Aloud - Privacy Policy
Last Updated: 14 September 2026
Effective Date: 14 September 2026
Our Commitment to Your Privacy
Aloud speaks for you when speaking is not an option. What you type into it is often the most private text on your phone: what hurts, what you need, who to call. This Privacy Policy explains what Aloud handles, what leaves your device, and the choices you have.
The short version: everything you write, meaning your card, your answers, your everyday phrases, your history, your saved contact, and your voice settings, is stored on your device. There is no Aloud account and no server of ours holding any of it. If you unlock the app and turn sync on, it syncs through your own private iCloud, which we cannot read. We do measure how the app is used, through Firebase Analytics, and that measurement is built to be content-free: not one character you type can reach it. You can turn it off in Settings. We do not sell data and we do not run ads.
1. Information We Collect
1.1 Your Words
| Data Type | Description | Where Stored |
|---|---|---|
| Your card | The statement people read when you cannot speak | Your device, and your private iCloud if you turn sync on |
| Your five answers | The prepared answers on the card | Your device, and your private iCloud if you turn sync on |
| Everyday phrases | The phrases you save for the home screen | Your device, and your private iCloud if you turn sync on |
| History | Recently spoken messages, if you leave history on | Your device, and your private iCloud if you turn sync on |
| Saved contact | The name and number of the person your card can call | Your device, and your private iCloud if you turn sync on |
| Settings | Voice choice, speaking rate, and app preferences | Your device, and your private iCloud if you turn sync on |
We do not receive, store, or have any way to read any of it. It is never uploaded to a server of ours, because we do not operate one. Sync is off unless you unlock the app and switch it on, and when it is on it uses Apple’s CloudKit to reach your own private iCloud account. Typing, speaking, your card, and your phrases all work with no connection at all.
1.2 Usage Analytics
In released builds, Aloud uses Firebase Analytics, a Google service, to understand how the app is used: whether onboarding is finished, whether the card is ever opened from a locked phone, and where flows break down. It does not identify you, it is off in development builds, and you can turn it off in Settings.
What is collected:
- A closed set of product events, fixed in the code: onboarding steps reached, that a phrase was spoken and from which surface, that the card was opened and how it was opened, what kind of action happened inside the card, that other wording was requested and how it ended, that the voice changed, that sync was turned on or off, and purchase or restore outcomes.
- Coarse, non-identifying properties: whether the app is unlocked, whether sync is on, whether the device can run the on-device rewording, whether the voice is a system voice or Personal Voice, and how many phrases you keep, sent only as a broad range such as “4 to 9”, never an exact count.
- A device-generated Firebase app instance identifier, created and managed by Firebase, used to tell one installation’s activity apart from another’s inside our own dashboards. It dies with the install.
What is never sent, in any event, parameter, or property:
- Anything you typed. Not a phrase, not a card answer, not a hand-over message, not a history entry, not a rewording request or its suggestion. Every value in every event comes from a fixed list, so free text has no way in.
- The name or number of your contact.
- Any personal identifier. No name, no email, no device name, no advertising identifier (IDFA), and we never set a user ID.
- Any measure of your silence. No streaks, no “days since you last spoke”, no nudges.
Because none of this links your activity to other companies’ apps or websites, it does not meet Apple’s definition of tracking, and Aloud shows no App Tracking Transparency prompt.
1.3 Purchases
Aloud is free to use, with a one-time purchase that unlocks the rest. Payment is handled by Apple’s App Store, and purchase and entitlement bookkeeping runs through RevenueCat. RevenueCat receives an anonymous identifier it generates itself, your purchase and entitlement status, and the Firebase app instance identifier described above, so that a purchase can be matched to a session in our own dashboards. It does not receive your name, email, or payment details, and it receives nothing you have written. Apple handles the payment and never passes those details to us.
1.4 Other Wording
When you ask Aloud for another way to say something, that request runs on your iPhone, using Apple’s on-device foundation models. Your message is not sent to us, to Google, or to any other service. We record only that a rewording was asked for and how it ended, as one of “accepted”, “dismissed”, “refused”, or “unavailable”. The feature is available only on devices that support it, and it never runs on its own.
1.5 Your Saved Contact
If you add a contact to your card, you can pick it through Apple’s own contact picker, which runs outside Aloud and hands back only the entry you chose. Aloud never reads your address book. It keeps the name and number you picked on your device, uses the number to place a call when you tap that answer, and offers a prepared message to send if the call does not connect. The call and the message are placed by iOS, exactly as if you had dialled them yourself.
