Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-09-07

Stoics (“the app”) is operated by YeahBuddyGames (“we”, “us”). This policy describes what data we collect, why, and how it is handled.

Information used by the app

Anonymous installation and preferences. Our server creates a random installation identifier when the app connects. We use it to associate your conversations, chosen mentor, memory, trial, subscription, and app activity with your installation. A sign-in name or email address is not required. “Anonymous” means that we do not require your real identity; text you choose to share can still identify you. On iPhone, the authentication token and free-trial end date are stored in the system Keychain and can survive uninstalling the app.

Situations, conversations, and letter replies you share. Completing onboarding with a situation shares it with our service for personalization; in iPhone version 1.5, this action is labelled Open my reflection. Sending a chat message shares that message. Saving a reply on the letter screen, or requesting a mentor reply to it, shares your reflection and its prompt. In iPhone version 1.5, the save action is labelled Save & share with mentor; earlier versions called it Keep in journal. Our server and AI provider process this content, relevant conversation context, and mentor memory to generate responses and personal letters. Conversation messages and responses are stored on our server and locally in the app.

Mentor memory and personal letters. We keep a persistent summary of details you share, including an onboarding situation, to help the mentor remember context across conversations and write personal letters. This memory is shared across the app’s philosopher voices. The summary can be inaccurate; you can view, edit, or erase it in the app. We also store generated personal letters temporarily so repeated opens can show the same letter. A timestamp may record when a message triggers a safety safeguard, so the service can adjust subsequent personalization.

Local journal, next steps, and check-ins. Entries written and saved directly in the iPhone Journal tab stay in the app’s local storage. The iPhone’s saved next-step text, detailed practice history, and reminder preferences also stay locally. Starting with version 1.5.1, a content-free event records that you saved an entry or step, or completed a check-in. A check-in event includes its category (tried, not yet, or changed), but no written explanation or step text. Saving a next step does not send that step’s text to our server. If you choose to discuss it and send the resulting chat message, the text you send is processed like other conversations. Letter replies that you explicitly share also have a local journal copy.

If a shared letter reflection cannot be delivered, the iPhone app keeps a local pending copy, including its text, prompt, and mentor, and retries sharing when the app reconnects. Successfully shared items are removed from that pending queue; their local journal entries remain.

Subscriptions. For App Store purchases and restores, we send Apple’s signed transaction information to our server for verification. We keep subscription status, product and transaction identifiers, and expiration information associated with the anonymous installation. Apple handles billing; we do not receive payment card details from Apple. Google Play subscriptions similarly use purchase tokens and subscription information to verify access on Android.

Usage and purchase analytics. We collect first-party app activity linked to the anonymous installation identifier. This includes the app version, days of use, message counts, and milestones such as completing onboarding, opening a letter, saving a reflection, choosing a reminder, viewing plans, and starting, completing, cancelling, or failing a purchase. These records help us find broken features and understand whether people return and find the app useful. The milestone events do not include the text of your messages, journal entries, next steps, or check-ins.

Starting with iPhone version 1.5.1, these events include first-open time and time zone, event times, app version and build, platform, random session and action identifiers, and whether the installation was already using the app before this measurement began. We record interactive sessions, displayed mentor replies, saved steps, check-in categories, saved journal entries, opened letters, plan screens, product-loading results, purchase attempt results, and restore results. The app temporarily queues these events locally when it cannot send them. We use the first-open time zone to compare calendar days consistently, including after travel. We do not request GPS or precise location for this purpose.

Apple Ads attribution. On eligible new iPhone installations in version 1.5.1 or later, the app obtains an attribution token from Apple’s AdServices framework and sends it to our server. Our server sends that token to Apple to check whether an Apple Ads campaign led to the install. We do not store the raw token. We associate Apple’s attribution result with the anonymous installation, including available campaign, ad group, keyword, ad, country or region, and conversion information. This lets us measure whether a campaign brings people who return to practice or subscribe. An unavailable result is not treated as proof of an organic install. This does not use IDFA or share your reflection text with Apple.

Diagnostics and abuse prevention. Our infrastructure processes network requests and logs technical information such as timestamps, errors, response status, performance, and installation identifiers. Some error logs may include limited AI output or provider error details. We use a hashed IP address to limit repeated anonymous registrations. We also keep request and daily usage counters to protect the service.

