Pocketbot Privacy Policy
Last updated: 11 November 2026
Pocketbot is an app for iPhone and iPad that runs artificial intelligence models on your device. This policy explains what happens to your information when you use it. It applies to the Pocketbot app published on the App Store.
1. Who is responsible
Publisher: Jonathan Tambe Ebot
Contact: support@pocketbotapp.com
The publisher is responsible for the app within the meaning of the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, where it applies, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
2. In short
- We collect no personal data. Pocketbot has no account, no servers of its own, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking.
- Your conversations, photos and voice never reach us. The AI models run on your device.
- The app connects to the internet in three cases only, each one at your request: downloading a model (Hugging Face), web search if you turn it on (DuckDuckGo), and the Pro in-app purchase (Apple). Section 4 lists exactly what is sent.
3. What stays on your device
Conversations. Your messages, the answers, the photos you add, the web searches made for an answer and their sources, the name of the model and response statistics are saved in the app's storage on your device. On iPhone and iPad, these files use iOS Data Protection: they cannot be read while the device is locked. They are excluded from iCloud and computer backups, so they are not copied off the device by a backup. You can delete a conversation in History, or erase them all with "Erase all". Deleting the app deletes them as well.
Microphone. The microphone is used only while you dictate or hold a voice conversation, and only after you allow it in iOS. Speech is transcribed on the device by a speech recognition model included in the app. Temporary recordings are deleted after use. No audio is sent over the network.
Spoken answers. The voice is synthesized on the device by a model included in the app.
Photos. You choose photos with the iOS photo picker: the app receives only the photos you select, and does not ask for access to your library. Each photo is reduced to 1,024 pixels on its longest side and re-encoded as JPEG without the original metadata (such as location), then read by the model on the device. It is saved with its conversation and never sent.
Settings. Your preferences (appearance, sounds, voice, language, context size, the web search setting) and the last known Pro status are stored in the app's preferences on the device. Like any app's preferences, they can be included in your device backup.
Custom instruction. The instruction you can write for the model (Pro) stays on your device.
Models. Downloaded models are stored on the device and excluded from backups. You can delete them in the app.
4. Network connections
The app makes no network request when it starts. It connects only in the following cases.
| When | To | What is sent | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| You tap Download on a model (including the optional speech recognition model Parakeet v3) | Hugging Face (huggingface.co) and its file delivery network, over HTTPS | A request for the model's files. As with any connection, your IP address and standard technical information (such as an identifier of the app and system version in the request header) are visible to these services. No conversation content is sent. | To get the model you chose. Each file is then checked against a fixed fingerprint before use. The download can continue in the background. |
| Web search (Pro) is turned on and the model decides to search, or you tap the globe button for one message | DuckDuckGo (lite.duckduckgo.com), over HTTPS | The search query only, up to 200 characters. With automatic search, the model writes it from your conversation. With the globe button, it is your message (in voice conversation, your transcribed question). Your IP address, a generic browser identifier and language preferences are visible to DuckDuckGo as with any connection. | To answer with up-to-date results. The session is ephemeral, with no cookies and no cache. The rest of the conversation is not sent. The titles, links and snippets received are given to the model on your device, and each search and its sources appear in the answer. |
| You open the Pro screen, buy Pocketbot Pro or restore your purchases | Apple, through the App Store (StoreKit) | What Apple's purchase system needs. Payment is handled entirely by Apple. | To show the local price, process the purchase and check your rights. We do not receive your name, email address or payment details. |
| You tap a link (model page, license, search source) | The website concerned, in your browser | What your browser sends to any website. | To show the page you asked for. That website's own policy applies. |
Web search is turned off by default. When it is off, the model never searches on its own. Since an automatic query is written from your conversation, it may contain words from it: turn web search off if you do not want any query to leave your device.
Reports from Apple. If you chose, in iOS settings, to share analytics with app developers, Apple may provide us with crash reports and aggregated usage statistics under its own terms. Pocketbot adds no analytics of its own.
5. Third parties
These services act under their own responsibility and their own policies:
- Apple (App Store, purchases): apple.com/legal/privacy/
- Hugging Face (model downloads): huggingface.co/privacy
- DuckDuckGo (web search, only if you use it): duckduckgo.com/privacy
These providers may process data outside Switzerland and the European Economic Area, in particular in the United States, under the safeguards described in their policies.
6. Legal basis
The publisher does not process personal data about you. The connections in section 4 take place only at your request, to provide the feature you asked for (for the GDPR, Article 6(1)(b)).
7. Retention
We keep no data about you. On your device, your data stays until you delete it or delete the app. Data received by Apple, Hugging Face or DuckDuckGo is kept according to their policies.
8. Security
Connections use HTTPS. Downloaded model files are verified before use and rejected if they do not match. Conversations are protected by iOS Data Protection as described in section 3.
9. Your rights
Under the FADP and, where it applies, the GDPR, you have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and portability, and you may withdraw a consent at any time. Because we hold no data about you, a request to us will usually lead us to confirm that. To exercise your rights with Apple, Hugging Face or DuckDuckGo, contact them directly.
You can lodge a complaint with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (edoeb.admin.ch) or with the data protection authority of your country of residence in the European Union.
10. Children
Pocketbot collects no data from anyone, including children.
11. Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be published at this address with its date. A significant change will also be announced in the app's update notes.
12. Contact
For any question about this policy: support@pocketbotapp.com