by Carlo Esposito
Eyed / formerly Aploide
Most software asks for more than it needs. More access, more attention, more information about the people using it. The exchange is often invisible: a convenient tool on one side, a permanent record of your life on the other.
Eyed exists to change that exchange.
We build independent software for people who want useful tools without being turned into a source of data. Our products do different jobs, but they share a direction: they should serve you, explain themselves, and leave you in control.
Open source is not a decoration or a marketing label. It is a way to make software accountable. When the code is available, people can inspect it, improve it, fork it, and find out whether our promises match our implementation.
We publish our code wherever we can. When a component cannot be open, we do not use that limitation as an excuse to hide the rest. We document what the software does, what it needs, and where trust has to be placed.
We want our tools to be useful even when Eyed is not in the room. That means portable data, understandable interfaces, and fewer dependencies on a single company or service.
Safety is not a badge added after a product is finished. It begins with the shape of the product.
We prefer local-first design. If something can happen on your machine, it should not need to travel to ours. Fewer servers and fewer copies mean fewer places where your information can be exposed, misused, or lost.
We keep permissions narrow, dependencies visible, and defaults hard to misuse. We do not build dark patterns that pressure you into sharing more. A safe tool should make the careful choice the ordinary choice.
Your files, voice, passwords, code, and browsing history are part of your life. They are not raw material for an advertising profile.
We do not track people across the web, sell personal profiles, or collect information simply because it might be useful later. When a product needs an account, a cloud feature, or a third-party service, we say so plainly and ask only for what that function requires.
Privacy does not mean pretending that software never handles data. It means being precise about what is handled, why it is handled, where it goes, and how long it stays there. You deserve those answers before you trust a tool with something important.
Software should extend your abilities, not compete for your attention. We do not want to manufacture dependence through notifications, rewards, infinite feeds, or artificial urgency.
Our products are designed to be opened when you need them and put away when you do not. They should feel calm, direct, and respectful of the fact that your time belongs to you.
Eyed is a small ecosystem of tools built around the same principles. Start with the problem you have today:
The products are different. The rule is the same: your tool should answer to you, not to an unseen audience behind it.
Explore the source on GitHub or see everything Eyed builds.
We will not get every decision right. Open software makes that visible, and honest documentation makes it possible to correct. We would rather show the limits of a product than promise a perfect kind of privacy that cannot exist.
We will keep asking simple questions:
Those questions are not a checklist for one release. They are the work.
Technology is infrastructure. It shapes what people can do, what they can know, and what they are expected to surrender in return.
We are building a different kind of infrastructure: open where possible, local where practical, careful with data, and useful without surveillance.
Software should look away from you, so you can look at what matters.
If you share these principles, use the tools, inspect the code, report a problem, or help us build what comes next.
Carlo Esposito
Founder, Eyed