Privacy Policy

Last updated 12 October 2026

In short: Thought Tank keeps what you put in it on your iPhone. There is no account, no ads, no tracking and no analytics, and we have no server that holds your notes. Because it lives on your phone, looking after it is your responsibility.

1. Who we are

Thought Tank is made by SPENCER AI (ABN 31 978 335 623) in Victoria, Australia ("we", "us"). This policy explains how the Thought Tank app for iPhone and Apple Watch handles information. We follow the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988.

2. What we collect

Nothing. We do not collect, receive or store your notes, recordings, contacts, calendar entries, Vault codes, location or usage. The app has no account, no advertising, no analytics and no tracking, and it does not contact any server of ours. On the App Store this is shown as "Data Not Collected".

If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to write. We use it only to help you, never for marketing, and never share or sell it. Our email is provided by Google, so it may be stored outside Australia (see section 10). We delete it when we no longer need it to help you, or sooner if you ask.

3. What stays on your phone

Your thoughts, points, sections, people and My Day are stored on your iPhone, in a private file inside the app that is saved on every change. A copy is kept for each of the last 14 days, also only on your phone.
If you choose Save a copy to Files, you pick where that copy goes. Anyone who has the file can read your notes, so keep it somewhere safe.
When you talk to the Thought Bubble, Apple's speech recognition turns it into words on your iPhone. Thought Tank asks for on-device recognition and will not send your voice to a server to do it. That recording is kept only while you check the points: it is deleted when you keep them, or when you leave the screen without keeping them.
Recordings you choose to keep. Two kinds are kept: a point you record in your own voice (so your watch can play it back to you), and a voice note you save from the "Got a thought?" card. They are kept in the app's private storage on your iPhone, and an own-voice point you tick for the watch is also copied to your watch (see section 4). They are not in the 14 daily copies or in a copy you save to Files, but they may be in your iPhone's own backup. To delete one, open the point and tap Use the spoken voice, or delete the point; the watch removes its copy the next time it syncs. Deleting the app removes them all from the phone.
If your iPhone's own backup (iCloud Backup or a computer) is switched on, your notes are included in it. That backup is between you and Apple. The Vault is never included.

4. What goes elsewhere, only if you use it

Your Apple Watch. The points you tick, and the recording of any you have kept in your own voice, are sent from your iPhone to your own watch, and stay on the watch until you untick the point, delete its recording or delete the point. If you speak a thought into the watch, it uses Apple's own dictation on the watch, which Apple may process on its servers under Apple's privacy policy. Only the words reach Thought Tank, and they are sent to your iPhone to be sorted there.
The widget. The home screen widget shows your day from a copy kept on your iPhone, shared only between Thought Tank's own parts on that phone. It sends nothing anywhere.
The family space (Plus). Entries and family members' names are stored in iCloud using Apple's CloudKit, in the iCloud account of the person who started it, and shared only with the people they invite. Apple stores it under its own privacy policy. We cannot read it.
The family notification. When the family space changes, iCloud sends your iPhone a silent signal through Apple's push notification service. It carries no words. See section 6.
Purchases. Apple handles payment. The app only asks Apple whether your household has Plus. We never see your payment details.

5. The Vault

The Vault is an extra little layer for everyday codes, like the Wi-Fi, the gate or the alarm. It is not a password manager.

Each code is kept in your iPhone's Keychain, behind Face ID, on that phone only: not in iCloud, not in a backup, not on your watch.
If Face ID does not work, your iPhone passcode opens it. Anyone who knows your passcode can open it too.
We never see what you keep, and we cannot recover it. If you delete the app, lose the phone or change phones, the codes are gone.
Keep bank, email and other important passwords in the iPhone's Passwords app instead.

6. Permissions the app asks for

Microphone and Speech Recognition: to turn what you say into words, on your phone.
Camera: only when you tap Scan a page, to read the dates on it, on your phone. The picture is not kept.
Photos: not asked for. If you pick a photo to scan, Apple's picker hands the app only that one photo, which is read on your phone and not kept.
Face ID: to open the Vault.
iCloud: only for the family space, if you use it.
Notifications: asked for once, when you start or join a family space, and never otherwise.

Family notifications. Thought Tank sends notifications only in a family space, and only about your family's day: when somebody else adds, changes, removes or ticks off something in it. You choose which in the app, under Settings, then Family, then Notifications: something added or changed for you (on to start), someone finishing a task (on to start), or every change (off to start). Each is titled "Your family's day has changed", names what changed (for example "Dinner at Mum's was added to your family's day."), and asks you to open Thought Tank and refresh. Your own changes never notify you. It never reminds you, carries no time, and nothing is scheduled.

How it arrives: iCloud tells your iPhone silently that the family space moved. Thought Tank then looks at the space itself and, only if the change was somebody else's, your iPhone shows the notification. We do not send it and no server of ours is involved. Because it names the entry, it can appear on your lock screen. If Thought Tank is open, the news shows on the page instead.

To choose which you get, use the switches in Settings, then Family, then Notifications. To turn them all off, open your iPhone's Settings, then Notifications, then Thought Tank, and switch off Allow Notifications, or leave the family space. With notifications off, the news still shows on the page the next time you open the app.

7. Your data, your responsibility

Because everything lives on your phone and we hold no copy, you are responsible for looking after it: keeping your iPhone locked with a passcode only you know, keeping a backup if you want one, and choosing what you put in the app and the Vault. We cannot restore anything that is lost from your phone. See section 9 of the Terms of Use for how our liability is limited.

8. Children

Thought Tank is made for adults running a household. A parent may put a child's name on the family's day, or invite a child who has their own Apple Account into the family space. That stays on your phones and in your family's iCloud. We receive nothing about anyone, child or adult.

9. Keeping, deleting and your choices

On your phone: kept until you delete it. Each of the 14 daily copies is replaced after 14 days. Deleting the app removes everything on that phone, the Vault included.
On your watch: kept until you untick or delete the point, or remove the app from the watch.
In the family space: kept in the starter's iCloud until it is deleted. Anyone in the space can delete an entry in the app. A member who taps Leave removes the space from their own phone and iCloud. The starter can remove people or stop sharing, and can delete everything the app keeps in their iCloud in the iPhone's Settings, under their name, then iCloud.
Your choices: switch off the microphone, speech recognition, camera, notifications or iCloud for Thought Tank in your iPhone's Settings at any time. The rest of the app still works.
Asking us: we hold nothing about you except any email you send us. You can ask to see, correct or delete it.

10. Outside Australia

We do not send your information anywhere. Apple may store iCloud data, and handle dictation and payments, outside Australia, under Apple's privacy policy. Our email provider, Google, may store emails you send us outside Australia.

11. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we will update the date at the top and, for anything important, tell you in the app before the change takes effect.

12. Contact

SPENCER AI (ABN 31 978 335 623), Victoria, Australia. Questions or complaints: welcome@myspencer.ai. We aim to reply within 30 days. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.