In Bardo, AI is optional.

Published: May 31, 2026

Bardo is built for notes first.

Since the release of Bardo 1.0 Stable, AI features can be completely disabled. If you do not want AI in your workspace, Bardo can remove AI-related buttons, menus, settings, and shortcuts from the app experience.

We believe AI should be a choice, not a requirement.

For some people, AI can be useful: it can help summarize text, organize ideas, improve writing, and make everyday work faster. But not everyone wants AI inside a private notes app. Some users want a simpler, quieter, and more focused experience. Others care deeply about privacy and want to reduce the number of systems that could interact with their notes.

That choice matters.

AI features can introduce new security and privacy considerations. When an app uses AI, there may be additional processing steps, extra permissions, cloud requests, model providers, prompts, generated responses, and new places where sensitive text must be handled carefully. Even when AI is designed responsibly, users should still have control over whether it appears in their workspace at all.

In Bardo, disabling AI helps keep the app focused on what many people came here for: private notes, clean design, and control over their own space.

When AI is turned off, Bardo removes AI-related entry points from the interface. This reduces accidental use, keeps the writing environment cleaner, and helps users avoid sending private note content into AI workflows when they do not want that.

New Bardo users will see a dedicated setup screen on first launch, where they can choose whether to enable or disable AI features.

Existing users can change this anytime:

Settings → Security → Advanced Options → Disable AI

Bardo does not force AI into your notes.

Use AI when it helps.
Turn it off when it does not.
Your notes, your workspace, your choice.