🍍 Pineapple Cloud

Keep your Apple ecosystem. Keep your data yours.

A lightweight, privacy-first, self-hosted iCloud alternative for Apple users.

Pineapple Cloud lets you sync natively:

• 📝 Apple Notes
• 🗓️ Calendar
• ✅ Reminders
• 👤 Contacts

across macOS and iOS using a minimal Docker stack powered by:

• CalDAV
• CardDAV
• Local IMAP

Designed for:

• Raspberry Pi
• Synology NAS
• Mini PCs
• Homelabs
• Privacy-conscious Apple users

All while using under 100MB of idle RAM.

✨ Why Pineapple Cloud?

Most self-hosted collaboration platforms are massive.

Platform	Typical RAM Usage
Nextcloud	1GB+
Full mail suites	Heavy
Enterprise groupware	Complex
Pineapple Cloud	<100MB

Pineapple Cloud was built for people who want:

• native Apple app compatibility
• self-hosted privacy
• ultra-lightweight infrastructure
• simple Docker deployment
• zero vendor lock-in

No Electron apps. No bloated dashboards. No subscriptions. No telemetry.

Just native Apple apps syncing directly with infrastructure you control.

🔒 Privacy First

Pineapple Cloud keeps your data:

• on your hardware
• inside your network
• under your control

No third-party cloud sync providers. No analytics. No forced accounts. No external dependency chains.

Your Notes, Calendars, Contacts, and Reminders stay yours.

🚀 Features

• 🍎 Native Apple Notes sync using local IMAP
• 🗓️ Native Apple Calendar & Reminders sync via CalDAV
• 👤 Native Apple Contacts sync via CardDAV
• 🪶 Ultra-lightweight architecture (<100MB idle RAM)
• 🐳 Simple Docker Compose deployment
• 🏠 Optimized for Raspberry Pi and NAS systems
• 📦 Portable volume-based storage
• 🔒 Local-first privacy-focused design
• ⚡ Fast startup and low CPU overhead

🧠 How It Works

Apple uses multiple sync systems internally:

Apple Service	Protocol
Calendar	CalDAV
Reminders	CalDAV
Contacts	CardDAV
Apple Notes	IMAP

Pineapple Cloud combines:

• Radicale → CalDAV + CardDAV
• Local IMAP Mail Server → Apple Notes syncing

inside a lightweight isolated Docker stack.

🏗️ Architecture

             macOS / iPhone / iPad
                       │
        ┌──────────────┴──────────────┐
        │                             │
   Radicale Container           IMAP Container
 (Calendar / Contacts)          (Apple Notes)
        │                             │
        └────── Docker Network ───────┘

⚡ Quick Start

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/jaganganesh/pineapple-cloud.git
cd pineapple-cloud

2. Create the Required Directories

mkdir -p \
data/mail-data \
data/mail-config \
data/radicale-data \
data/radicale-config \
data/radicale-certs

3. Create docker-compose.yml

services:
  # Apple Notes (IMAP)
  imap-server:
    image: mailserver/docker-mailserver:latest
    container_name: apple-imap
    ports:
      - "143:143"
    environment:
      OVERRIDE_HOSTNAME: pineapple.cloud
      ENABLE_POP3: "0"
      ENABLE_SMTP: "0"
      ENABLE_SPAMASSASSIN: "0"
      ENABLE_CLAMAV: "0"
      ENABLE_FAIL2BAN: "0"
      ONE_DIR: "1"
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    volumes:
      - ./data/mail-data:/var/mail
      - ./data/mail-config:/tmp/docker-mailserver
    restart: unless-stopped
  # Contacts / Calendars / Reminders (CardDAV, CalDav)
  radicale:
    image: tomsquest/docker-radicale:latest
    container_name: apple-dav
    ports:
      - "5232:5232"
    volumes:
      - ./data/radicale-data:/data
      - ./data/radicale-config:/config:ro
      - ./data/radicale-certs:/certs:ro
    restart: unless-stopped

4. Start the Stack

docker compose up -d

📬 Create Your Apple Notes Account

Apple Notes sync requires a local IMAP mailbox.

Enter the container

docker exec -it apple-imap /bin/bash

Create a user

setup email add your_name@pineapple.cloud

Then enter your password when prompted.