1.6 Information We Do NOT Collect
- Personal identification (name, email address, phone number)
- Account credentials, because there are no accounts
- Anything you typed, spoke, saved, or prepared
- Your address book. Aloud reads no contacts beyond the single entry you pick
- Apple Health data. Aloud does not use HealthKit
- Location data
- Microphone audio. Aloud speaks, it does not listen
- Photos
- The advertising identifier (IDFA)
2. How We Use Your Information
2.1 To Provide the Service
- Holding your words: written to your device, and to your own private iCloud if you unlock the app and turn sync on
- Speaking: your text is spoken by Apple’s speech synthesis on your device, using a system voice or your Personal Voice
- Unlocking: verifying your purchase and restoring it on your other devices
2.2 To Improve the App
- Usage analytics: understanding which features are reached and where flows break down, within the content-free limits in §1.2, and only while the Settings toggle is on
- Crash reporting: Apple’s standard crash and performance reports, delivered through App Store Connect
2.3 Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)
If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), our legal bases are:
- Contractual Necessity: processing needed to provide the app and your purchase
- Consent: usage analytics, which you can withdraw at any time in Settings
What you write is not processed by us. It stays on your device, and in your own iCloud if you turn sync on.
Health or disability information can be special category data under Article 9. Aloud is built so that nothing of the kind reaches us: your words never leave your device except into your own private iCloud, at your choice.
3. How Your Data Is Stored
3.1 On Your Device and Your iCloud
- Your words are stored on your device, saved as you write them
- They sync only if you turn sync on, and only through your own private iCloud account using Apple’s CloudKit, so they reach your other devices signed into the same Apple ID and survive a lost phone. This is your iCloud, controlled by Apple, and we cannot access it
- We operate no server that holds your words, so there is nothing of yours for us to lose, sell, or be compelled to hand over
Apple’s privacy practices apply to anything in iCloud. See Apple’s Privacy Policy.
3.2 Analytics Data
Firebase Analytics data is processed by Google under its own Firebase data processing terms, and retained according to the retention settings on our project. We do not sell it and do not use it for anything beyond understanding and improving the app.
4. Third-Party Services
4.1 Apple iCloud / CloudKit
- Purpose: syncing your card, phrases, history, and settings across your own devices, when you turn sync on
- Data shared: your words, stored in YOUR private iCloud account
- Privacy Policy: apple.com/privacy
4.2 Google Firebase Analytics
- Purpose: measuring feature reach and where flows are abandoned
- Data shared: the closed event set and coarse properties described in §1.2, plus a device-generated app instance identifier. No IDFA, no words, no personal identifiers
- Privacy Policy: policies.google.com/privacy
4.3 RevenueCat
- Purpose: managing the unlock purchase and restores
- Data shared: an anonymous RevenueCat identifier, purchase and entitlement status, and the Firebase app instance identifier
- Privacy Policy: revenuecat.com/privacy
4.4 Apple App Store
- Purpose: processing your purchase
- Data shared: handled entirely by Apple. We never see your payment details
- Privacy Policy: apple.com/legal/privacy
5. Your Choices
- Turn analytics off. Settings has a switch. Turn it off and Aloud stops sending events.
- Turn history off. Settings has a switch for that too, and history stays on your device either way.
- Turn sync off. Sync is off until you unlock the app and switch it on, and switching it off stops the app writing to iCloud.
- Delete everything. Deleting the app removes what is on the device. Data already in your iCloud is managed by you in Settings → your name → iCloud.
- Ask us. Mail master@drnkn.dev with any question about this policy, including a request under GDPR or the CCPA. Because we hold no account and no copy of your words, most requests are answered by pointing you at the switches above.
6. Aloud Is Not a Medical Device
Aloud is a communication tool, not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat, or monitor any condition, and it is not a substitute for care from a clinician or a speech and language therapist. The call answer on your card dials a person you chose; it does not contact emergency services. In an emergency, use your phone’s emergency call feature.
7. Children
Aloud is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. The app has no account, no messaging with strangers, and no user-generated content that anyone else can see. If you believe a child has sent us information through a support mail, write to us and we will delete it.
8. Security
Your words are held in Apple’s own storage on your device, protected by your device passcode and Apple’s file protection. Sync, when you turn it on, uses Apple’s encrypted CloudKit transport into your private database. Analytics and purchase traffic is sent over HTTPS. No system is perfect, but the strongest protection here is structural: we do not hold your words at all.
9. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy as the app changes. The date at the top always reflects the current version, and a material change will be called out in the app or in the release notes.
10. Contact
Questions about privacy, or about anything in this policy:
Aloud is made by DRNKN, an independent developer.