Dario Tordoni - stiva

Stiva 1.0.5 is live

Dario Tordoni — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 08:12:00 +0200

Stiva 1.0.5 is live, and it's the first version of the app anyone outside a closed test group can install.
Everything before it, 1.0.0 through 1.0.4, stayed inside a private testing track with a small group of testers. This is the one I'm actually calling public.

I wanted to mark the occasion properly, explain a few things about how the app and this blog will work going forward, and be upfront about a couple of rough edges you might run into.

What "1.0.5" actually means

I already wrote about why Stiva doesn't use a subscription, and versioning is the other half of that story.

The first number is the major version, a bump there is when new Premium features actually arrive. You'll still get that update regardless, there's only one Stiva app on your device, but unlocking the new Premium features tied to that major version is a separate choice.

If you unlock Premium on Stiva 1, those features are yours for good, and if you later unlock Premium on Stiva 2, that unlock naturally carries everything from Stiva 1 along with it.

The second number is the minor version, it covers new free features and meaningful additions that don't require a fresh Premium unlock.

The third number is the patch version: fixes, refinements, and the small stuff that keeps the app healthy day to day. The jump straight to 1.0.5 reflects the five internal builds that came out of the closed test, not five public updates, this is where the counting starts for everyone else.

The web won't always cooperate

The web is a massive, ever-evolving ecosystem of layouts and frameworks. While my tests so far have yielded good results, there will inevitably be times when a page doesn't extract perfectly, whether it's a paywall not being recognized, or a cookie wall cluttering the extracted text with unwanted elements.

I am committed to chasing down and fixing these edge cases as they appear. To do that, your direct feedback is the single greatest help I could ask for. If an article doesn't look right, please let me know. Your feedback goes straight to me and helps make Stiva better for everyone.

How this blog will work

I'm not going to force a publishing schedule onto this. Posts here will show up whenever there's something worth saying: a new version landing, a feature I'm about to ship, occasionally a preview of something further out.

Some months that might be one post, other months none. I'd rather write when I have something real to say than pad the blog for the sake of a cadence.

Staying in the loop

If you don't want to check back here, I post the same updates on Bluesky. You can also subscribe to the blog via RSS using the icon on this page.

Extensions and the cloud bridge

The Chrome extension is live, letting you send links to Stiva straight from your browser. A Firefox version is in progress and should follow shortly.

On the sync side, the cloud bridge works with both Google Drive and Dropbox. Stiva has no backend of its own, your cloud storage account is simply the private relay it uses to move articles between your devices.

One thing to flag on Dropbox specifically: while I go through Dropbox's approval process for the app, you may see a notice during login mentioning that the app isn't yet fully verified by Dropbox. This is expected and doesn't affect how the sync works once you're connected, it's part of how Dropbox rolls out access to new integrations as they pick up real usage. I'll update this once the app clears their review.

What's next

The first real feedback from a wider audience is what I've been missing until now. It's the only thing that turns my assumptions about Stiva into something objective, and I'll keep reading and replying to all of it. In the meantime, I'm not waiting around: small UI and functionality improvements are already in the pipeline, and I'll write about them here as they ship.

If you haven't tried Stiva yet, now's a good time.

What you can expect from Stiva: features, limits, and the premium deal

Dario Tordoni — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 15:46:00 +0200

I've already shared why I'm building Stiva as an antidote to information overload, and why I chose a one-time purchase model instead of yet another subscription. But beyond the core philosophy, I want to be transparent about what you actually get when you install the app. Here is exactly how Stiva works, what stays free, and what the Premium version unlocks.

What is free

My goal with Stiva is to build a calm, offline-first reading space. That means the core acts of saving, reading, and organizing your articles will always be free. You don't need to create an account to start. You paste a link, and Stiva scrapes the text and stores it directly on your device. Every article in your library is physically yours, stored in a local database, and ready to be read offline.

The free version includes:

Unlimited library: save as many articles and bookmarks as your device can hold.
Save from browser & Cloud Sync: send links from your desktop or mobile browser. To avoid subscriptions, Stiva doesn't run a backend; it uses your Google Drive or Dropbox as a secure bridge to sync articles.
Cloud & Local Backup: export backups of your library to your device or your personal cloud storage.
Individual Text-to-Speech: listen to any single article with background playback and lock-screen controls.
Unlimited tagging: group and organize your readings with custom tags.
Basic search: quickly find articles in your library by searching titles and domains.
Custom Import: easily import your existing library and links from browser bookmarks or other read-later apps.

