Afterglow Privacy Policy
Afterglow is a journaling app for iPhone and iPad, made by Gabriel Pires ("we", "us"). This policy explains what happens to your entries, photos, videos and other information when you use Afterglow, including through TestFlight. It applies to the Afterglow app and to the small server we run so the app's optional AI features can work.
In short
- Your journal is yours. Entries, photos, videos and conversations are stored on your device and, if you use iCloud, in your private iCloud account. We can't access them.
- AI features are optional and off until you allow them. When allowed, only what a feature needs is sent to OpenAI through our server, which doesn't store it.
- Entries with a private tag are never sent for AI processing.
- No accounts, no advertising, no analytics, no tracking, and we never sell your information.
1. What stays on your device and in your iCloud
Everything you put into Afterglow is stored in the app on your device:
- your entries, their titles and dates, and the tags the app suggests or you add;
- copies of photos and videos you attach (resized photos and 720p videos of up to 60 seconds), and descriptions the app generates for photos;
- where a photo or video was taken, if your Photos library has that information and "Save photo locations" is on;
- your Ask and Talk conversations;
- your settings, including which tags you've marked private.
If you're signed in to iCloud, this journal data (not your settings) syncs through your private iCloud database, so your devices stay up to date. Your private iCloud database belongs to your Apple Account; we have no access to it, and Apple's privacy policy and iCloud terms apply to it.
Some processing always happens on your device and is never sent to us or anyone else: dictation (speech is transcribed on the device and audio isn't saved), search, the calendar, and the Tags screen. Automatic titles and tags are made on your device when it supports Apple Intelligence; if your device can't make them, or its own attempt fails, the entry's text is sent for analysis like the other AI features below. Entries with a private tag are never sent.
If you export a backup, Afterglow creates a file containing your journal and hands it to you to save or share. That file isn't encrypted, and where it goes is up to you. The app deletes its own temporary copy afterwards.
2. Optional AI features
Some features use OpenAI's API. The first time you open Afterglow, it asks whether to allow them. Until you tap Allow, the app sends no journal content anywhere and doesn't contact our server at all. You can change your answer at any time in Settings.
When allowed, the app sends only what each feature needs to our server, which forwards it to OpenAI and returns the result:
| Feature | What is sent |
|---|---|
| Titles and tags | An entry's text and the app's descriptions of its photos, only when your device can't generate them itself. |
| Photo descriptions | Never. Afterglow used to be able to describe an attached photo. That was turned off on October 11, 2026: there is no switch for it, and no photo, video or photo location leaves your device for any reason. |
| Ask | Your question, the text of up to 20 of your entries chosen as the best matches (topped up with recent entries), and the last few questions and answers in that conversation. |
| Mood reflection | Only counts and tag words from the mood screen: how many days had each mood, and which tags came up more on good or hard days. No entry text. |
| Talk | Your message and recent messages in that conversation, including Afterglow's replies. Starting one from an entry with "Talk this through" sends that entry's text as the first message. |
| Make an entry from a conversation | What you said in that Talk conversation. |
Private tags. An entry that carries a tag you've marked private, or mentions one by name, is never sent for any of these features, and earlier conversation messages that refer to it aren't resent.
We don't store what's sent. OpenAI processes it to provide the response, as our service provider under its API terms. OpenAI states that API data isn't used to train its models by default and may be retained for a limited period, generally up to 30 days, to detect abuse. See OpenAI's privacy policy and API data commitments for current details. Information already sent can't be recalled by deleting it in the app.
3. Information our server receives
We don't operate accounts, and we don't collect your name, email address, phone number, Apple ID, contacts or advertising identifiers.
Once you allow AI features, our server receives:
- A device key identifier. The app uses Apple's App Attest to prove it's a genuine copy of Afterglow. This creates a random key identifier that isn't linked to your identity. We use it to issue an access token and to apply fair usage limits.
- Usage records. For each AI request we log the time, which feature was used, the device key identifier, the AI model, the amount of text processed (token counts), how long it took and whether it succeeded. We also log device registrations and the type of any error. These records never include your entries, photos, questions or answers.
