AI Bestie — Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 13, 2026

AI Bestie ("the App", "we") is your personal AI companion, built to be privacy-first. In plain terms: your conversations are not stored on our servers, we never use them to train AI models, and you are never tracked across apps or sold to anyone. Your history, memories, journal, and meeting transcripts live on your device. This policy explains the little that is necessarily processed to make the App work, the few places data does leave your phone, and the controls you have over all of it.

1. What We Never Do

• We do NOT store your conversations, voice, or images on our servers.
• We do NOT use anything you say to train AI models, and we do not keep copies of your conversations to review or improve the App.
• We do NOT track you across apps or websites, and we run no advertising analytics.
• We do NOT sell or rent your data, and we do not "share" it for cross-context behavioural advertising as those terms are defined in US state privacy laws.
• We do NOT build a profile of you on our servers — memories about you stay on your device.

The one marketing use of your data is email you ask for: if you turn on "Product news and tips", your email address is passed to our own customer-relationship system so we can send it. That is described in Section 5, and one tap turns it off.

2. How Cloud Answers Work (transient processing)

AI Bestie is a cloud AI companion, so to answer you the App must send your message to an AI provider and get a reply back — the same way any AI app works. This is processing to serve you in the moment, not collection: we do not keep it.

• Voice audio is captured while you are talking to Bestie (tap-to-talk, a call, or the wake word) and, if you start them, during Meeting Mode and live captions. Audio is transcribed and then discarded — we do not store your audio. Section 3 covers recording conversations that other people are part of.
• Chat messages are relayed to generate a reply and are not persisted on our servers.
• To make replies personal, what is relevant from your device is sent along with your message: your profile, related memories and people you have told Bestie about, and — if you have allowed calendar access — today's events. Your memories are stored on your device; this is a copy for that one reply, and it is not kept by us or by the AI provider.
• The wake word ("Hey Bestie") and quick voice commands use your phone's built-in speech recognition. Apple or Google may process that audio under their own privacy terms.
• If you ask Bestie to browse a website for you, the page loads on your phone and a text description of it is sent to the AI provider to decide the next step. Nothing is purchased or submitted without you confirming.
• If you turn on "Save Chat History", your conversations are stored ENCRYPTED on your device only — never uploaded.
• When Bestie looks something up on the web, a search query based on your question is sent to a search provider (Section 7) — the query only, not your identity or conversation.
• Bestie's spoken voice is generated from her reply text on our own voice server, and the audio is not kept.
• Camera images are sent to an AI provider only when you actively use a vision feature (Bestie's eye during a call, or Camera Mode) so she can describe what you show her. Video is never recorded or streamed.
• On a free account, everyday conversation is answered by the AI built into your phone when it has one (Apple Intelligence on supported iPhones, or the offline model if you downloaded it), so those messages never leave the device. Requests it cannot handle — actions, web lookups, photos, long messages — go to the cloud providers in Section 7.
• For maximum privacy, "Prefer on-device AI" (Settings) answers on your phone, on devices that support it, so that message never leaves the device. Features that need the cloud — the camera, web lookups, and long or complex requests — still use it.

3. Recording Conversations With Other People

Meeting Mode records and transcribes everyone who speaks, not only you. Before your first recording the App shows a notice you have to accept, because recording other people carries obligations that are yours, not ours.

• You must tell every participant that the conversation is being recorded and transcribed by an AI assistant, and stop if anyone objects.
• Many places require the consent of EVERY participant — including California, Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania, Washington, Maryland and Massachusetts, and most of Europe. On a call it can be the other person's location that decides. Recording without that consent can be a criminal offence and can be sued over.
• Audio chunks are sent to our transcription provider to turn into text and are not kept. The finished transcript is stored on your device only — never on our servers.
• Meeting transcripts stay on your device until you delete them (Meetings screen). If a participant asks you to delete a recording of them, please do — in the EU/UK they have a right to ask.
• Bestie also keeps a rolling few minutes of ambient audio in memory while she is on, so she can answer "what did they just say". It is never written to disk, never sent anywhere unless you ask a question about it, and is wiped continuously. You can turn ambient listening off in Settings.

