PartFolk Privacy Policy
Effective: October 25, 2026 · Company: Martinsburg Design, LLC ("we", "us") · Contact: privacy@partfolk.com
PartFolk is a private journal. What you write about your inner life is sensitive, and we treat it that way. This policy explains, in plain language, what we collect, why, who helps us process it, and the choices you have.
The short version
- We don't sell your data, show ads, or track you across other apps or websites. There are no advertising or analytics SDKs in PartFolk.
- Your journal is stored on your iPhone and in your iCloud, not by us. Our server keeps only your account, your settings and AI choice, your subscription status and usage counts.
- To offer AI features, short pieces of your journal are sent to AI providers that we name below, used for that request, and not kept by us. We ask your permission first, and you can turn this off.
- Apple writes by default (on your iPhone or on Apple's Private Cloud Compute). Claude by Anthropic writes if you choose it or your iPhone can't run Apple Intelligence.
- Voice stays on your iPhone. Speech is turned into text on the device; the recording is deleted right after.
- You can export or delete everything from inside the app at any time.
1. Where your journal lives
Your journal (moments, feelings and their intensity, body areas, urges, fears, the parts you name and how they relate, notes, "get to know" answers, reflections, weekly notes and pattern suggestions) is stored on your iPhone and in your private iCloud database, under your Apple Account. We don't store it, and we can't read it. The words you write are end-to-end encrypted in iCloud.
If iCloud is off for PartFolk, your journal stays on that iPhone only, so deleting the app or losing the phone loses it. Export it from Settings › Your data to keep a copy.
2. What we collect
| What | Examples | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Account identifiers | A random user ID created when you start; if you connect Sign in with Apple, Apple's stable ID for you and, if you share it, your first name | To keep your account yours and let you get back to it on a new phone |
| Settings and consent | Whether AI help is on, whether you work with a therapist, reminder settings, time zone, region code, onboarding progress | To honor your AI choice, show the right tools, and show crisis lines for your country |
| Subscription status | Whether you have an active subscription and when it expires (from Apple, through our subscription provider). We never see your card or Apple ID password | To unlock the app |
| Usage counts | When an AI feature was used and roughly what it cost (no content), and a key proving requests come from the real app on a real iPhone (App Attest) | To rate-limit, control cost and prevent abuse |
| Minimal technical records | Request IDs, timings and error types in server logs (never journal content) | To keep the service running |
Journal content passes through, it isn't kept. When AI help is on, the words for one step travel through our server functions to the providers in section 3, are used for that request, and are discarded. They're never written to our database or logs. Safety results (for example, "show crisis resources") come back to your iPhone and are stored there with the moment.
We do not collect: your contacts, precise or coarse location, photos, browsing history, advertising identifiers, or audio recordings. We do not ask for your email address. ("Region" is the country setting on your iPhone, used only to pick crisis lines.)
Voice. If you speak a moment, your iPhone records it and turns it into text using Apple's on-device speech recognition. The audio file is deleted as soon as it's transcribed and never leaves your device. Only the text you choose to save is stored.
3. AI features and who processes your text
PartFolk uses AI to suggest feelings, suggest which part might be active, check text for safety concerns, and write short reflections, Get to know mirrors, name ideas, weekly notes and session summaries. Before the first AI feature runs, we ask your permission. You can withdraw it any time in Settings › Privacy › AI help; PartFolk keeps working as a journal without it.
Who writes. In Settings › Privacy › AI help you choose who writes reflections, mirrors and name ideas: Apple (the default on iPhones with Apple Intelligence) or Claude by Anthropic (the default on iPhones without it). With Apple chosen, if Apple can't write (for example, its daily limit is reached), you get PartFolk's own template words and nothing is sent to be written, unless you turn on "Use Claude when Apple can't". Weekly notes and session summaries are written by Claude. Every AI-written passage is checked by our server (with OpenAI, below) before you see it.
