Frequently Asked Questions

About maxamind

What is maxamind?

maxamind is a comprehensive toolkit to help you organize and track everything on your mind — work projects, personal tasks, reference documents, journal entries, ideas you don't want to lose. It runs on all your devices and keeps them in sync, so whatever you capture is always with you. Because you have one trusted place for everything, you can relax about what you might be forgetting and focus on what's in front of you.

The app draws on established approaches to personal productivity — Getting Things Done (GTD^®) by David Allen and the Bullet Journal method by Ryder Carroll — and integrates a built-in AI assistant powered by Anthropic's Claude. You don't need to know these methodologies to use maxamind; the approach is built into how the app works.

Who can use maxamind?

maxamind is for anyone who feels like they're trying to keep too much in their head — the running list of things to do, things you meant to do, things you're worried about forgetting. If capturing what's on your mind into a trusted place you can rely on sounds appealing, maxamind is built for you.

The app automatically starts with common Projects like "Financial Management," "Home Maintenance," "Health and Fitness," "Lifelong Learning," and "Someday/Maybe." Common Contexts include "Home," "Work," and "Weekly Meeting."

• A homeowner can keep track of projects to tackle on the weekend and drop an idea in the list while on the train.
• A sales rep can create a Context for each of their important clients to keep lists of things to discuss on their next call or meeting.
• An heiress to a candy bar company can remember what clothes she needs when she is at the mall, because "the mall" is in her context list.
• A personal assistant can take notes in the office and then look at their phone to remember the details while on the move for their boss.
• A student can use maxamind to organize their notes and keep track of their homework — or work they need to do at home!

What if I've never used a tool like this before?

You don't need any prior experience with productivity methodologies or task-management apps. maxamind is designed to teach itself as you use it. Start by capturing whatever's on your mind — tasks, ideas, things you're worried about forgetting — and the app will help you organize as you go. The AI Assistant can answer questions about how to use any feature; just tap the chat bubble icon on any page.

What is "GTD"?

GTD stands for Getting Things Done, a task-management approach developed by productivity consultant David Allen and described in his book of the same title.

The core idea is that most of the stress around our work isn't caused by the work itself — it's caused by trying to hold everything in our heads. GTD addresses this by moving everything out of your head and into a trusted external system. Once the system holds what you've committed to, organized so you can find it when you need it, you can focus on what's in front of you instead of worrying about what you might be forgetting.

maxamind is designed around this approach. If you want to go deeper into the method itself, Allen's book is the definitive source and worth reading.

Getting Started

How do I sign up and install maxamind?

Go to www.maxamind.com on a desktop or mobile device to create your account. Then follow the installation steps for your platform in the Quick Start guide — there are instructions for iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux. Once the app is installed and you've logged in, you're ready to start capturing.

I'm logged in — how do I start using maxamind?

Start by capturing whatever's on your mind — tasks, ideas, things you don't want to forget. Tap the New Action icon on any screen to add something. Don't worry about organizing perfectly; you can sort and refine as you go. The goal isn't a pristine system, it's a trusted one.

For a fuller walkthrough of Actions, Projects, and Contexts, see the Quick Start guide. You can also ask the AI Assistant directly — tap the chat bubble icon on any page.

Will maxamind run on my iPhone, Android, iPad, MacBook, Windows desktop, Surface, Linux…?

You can run maxamind on nearly any mobile device, tablet, laptop or desktop. maxamind is a platform-independent web application — it runs in your device's browser. It stores your data on your device, so it can function when you're offline. The app is tested on all major browsers (Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox, etc.) on all major mobile (iOS, Android) and desktop (Mac, Windows, Linux) platforms.

Can I use maxamind when I'm offline, like on a plane or the subway?

Yes. Whenever you record new info or make a change on a device, the changes are stored on that device. If an internet connection is available, the changes are also synchronized to the maxamind servers. If there is no connection available, the next time the app is opened and the device is online, all saved changes will be sent to the server.

Can I run maxamind on more than one device?

Yes. Your subscription allows you to install on any number of devices. Just be sure to give each one a different Device Name during setup, and the maxamind servers will keep them synchronized when they're online.

