of the general privacy policy). The automatic check can be switched off in the app's settings. The App Store version contains no update mechanism.
Validation happens at most once per day. If the server cannot be reached, the licence remains valid for seven days.
4. No analytics, no telemetry
The app contains no analytics, tracking or crash-reporting libraries.
5. Your rights
Because the provider collects no personal data through the app, requests for access, rectification or erasure directed at the provider will generally have no subject matter. For data processed as part of a purchase, contact Lemon Squeezy as the controller. For email support requests, the general privacy policy on this website applies.
You can delete your local data by removing the app and deleting its data folder — on macOS `~/Library/Application Support/app.balane.windownote/`, on Windows `%APPDATA%\Balane\WindowNote\`.