Privacy policy, in full
Note to Self is a private journal. This is the complete policy: what the app stores, where it lives, and who can reach it.
Your journal is private. We never receive or see its contents. Your check-ins, notes and recordings stay on your device and, if you switch on backup, in your own Apple iCloud. There is no Note to Self account.
The app sends anonymous usage counts through TelemetryDeck to show which screens and actions are used. Nothing you write, record, score or name as a tag is included. You can switch these counts off. Section 6 covers this.
Voice transcription uses Apple: when you record a voice note, the recording is sent to Apple's speech recognition service to be turned into text. It goes to Apple, never to us. Section 4 covers this.
This policy covers the Note to Self iOS application. In this document, "we" and "us" mean the developer of Note to Self, and "you" means the person using the app.
Everything below is written to your device's own private app storage. None of it is transmitted to us.
| What | Where it lives |
|---|---|
| Check-in scores (Energy, Joy, and your two customisable scales) | On your device |
| Written notes and voice-note transcripts | On your device |
| Audio recordings of your voice notes | On your device |
| Your tags, what each one means to you, and any template text | On your device |
| Notes to future self | On your device |
| Insights and patterns, worked out on your phone | On your device |
| Settings (reminder times, appearance, scale names, word corrections) | On your device |
We have no access to any of it. There is no mechanism in the app for your content to reach us, because there is nowhere for it to go.
Backup is off until you turn it on. When you do, the app copies the same files into your own iCloud Drive container, so that losing your phone doesn't mean losing your notes, and so you can restore them on a new device.
That container belongs to your Apple Account. It is reachable by you and governed by Apple's iCloud terms and privacy policy. We cannot read it, list it or recover it for you.
If you turn backup off, or delete the app, the copy in iCloud is not removed automatically. You can delete it yourself in Settings › your name › iCloud › Manage Account Storage.
When you record a voice note, the app asks Apple's speech recognition to turn it into text, the same service behind dictation on your keyboard.
The recording is sent to Apple for that step. Apple processes it under its own privacy policy. The resulting transcript comes back to your device and is saved there with the rest of your entry. At no point does the audio or the transcript reach us.
If you would rather not use Apple's speech recognition, type your notes instead of recording them, or decline the Speech Recognition permission when the app asks. Typing is unaffected. Anonymous usage counts are controlled separately in Settings, then Usage, then Share anonymous usage.
You can refuse or revoke any of these in iOS Settings. Refusing notifications or speech recognition does not stop you using the rest of the app.
The app reports anonymous counts of which screens are opened and which actions are taken. These help us understand how the app is used. This is the complete list of what can be sent:
Each event includes the app version, the iOS version and a random identifier generated on your phone when you install the app. It includes no Apple identifier, advertising identifier, name, email address or location. These anonymous counts cannot be used to identify anyone.
Nothing you write, record, score or name as a tag is included. No note text, transcript, recording, score, tag name, tag meaning or date of any entry is ever sent. The app has no code that could send this content to us or to the analytics processor.
TelemetryDeck, a European analytics company, processes these counts in the EU. It does not store IP addresses and does not allow the data to be used for advertising.
To switch this off, open Settings, then Usage, then turn off Share anonymous usage. Once it is off, no usage events or accompanying information are sent.
The app can export your data as a folder of files, and can produce a shareable card for a day or a single check-in. Both are things you start deliberately.
Once you hand a file or an image to another app, Messages, Mail, a cloud drive, a social network, it is governed by that app's terms, not this policy. Journal exports and shared cards are sent only when you choose to share them. Anonymous usage counts, Apple speech recognition and optional iCloud backup work as described above.
Your entries stay until you delete them. There is no retention period on our side, because there is no copy on our side.
We hold no copy of your journal, so we cannot delete or hand over its contents. You can stop anonymous usage counts in Settings, then Usage, then Share anonymous usage.
Note to Self is not directed at children under 13. The anonymous usage counts described above do not include names, ages or journal contents and cannot be used to identify anyone.
If the app ever starts doing something this policy doesn't describe, the policy will be updated before that change ships, and the date below will change with it. Material changes will be called out in the app.
Questions about this policy, or about how the app handles your data, can be sent through the support form.
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