What is remoteStorage?

A plain-words explainer. Skip to how you use it if you'd rather see steps.

The everyday problem

Almost every app you use stores your data in its own cloud. Your notes app keeps your notes on its servers. Your todo app keeps your todos on different servers. Your bookmark app does the same. Your stuff ends up scattered across a dozen unrelated companies, none of which talk to each other.

flowchart LR
  U(("👤 You")) --> N["📝 Notes app"]
  U --> T["✅ Todo app"]
  N --> ND[("🔒 Your notes")]
  T --> TD[("🔒 Your todos")]
  classDef bad fill:#fde2e4,stroke:#b83232,color:#5a1a1a,stroke-width:2px
  classDef app fill:#fef6d6,stroke:#c79a2c,color:#3a2a00,stroke-width:1.5px
  classDef user fill:#e6edfa,stroke:#5b7fbe,color:#1a2a4a,stroke-width:2px
  class ND,TD bad
  class N,T app
  class U user

Today: your notes live inside the notes app, your todos live inside the todo app. Each app holds its own piece of you.

This causes a few problems:

If an app shuts down, your data goes with it.
If you stop liking an app, you start over in the next one.
Two apps can't share your data unless they happen to integrate.
You don't really own your data — the app does.

The idea

remoteStorage flips that arrangement around. You sign up once for a personal storage account, and then any compatible app reads and writes your storage instead of its own.

flowchart LR
  U(("👤 You")) --> N["📝 Notes app"]
  U --> T["✅ Todo app"]
  N --> S
  T --> S
  S[("📦 Your storage")]
  classDef good fill:#d6f5d6,stroke:#3d7a3f,color:#0a3a0a,stroke-width:3px
  classDef app fill:#fef6d6,stroke:#c79a2c,color:#3a2a00,stroke-width:1.5px
  classDef user fill:#e6edfa,stroke:#5b7fbe,color:#1a2a4a,stroke-width:2px
  class S good
  class N,T app
  class U user

With remoteStorage: one place you own, any app you choose reading and writing there.

That single change buys you a lot:

One account, many apps. Sign in once, use dozens.
Apps come and go, your data stays. If an app shuts down, your files are still in your storage. Switch to a different one and pick up where you left off.
Your data is yours. Export it, copy it elsewhere, or just keep a local backup whenever you want.
No lock-in. Storage providers are interchangeable. If you outgrow yours, move to another one — or run your own.

What kinds of apps work with it?

A growing set: note-takers, to-do lists, bookmark managers, calendar apps, journal apps, music players, RSS readers, and more. If an app advertises remoteStorage support, your account here will work with it out of the box.

How you actually use it day-to-day

Sign up for a storage account (you're on the right page — there's a Free option).
Open a compatible app. When it asks where to store your data, enter your storage address — for accounts here, that's username@rstash.cloud.
Authorize the app once. From then on, anything it would normally save in its own cloud goes into your storage instead.

That's the whole protocol from a user's perspective.

Where we come in

You don't have to use us. Anyone can run a remoteStorage server — on a home computer, a cheap VPS, even a Raspberry Pi — and all of those options will work with the same apps. We just run one for you at rstash.cloud so you can skip the setup. If we ever stop working for you, move your data to another provider, or run your own. The protocol is built to make that easy.

Back home