The short version
Thought Inbox is designed around text, not recordings. The app does not save audio files, does not require an account, and does not include advertising or cross-app tracking. Your thoughts remain on your devices unless you choose an AI Cleanup feature.
Information stored on your devices
Thought Inbox stores transcript text, edits, AI-cleaned text, timestamps, capture source, delivery state, and other technical metadata needed to organize and sync your thoughts. This information is stored locally on your iPhone and Apple Watch. You can export it or delete local data from Settings.
Speech and audio
During a visible capture, Apple speech technology converts speech into text. Thought Inbox does not write an audio file to storage. Temporary audio buffers may exist in memory while capture is active, and Apple may process speech according to Apple’s privacy terms and your device settings.
Apple Watch sync
Transcript text and capture metadata move between your paired Apple Watch and iPhone through Apple’s Watch connectivity services. A thought is saved on its capture device before transfer, and the Watch can retry delivery later.
Optional AI Cleanup
When you explicitly clean a thought or create a daily summary, the selected transcript text and limited metadata are sent over encrypted connections to the Thought Inbox service hosted by Cloudflare and then to the OpenAI API for processing. No audio is sent. The Thought Inbox service does not store transcript content in a database or use it for advertising.
OpenAI states that API inputs and outputs are not used to train its models by default. OpenAI may retain API content for up to 30 days for safety and abuse monitoring unless different retention controls apply, and may keep it longer when legally required. See OpenAI’s API privacy information and Cloudflare’s privacy policy.
Purchases
Subscriptions are processed by Apple. Thought Inbox receives product and entitlement status from StoreKit but does not receive or store your payment card details. Apple handles purchase records under its own privacy policy.
Analytics, advertising, and tracking
Thought Inbox does not include third-party advertising, behavioral analytics, or cross-app tracking. Service providers may process basic network and security logs needed to operate and protect the service.
Retention and deletion
Local thoughts remain until you delete them or remove the app. Deleting all local data in Settings removes Thought Inbox content from the local app database and syncs deletions between paired devices when possible. Content already sent for AI Cleanup is subject to the service-provider retention described above.
Children
Thought Inbox is a general-audience productivity app. It does not knowingly collect personal information from children and does not provide social features or public content sharing.
Changes and questions
This policy may be updated when the app or its service providers change. The effective date above identifies the current version. For questions or privacy requests, use the contact information on the Support page.