Last updated October 6, 2026

Privacy

Your journal is yours. What you write stays on your phone, and we never see it.

There's no account to make, and we don't run servers that hold your entries. The app has no ads, and it doesn't track you across other apps or websites. The only thing it sends anywhere is a handful of anonymous usage counts, which you can turn off (more below).

What's stored, and where

Everything Debrief keeps is stored on your iPhone, inside the app:

• Your entries: the date, the questions and your answers.
• Your settings: how many follow-up questions you want, your reminder window and your light or dark choice.

We can't see any of it. The only other copies are the ones you make yourself (see below).

Backups

If iCloud Backup is turned on for your iPhone, Apple includes Debrief's data in your phone's backup, the same as other apps. That backup belongs to your Apple account and falls under Apple's privacy policy. We have no access to it.

You can switch Debrief off in your iPhone's iCloud Backup settings. If you do, a lost or replaced phone means a lost journal.

Voice

When you use the microphone, your iPhone's built-in speech recognition turns your speech into text on the device. The audio isn't recorded, saved or sent anywhere.

If your phone can't recognize speech offline, the microphone button doesn't appear. Debrief asks for microphone and speech recognition permission the first time you tap it.

Reminders

The daily reminder is a notification your phone schedules for itself. Nothing about it leaves your device.

Exports

You can export your journal from Settings, as a file to move to a new phone or as a copy to read. The file goes wherever you send or save it: Files, Mail, AirDrop.

Once it leaves the app, it's in your hands, and the privacy rules of wherever you put it (your email provider, a cloud drive) apply.

Anonymous usage counts

To see whether Debrief is working for people, the app sends a few anonymous counts to TelemetryDeck, a privacy-focused analytics service. This is the complete list of what it sends:

• The app was opened, with a rough count of your entries (0, 1, 2-6, 7-29, 30-99 or 100+), your light or dark setting, whether your phone supports voice, and your phone's language and region setting (like "en-US").
• The app was opened from the daily reminder.
• Setup was finished, with the reminder window and number of follow-ups you picked.
• An entry was saved, with whether it answered the question or was written freely, how many follow-ups you answered, your follow-up setting, whether you used the mic, whether it was written after midnight, whether it was inside your reminder window, a rough length (under 25 words, 25-100 or over 100) and a rough writing time (under 2 minutes, 2-5 or over 5).
• A question was skipped: which date's question you skipped to write freely, or which follow-up you skipped on which date (the month and day, like "10-06", never your answer).
• An entry was edited or started over, and whether that happened on Today or in the Journal.
• Past years were shown, with how many years had an entry on that date.
• A setting was changed: the number of follow-ups or the reminder window, with the new choice.
• Reminder permission was answered, with whether you allowed it and whether you were in setup or Settings.
• The journal was exported (as a file to move or a copy to read), imported (with how many entries were added or skipped) or erased.
• Something went wrong: a failure loading, saving, editing, starting over, importing or exporting, with which of those it was and no other detail.

Every count also carries the app version, the iOS version, a random ID for this launch of the app, and a random ID for this install that's scrambled before it leaves the phone. Erase journal gives the install a new ID.

The counts never include anything you write, your name, your email, your contacts or your device's identifiers, and we can't connect them to you.

To stop them, switch off Settings → Share anonymous usage counts. After that, nothing is sent. Erasing your journal keeps that choice.

What Apple shares with us

Apple gives app makers anonymous, combined numbers through App Store Connect, like download counts and crash reports. They come only from people who've chosen to share analytics with developers in their iPhone settings, and they never include your entries or anything that identifies you.

Deleting your data

Settings → Erase journal deletes every entry and setting from your phone. So does deleting the app. Copies in an older iCloud Backup live in your iPhone's iCloud settings, and you can delete them there.

Children

Debrief isn't made for children under 13. It doesn't collect personal information from anyone, kids included.

Changes

If this policy changes, we'll post the new version here with a new date. If what Debrief collects ever changes, this page will say what and why before the app does it.

Contact

Questions about privacy: hello@dailydebrief.app