Privacy Policy for 8 Pillars

Effective date: [DATE]
App: 8 Pillars for iOS/iPadOS, with an optional Apple Watch companion where supported
Provider: Musannif Zahir ("we", "us", "our")
Contact: [privacy@yourdomain.com]

Our approach in one sentence

8 Pillars is built to be private by default: information you enter in the app stays on your device unless you choose to export/share it or contact us, and we operate no app servers of our own that collect or store your app data. We do not sell your data, show you ads, or use third‑party analytics or tracking.

Information the app handles, and where it lives

Everything you enter or that the app derives is stored locally on your device in the app's on‑device database. This can include:

• Check‑ins and reflections — text you type or speech you record, and the extracted summary, sentiment, action items, and people mentioned.
• Habits, goals, streaks, and progress.
• People and relationships you add (optionally from your Contacts).
• Calendar events used to plan and categorize your time (if you grant Calendar access).
• Health and wellness data you record or that the app reads from Apple Health (if you grant access).
• Mood, life events, biomarkers, and notes you log.
• App settings and preferences, including your AI privacy preference.

We, the provider, do not receive, collect, or store any of this on our own infrastructure — we have none for this purpose.

The app also offers user-controlled export and sharing actions. If you choose to export data or share a card/file, the selected content is passed to the Apple system share sheet or the destination you choose. The recipient or service you choose then controls that copy; it is not an upload to an 8 Pillars server.

Voice recordings and transcription

On iPhone and iPad, if you use a voice check-in, audio is streamed to Apple's on-device Speech framework and transcribed on that device. The app does not retain a recording file. If your language needs a transcription asset, the operating system may download that asset from Apple; that is an Apple service interaction and does not send your recording or transcript to us. Your audio and transcripts are not sent to us or to a third-party AI service by the app.

Apple Watch temporarily records an audio file and sends it to the paired iPhone through Apple's WatchConnectivity framework for on-device transcription, processing, and saving. Successful saves remove the temporary copies. If delivery, transcription, or saving fails, the recording remains locally available so you can retry from the Watch. The watch app does not have its own journal database or send content to an 8 Pillars server.

Widgets and Apple App Group

The iOS/iPadOS widgets read a small, on-device App Group snapshot so they can render your current wheel without opening the app. The snapshot contains pillar scores/states, the overall momentum score, check-in streak, update/validity dates, and up to three active goals. Each included goal can contain its local identifier, title, priority, progress, target date, and pillar. The snapshot does not contain journal text, transcripts, contact records, or raw HealthKit samples. The Apple Watch complication reads the same type of snapshot from the watch's own App Group container after the paired iPhone sends it through WatchConnectivity. App Group storage is local to each device and is not a cloud sync service.

Apple Health (HealthKit) data

If you grant access on a supported iPhone or iPad, the app uses Apple HealthKit solely to provide in‑app features (for example, reflecting your activity in your life balance). The app requests read access to step count, active energy burned, resting heart rate, heart-rate variability (SDNN), sleep analysis, mindful-session duration, workouts, and State of Mind samples. It requests write access only for State of Mind samples created from a check-in mood. It does not request permission to write the other types listed above. Health data:

• is processed on your device;
• is not used, sold, or shared for advertising, marketing, or data-mining;
• is not sent to an 8 Pillars server;
• may be written to Apple Health as a State of Mind sample only when you authorize that feature, or included in a user-directed export/share when you choose the destination.

You can revoke Health access at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Health. HealthKit is not available to the watch companion in this build.

Contacts

If you choose Import from Contacts and grant Contacts access, the app searches or suggests contacts on your device. It may read a contact's identifier, given and family names, nickname, birthday, thumbnail/photo data, relationship labels, organization name, and job title to show suggestions and infer a relationship label. When you select a contact, the app may store the selected person's name, nickname, birthday, photo, relationship, and a link to that contact identifier in its local database. It does not upload your address book or use these fields for advertising. You can use the People feature without granting Contacts access and can revoke access in system settings.

If you choose a profile photo through Apple's photo picker, the app stores the selected image in its local database. It does not browse or upload your photo library, and the selected copy is not sent to us.