Web scraping is messy

Websites change, layouts shift, and HTML is often chaotic. I won't pretend Stiva will parse every single web page perfectly on day one—no read-later app does. But because I use Stiva as my primary reading home every single day, I am committed to refining the parser and chasing down layout issues as the web changes.

The parser is also smart enough to recognize paywalls. Stiva doesn't attempt to bypass or crack paid gates; it respects publishers' models. If a link is behind a paywall, you can open it in a secure in-app browser overlay, log into your account, and save the unlocked text. It simply lets you access what you already pay for, without the clutter.

If a page ever looks broken, your feedback goes straight to the person behind the app. Just me trying to make the tool better. And I will really appreciate your feedback.

What Stiva Premium unlocks

If the free tier is a complete reading library, Premium is for readers who want to retain what they read, collect key insights, or build a personalized audio feed. Because I don't charge a subscription, I had to decide which advanced features belong behind a one-time paywall. I didn't want the free tier to feel like a crippled demo, but I wanted to make the Premium unlock worth it.

Here is what Stiva Premium (Version 1) unlocks:

Full-text search & filters: search through the actual body text of all saved articles and use advanced sorting.
Articles playlist: queue multiple articles to play sequentially, turning your list into a custom, ad-free podcast.
Immersive reading: use a customizable Focus Mode overlay that dims everything except the paragraph you are reading.
Unlimited Study Tools: highlight text, save key quotes, write notes, and share citations. Free users can test these on up to 10 articles; Premium removes the limit and lets you search your notes.
Unlimited Document Export: export individual articles as PDF or Markdown files (free users get 3 exports total).

A long-term tool

Whether you need a clean, local, offline-first inbox for your web articles, or simply a place to save important links, the free version of Stiva is all you will ever need. It has no ads, it doesn't sell your data, and it won't lock you out of your saved content.

But if you use Stiva to collect your thoughts, read deeply, or listen to playlists on long drives, the Premium unlock is a way to get advanced utility. It is a one-time purchase, and the features you unlock stay yours forever.

Stiva is built to be a long-term companion. The app is ready and functional today, but I have a quiet, steady roadmap ahead. I am constantly thinking about new improvements and refinements to make the reading experience better over time.

The app is currently in closed beta as I polish the final details. If you want to help me test it or want to know when it launches publicly, join the waitlist at stiva.app.

Why Stiva has no subscription

Dario Tordoni — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 23:43:00 +0200

Subscription fatigue is a real thing. And it makes sense, up to a point, because plenty of software genuinely benefits from the model: cloud services, collaborative tools, anything that involves ongoing infrastructure and real recurring costs.

But somewhere along the way, even small utility apps started charging monthly fees. Apps with no backend. Apps with no recurring operational costs. Apps that just run on your phone and do a thing.
When I started working on Stiva, I decided I wanted to think carefully about this.

The subscription trap

I get why subscriptions are tempting for developers. Predictable revenue is genuinely valuable, especially for solo projects. It smooths out the financial ups and downs, makes planning easier, and keeps the lights on.

But from a user's perspective, a subscription for a read-later app asks for a strange kind of trust. You're committing to a recurring charge for something you might use heavily for three months and then barely touch for six.
And the app doesn't get dramatically better month after month.
The ongoing cost doesn't feel matched to ongoing value delivered.

More than that, I kept thinking about ownership. When I save an article to Stiva, I want it to feel like mine. My library, my annotations, my reading history.
A subscription model quietly converts that feeling into a rental.
Stop paying, and the relationship ends.

A different bet: pay per major version

So I landed on something simpler. Saving, reading, and organizing your library in Stiva is free. Premium capabilities are a one-time unlock per major version.

You unlock Premium for Stiva 1. Those features are yours forever, including every update, bug fix, and improvement released during its lifecycle.

When Stiva 2 ships with genuinely new premium capabilities, unlocking them is a new choice. You're not forced to upgrade.
Because there is only one Stiva app on your phone, you will still download the update, but the new V2 features will remain locked:

If your unlocked version 1 features do everything you need, they keep working exactly as they did.
If version 2 offers something worth paying for, you can decide that's a fair trade.

It's a model with roots in how desktop software used to work, before the subscription wave hit everything.

It's more complicated than it sounds

I won't pretend this model is simple to build.
Technically, it means managing multiple entitlement tiers simultaneously: a version 1 purchaser and a version 2 purchaser sitting in the same user base, with the app behaving correctly for both, serving each exactly what they're entitled to, no more, no less.

In practice, this means no messy app migrations: everyone keeps the same app, everyone gets the same performance updates under the hood, but the app simply unlocks only the major features you've paid for.
That's non-trivial plumbing, and it only gets more intricate as major versions accumulate.

