B1 Buddy privacy policy
Last updated: 14 November 2026
B1 Buddy is an app for iPhone and iPad made by Tim Biddle ("we", "us"). This page says what happens to your information when you use it. The short version: we collect nothing. We have no account system, no server and no analytics, so we never receive your chats, your photos, your keys or anything about you.
What we do not do
- No account. You never sign up or log in to anything of ours.
- No server of ours. The app does not send anything to us, ever.
- No analytics, adverts or tracking. The app contains no analytics, advertising or tracking code, and no code from other companies at all: only Apple's own frameworks. We do not track you across other apps or websites.
What stays on your iPhone or iPad
These are kept only on your device. We cannot see them. The app does not sync them anywhere; like any app's data, your chats and settings are included in your device's own backups (iCloud Backup or a computer backup) if you have those switched on, under Apple's terms.
| What | Where it is kept |
|---|---|
| Your chats, including any photos you attached | In the app's own storage on this device. Not synced to iCloud by the app, and not shared with the app's widgets or share button. |
| Your settings: the buddy's name, your optional "one line about you", the chosen look, scene choices, birthdays you add for the special-day scenes, the garden's progress | In the app's own settings on this device. |
| Your to-do list and reminders (what you added, when it is due, how it repeats, what is ticked off) | In a small file in the app's own storage on this device. Not synced to iCloud by the app, not shared with the widgets or the share button, not written to Apple's Reminders app, and never sent to any AI service or to us. Reminders are local notifications that iOS shows on this device. |
| The list of AI services you have added (their names, web addresses and chosen models) and which ones you have agreed to send chats to | In the app's own settings on this device. |
| Your API keys | In the device's Keychain. They are not included in backups restored to another device and are never written anywhere else. |
| What you have bought | Apple keeps the record. The app keeps a copy on the device so it can start without a connection, and checks it with Apple. |
| For the widgets: the chosen look and, while Ambient Mode is open, the title and artist of the song playing in Apple Music | In a shared area on this device that only B1 Buddy, its widgets and its share button can read. |
Deleting it. To delete something from your to-do list, swipe it to the left in the list; to delete the whole list and its reminders, open Settings, "Lists and calendar", Clear my list. To delete one chat, swipe it to the left in the chat list (or use Delete on a single message). To remove an AI service and its key, open Settings, then the buddy's brains, and choose "Remove this brain". Deleting the app deletes your chats, settings and the shared area from the device. iOS may keep Keychain entries after an app is deleted, so remove each service (which deletes its key) before you delete the app. Your purchases stay with your Apple Account and can be restored at any time.
What leaves your device, and when
Only the following, and only when you use the feature.
- Your messages, to the AI service you chose. When you chat with a service you added (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, another service that uses the OpenAI format such as xAI, Mistral, Groq, DeepSeek, OpenRouter or Together, or any address you type in), the app sends your messages, the earlier messages in that chat, any photos you attached, and the buddy's short instructions (which include its name, your optional "one line about you", today's date and time with your time zone; only when your message asks about the weather and "Real weather" is on, the current weather where you are: the kind of sky, the "feels like" temperature and today's sunrise and sunset, but never your location itself; and only when your message asks about your day and both calendar switches are on (see item 5), the next week's appointments from your calendar (today and the six days after it): their titles, times and places) straight from your device to that service, using your own key. The first time, before anything is sent, a screen names the service, says what will be sent and, for OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, links to their privacy policy. Nothing is sent unless you agree. Each service handles what it receives under its own privacy policy and terms, not this one, so please read theirs. Your key goes only to the service it belongs to, so the service knows the request came from your account.
- Web search. If "Look things up on the web" is on in Settings (it is on unless you switch it off) and you use OpenAI, Anthropic or Google Gemini, that service may search the web to answer your message. The search is done by the service itself, from what you wrote, and is charged to your own account with it; the app does not search the web and sends nothing to search engines. The pages a reply drew on are listed under it as links, and a Gemini reply that used Google Search shows Google's search suggestions under it, as Google requires; tapping one opens Safari.
- When you add a service, the app checks your key by asking the service for its list of models. This sends your key, but none of your messages.
