Privacy policy

zeile has no accounts, advertising, analytics, or tracking. It uses Apple's CloudKit service to store the information needed to pair two people and deliver their notes and doodles. This data is stored in zeile's shared public CloudKit database and is not end-to-end encrypted.

zeile uses Apple's CloudKit service. Notes, doodles, and pairing data are stored in zeile's shared CloudKit public database—not in either person's personal, private iCloud database. zeile does not operate its own servers.

“Public database” is a technical CloudKit term. It does not mean zeile publishes your notes in a public feed, on a profile, or on a searchable webpage. It means the database is shared at the app level rather than giving every pair its own private database.

Each note includes your pair code, which zeile uses to retrieve the right pair's notes. One person must approve the second person before the pair is connected, and the normal pairing flow locks after two people are connected.

This separation happens in the application; it is not cryptographic access control. A pair code is not an encryption key, and notes are not end-to-end encrypted. A technically capable person with access to zeile's CloudKit interface could potentially access public database records outside the normal app experience.

To provide pairing, notifications, history, and the Home Screen widget, zeile may store:

• Your note text or doodle
• Your chosen display name
• The pair code associated with the note
• The note type and creation time
• Technical device identifiers used to distinguish the two paired devices
• Pairing and approval status

zeile does not collect your email address, phone number, location, advertising identifier, or usage analytics.

The latest received note may be cached locally in zeile's App Group storage so the Home Screen widget can display it without downloading it again. Unpairing clears the connection and widget data from that device.

Apple operates the CloudKit infrastructure. zeile's developer also has administrative access to the app's public CloudKit database and can inspect or delete records when necessary to operate, troubleshoot, secure, or maintain the service.

Apple explains its public database model in the documentation for the public CloudKit database and its guide to CloudKit data management.

zeile applies two limits to note and doodle records:

• Notes become eligible for permanent deletion when they reach 90 days old.
• If a pair has more than 100 notes, everything outside the newest 100 becomes eligible for permanent deletion.

An automated cleanup runs once per day and permanently deletes records that pass either limit. Deletion may therefore happen during the next daily cleanup rather than at the exact moment a note reaches a limit.

These limits apply to notes and doodles. Pairing records—including pair codes, display names, device identifiers, and connection status—are stored separately and are not currently included in the automatic 90-day or 100-note cleanup.

Unpairing does not immediately delete the pair's existing CloudKit records. Note and doodle records remain subject to the retention policy above.

Because zeile is not end-to-end encrypted storage, do not use it for passwords, financial information, medical information, private keys, or anything else that could cause harm if disclosed. Think of zeile like a postcard, not a vault.

zeile relies on Apple services to work:

• App distribution: the Apple App Store for iOS distribution
• Storage and sync: Apple iCloud and CloudKit to store and deliver notes, doodles, and pairing data
• Notifications: the Apple Push Notification service to notify the paired device of a new note

Apple handles information under its own privacy policies. zeile does not sell your data or share it with advertisers or data brokers.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or receive a copy of personal data associated with you, and to object to certain processing. You may also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

Because zeile has no user accounts, our ability to identify records as yours may be limited. Contact us if you want to make a request or have a question about your data.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will show material changes by updating the “Last updated” date at the top of this policy. We encourage you to review it periodically.

Write to us any time: erikcativo@pm.me or via the contact page.