Privacy Policy

Overview

Personal Assistant is a native iOS app, developed and operated by Derive LLC ("we," "us," "the developer"), that helps with mail, calendar, reminders, shopping, food inventory, fitness, nutrition, and budgeting in one place. Most of what you enter — shopping lists, food inventory, saved recipes and workouts, budget entries — stays only on your own iPhone, never uploaded anywhere.

A membership is required to use the app. Creating and managing that membership — your account, your subscription status, and, for paid AI add-on plans, how many AI requests you've used — does involve a real backend the developer operates. The table below and the Account & subscription section spell out exactly what that covers and what it doesn't.

What's accessed, and why

On device never leaves your phone. Developer backend is stored on the developer's own server (Firebase), used only for account/subscription purposes. Everything else goes straight to the outside service named.

Account & subscription

Using Personal Assistant requires an active membership, set up one of two ways:

• Website + email account — you create an account (email and password) and subscribe through Stripe on the developer's website. The password itself is handled by Firebase Authentication and never stored in plain text or seen by the developer.
• Apple In-App Purchase — for the base membership, you can subscribe entirely through Apple with no separate account at all; Apple, not the developer, handles that payment relationship end to end.

Either way, the developer's server stores only: whether your membership is currently active, which plan you're on, and a reference ID from Stripe or Apple used to look up your subscription with them — never your actual card number, which Stripe and Apple each collect and store directly.

Managed AI add-on plans (Personal Assistant Pro / Elite)

These optional paid add-ons give you access to AI recipes, workouts, and meal plans without setting up your own free Google AI Studio key. On these plans, that AI request is routed through the developer's own server on its way to Google's Gemini API, specifically so the developer's own key can be used instead of yours.

What that means in practice: the content of your request (ingredients, preferences, etc.) is forwarded to Google to generate a response and is not stored by the developer afterward. Only a running count of how many requests you've made this billing period is kept — enough to enforce your plan's monthly and daily limit, nothing about what you actually asked for.

If you've also added your own personal Gemini key in Settings, it's always tried first — a Managed AI plan only ever kicks in once that personal key runs out of its own free quota.

Cancelling

Cancel your base membership or a Managed AI add-on any time from Settings in the app. A website+Stripe subscription can also be managed from the account you signed up with; an Apple In-App Purchase is managed through your Apple ID under Settings → Subscriptions on your device — Apple doesn't allow the developer to cancel an Apple subscription on your behalf.

Your Google Account

Signing in to the Mail tab uses Google's own Sign-In flow — the app never sees or stores your Google password. Once signed in, the app requests a small, specific set of permissions:

• Read your Gmail — to show your inbox.
• Compose Gmail drafts — every send requires your explicit confirmation in the app first; nothing is sent silently.
• Organize Gmail — used only for moving a message to Trash (never permanent deletion — Trash is recoverable for 30 days, same as Gmail's own Trash) and for creating a "block this sender" filter, mirroring Gmail's own Block button.
• Read and manage events on your Google Calendar — to show your events, and to create, edit, or delete a Google Calendar event when you explicitly choose to (for example, turning on "Also add to Google Calendar" when creating an event, or tapping Edit or Delete on an event that came from Google Calendar). The app never edits or deletes anything on Google Calendar on its own — only in response to an action you take in the app. This scope only covers events; it does not grant access to your Calendar's settings or let the app create or delete entire calendars.

You can revoke access at any time — either from Settings inside the app (Sign Out) or from your Google Account's third-party access page.

On-device permissions

These are standard iOS permissions the app asks for the first time each feature is used. Apple's own controls govern them — you can review or revoke any of them anytime in iPhone Settings → Personal Assistant.

Calendar & Reminders

Used to read and create events/reminders in Apple's own Calendar and Reminders apps via EventKit. This data stays with whatever accounts are already configured on your phone — the app doesn't copy it anywhere else.

Camera & Photo Library

Used in the Food and Budget tabs to photograph food labels and receipts. Text (expiration dates, totals, line items) is extracted on-device using Apple's Vision framework — the photo itself is not uploaded by this app.

Microphone & Speech Recognition

Powers the Voice Assistant's wake word and spoken commands, using Apple's Speech framework. Recognized text is then handled the same as if you'd typed it.

Location

Used only to power the Calendar's "leave by" advisory — comparing your current location to an event's address to estimate travel time via Apple Maps. Not logged or used anywhere else in the app.

Health

If you've paired an Apple Watch, the Fitness tab can read heart-rate samples via HealthKit to show alongside a workout. This stays on-device.

Notifications

Used to alert you before food in your inventory expires.

Other services this app talks to

A few features send a small, specific piece of information to a third-party service to do their job. None of these services receive your Google Account data, your identity, or anything beyond what's listed:

• Google Gemini (AI Studio) — when generating an AI recipe, workout, or meal plan, the ingredients/equipment you have on hand and any dietary restrictions or preferences you type are sent as a prompt. Governed by Google's Gemini API terms.
• Stripe — if you subscribe through the website, Stripe collects and processes your payment details directly; the developer never sees your full card number. Governed by Stripe's Privacy Policy.
• Apple (In-App Purchase) — if you subscribe through Apple, your payment is handled entirely by Apple under your own Apple ID. Governed by Apple's own privacy terms.
• Spoonacular — ingredient names are sent to search its recipe database, when AI-generated recipes are turned off.
• Pexels — a dish name is sent to find a matching stock photo for AI-generated recipes.
• Apple Maps (MapKit) — your location and an event's address are sent to Apple to estimate travel time for the leave-by advisory.

There is no analytics or advertising SDK in this app, and no data broker relationship of any kind.

Where your data actually lives

Shopping lists, food inventory, saved recipes, saved workouts, budget entries and receipts, and saved meal plans are stored locally on your device using Apple's SwiftData framework — none of that is uploaded anywhere. If you use iCloud device backups, this data may be included in those backups the same way any other app's local data would be, governed by Apple's own iCloud terms.

Separately, your account and subscription record — email, active/inactive status, plan, a billing-provider reference ID, and (for Managed AI plans) a usage count — lives in the developer's own Firebase project, the one real server this app relies on. It exists solely to run your membership; it is never sold, shared, or used for advertising.

Your Google Account access token is managed entirely by Google's own Sign-In SDK on your device — the developer never receives, stores, or has access to your Google password or a copy of your token.

Your controls

• Disconnect Google — Settings → Sign Out, or revoke access from your Google Account settings.
• Cancel your membership — Settings in the app, or (for an Apple subscription) iPhone Settings → Subscriptions — see Account & subscription.
• Delete local data — delete individual items in-app, or uninstall the app to remove everything stored locally.
• Revoke device permissions — iPhone Settings → Personal Assistant → turn off Camera, Microphone, Location, Calendars, Reminders, Health, or Notifications individually.
• Bring your own Gemini key — Settings → Gemini API Key lets you use your own free Google AI Studio key. It's always tried first even on a paid Managed AI plan, so your own key's usage stays tied to your own Google account, not the developer's.
• Delete your account — email caitlinmanske@gmail.com to request deletion of your account and subscription record from the developer's backend.

Children's privacy

Personal Assistant is not directed at, marketed to, or knowingly used by children under 13. It's a personal productivity tool designed for a general adult audience.

Changes to this policy

If what the app accesses or how it's used changes meaningfully, this page will be updated and the "Last updated" date above will reflect it. Continuing to use the app after a change means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data — caitlinmanske@gmail.com.