Exit the container afterward:

exit

🔐 SSL / TLS Setup

Apple devices strongly prefer encrypted connections.

Option A — Self-Signed Certificates (Recommended)

Generate certificates locally:

openssl req -x509 \
-newkey rsa:4096 \
-keyout ./data/radicale-certs/server.key \
-out ./data/radicale-certs/server.cert \
-sha256 \
-days 3650 \
-nodes \
-subj "/CN=127.0.0.1"

On macOS:

1. Open server.cert
2. Launch Keychain Access
3. Set certificate trust to:
   • Always Trust

Option B — Local HTTP Only

If running exclusively on:

• localhost
• isolated LAN
• private homelab subnet

you may choose to skip TLS.

macOS and iOS will display warning prompts during setup.

🍎 macOS Setup Guide

Open:

System Settings → Internet Accounts

👤 Contacts (CardDAV)

Navigate to:

Add Account → Add Other Account → CardDAV Account

Use:

Field	Value
Account Type	Manual
Username	Your Radicale username
Password	Your password
Server Address	127.0.0.1
Port	5232
Server Path	/

If using HTTP:

• Disable SSL

If using certificates:

• Enable SSL

🗓️ Calendars & Reminders (CalDAV)

Navigate to:

Add Account → Add Other Account → CalDAV Account

Use the same credentials configured in Radicale.

📝 Apple Notes (IMAP)

Navigate to:

Add Account → Add Other Account → Mail Account

Use:

Field	Value
Email	your_name@pineapple.cloud
Incoming Mail Server	127.0.0.1
Outgoing Mail Server	127.0.0.1

When setup completes:

• ❌ Disable Mail
• ✅ Enable Notes

⚠️ Apple Notes Limitations

Apple Notes over IMAP is more limited than native iCloud Notes.

The following features are reduced or unavailable:

• ❌ advanced typography styles
• ❌ rich heading templates
• ❌ interactive checklists
• ❌ inline sketches
• ❌ advanced embedded objects

For best compatibility:

• use standard text
• use bold/italics
• use markdown-style lists

Basic note synchronization works reliably.

🪶 Lightweight by Design

Pineapple Cloud is intentionally engineered for low-resource systems.

Perfect for:

• Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, 3 Model B/B+, 400, 4 Model B, 5
• Synology J-series
• Intel N100 mini PCs
• Low-power NAS systems

Designed to minimize:

• RAM usage
• disk writes
• CPU overhead
• thermal load

Ideal for always-on homelab deployments.

🏠 Tested Platforms

• ✅ macOS
• ✅ iOS
• ✅ Apple Silicon Macs
• ✅ Raspberry Pi OS
• ✅ Ubuntu Server
• ✅ Docker
• ✅ Synology NAS

📦 Portable Storage Layout

All persistent data lives inside:

./data

This makes migrations extremely simple.

Move your stack between machines by copying:

./data

and redeploying the containers.

🆚 Comparison

Feature	Pineapple Cloud	Nextcloud	iCloud
Apple Notes Sync	✅	❌	✅
Native Apple Apps	✅	Partial	✅
Self-Hosted	✅	✅	❌
Lightweight	✅	❌	N/A
Raspberry Pi Friendly	✅	⚠️ Heavy	❌
Docker Compose	✅	✅	❌
Vendor Lock-In	❌	❌	✅
Privacy First	✅	⚠️	❌

🧭 Why Self-Host?

Cloud convenience should not require surrendering ownership of your personal data.

Pineapple Cloud gives Apple users a way to preserve the native experience they already love while moving synchronization back onto infrastructure they control.

Your server. Your rules. Your data.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch

git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature

3. Commit your changes

git commit -m "feat: add amazing feature"

4. Push to your branch

git push origin feature/amazing-feature

5. Open a Pull Request

⭐ Support the Project

If Pineapple Cloud helped you reclaim ownership of your Apple data:

• ⭐ Star the repository
• 🍴 Fork the project
• 🧠 Share it with the self-hosted community
• 🛠️ Contribute improvements

Helping others discover the project makes a huge difference.

⚖️ License

Licensed under the GNU GPLv3 License.

See:

LICENSE

for details.