Evernote includes meaningful privacy positives like no sale of personal data, export/deletion options, and limited employee access to content. But those are offset by strong liability disclaimers, broad service-change rights, U.S. data transfers, backup retention, and mandatory individual arbitration for many users.
Evernote presents a mixed but fairly transparent legal posture. It says users keep ownership of their notes, offers data export and deletion requests, and says it does not sell or rent personal data. However, it requires arbitration for many U.S.-linked disputes unless you opt out quickly, reserves broad rights to change or suspend the service, disclaims warranties, limits liability, and retains some deleted data in backups for up to one year.
Points of interest
For U.S. users or those under the Federal Arbitration Act, most disputes must go to individual arbitration instead of court, and class actions are waived. You can opt out, but only within 30 days.
"MANDATORY AND BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS-ACTION WAIVER... YOU MAY OPT OUT... WITHIN 30 DAYS"
Evernote provides the service "as is" and broadly disclaims warranties, while limiting liability to the maximum extent allowed by law. If the service fails, loses data, or has outages, your remedies may be limited.
"THE EVERNOTE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS... WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES"
Evernote can modify features, impose limits, suspend access, or discontinue parts of the service, sometimes without notice. This means features or access you rely on may change unexpectedly.
"We... reserve the right to establish limits... and impose other limitations at any time, with or without notice."
Evernote explicitly says it is not in the business of selling or renting your personal data and does not share it for third parties' own advertising purposes. That's a meaningful privacy protection compared with many ad-supported services.
"We are not in the business of selling or renting your personal data."
You can access, edit, export, correct, or request deletion of your personal data, and you can export notes at any time. This gives users a practical path to leave the service with their information.
"You can access your notes and notebooks from your Evernote account and export them at any time"
You keep ownership of your content, but grant Evernote a worldwide, transferable, sublicensable license to store, reproduce, modify, and distribute it as needed to run the service. This is service-related, but it is still broad while your content remains stored there.
"these rights and licenses are royalty free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide and irrevocable"
Deleted content may remain in backup systems for up to one year, and some account/support data can be kept for up to three years or five years for legal compliance. Deletion is therefore not always immediate or complete across systems.
"back-up systems may retain residual copies of your deleted Content for up to one year"
Your synced data is stored on servers in the United States and may be transmitted internationally. Users outside the U.S. may face weaker local privacy protections or more government-access concerns.
"your personal data will be transmitted to, hosted, and accessed in the United States"
Evernote says staff generally cannot view your content unless you give permission or access is legally required. Support access is described as temporary and consent-based when tied to specific issues.
"we limit the use of your Content to make sure that no one at Evernote can view it unless you expressly give us permission"
If Evernote decides to close your account, it says it will usually give at least 30 days' advance notice so you can retrieve stored content. This is a useful safeguard against sudden loss of access.
"we will provide at least 30 days advance notice... so you have a chance to retrieve any Content"
Evernote says it does not currently respond to browser Do Not Track signals. Users who rely on that browser setting should not expect it to control tracking here.
"we do not currently respond to or otherwise take action in response to web browser "do not track" signals"
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Documents
Terms of Service
source ↗- •You must create an account, keep your login information accurate and secure, and you are responsible for all activity under your account.
- •You keep ownership of your content, but grant Evernote a worldwide license to store, process, modify, display, and share it as needed to run the service.
- •Evernote may change features, impose limits, suspend service, or close accounts for violations, inactivity, nonpayment, security issues, or service changes, usually with 30 days' notice.
- •You can close your account at any time, but your content will be permanently deleted and unrecoverable; paid subscriptions must be canceled under separate commercial terms.
- •Evernote says the service is provided 'as is' and broadly disclaims warranties, with liability limited to the maximum extent allowed by law.
- •You must follow the user rules, avoid sharing accounts, respect others’ rights, and indemnify Evernote for third-party claims tied to your use or violations.
- •Your data is primarily stored in the United States and may be transferred internationally through Evernote, its providers, and related networks.
- •Evernote may use service providers, automatic software updates, and third-party integrations, and it is generally not responsible for third-party services or advertising.
- •For U.S. users or those under the Federal Arbitration Act, most disputes must go to individual arbitration, with no class actions, unless you opt out within 30 days.
- •Claims generally must be raised within one year, and California law usually governs non-Brazil users, while Brazilian law governs users in Brazil.
Privacy Policy
source ↗- •Evernote collects account details, payment data, device and usage information, IP address, optional location, and any content you upload or choose to share.
- •It uses this data to run the service, process payments, personalize features, provide support, improve reliability, detect abuse, comply with law, and send service messages.
- •Evernote says employees generally cannot view your content unless you consent, support access is needed, or access is required by legal obligations.
- •It may scan shared notes and emails to detect spam, malware, security threats, fraud, or Terms violations, and may block or unshare problematic material.
- •Evernote does not sell or rent personal data, but shares necessary data with service providers, affiliates, resellers, legal authorities, and third-party integrations you authorize.
- •If you share notes publicly or through collaboration features, others may access your content, profile details, metadata, and possibly modify shared material depending on permissions.
- •You can access, edit, export, correct, or request deletion of personal data, and you can unsubscribe from promotional messages, though essential service notices still continue.
- •Deleted content may remain in backup systems for up to one year, and most service or support data is kept up to three years, legal-compliance data up to five years.
- •Evernote stores synced data on servers in the United States, and using the service acknowledges transfer, hosting, and access there under applicable privacy laws.