Calendar and Reminders

If you grant Calendar access, the app reads calendar event titles, dates, notes, locations, attendee names and attendance/organizer signals to populate and classify its planner. It can create a calendar event only after you choose an in-app calendar action. If Reminders access is already granted, the app may create a single reminder for an action you explicitly identified in a check-in; it does not read or import your existing reminders. Calendar and Reminders data is processed on-device and is not sent to us.

How information is used

Your information is used only to provide the app's features to you: extracting structure from your check‑ins, tracking habits and goals, generating insights, computing your life-balance scores, using optional Apple Health and calendar context, managing people you choose to add, summarizing recent activity as weekly momentum, and sending you local reminders. App processing runs on your device; Apple platform services may process information as described in this policy and Apple's own terms.

Artificial intelligence

• On‑device AI (default). On supported operating systems and devices, the app uses Apple's on‑device Foundation Models (part of Apple Intelligence) to summarize and structure your entries and generate insights. This processing runs on your device. Where that model is unavailable, the app uses its local fallback. Your content is not sent to a third-party AI service by this build.
• No cloud AI in this build. Private Cloud Compute support is not compiled into the shipping app. If a future version adds it, the policy and in-app disclosure must be updated before that version ships.

iCloud and shared plans

The current build's collaborative Shared Plans feature and its CloudKit sync/invite path are disabled. No Shared Plan data is sent to iCloud by this build, and the app has no developer-operated sync server. If a future build enables collaborative sharing, this policy and the in-app disclosure must be updated before that build ships to explain what plan data is sent through Apple iCloud (CloudKit), who can access it, and how Apple handles it under Apple's Privacy Policy.

What we do NOT do

• We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information.
• We do not show ads or use advertising identifiers.
• We do not use third‑party analytics, tracking SDKs, or trackers.
• We do not operate app servers that collect your app data.
• We do not create profiles about you for marketing.

Device permissions

The app requests permissions only to power specific features, and only with your consent. You can grant or revoke each in the relevant Apple device's system settings (for iOS/iPadOS, Settings → Privacy & Security):

Data retention and deletion

Because your data lives on your device, you control it directly:

• Delete individual items in the app at any time.
• Use Settings → Delete All Data to erase your content.
• Deleting the app removes its on‑device data.
• Data included in an Apple device backup is controlled through your Apple Account / iCloud settings.

We do not retain copies of your app data, because we never receive it.

Support messages

If you email support or send us a privacy request, we receive the email address, message, attachments, and other information you choose to include. We use that information to respond, troubleshoot, and handle your request. It is handled through the relevant email providers and is separate from the app's local database; it is not used for advertising. Please do not include more journal or health information than is needed. [OWNER/COUNSEL: confirm the mailbox provider, support-correspondence retention period, and final privacy contact before publication.]

Security

Your data is protected by your device's built-in security (passcode/biometric protection and file encryption). iPhone and iPad audio is streamed to the on-device transcriber without retaining a recording file; temporary Watch recordings follow the delivery, deletion, and retry behavior described above. No method of storage is 100% secure, but because your journal stays on your device, its security is governed primarily by your device and Apple Account protections.

Children's privacy

8 Pillars is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect app data from children. Because we do not operate app servers, information entered in the app remains on the user's device.

Your rights (GDPR, CCPA, and similar)

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or export your personal data, and to object to certain processing. Because app data is stored on your device under your control, you can exercise access, correction, export, and deletion directly within the app and your device settings. Support correspondence is handled through the email channel described above and may require a separate request. We do not sell or "share" personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA. If you have questions about your rights, contact us at [privacy@yourdomain.com].

International users

The app processes app data on your device wherever you are. Apple may process information when you use Apple services such as speech-model asset delivery, Apple Intelligence features, HealthKit, Calendar, Reminders, or iCloud device backups, in accordance with Apple's policies and infrastructure. This build does not enable Private Cloud Compute or Shared Plans CloudKit sync.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes to the app or legal requirements. We will post the updated version here and update the "Effective date." Material changes will be highlighted in the app or release notes where appropriate.

Contact

Questions or requests: [privacy@yourdomain.com]
Musannif Zahir, [ADDRESS, optional]