We are not able to obtain the other participants' consent for you, and we do not monitor whether you did. If you record people without telling them, that is your responsibility, not a feature of the App.

4. Your Account

You sign in with an email address, or with Sign in with Apple or Google (handled by our authentication provider, Clerk). If you use Sign in with Apple and choose to hide your email, we only ever see Apple's relay address. We keep your email address to secure your account, remember your subscription, and let you restore access on a new device. We do not use it for advertising, and we only send you marketing email if you ask us to (Section 5). You can delete your account and your email at any time (Section 11).

So our servers can tell a real install of the App from anything else, the App registers a device token the first time it runs. It is derived from a random ID created on your phone and stored only as a one-way hash — it is not your phone number, advertising ID or hardware serial. On iPhone we may also use Apple's App Attest to confirm requests come from a genuine copy of the App. We use the token to authenticate requests, count usage against fair-use limits, and prevent abuse.

5. Email From Us

We send two kinds of email. Service email — receipts, security notices, password resets — comes with the account and cannot be switched off while your account exists. Product news and tips is marketing, and it is off unless you turn it on in Privacy & Permissions.

• When you turn it on, your email address (and, if we have them, your name and subscription reference) is stored in our own customer-relationship system so we can send it. That system is ours — your address is not passed to an advertising network or a data broker.
• We record when and where you opted in, so we can show consent was given if it is ever queried.
• When you turn it off, or unsubscribe from any email, consent is withdrawn immediately and we stop.
• Deleting your account also withdraws consent and erases your contact record from that system.
• We also record subscription events (started, cancelled) against your reference there so we can measure how the business is doing. Those events never create permission to email you.

6. Subscriptions

Bestie Pro is sold through the Apple App Store / Google Play and managed via RevenueCat. Purchases are processed by the app stores — we never see your card details. We store only your subscription status (active/free) so the App can unlock Pro features. You manage or cancel your subscription in your App Store / Google Play account.

If you use refer-a-friend, we record which code was used and whether it earned a reward, so the reward can be applied. We do not contact the person you referred.

7. Service Providers That Process (not store) Your Requests

To run the App we rely on the providers below. AI providers process your request in the moment to return a reply; we do not send them your identity, and your API keys are never in the app binary (all calls go through our backend proxy). None of these are used to build a profile of you.

• Anthropic (Claude) — generating responses for Pro subscribers, web lookups, and a backup when the free services below are busy.
• Groq and Cloudflare (Workers AI) — generating responses for free accounts, including describing photos and what the camera sees (Groq and Cloudflare).
• Groq (Whisper) — transcribing your voice, live captions, and meeting audio. For Pro subscribers, OpenAI (Whisper) may be used instead when Groq is unavailable.
• OpenAI — for Pro subscribers, detailed image understanding and web search.
• Tavily — web search, when Bestie looks something up. It receives the search query only.
• Fly.io — hosting for our backend and for Bestie's voice server.
• wttr.in — local weather. It receives your device's IP address, from which it estimates your location; GPS is not sent.
• Expo — delivering push notifications. It receives a notification token for your device and the text of the notification.
• Apple and Google — speech recognition on your phone, as described in Section 2.
• Clerk — account sign-in and security.
• Supabase — our backend database, used for your account, subscription status and usage counters.
• RevenueCat & Apple/Google — subscription processing.
• Sentry — crash and error diagnostics to keep the App stable, configured not to send request bodies or IP addresses. The only message content it receives is an AI reply you choose to report (Section 8).
• Our own customer-relationship system — your email address and subscription events, only as described in Section 5.

None of these providers' terms allow them to use your content to train their models. We deliberately do not use AI services, such as free tiers from some providers, whose terms would allow that.

8. Reports and Diagnostics

We do not keep copies of your conversations to improve the App. Two small things do reach us, both so we can fix problems:

• Reporting a reply. If you flag one of Bestie's replies as offensive, harmful or wrong, the text of that reply and the reason you picked are sent to us for review. Your own messages are not included.
• Error diagnostics. When something in the App fails, a short technical description of the error (what failed, the app version and platform) is sent to us. Email addresses, phone numbers and access tokens are removed before it leaves your phone, and no account ID is attached.