- Network information. As with any internet service, our hosting provider processes technical information such as IP addresses to deliver requests.
We use this information only to run the service: to authenticate the app, prevent abuse, enforce usage limits, and diagnose problems. We don't use it for advertising or profiling, and we don't sell or share it for those purposes.
4. Photos, microphone, location and notifications
- Photo Library: used to browse and attach photos and videos from the day you're writing about. Afterglow stores its own copies of what you attach.
- Microphone and speech recognition: used for dictation, which is processed on your device. Audio isn't saved or sent. The speech model is downloaded from Apple the first time you use it.
- Location: Afterglow doesn't request access to your device's location. The only location it keeps is the one already attached to a photo or video in your Photos library, and only while "Save photo locations" is on. It stays in your journal and is never sent to us or to OpenAI.
- Notifications: the optional daily reminder is scheduled on your device. It contains no journal content and involves no server.
5. Service providers
- Apple provides iCloud sync to your private database, App Attest, on-device language and speech models, and TestFlight. Apple Privacy Policy.
- OpenAI processes content for AI features you allow. OpenAI Privacy Policy.
- Railway hosts our server and its logs. Railway Privacy Policy.
The app contains no third party analytics, advertising or crash reporting software.
6. TestFlight, crash reports and feedback
If you test Afterglow through TestFlight, Apple shares some information with us under Apple's terms: the name and email address you were invited with, the build you installed, and crash reports. If you send feedback from TestFlight, we receive what you send, including any screenshot you attach, which could show your journal. Outside TestFlight, if you've chosen to share analytics with app developers in your device settings, Apple may share crash reports with us. We use this information only to fix problems and improve Afterglow.
7. Your choices
- AI features: allow or turn off in Settings. Off means no journal content is sent.
- Photos: there is nothing to switch. Photos, videos and the places they were taken stay on your device and in your iCloud, and are never sent for AI features.
- Private tags: mark tags private to keep entries that carry or mention them out of AI processing.
- Hide private entries: hides entries with private tags from the app's screens.
- Save photo locations: turn off to stop keeping where new photos and videos were taken.
- iCloud: sign out of iCloud, or turn off iCloud for Afterglow in iOS Settings, to keep your journal on your device only.
- Notifications: turn the daily reminder off in Afterglow or in iOS Settings.
8. Retention and deletion
- Your journal stays until you delete it. Deleting an entry removes it, its photos and videos from your device and, through sync, from your iCloud.
- To delete your whole journal, use Delete everything in Afterglow's Settings. It removes your entries, photos, videos, tags and chats from your device, your iCloud and your other devices.
- Deleting the app removes its data from that device. To remove the synced copy, use iOS Settings, then your name, iCloud, Manage Storage.
- Backup files you exported remain wherever you saved them.
- Our server's usage records are kept for a limited period set by our hosting provider's log retention, and usage counters are cleared when the server restarts.
- OpenAI's retention of content sent for AI features is described in section 2.
9. Security
Communication between the app and our server uses encrypted HTTPS. Our server only accepts requests from genuine copies of the app, verified with Apple's App Attest, and doesn't store journal content. Data on your device and in iCloud is protected by Apple's security features, including your device passcode. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security.
10. Your rights
Depending on where you live, including under the GDPR in the EEA and UK or California law, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or obtain a copy of your personal information, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw consent. Most of your information is under your direct control in the app and your iCloud account, which we can't access. For anything we hold, such as usage records tied to a device key identifier, contact us and we'll respond as the law requires. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Where the GDPR applies, we process information to provide the service you ask for, with your consent for AI features (which you can withdraw in Settings), and for our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and preventing abuse.
11. Children
Afterglow isn't directed to children under 13, or under the minimum age required in your country, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided information to us, contact us and we'll delete it.
12. Where information is processed
Our server and OpenAI may process information in the United States and other countries where they operate, which may have different data protection laws from where you live. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards offered by our service providers.
13. Changes to this policy
If Afterglow's handling of your information changes, we'll update this page and its effective date. If a change significantly affects what's sent from your device, the app will tell you and, where needed, ask again before sending anything new.
14. Contact
Questions or requests about privacy: so.strange.apps@gmail.com.