Privacy Policy

Account Information

• KnowItOwl! has no login screen. On iPhone, the app verifies Apple's signed App Transaction and creates a stable account identifier scoped to KnowItOwl!
• Our backend derives a one-way hashed user ID from the app's bundle ID, the App Store environment, and Apple's app transaction identifier. It does not contain your Apple Account name or email address and is not used to track you across other apps or websites
• The same app-scoped identity lets your credits and account data remain available after reinstalling KnowItOwl! or using it on another eligible device associated with the same App Store account

Voice Input and Conversations

• When you ask by voice, your recording is sent through the authenticated KnowItOwl! backend to Google Cloud Speech-to-Text. The transcript or a typed question and up to three recent messages are sent to Vertex AI Gemini, with Google Search grounding when available. Answer text is sent to Google Cloud Text-to-Speech when spoken audio is requested
• Your questions and AI responses are encrypted on your device before being stored in your account for conversation history and cross-device sync
• Voice recordings and AI-generated audio saved for playback are encrypted on your device before Firebase storage

Credit and Purchase Information

• Your credit balance and ledger history (purchases, free grants, and usage) are stored under your app-scoped account identifier
• App Store transaction claims are retained to prevent the same consumable purchase or promotional credit from being granted more than once
• We do NOT process or store payment card details — all purchases are handled by Apple through the App Store

Device Information

• Device and app attestation tokens are processed to verify that requests come from legitimate copies of KnowItOwl! (Firebase App Check using App Attest on iPhone and DeviceCheck on Apple Watch)
• The app does not collect precise location, contacts, advertising identifiers, or cross-app tracking data

Diagnostics

• Apple may provide anonymized crash and hang reports through App Store Connect and Xcode Organizer when users share diagnostics with Apple
• KnowItOwl! sends privacy-filtered operational events such as app version, platform, workflow state, duration, and error category to our authenticated backend. These events exclude questions, transcripts, answers, audio, authentication tokens, and purchase transaction IDs
• Optional verbose logging adds additional privacy-filtered workflow breadcrumbs and can be turned off in Settings

Support Communications

If you contact us by email or use the support form, we receive the name, email address, subject, and message you choose to provide so we can respond. This information is not collected by the KnowItOwl! app itself.

KnowItOwl! Backend and Google Cloud AI Services

KnowItOwl! sends requests to an authenticated backend operated by Sandy Brook DevWorks LLC on Google Cloud Run. The backend uses Google Cloud Speech-to-Text, Vertex AI Gemini, Google Search grounding, and Google Cloud Text-to-Speech as needed to answer a question. The following data may be processed each time you ask:

• Voice audio recordings — the AAC audio captured when you speak a question (voice input only)
• Questions — a voice transcript or the text you type
• Conversation context — up to three recent messages to maintain context
• Answer text — sent to Google Cloud Text-to-Speech when spoken audio is requested

This data is transmitted over HTTPS solely to create a transcript, generate and ground an answer, and synthesize spoken audio. Sandy Brook DevWorks does not use it to train AI models. Google's handling of this data is governed by the Google Privacy Policy and Google Cloud Data Processing Addendum. We require service providers to protect user data consistently with this policy and applicable App Store requirements.

Before the first question, the app identifies Sandy Brook DevWorks and Google as the processors, lists the data sent, and asks for explicit permission. No question is sent unless you choose Allow & Continue. You can stop future AI processing by not submitting another question, erase personal content with Delete Personal Data in Settings, or contact us for help with a privacy request.

Firebase (Data Infrastructure)

We use Google Firebase services to securely store and sync your data:

• Firebase Auth — manages the short-lived authenticated session for your app-scoped App Store identity
• Cloud Firestore — stores your encrypted conversation messages and credit balance
• Firebase Storage — stores encrypted audio recordings for playback
• Firebase App Check — verifies that requests come from legitimate Apple devices (App Attest on iPhone, DeviceCheck on Apple Watch)

All Firebase data is stored in Google Cloud infrastructure in a multi-region US deployment (nam5) for high availability (99.999% SLA). Your data is isolated under your authenticated user account and is not accessible to other users.

Apple (Identity, Purchases, Settings, and Diagnostics)

Apple's signed App Transaction supplies the app-scoped identifier used to create your account without a login screen. In-app purchases are processed entirely by Apple through the App Store. Voice preferences are synced using iCloud Key-Value Store, and encryption keys can sync using iCloud Keychain. Apple may provide anonymized crash and hang diagnostics through App Store Connect and Xcode when users share diagnostics with Apple.

Formspree (Support Requests)

If you submit the optional web support form, Formspree processes the name, email address, subject, and message you enter so the request can be delivered to us. You can contact us directly by email instead. See the Formspree Privacy Policy.

Where Your Data Lives

• Encrypted conversation messages, your credit balance, and encrypted audio recordings are stored in Google Firebase under your app-scoped account identifier
• Data is stored in Google Cloud infrastructure in a multi-region US deployment for high availability and durability
• Your data is isolated to your account and is not accessible to other users or to Sandy Brook DevWorks staff in the normal course of operations
• Voice preferences are synced via Apple's iCloud Key-Value Store

Retention and Data Control

• You can delete individual messages or all conversation history at any time within the app
• Delete Personal Data in iPhone Settings permanently removes your conversation messages, stored audio, pending interaction records, local encryption key, and Firebase Auth user record
• Your exact credit balance, credit ledger, and redeemed App Store transaction claims are retained after personal-data deletion or reinstallation. These commerce records are kept for the life of the service, or longer if required by law, so purchases and promotional credits cannot be granted more than once
• Privacy-filtered operational diagnostics are retained only as long as reasonably needed for security, reliability, and troubleshooting under our current Google Cloud logging settings
• Support messages are retained while needed to answer the request, maintain reasonable support records, and meet legal obligations
• Uninstalling the app removes local app data but does not by itself delete encrypted cloud content or retained commerce records

No Data Harvesting

We want to be unambiguous: your data is never harvested, sold, or shared with data aggregators. It is never used to train AI models. It is never analyzed for advertising or profiling purposes. Your conversations and audio exist in Firebase solely to provide you with the KnowItOwl! service, and for no other reason.