Buddy: Your AI Friend
Privacy Policy & Support
The short version
- Buddy runs locally on your phone. Your chats stay yours: stored on your phone, under your control.
- You can choose to open your chats on your own laptop or move Buddy to your new phone using Wi-Fi or Personal Hotspot.
- Buddy only looks things up on websites if you agree, and only the search words are sent, to the website being read.
- Buddy’s data is kept out of iCloud and computer backups.
- We don’t collect any personal data.
1. Information we collect
None. We (the developer of Buddy) do not collect, receive, store, or have access to any of your personal information, conversations, photos, files, or usage data. Buddy has no user accounts, no sign-in, no advertising, no analytics, and no third-party tracking tools.
2. What Buddy stores on your phone
Buddy saves the following on your phone, in the app’s private storage:
- Your chat history with Buddy
- Buddy’s memory: what he remembers from your past chats and the facts he has learned about you
- Photos and files you send Buddy in the chat
- Pages: web pages you save, and pages he reads to answer your questions. You can choose to share a folder of Pages with someone: only the links are shared, never the page text.
- Pins you drop and reminders you ask for
- App settings and your best game score
This data is excluded from iCloud and computer backups. To take Buddy to a new phone, use Move Buddy (see section 5).
3. When Buddy connects to the internet
Buddy works offline. It connects to the internet only in these cases:
| When | What is sent | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| Downloading Buddy’s AI Model and Vision Model (about 3.4 GB). The Vision Model, for photos, is downloaded only on iPhones that can use it. You agree to this on the download page. | A standard file download request. Like any download, the server sees your device’s IP address and basic connection details. | Hugging Face, where we host Buddy’s model files (privacy policy) |
| Weather questions, only if you allow location access | Your city’s area only (your location rounded to about 10 km). | The US National Weather Service (privacy policy). Outside the US, Buddy looks the weather up on a website instead, as in the next row. |
| Looking something up on a website, only after you tap “Agree & Search” (after that, Buddy looks things up without asking again; you can turn this off in the menu), or when you open a folder of Pages someone shared with you | Only the search words shown to you in the request card, sent as an ordinary page request named “Buddy”. Like any website visit, the site also sees your device’s IP address. | The website being read, from Buddy’s list of approved websites, under that website’s own privacy policy. |
| Questions about places near you (for example “closest pharmacy”), only if you allow location access | Your location and what you’re looking for | Apple Maps (privacy policy) |
| Links you choose to tap (for example a helpline or website) | Whatever that app or website normally receives when you open it | The service you open |
4. Camera, photos, files, microphone and location
Buddy uses your camera, photos, or files only when you take a photo or choose a photo or file to send him in the chat, scan the Move Buddy code, or save a picture from your chat to your photo library. Photos and files you send him are processed on your phone and stored only in Buddy’s private storage.
When you talk to Buddy, your voice is turned into text right on your phone by Apple’s on-device speech recognition. Voice recordings are not saved.
If you allow location access, Buddy uses it only when you ask about the weather or places near you, or ask him to drop a pin. Your city name may be added to a website lookup you approve. Pins you drop stay on your phone.
5. Your own devices: Buddy’s Burrow and Move Buddy (optional)
Buddy’s Burrow lets you chat with Buddy from your own laptop’s web browser, over the same Wi-Fi network or your phone’s Personal Hotspot. It is off unless you turn it on, a laptop can only connect with a one-time code shown on your phone, and it turns itself off after a while without use. Messages go directly between your phone and your laptop on your local network.
Move Buddy takes Buddy, with your chats, memories and files, to your new phone. The new phone shows a QR code, your old phone scans it, and everything is sent directly between the two phones over Wi-Fi or Personal Hotspot, encrypted. Once the new phone confirms everything arrived, the old phone erases Buddy.
6. Apple
Buddy is distributed through Apple’s App Store. Apple may provide us with aggregated, anonymous statistics (such as the number of downloads), and only for users who chose to share analytics with app developers in their iPhone settings. This is handled by Apple under Apple’s privacy policy.
7. About Buddy’s AI
Buddy is an AI companion, not a person. His replies are generated on your phone and can sometimes be wrong. Buddy is not a doctor, therapist, lawyer, or emergency service, and his responses are not professional advice.
If you are in crisis, please contact a real person.
In the US, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or call 911 in an emergency. Outside the US, visit findahelpline.com. Buddy also shows these options in the app (“Need help now?”).
8. Deleting your data
- You can delete any of your facts, chats, photos, files and Pages, and they’re removed from your phone.
- Buddy still remembers what he learned from them. To erase his memory too, tap “UnFriend Buddy” in his profile. That deletes everything.
- Deleting the app also removes all of Buddy’s data.
We don’t hold any of your data, so there is nothing on our side to request or delete.
9. Security
Buddy’s data is protected by your iPhone’s built-in security and encryption. To keep it safe, use a passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID on your phone. Anyone who can unlock your phone may be able to open Buddy and read your chats.
10. Children
Buddy is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.
11. Changes to this policy
If we change how Buddy handles data, we will update this page and the effective date above.
12. Contact
Questions about privacy? Email buddyprivateai@gmail.com.
Support
Need help with Buddy? Email buddyprivateai@gmail.com and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Why does Buddy need to download about 3.4 GB?
That’s Buddy’s AI Model and Vision Model. Buddy runs on your phone, so his AI model is stored on your phone. After this one-time download, Buddy works without internet. Wi-Fi is recommended. You can leave the app while it downloads.
Does Buddy work offline?
Yes. After the one-time download, you can chat with Buddy even in airplane mode. Only looking things up on websites (which asks you first), weather, and places near you need internet.
Why does Buddy take a nap?
Buddy can only hold so much of a conversation in his short-term memory. When it fills up, he takes a short nap to save what you talked about into his long-term memory, so he remembers you next time.
Which iPhones can run Buddy?
Buddy runs a full AI model on your phone, so he needs an iPhone with 6 GB of memory or more (iPhone 12 Pro, 13 Pro, 14, 15 and newer). Showing him photos needs an iPhone 15 Pro or newer.
How do I see or change what Buddy remembers?
Tap Buddy’s name at the top of the chat. In his profile, tap any fact to change or forget it. He may still remember it from your recent chats. To erase his memory completely, tap “UnFriend Buddy”.
I got a new phone. How do I move him without losing his memories?
- Install Buddy on your new phone. On the welcome screen, tap “Moving Buddy from another phone?” and a QR code appears.
- On your old phone, open Buddy’s profile and tap “Move Buddy to a new phone”, then scan the code.
- Keep both phones on the same Wi-Fi or Hotspot until he arrives. Once he’s on the new phone, the old phone erases him.
How do I delete everything?
Open Buddy’s profile and tap “UnFriend Buddy”, or delete the app.
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