When AI help is on, the relevant text (for example, the "what happened" text of one moment, the moments you pick for a session summary, or a week's counts and part names for your weekly note) is sent over an encrypted connection to:
| Provider | What it does | What it receives | Retention / training |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple (Apple Intelligence: the on-device model, or Private Cloud Compute on iOS 27+) — called from your iPhone | Writes reflections, Get to know mirrors and name ideas when Apple is the writer | The text of that moment or answer, from your iPhone. Text for the on-device model never leaves your iPhone | Apple states Private Cloud Compute uses requests only to answer them and doesn't store them. Name ideas from the on-device model work even with AI help off, since nothing is sent |
| Anthropic, PBC (Claude, via the Anthropic API, US processing) — USA | Writes reflections, mirrors and name ideas when Claude is the writer; writes weekly notes and session summaries | The text of that moment or answer; the moments you picked for a session summary; a week's counts and part names | Not used to train models (commercial API terms). Deleted within 30 days, unless flagged for a Usage Policy violation (then kept up to 2 years) or required by law. |
| OpenAI, L.L.C. (directly, US data processing) — USA | Classification: emotion suggestions, part matching, pattern grouping, safety checks (plus a second, independent safety check), and checking written text before you see it (Decisions and Moderation APIs) | The text of the step you're on and short context (e.g., your part names); text written for you, to be checked | Not used to train models. Kept for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring unless zero data retention is approved. |
We don't send your name, email or Apple ID to AI providers. AI-written text is labelled in the app. It can be wrong; you can edit or ignore it.
4. Other service providers
| Provider | Purpose | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Our hosting provider (United States) | Sign-in, our small database, and the server functions that relay AI requests | Everything in section 2. Journal text only passes through, and is never stored |
| Our subscription provider (United States) | Keeps track of subscriptions | Your random user ID and Apple purchase receipts. No journal content, no name or email |
| Apple | iCloud (stores your journal in your private database), Sign in with Apple, App Store payments, on-device speech, App Attest | Governed by Apple's privacy policy and your iCloud terms |
Each provider processes data only to provide its service to us, under contract terms that protect it. We don't share data with anyone else except if required by law (and we'll push back on overbroad requests and tell you where we're allowed to).
5. How your data is protected
- Encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest.
- Your journal is in your own iCloud, which we can't access. On your iPhone, app data uses iOS Complete data protection (unreadable while your phone is locked).
- Our database holds no journal content. Row-level security means each row is readable only by the account it belongs to.
- Journal content is never written to our logs.
6. How long we keep it
- Your journal: on your iPhone and in your iCloud until you delete it, delete your account, or delete it from iCloud yourself (Settings › your name › iCloud).
- Account data on our server: until you delete your account.
- After you delete your account: the app deletes your journal from your iPhone and from iCloud, and we remove your account from our live database immediately; it may persist in encrypted database backups for up to 7 days, then it's gone. Your records at our subscription provider are deleted at the same time; Apple keeps its own purchase records.
- Anonymous accounts: if you never connect Sign in with Apple and lose or reset your phone, we can't identify you, so we can't reconnect your account. Your journal may still be in your iCloud.
- AI usage counts: until you delete your account.
7. Your choices and rights
- Export: Settings › Your data, as a readable PDF or a complete JSON file, made on your iPhone from your journal.
- Delete: Settings › Your data › Delete account deletes your journal (on this iPhone and in iCloud) and your account permanently. Deleting your account does not cancel an Apple subscription — cancel it in Settings › Apple ID › Subscriptions.
- Withdraw AI consent: Settings › Privacy › AI help.
- Choose who writes: Settings › Privacy › AI help › Who writes (Apple or Claude, and whether Claude may step in when Apple can't).
- Sign in with Apple: you can also stop using Sign in with Apple for PartFolk in your iPhone's Apple ID settings.
- Depending on where you live (e.g., the EU/UK under GDPR, California under CCPA/CPRA, and other US states), you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or port your data, to object to or restrict processing, and to complain to a regulator. Email privacy@partfolk.com; we'll respond within 30 days. We don't "sell" or "share" personal information as those terms are defined in California law.
Legal bases (EU/UK): performing our contract with you (running the journal and subscription); your explicit consent for AI processing of content about your mental wellbeing (special-category health data, GDPR Art. 9(2)(a)); legitimate interests for security and abuse prevention.
International transfers: our servers and providers are in the United States. Where required, transfers rely on the providers' Standard Contractual Clauses.
8. Health data and Washington's My Health My Data Act
Feelings, body sensations and safety signals may count as "consumer health data" under laws such as Washington's My Health My Data Act. They're stored on your iPhone and in your iCloud, not by us. With your consent, they pass through our servers to the AI providers in section 3 only to provide the features you use; we never sell them, and you can delete them at any time.
9. Children
PartFolk is for people aged 18 and over and is not directed to children. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we'll delete it.
10. Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect. The date at the top shows the latest version.
11. Contact
Martinsburg Design, LLC · privacy@partfolk.com