Privacy

Privacy Policy

Last updated September 1, 2026

1. Controller

The controller responsible for data processing within the meaning of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other applicable data protection laws is:

2. How Journary handles your data

Journary is an on-device application. Unlike services such as Google Timeline, it does not send your location or activity history to a company server. There is no Journary account, no Journary login, and no Journary backend that stores your personal data.

All of the data you create in the app is held in two places, both of which you control:

• Your journeys, location points, day statistics, matched photos, and journal entries are stored locally on your iPhone in the app's on-device database.
• If you keep iCloud enabled, that same data syncs through Apple's CloudKit private database under your Apple ID. It remains available across your Apple devices and can be restored. This private iCloud storage is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. We have no access to your iCloud data.

We, as the provider, cannot read, retrieve, or analyze your journeys, locations, health data, photos, or journal entries. They do not reach Journary's servers. If you enable iCloud, Apple syncs the app data through its private CloudKit database under your Apple ID; we have no access to that copy.

3. Data the app processes on your device

The following processing happens entirely on your device (and, where you enable it, in your private iCloud). Each permission is requested in context the first time it is needed, and most are optional.

a) Location data (background capture)

With your permission, Journary records your location in the background to build your journey history and detect trips automatically. There are no start or stop buttons. You can grant "Always" access for background capture, or "While Using the App" for foreground use only. Capture intervals from one minute to 24 hours are available without Pro. Location data is used solely to draw your history on the map and is stored only on your device and in your iCloud.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (your consent, given via the iOS location permission prompt). You can revoke it any time in iOS Settings.

b) Motion & activity data

With your permission, Journary uses your device's motion data to tell driving, cycling, and walking apart, so that a car or scooter trip is not mistakenly recorded as "stationary." This improves the accuracy of automatic trip detection. Motion processing is performed on-device only.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent via the iOS Motion & Fitness prompt).

c) Health & fitness data (HealthKit, optional)

If you opt in, Journary reads selected Apple Health metrics such as step count, floors climbed, walking and running distance, and elevation to enrich your daily journey statistics. This data is read from HealthKit on your device and is never transmitted to us. In accordance with Apple's HealthKit requirements, your Health data is never used for advertising, marketing, or any purpose other than displaying your own statistics, and it is never shared with third parties. You can disable Health access at any time in iOS Settings or the Health app.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) and Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR (explicit consent for health data, given via the iOS Health permission prompt).

d) Photos

With your permission, Journary matches photos in your photo library by time and location so they can be shown alongside the relevant journeys and journal entries, and it can save exported images and videos back to your library. Photo matching happens on-device; your photos stay in your library and are never uploaded to us. You can grant full or limited photo access, or none at all.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent via the iOS Photos permission prompts).

e) Journal entries and app content

Any notes, titles, captions, or journal entries you write, and any videos you render, are created and stored on your device and in your private iCloud. They are content you control and are never sent to us.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (performance of the app's core function that you requested).

f) Feedback and support

Feedback and support works without an account. When you tap Send, the app sends the selected topic, your message, a stable source identifier, an anonymous installation identifier, and the time and identifier of the submission to the Journary website. A reply email is optional and is used only as the Reply-To address on the support email. If you turn on diagnostic consent for that submission, the app also sends its version, build, iOS version, device model, and app locale. That consent starts off for every message and is not saved in the draft.

The payload has no fields for journal entries, coordinates, routes, photos, Health data, recordings, or attachments. The website validates the request, applies memory-only abuse limits, and asks Resend to send a plain-text email to contact@journary.app. It creates no feedback database. The anonymous installation identifier is used with a salted IP hash for abuse control and is not included in the support email. Operational logs contain submission and provider identifiers, outcome, timing, and a non-personal error class. They do not contain the message, reply address, installation identifier, or diagnostics.

An unfinished or failed draft is stored under complete file protection on your iPhone, excluded from device backup, and expires after seven days. Delete All removes that draft and the anonymous installation identifier. A successful endpoint send or a Mail result of sent removes the draft. If you choose the Mail fallback, Apple Mail and your mail provider process the message under their own terms.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (handling the support request you choose to send) and Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (preventing abuse of the public relay).

4. Notifications

Journary may use local and push notifications (for example, to surface a new journey or a daily recap). Push notifications are delivered through Apple Push Notification service (APNs); APNs handles only a device token and the notification payload, not your journey content. You can disable notifications at any time in iOS Settings.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent via the iOS notifications prompt).

5. Purchases (Journary Pro)

When available, Journary will have a free tier. Journary Pro is planned as an optional one-time purchase with a US base price of $69.99. It makes Journary-generated diary writing older than 12 months available for the lifetime of the app. There is no subscription, trial or renewal. Apple will process the purchase through the App Store and StoreKit. Apple handles payment data, billing, and receipts; Journary will not see or store your payment method or card details. The app will receive only Apple's anonymous confirmation that a purchase entitlement exists for your Apple ID. Apple's processing is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (performance of the purchase contract with Apple).

6. App analytics, tracking, and ads

The Journary iPhone app does not use analytics SDKs, advertising networks, cross-app tracking, or fingerprinting. It does not include the App Tracking Transparency mechanism because it does not track you across apps or websites. The app does not build profiles, and Journary does not sell or share app data with third parties. Apple handles iCloud sync, push notifications, and payments under its own privacy policy. Journary does not receive your personal content from those services.

7. This website

This marketing website loads Ahrefs Analytics from analytics.ahrefs.com to measure site use. A page request also sends technical information such as your IP address and request metadata so the website can deliver the page. Ahrefs Analytics and this website do not receive your Journary app data.

If you join the waitlist, the website sends your email address to our waitlist server. The server stores that address, the signup source, a hash of the request IP address, the user agent, and the signup time. We use this record to send one launch-related email, prevent abuse, and respond to deletion requests. You can ask us to delete it at any time by emailing privacy@journary.app.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in operating a secure website) and Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (your consent, for the email notification list).

8. Data retention and deletion

For app data, you decide how long it is kept. You can delete individual journeys or entries, or wipe all Journary data, directly in the app at any time. Deleting the app from your device removes its local data; data held in iCloud is managed by you in your Apple ID and iCloud settings. The website waitlist record, including its associated abuse-prevention fields, is deleted on request or once it is no longer needed for launch updates and abuse prevention. The feedback relay creates no feedback database. Messages accepted by the mail provider are handled as support email; contact us to request deletion of a message held in the support mailbox.

9. Your rights under the GDPR

As a data subject, you have the following rights:

• You have a right of access under Art. 15. Most of your data is directly accessible and exportable in the app as GPX, KML, or JSON.
• You have a right to rectification under Art. 16. You can edit your journeys and entries in the app.
• You have a right to erasure under Art. 17. You can delete any or all data in the app.
• Right to restriction (Art. 18) and objection (Art. 21).
• You have a right to data portability under Art. 20. Export your history in open formats from within the app.
• You have a right to withdraw consent under Art. 7(3). Revoke any permission in iOS Settings without affecting prior lawful processing.

To exercise any right concerning data we hold (such as a launch-update email address), contact us at privacy@journary.app. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. Our authority is the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit).

10. Children

Journary and this website are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect app data or waitlist information from children. If you believe a child has provided an email address, contact us so we can delete the waitlist record.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy as the app evolves or as legal requirements change. The current version is always available on this page with its "last updated" date. Material changes will be communicated within the app where appropriate.

12. Contact

For any privacy question, contact us at privacy@journary.app or contact@journary.app.