Using maxamind

What is a "Context"?

Contexts are the places, people, resources or situations needed to take an action. They are who you need to be with, where you need to be (home, work, school), or the situation you need to be in (shopping, packing) to get something done. You tag tasks with a context (at home, with Bob, grocery shopping) and then check that context's list when the time comes.

The idea is to record the things you need to do in a particular context so that you can forget about them until you're in that context.

What is a "Project"?

Projects are any ongoing work, interest or other activity that you will break down into next actions. It's easy to imagine the projects that you are likely working on right now. What are the next actions to take on each of them? Add a project for each real-world project you have going.

How can I access the AI assistant in maxamind?

Tap the chat bubble icon on any page in maxamind to open the Assistant. It's included with every subscription — no setup or API keys required. The Assistant has context of whatever page you're on, so you can ask questions about your tasks, projects, sketches, or the app itself. See the Claude AI Assistant section of the Quick Start guide for more.

Can I add things without opening the app?

Yes, on Apple devices. With Quick Capture, you can add an action by speaking to Siri — even with your phone locked — or to your Apple Watch, by tapping a Home Screen or Lock Screen widget, or from Control Center, the Action Button, Back Tap, or the Share Sheet in another app. It lands in your Inbox, ready to process.

Setup takes about a minute; see Quick Capture in the Quick Start guide. Quick Capture needs a network connection, and it isn't available on Android yet.

Your Data and Privacy

How can I back up my maxamind data?

Just tap the More menu from the Home panel and select Backup my data. The server will create a backup snapshot of your entire repository and download it to your device.

Can I keep my data if I stop using the app?

Yes — and you can keep using maxamind itself, not just your data. The backup snapshot is both computer- and human-readable, so it's yours in any case. But the app can also run without our servers at all: on the login screen, choose "Restore from a backup and run offline," load your backup file, and you're working — no account, no server. Because the app can be served from a simple static copy, that stays true even if maxamind someday isn't around.

Where are my data stored?

A copy of all of your contexts, projects, notes and tasks is stored on each device. To sync your data among all of your devices and provide a backup, data is encrypted and stored on maxamind cloud servers in the US.

Are my data secure?

All user passwords are stored securely — not even we at maxamind can discover your password. All connections to the maxamind cloud servers are encrypted with HTTPS to prevent snooping, even on public internet connections. Data stored on our servers is encrypted at rest using standard infrastructure protections.

For users who want stronger privacy, maxamind offers an optional full-encryption mode. Information sent to the AI Assistant is processed by Anthropic's Claude API under their privacy policy and is not used to train their models. maxamind does not include any personally identifiable information — no name, email, IP address, or account details — in API calls to Anthropic.

What is full data encryption, and should I enable it?

By default, your data on maxamind's servers is protected by standard encryption — secure from outside threats, but recoverable by maxamind if you forget your password.

If you want stronger privacy, you can enable full data encryption from the Account Management page. When enabled, your data on the server is encrypted using a key derived from your password, so only you can decrypt it. Not even maxamind can read your stored data.

You can turn full encryption off later from the same Account Management page — it just requires your current password to do so. A logged-in device continues to work normally in either state; the encryption is applied server-side.

A note about the AI Assistant: when you use the AI Assistant, the contents of your current view (tasks, projects, sketches) are sent to Anthropic's Claude API so it can answer with full context. This happens regardless of whether you have full encryption enabled — the AI needs to see the content to help with it. No personally identifiable information is ever included. If you consider some data highly sensitive, avoid using the AI Assistant on pages containing that data.

A note about Quick Capture: Quick Capture works with full encryption enabled. Captured text reaches the server unencrypted, stored against a hashed token (not your name or email), and stays there only until one of your devices next syncs — at which point it becomes an encrypted action and the server copy is deleted. For anything more sensitive than that, type it into the app instead.

Full encryption is a good choice if you're storing sensitive work or personal information and privacy matters more than recovery convenience. For most users, the default protection is already strong and avoids the password-loss risk.

How can I manage my password and data security?

You can use the tools at maxamind Account Management to reset or change your password and enable or disable optional full data encryption.