Support and shared content. If you email support, we receive your email address and what you send us. If you use the system share sheet, content you choose to share is passed to the destination you select and is then subject to that destination’s practices.

How long information is kept

  • Conversations, mentor memory, installation profiles, subscription records, first-open and attribution metadata, and older installation-linked usage milestones currently have no automatic deletion period in our service. They remain until removed through the controls described below. Expiring a trial or cancelling a subscription does not erase them.
  • Dated practice and purchase analytics introduced in version 1.5.1 are set to expire 180 days after the server stores them. Retrying an existing event does not extend its expiry. These analytics records are separate from the subscription records used to verify paid access.
  • Cached personal letters are set to expire three days after they are stored. This does not erase the mentor memory used to write them or copies already saved on your device.
  • Short-term service counters have expiry settings of approximately two minutes for request limits, up to two days for daily limits, and up to two hours for registration limits based on a hashed IP address.
  • Current backend application logs have a 30-day retention setting. Deleting app data does not immediately remove entries from these logs.
  • Local data remains until you remove it using the app’s controls or remove its storage. iPhone backups and Keychain data are also subject to your device and Apple settings.

The expiry settings for dated analytics, cached letters, and counters use Amazon DynamoDB’s automatic deletion service. Removal is asynchronous and can occur several days after the expiry time, as described in AWS’s explanation of expiry.

What we do not do

  • We do not sell your data. Apple Ads attribution uses the limited token exchange described above; it does not send conversation or journal text.
  • We do not use third-party analytics SDKs in the app.
  • We do not use Apple’s advertising identifier (IDFA).
  • We do not combine app activity with data from other companies’ apps or websites to track you for advertising.

Our first-party promotional links count visits by campaign link. Those counts are not joined to your app installation, and the link counter does not store an individual visitor identifier. Apple App Store campaign links also provide campaign-level reports. These link reports are separate from the installation-level Apple Ads attribution described above.

Third-party processors

Our current AI hosting provider is DeepInfra, Inc., using DeepSeek models. The content sent for AI processing can include your situation, messages, relevant conversation history, shared letter reflections, and mentor memory. Provider and model configurations can change; we update this policy when our processing practices change. DeepInfra’s own handling of inference data is described in its data privacy documentation and privacy policy.

Amazon Web Services hosts our backend and database in the United States. Apple processes App Store transactions through StoreKit and provides Apple Ads attribution through AdServices; Google processes Google Play transactions on Android. See AWS’s customer data privacy information and the Apple and Google privacy policies for their respective services.

Children

Stoics is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child has used the app and provided data, please contact us about removing the associated data.

Your controls and deletion

On iPhone, open Settings → What he remembers to view, edit, or erase the mentor memory. Erasing memory also clears pending letter shares and cached personal letters in our service. It leaves your conversation history and local journal entries in place. A later conversation or explicit share can create new memory, and an existing conversation can still supply its earlier context to a new reply.

Use Settings → Delete my data to request removal of your installation’s server-side profile, subscription entitlement record, mentor memory, cached letters, conversations, associated usage records, and Apple Ads attribution metadata. After the server confirms, the iPhone app clears its local conversations, journal, next steps, check-ins, pending shares, queued analytics, and preferences. This requires a connection; the app reports a failure if it cannot complete the server request.

A minimal deletion marker associated with the former random identifier is kept to prevent old authentication tokens or unfinished requests from restoring deleted data. It contains no conversation or journal content. The iPhone retains the free-trial end date in Keychain to prevent repeated free trials, and a local true/false marker records that the app has been used before so a data reset is not counted as a new download. The marker contains no previous installation identifier or content. Shared abuse-prevention counters and existing operational logs expire according to their retention settings. If you continue using the app after deletion, it registers a new anonymous installation.

Deleting an individual local journal entry removes its queued share if it has not already been sent; it does not erase memory from content already shared with the service. Use the memory or full deletion controls for that. Uninstalling the app alone does not delete server data and may leave Keychain records on an iPhone. Deleting data does not cancel a subscription; manage cancellation through Apple or Google Play.

You can also contact support@stoics.chat with a privacy or deletion request. Because no email sign-in is required, we may need information that lets us locate the correct installation. Avoid sending additional private journal content merely to identify it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the “Last updated” date on this page. The current policy is accessible from the app’s Settings.

Contact

For privacy questions or deletion requests, write to: support@stoics.chat