Is reMarkable HIPAA Compliant? Why VaultBook Is the Safer Choice for Healthcare Professionals
The reMarkable tablet has become popular among clinicians, students, and professionals who want a paper-like writing experience without a distracting screen. For everyday note-taking, it’s elegant, simple, and beautifully designed.
But once you step into the world of protected health information (PHI), HIPAA regulations, and clinical documentation, a new question emerges:
Is reMarkable HIPAA compliant?
The short answer: No.
And this matters far more than many healthcare professionals realize.
If you work in healthcare, behavioral health, clinical research, social work, patient advocacy, or any role handling confidential patient information, the compliance gap in reMarkable’s ecosystem should give you pause. Fortunately, there is a solution built specifically for secure, offline, HIPAA-ready note-keeping: VaultBook.
Below is a detailed breakdown of why reMarkable cannot be used for PHI—and why VaultBook delivers the privacy, encryption, and local-only control healthcare professionals need.
reMarkable Is Not HIPAA Compliant
While the reMarkable tablet is fantastic for handwriting and focus, it was not designed to meet healthcare compliance requirements. Here’s why:
1. No BAA (Business Associate Agreement)
HIPAA requires a BAA from any vendor handling PHI.
reMarkable does not sign BAAs for its cloud services, meaning clinicians are legally prohibited from uploading or syncing patient-related notes through its system.
2. reMarkable Cloud Sync Stores Data on Their Servers
Even if you write something locally, the moment it syncs:
Notes are uploaded
Files are stored externally
Data passes through third-party servers
Under HIPAA, this alone is a violation when PHI is involved.
3. No End-to-End Encryption for Individual Notes
Notes are not encrypted in a way that meets HIPAA standards for local-only storage or device-level protection.
4. No Private, Password-Protected Note Encryption
You cannot encrypt individual pages or restrict access at the entry level.
5. No Local-Only Mode for Full Functionality
While you can use the tablet offline, the moment you want syncing, backups, or device recovery, you rely on the cloud.
Result:
reMarkable cannot legally be used to store or handle any protected health information.
No patient identifiers.
No symptoms.
No intake notes.
No photos.
No diagnoses.
No case documentation.
Why Healthcare Professionals Need Something More Secure
Clinical work depends on privacy and careful documentation. Professionals need a place to securely store:
Patient summaries
Case notes
Research findings
Diagnostic reasoning
Therapy session notes
Group session observations
Lab results
Intake data
Scans, forms, and attachments
Private decision logs
Clinical reflections
HIPAA, PII laws, and professional ethics all require that this information be protected—not stored in any cloud that lacks proper agreements or encryption.
This is where reMarkable falls short, but also where VaultBook excels.
Why VaultBook Is the Safer Choice for Healthcare Professionals
VaultBook is not a cloud app. It is a secure, offline, encrypted digital vault designed for clinicians, researchers, and professionals who must protect confidential information at all times.
Below is why VaultBook is the ideal replacement for anyone considering reMarkable for clinical note-keeping.
1. 100% Offline — No Sync, No Servers, No Data Exposure
VaultBook stores all content in a local folder you control:
Notes
PDFs
Word documents
Spreadsheets
Outlook MSG emails
Scanned images
Clinical forms
Photos
Attachments
Nothing is uploaded to a cloud.
This means:
No vendor access
No unauthorized third parties
No accidental PHI exposure
No HIPAA risks
No sync-related leaks
VaultBook gives clinicians true digital sovereignty.
2. HIPAA-Ready By Design
VaultBook supports patient safety and privacy requirements out of the box:
Local-only operation
Password protection per entry
AES-GCM encryption
Protected sections for sensitive data
Auto-expiry for regulated notes
60-day purge policies for PHI
Zero telemetry
Zero online accounts
Zero background syncing
These features make VaultBook highly suited for healthcare professionals, clinical researchers, psychologists, social workers, and medical students working with PHI.
3. Attach & Search Everything — Securely
The modern clinician handles far more than handwritten notes. VaultBook makes it easy to attach:
Lab reports
Intake forms
Doctor letters
Radiology images
Research PDFs
Word docs
Excel sheets
Therapy session transcripts
Photographs
Emails from clients or providers
And it doesn’t stop there.
VaultBook offers:
Full-text search inside PDFs
OCR for handwritten scans and images
Search across all notes + attachments
All 100% offline
reMarkable cannot do any of this securely.
4. Ideal for Hospitals, Clinics, Telehealth, Home-Health, and Research
VaultBook works seamlessly in environments where reMarkable simply cannot.
Because reMarkable relies on cloud syncing for backup and device management, it cannot be used in any setting where PHI must remain local. Hospitals, clinics, behavioral health centers, and government facilities often block cloud tools entirely, which immediately disqualifies reMarkable. It also cannot be used to store patient notes, session summaries, diagnostic details, or even casual reminders that contain identifiable health information.
VaultBook, however, was built for exactly these conditions. It functions entirely offline, with no cloud dependency and no data ever leaving your device. You can attach lab reports, PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, therapy transcripts, or Outlook MSG emails—then search inside all of them securely and privately. Sensitive notes can be locked with AES-GCM encryption, assigned expiry limits, or placed into private sections reserved for regulated content.
This makes VaultBook a natural fit for real-world healthcare workflows: hospital rounding, telehealth consultations, case management, rehabilitation notes, community health visits, emergency medicine, and clinical research. It stays fully functional even in offline zones, rural assignments, restricted facilities, or during travel—environments where reMarkable’s cloud-centric design becomes a blocker.
In short, reMarkable cannot operate in the places where healthcare professionals need privacy the most. VaultBook thrives there.
5. A Better Fit for Confidential, Regulated, High-Risk Work
VaultBook is perfect for:
Physicians
Nurses
Mental health therapists
Psychologists
Social workers
Rehab specialists
Case managers
Medical students
Clinical researchers
Hospitalists
Compliance teams
Administrators handling sensitive files
Any professional who touches PHI—or confidential client data—can use VaultBook safely.
reMarkable simply does not meet this threshold.
Final Verdict: reMarkable Is Not HIPAA Compliant — VaultBook Is the Privacy-First Alternative Healthcare Professionals Deserve
The reMarkable tablet shines as a distraction-free writing tool, but it was never intended for regulated or clinical environments. Without a BAA, without encryption controls, and with cloud-based sync at its core, it cannot be used for patient information under any circumstance.
VaultBook, on the other hand, was built for exactly these needs—offline, encrypted, HIPAA-ready, and fully in your control. It keeps patient information where it belongs: private, protected, and stored only on your device.
If confidentiality is a non-negotiable part of your profession, VaultBook isn’t just a better choice—it’s the only safe choice.
VaultBook:
Your secure, offline, encrypted digital vault—built for healthcare.