Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 21, 2026

LighterMind is designed to keep your data private. This policy explains what information the app handles, where it goes, and what choices you have.

The short version

  • Your journal entries, tags, templates, drawings, and attachments are stored on your device and, if you use sync, in your own private iCloud. We can't read them — there is nothing to read on our end.
  • Entries you explicitly share are visible only to the people you invite, delivered through Apple's iCloud sharing. We still can't read them.
  • The app sends anonymous usage statistics (which screens and features are used — never anything you write) to a server we run ourselves. You can turn this off in Settings.
  • No third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs. No user accounts. We never sell or share your data — we don't have it in the first place.

Data stored on your device

All of your content is stored locally on your device:

  • Entries — journal posts, checklists, recipes, meal plans, time blocks, data tables, and reports
  • Tags — your tag hierarchy (#topics, @people, !events, and plain tags)
  • Attachments & drawings — photos, videos, files, and Apple Pencil drawings you add to entries
  • Templates — saved entry templates and recurring routines
  • Reminders — reminder times you set on entries and time blocks (delivered as local notifications by the system)
  • Nutrition data — food items and nutrition information you've looked up
  • Preferences — theme, calorie targets, planner settings, checklist size catalog, and other configuration

iCloud sync

If you are signed into iCloud on your device, LighterMind uses Apple's CloudKit to sync your data across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This sync uses your private iCloud database — only you can access it.

Your preferences also sync across devices using iCloud Key-Value Storage. If you supply a USDA API key for nutrition lookups, it is stored in iCloud Keychain.

You can disable iCloud sync for LighterMind in your device's iCloud settings. Your data will remain on that device.

Shared entries

You can share an individual entry with other people. Sharing is always something you start explicitly — nothing is ever shared by default.

  • Sharing uses Apple's iCloud sharing (CloudKit), the same mechanism as shared Apple Notes. The shared entry is delivered through Apple's servers to the people you invite — it never passes through servers we operate, and we cannot read it.
  • Only the people you invite can see a shared entry. You choose whether they can edit it, and edits sync between everyone's devices.
  • You can stop sharing at any time, and deleting a shared entry removes it for every participant.
  • Replies added by a participant belong to that participant; only they can edit their own replies.

Anonymous usage statistics (the app)

To decide what to build next, the app reports anonymous usage to an analytics server that we run ourselves (a self-hosted instance of Umami). No third party is involved and nothing is ever sold or shared.

What is sent:

  • Which parts of the app you use (for example, the planner or search)
  • Which features you use, once per app launch
  • The type of entry you save — note, checklist, recipe, and so on — and its shape (whether it's scheduled, has attachments, and similar yes/no facts)

What is never sent:

  • Anything you write — entries, titles, tags, drawings, attachments
  • Your name, email, iCloud account, or any device identifier
  • Anything that links one app launch to another

A new random identifier is created each time you open the app and discarded when you close it, so sessions cannot be connected to each other or to you. The server derives an approximate country/region from the request's IP address (as any web server can) but does not store the address itself.

You can turn this off at any time in Settings › Privacy › Anonymous Usage. The full disclosure inside the app matches this list, and the app's privacy manifest declares exactly the same collection.

On-device intelligence

LighterMind's AI features run on your device, not on a server:

  • Guided journaling uses Apple Intelligence on your own hardware. Your reflections are never sent anywhere.
  • Search by meaning builds its semantic index locally with Apple's on-device language models.
  • Handwriting & drawings are transcribed and described on-device so they show up in search. The ink never leaves your device except through your own iCloud sync.

AI agents on your Mac (optional)

On macOS you can opt in to let AI agents you already use — such as Claude — read and write your LighterMind entries. This connection is off by default, runs entirely on your Mac (a local-only server that is not reachable from the network), and can be switched off at any time in Settings › AI. What a connected agent does with the entries it reads is governed by that agent's own privacy policy — connect only agents you trust.

Network requests

Beyond iCloud sync and the anonymous usage statistics described above, LighterMind only connects to the internet when you use features that require it:

  • Nutrition search — when you search for a food item or scan a barcode, LighterMind queries the USDA FoodData Central API and Open Food Facts. Your search term or the barcode number is sent to these services. No personal information is included.
  • Recipe import — when you paste a URL to import a recipe, LighterMind fetches that webpage to extract the recipe data. Only the URL you provide is requested; no account or device information is sent.
  • Link previews — when an entry contains a URL, the app may fetch metadata (title, image) to display a preview, using Apple's system LinkPresentation framework.

Permissions

LighterMind requests only the permissions it needs, and only when you use the relevant feature:

  • Calendar (read-only) — to display your calendar events in the planner. LighterMind never creates or modifies calendar events, and we do not save, copy, or store them — all events live within the Calendar app itself.
  • Notifications — to deliver the reminders you set on entries and time blocks. Reminders are scheduled locally on your device.
  • Photos — to let you attach photos and videos to entries, using the system photo picker.
  • Camera — to scan a product barcode for nutrition lookups. Frames are processed on-device; no photos are stored or transmitted.
  • Face ID / Touch ID — for the optional app lock feature. No biometric data is stored by the app.
  • Files — to let you attach documents from the Files app to entries.

Third-party services

LighterMind contains no third-party analytics, crash reporting, advertising, or tracking SDKs. The usage statistics described above go to a server we operate — no analytics company ever sees them. The only third-party code in the app is open-source libraries for markdown parsing and UI layout.

The external services contacted are limited to:

  • USDA FoodData Central (api.nal.usda.gov) — U.S. government nutrition database
  • Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org) — open-source food product database

Purchases and subscriptions

LighterMind Pro is an optional paid subscription. Purchases are processed entirely by Apple through the App Store — we never see or receive your payment details, and Apple does not give us your name, email, or Apple Account identity.

  • Whether Pro is unlocked is worked out on your device, from the purchase record Apple provides to the app. It is not looked up on any server we run.
  • We operate no accounts, so there is nothing linking a subscription to a person on our side. We cannot tell who has subscribed.
  • The anonymous usage statistics described above record that a purchase screen was opened, and whether a purchase was started, completed, or failed — including which plan (monthly or annual) and, for a failure, its general reason. No identity is attached to any of it, and payment information never is.
  • Apple provides us with aggregate sales and subscriber reports. These are totals only and do not identify individual customers.

Managing, cancelling, and requesting refunds for a subscription all happen through your Apple Account. See our Terms of Use for the subscription terms themselves.

Website analytics

This website (lightermind.app) uses the same self-hosted Umami instance: cookieless, privacy-friendly analytics that tell us which pages people visit and how they got here.

Umami does not use cookies, does not track you across other websites, and does not collect any personal information. IP addresses are hashed (not stored) and we cannot identify individual visitors.

Data retention

Your content lives on your devices and in your private iCloud account — we have no access to it, and deleting the app removes your local data (iCloud data can be managed in your device settings). The only data our own server holds is the anonymous usage statistics described above, which cannot be tied to any person or device.

Children's privacy

LighterMind does not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, including children. The app has no accounts, no tracking, and no way to identify who is using it.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new date. Since LighterMind has no accounts or contact information, we cannot notify you directly — please check back periodically.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, contact us at [email protected].