There's also a psychological complexity on my end: with subscriptions, revenue is relatively steady. With this model, revenue is event-driven.
It spikes when a new major version ships, then levels off.
That creates real pressure to keep shipping, not fake pressure, not manufactured urgency, but the genuine kind that comes from knowing your business depends on it.

Why that pressure is actually healthy

Here's the thing, though: I think that pressure is good.

A subscription model creates a subtle but real misalignment. Once you've captured recurring revenue, the incentive to dramatically improve the product weakens. Your income doesn't depend on shipping breakthroughs, it depends on not making people angry enough to cancel.

The major version model inverts this. My next meaningful revenue event only happens when I ship something worth paying for. Not worth keeping, worth upgrading to.
That's a meaningfully higher bar. It forces me to ask, genuinely: has this changed enough to earn money again?

I find that question clarifying. It strips away the incremental tweaks that look like progress without delivering it, and focuses attention on the kind of improvements that actually change how you use the app. New major versions should feel like new chapters, not the same story with small edits.

What this means for you

If you decide to pay for Stiva's Premium features, you're paying for something that stays yours.

When I ship major new versions, your app will update just like normal and you'll get to see what's new. If what I've built sounds useful, you can decide to pay to unlock those new capabilities. If it doesn't, no hard feelings, your existing features keep working exactly as they always have, right inside the same app.

It's a model built on the belief that software should earn money by delivering value.
I think that's a fair deal. I hope you do too.

Stiva is currently in closed beta and getting close to a public release. If you want to try it before launch, you can join the testing phase at stiva.app.

Why I'm building Stiva: my antidote to information overload

Dario Tordoni — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 09:26:00 +0200

We are constantly bombarded. We open social media during a lunch break, scroll through the feed, and stumble upon dozens of interesting links, articles we’d like to dive into, or insights that could be useful.
But time is short, and the "snackable" format of modern content pushes us to consume everything at lightning speed.

The result? We read superficially, falling victim to FOMO, accumulating information without actually absorbing it. We end up being consumed by the content, rather than treasurying it.

It is from this reflection, and a personal need, that I started developing Stiva, my "Read It Later" app.

The immediacy of a personal space

There are already excellent apps in this category on the market, long-standing tools that have paved the way and that I respect deeply. However, I felt the need to explore a different path, founded on immediacy and true ownership of one’s digital library.

I wanted an app that was ready to use from the very first launch, one that didn’t ask me to create yet another account before I could even save my first link. I wanted to build an intimately personal space, designed for strictly individual use, where every saved article resides physically and locally on my device to always be available offline.

The goal wasn’t to lean on an external service, but to forge a tool of my own: a quiet corner, ready to welcome me instantly, where it’s just me and the readings I truly want to focus on.

Why "Stiva"?

When I had to choose a name, I wanted something that held real meaning for me. In Italian, a stiva is the cargo hold of a ship, the space designated to store and protect the cargo during a journey.

This is exactly what the app does: it is a safe place to store your precious cargo (articles, essays, long reads) while you navigate the chaos of the web.

It is a name that, while it may sound abstract or purely phonetic in other languages in the future, carries a strong identity and a meaning that matters a lot to me.

My daily rhythm

The app is currently developed and I am using it daily, albeit in an internal testing phase. My ideal workflow, the one I designed it for, is very simple: in the morning or during lunch, I come across interesting links, but I know I don’t have the mental clarity or the time to give them the right attention. I save them to Stiva.

In the evening, when everything slows down, I open the app.
Free from distractions and without algorithms suggesting what to watch next, I take advantage of the clean interface to read calmly.

I assimilate the content and give those pieces the value they deserve.

Building in public (and an invitation)

Developing an app alone as an indie developer is an exciting experience. You have total control over the vision and the code, but you inevitably miss one fundamental thing: real-world feedback.

So far, I’ve gathered thoughts from friends and family, but I’m now looking to build a small group of early testers for the coming months. If you recognize yourself in this need to slow down and regain control over your reading ,and you’d like to help me shape Stiva when the time is right, please reach out to me directly via email.
I am planning to start the first test sessions later this year, so I’ll be sure to get back to you as soon as the first stable build is ready for external eyes.

If you’d prefer to wait for the official release but want to stay updated, you can join the waitlist here to be notified as soon as the app becomes public:

Join the Stiva waitlist

In the next post, I’ll go into a bit more detail about how Stiva is built on the inside, but for now, I just wanted to tell you why I decided to set sail.