9. Permissions

• Microphone — voice chat, calls, live captions, the wake word, and Meeting Mode recording. Used only while listening.
• Camera — vision features and AR translation. Frames are used only for the feature you invoke, and are not kept.
• Photos — only the images you pick to show or attach.
• Notifications — reminders and check-ins you set up. Never used for marketing.
• Speech recognition — turning what you say into text for Bestie, using your phone's built-in recognizer (provided by Apple or Google).
• Bluetooth — connecting to your headphones and speakers.
• Location, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders — only when you use a feature that needs them (e.g. local weather, driving mode, a reminder for when you arrive somewhere, calling or messaging a contact by name, or planning your day). You can turn each off in Settings or your system settings.
• Face ID / biometric unlock — to confirm it is you before unlocking private conversations. Handled by your phone; we never receive your biometrics.

10. Data Retention

Conversations are session-based on our servers and not retained after your reply. On-device data — history if enabled, memories, journal, meeting transcripts — stays until you delete it, and you can set a memory auto-delete window in Settings. Account and subscription records are kept while your account exists and are deleted with it. Content reports and error diagnostics (Section 8) are kept only as long as we need them to review the report or fix the problem. Marketing consent records are kept for as long as we rely on them, plus a short period afterwards as proof the consent was given.

11. Your Rights & Controls

Wherever you live, you can use every control below. If you are in the UK, EU, or a US state with a privacy law (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas, Oregon, Montana, and others), you also have the legal rights listed underneath.

• Export a copy of your data, including anything held in our customer-relationship system (Privacy & Permissions → Export my data).
• Delete all server-side data at any time (Privacy & Permissions → Delete all my data).
• Wipe everything on this device, including memories and meeting transcripts (Settings → Delete All My Data).
• Turn marketing email on or off (Privacy & Permissions).
• Toggle every data-using feature on or off individually.

Your legal rights: access, correction, deletion, a portable copy, and the right to object to or restrict processing. Where we rely on your consent you can withdraw it at any time without affecting what came before. You will never be treated differently for exercising a right. You can appoint someone to make a request for you, and you can appeal a decision by replying to our refusal — we will respond with reasons. You also have the right to complain to your data protection authority (in the UK, the ICO; in the EU, your national supervisory authority).

We do not sell personal data and do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of and no need for a "Do Not Sell or Share" link. We honour Global Privacy Control signals on our website. We do not use your data for automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects, and we do not profile you for advertising.

To make a request, use the in-app controls above or email us at the address in Section 16. We will verify a request through the email address on your account and respond within the time your law allows (one month in the UK/EU, 45 days in the US states, extendable where permitted).

12. Why We Are Allowed To Process Your Data

For users in the UK and EU, our lawful bases under the GDPR are:

• Performance of a contract — running your account, delivering Bestie's replies, and providing your subscription.
• Consent — marketing email and each optional permission. You can withdraw any of these at any time.
• Legitimate interests — keeping the App secure and stable, preventing abuse and fraud, and understanding how the business is performing. We have weighed these against your interests and use the least data that works.
• Legal obligation — keeping records we are required to keep, such as tax records for purchases.

Where you choose to tell Bestie something that counts as special category data — about your health, beliefs or sex life — we rely on your explicit consent. It is stored only on your device, but like any message it is sent to an AI provider in the moment to generate a reply, and is not retained by them or by us.

13. Where Your Data Is Processed

Our servers and the providers listed in Section 7 are located primarily in the United States. If you are in the UK or EU, that means your data is transferred outside your country. Where it is, the transfer is covered by the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK Addendum), together with technical safeguards including encryption in transit. You can ask us for details of the safeguards that apply to you.

14. Children

The App is not for children. You must be at least 13 to use it, and at least 16 in countries where that is the age of digital consent (including Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and others) unless a parent or guardian consents on your behalf. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone below that age, we do not advertise to children, and we do not target the App at them. If you believe a child has used the App, contact us and we will delete the account and any associated data.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as the App evolves. We will update the date above and, for material changes, notify you in the App and ask you to accept the change before continuing.

16. Contact

Questions, requests, or complaints about your privacy? Email sugar.raymond110@outlook.com and we will respond within the time your law allows. We are the controller of the data described in this policy.