Trace Privacy Policy

Last updated: 23 July 2026

Trace is a private, on-device second memory. It is built so that what you save stays with you. This policy describes exactly what Trace does and does not do with your information. It is written to be read, not to be waived.

The short version

• Everything you save lives on your device.
• Trace has no account, no login, and no server that stores your memories.
• Trace does not track you, show ads, or sell or share your data. There are no third-party analytics or advertising SDKs in the app.
• Understanding your memories (reading text in a screenshot, transcribing a spoken thought, finding what matters) happens on your device.

What Trace stores, and where

The memories you keep (their text, the reason they mattered, the links and images you save) are stored on your device. By default, Trace also backs them up to your own private iCloud account (Apple CloudKit) so they survive a lost or replaced device and your other Apple devices can show the same memories. You can turn this off, and then a memory stays only on the device that made it. Either way that data stays inside your Apple account; Trace operates no server of its own and never receives a copy.

On-device intelligence

Trace reads text from screenshots (Vision), transcribes spoken thoughts (Speech, with on-device recognition required), and finds and ranks what to resurface, all on your device. When Apple Intelligence is available, Trace can compose answers about your own memories using Apple's on-device model. None of this sends your memories to Apple, to us, or to anyone else.

The one time Trace reaches the network

When you save a link, Trace can fetch a preview of that page (its title and image) so the saved memory is not just a bare URL. To do this it contacts the page you saved, from an allowlist of well-known hosts, and sends only that URL. It sends none of your other memories, and it makes no other network request. If you never save a link, Trace makes no outbound request at all.

Permissions

Every permission is optional, and each maps to a feature you choose to use:

• Microphone / Speech — so you can speak a thought and have it transcribed on your device.
• Photos — so you can hand Trace a screenshot to read on your device. Trace changes your photo library only to delete screenshots you explicitly ask it to clear.
• Calendar / Reminders — so a memory you decide to act on can become a calendar event or reminder.
• Face ID — so you can lock your Vault.

Trace does not use the camera, and links no camera framework. It does not access your contacts, location, health, or financial data.

Your control

You can delete any memory at any time; deleting it removes it from your device (and, if iCloud sync is on, from your private iCloud). Because Trace holds nothing on a server of ours, there is nothing for you to request from us and nothing for us to erase.

Children

Trace displays only what its own user saved. It collects no data and is rated 4+.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version will appear at this address with a new date above.

Contact

Questions about privacy: thebarmaeffect@gmail.com

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