LEGAL

Privacy Policy

Effective November 3, 2026

The short version

  • BluBuddy stores what you write in our cloud database so it syncs and stays safe. We don’t sell it, and there are no ads.

  • If you turn on Blu’s AI, the text you write is sent to OpenAI, through OpenRouter, only to create Blu’s replies. You can turn AI off at any time, and journaling still works.

  • Blu is an AI, not a person. If you write to Blu about wanting to hurt yourself, that message is not sent to the AI. You’ll see crisis lines instead.

  • You can delete your account and your data from inside the app.

1. Who we are

BluBuddy is an iPhone app for journaling and tracking your mood. It’s made by Luke Geyser, an independent developer based in South Africa (“we”, “us”). We decide how your personal information is used. You can reach us at geyserlg@gmail.com.

2. What we collect

Your account. We collect your email address, your name if you share it, and the way you sign in (Sign in with Apple, or email and password). We give each account a random user ID. If you use Sign in with Apple and choose “Hide My Email”, we only see Apple’s relay address.

What you write and log. This covers notes and journal entries, mood check-ins, tags, messages to Blu (Ask Blu), Daily Mantras, Blu Rituals, Grounding sessions and Support Seeds. It’s stored in our cloud database so it syncs between sessions and isn’t lost if you change phones. Some of it can say a lot about how you feel. We treat it as sensitive and only use it to run the app for you.

Blu’s memory. If AI is on, Blu saves short summaries of things you’ve shared, like patterns, what helps you, and recent themes. It uses them to personalise future replies. To find the right memories quickly, we keep a searchable version of these summaries (a “vector index”). You can review, delete or turn off Blu’s memory in Settings → Blu Memory.

Voice notes. When you speak a reflection, your iPhone turns it into text on the device using Apple’s speech recognition. The audio is not sent to us. Only the text you save is stored.

Subscriptions. Apple handles payment. We never see your card or bank details. Our subscription provider, RevenueCat, receives your user ID and the status of your purchases from Apple, so the app knows whether you have Pro.

How the app is used. We use PostHog to count app events, like a screen opening, a feature being used, an AI consent choice or the crisis resources being shown. These events are linked to your user ID and include your app version, iPhone model and iOS version. The app strips out anything you write before an event is sent. We don’t record your screen or what you type, and we don’t use advertising IDs.

Security checks. We use Firebase App Check, which relies on Apple’s App Attest or DeviceCheck to confirm requests come from the real BluBuddy app.

Reminders. Reminders and notifications are scheduled on your iPhone.

Emails to us. If you contact support, we keep your email and what you tell us so we can help.

We don’t collect your location, contacts, photos, Apple Health data or advertising identifier.

3. How Blu’s AI works

  • You choose. Before Blu’s AI is used, the app asks for your permission. You can change this at any time in Settings → AI & Safety.

  • What’s sent. When AI is on, the text you write (notes, check-ins, rituals and messages to Blu) is sent securely to OpenAI through OpenRouter, along with relevant memory summaries, only so Blu can reply, summarise and personalise. We’ve turned off OpenRouter’s prompt logging and model-training options. Under OpenAI’s API terms, OpenAI doesn’t use this data to train its models by default.

  • When AI is off. Nothing you write is sent to an AI provider. Journaling and mood tracking still work.

  • Blu is an AI. Its replies, summaries and insights are written by AI and can be wrong. They aren’t advice from a person or a professional, and Blu isn’t a crisis service. In longer chats, the app reminds you every 3 hours that you’re talking to an AI and suggests a break.

  • Self-harm and crisis messages. If a message to Blu mentions suicide or self-harm, the app answers on your iPhone with a fixed message and crisis lines. That message is never sent to the AI and is left out of later chat history. Blu also keeps this kind of content out of its memory. See our help page for crisis lines.

4. Why we use your information

  • Run your account, store and sync your entries, provide Pro: to provide the app you signed up for.

  • Process what you write about your mood and feelings: your consent, which you give by choosing to write it, and can withdraw by deleting it.

  • Send your text to the AI and keep Blu’s memory: your consent on the AI screen, which you can withdraw in Settings.

  • Count app events, fix bugs, keep the service secure: our legitimate interest in keeping BluBuddy working and safe.

  • Keep purchase records, respond to legal requests: legal obligations.

5. Who we share it with

We share your information only with the services that run BluBuddy, only as much as they need. They may only use it to provide their service to us.

  • Google Firebase (United States): sign-in, cloud database, backend, App Check.

  • OpenRouter and OpenAI (United States): creating Blu’s AI replies, summaries and memory search, only when AI is on.

  • Qdrant (Germany, EU): searchable index of Blu’s memory summaries.

  • RevenueCat (United States): subscription status.

  • PostHog (United States): app usage events.

  • Apple (worldwide): Sign in with Apple, payments, App Attest, on-device speech recognition.

We don’t sell or rent your personal information, and we don’t share it for advertising. We may disclose information if the law requires it, to protect someone’s safety, or as part of a sale or merger of BluBuddy, in which case this policy would still apply.

6. Where your data is stored

Your data is stored and processed in the United States and the European Union, which may be outside your country. We rely on our providers’ contractual safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses, for these transfers.

7. How long we keep it

  • Your entries and chats stay until you delete them or delete your account.

  • Blu’s memory summaries expire automatically, from 21 days to 12 months depending on the type. Deleting an entry also removes the memories made from it.

  • App usage events are kept for up to 1 year.

  • Apple and RevenueCat keep purchase records as the law requires.

8. Deleting your account

Go to Settings → Delete Account. This permanently deletes your sign-in account, entries, chats, Mantras, Rituals, Grounding sessions, Support Seeds, Blu’s memory and its search index. Deleting your account doesn’t cancel your subscription: cancel it in your iPhone’s Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions. To have your app usage events deleted too, email us.

9. Your choices and rights

You can turn AI on or off, manage Blu’s memory, turn off notifications, and refuse microphone or speech permission. Depending on where you live, including South Africa (POPIA), the EU and UK (GDPR) and some US states, you may have the right to:

  • access your information, or get a copy of it

  • correct or delete it

  • object to or limit how we use it

  • withdraw your consent at any time

Email geyserlg@gmail.com and we’ll reply within 30 days. If you’re unhappy with our answer, you can complain to your data protection authority. In South Africa, that’s the Information Regulator.

10. Children

BluBuddy is not for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their information. If you’re under 18, please use BluBuddy only with a parent’s or guardian’s permission. If you think a child under 13 has given us information, email us and we’ll delete it.

11. Security

Your data is encrypted in transit and stored with encryption by our providers. Database rules let only your signed-in account read your entries. App Check blocks requests that don’t come from the real app. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and will tell you and the authorities about a breach where the law requires.

12. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we’ll tell you in the app before it applies.

13. Contact

Questions or requests: geyserlg@gmail.com