- To your own computer, if you set one up. If you add "My own computer" (for example Ollama or LM Studio at home), your messages and photos go straight from your device to that computer, after the same kind of agreement screen. "Look for my computer" asks devices on your own home network two harmless questions to find it; it sends no key and no chat, and iOS asks your permission before the app may use the local network.
- The brain on this iPhone sends nothing. If you use Apple's on-device model, your chats are answered on the device and nothing leaves it.
- Your rough location, to Apple Weather, only if you switch it on. If you turn on "Real weather" (in Settings, or "Real weather in the window" in Ambient Mode), iOS asks for your location. The app asks only for an approximate location (about the size of a town, not your street), only while the app is in use, and sends it to Apple's weather service to get the weather. It is not stored by the app and is never sent to us. The weather that comes back (the kind of sky, the temperature, and the sunrise and sunset times, never the place) is kept on your device so the widgets can show it, and is deleted when you turn the switch off. Turn the switch off, or change Location Services in iOS Settings, to stop it.
- Your calendar, only if you switch it on. The app can read the calendars on your device (read only: it never adds, changes or deletes anything). This is off unless you switch on "Let B1 see my calendar" in Settings, "Lists and calendar", and iOS then asks your permission. With it on, the app reads the next week's appointments on the device, when needed, to show them in your list and the morning hello and to mention one starting within the hour; they are not stored by the app (it keeps only the calendar's own reference for an appointment it has already mentioned, for two days, so it mentions each once) and are not sent anywhere. A second switch, "Let B1 use my calendar in answers" (also off unless you switch it on), lets the app add the next week's appointments (titles, times and places) to what is sent to the AI service you chose, but only with a message about your day, your diary or your plans, or a follow-up to one sent in the same chat within the previous ten minutes. If you ask about your plans while this is off, the app asks first, in the chat, saying what would be sent; Allow switches on both switches (and iOS asks its own permission if it hasn't yet), Not now sends your message without your appointments. With the brain on this iPhone, they never leave the device. Switch either off at any time, or change Calendars in iOS Settings, Privacy & Security.
- Your to-do list is never sent. Asking B1 to add a reminder ("Remind me to…") is handled by the app on your device: that message does not go to the AI service, and the list is never included in what is sent. Reminders at the time are local notifications, made and shown by iOS on your device.
- Voice chats. Speech recognition runs on your device. No recording is made or sent. Only the words recognised go to the AI service you chose, exactly as if you had typed them (and nowhere, if you use the brain on this iPhone). The buddy's spoken replies use Apple's voices on the device.
- Purchases, through Apple. Buying and restoring go through Apple's App Store. We receive no payment details or personal information from Apple.
- The share button. Sharing text, a web link or photos to B1 Buddy puts them in a box on your device. The share button sends nothing anywhere. The app moves them into a new chat's message box, where you choose whether to send them. Anything not picked up within a day is deleted.
- Emails you choose to send. "Email us" and "Report this reply" open a draft in your own Mail app. Nothing is sent unless you press Send there, and you can edit the draft first.
The app also reads, without sending anywhere: what is playing in Apple Music (only if you allow it, for the Music scene) and the phone's tilt (to move the buddy). The microphone, speech recognition, location, Apple Music, local network, calendar and notification permissions (notifications for the Desk timer, if you ask to be told when focus is over, and for your reminders, the first time you add one with a time) are each asked for only when you first use the feature that needs them. Choosing a photo uses Apple's photo picker, which gives the app only the photos you pick.
Withdrawing your agreement
To stop the app sending chats to a service you agreed to: open Settings, the buddy's brains, tap that service, and choose "Stop sending chats here". The app will ask again before it next sends anything there. To remove the service and its key completely, choose "Remove this brain". Anything already sent to a service is held by that service under its own policy; contact the service to ask about it.
Children
B1 Buddy is not made for, or aimed at, children under 13, and it is not in the App Store's Kids category. Because we collect no personal information from anyone, we collect none from children either. If you are a parent and your child has added an AI service, the information above about what goes to that service applies; you can remove the service as described.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date. If the app ever starts sending anything new, the app will say so before it does.
Contact
Tim Biddle
Email: support@b1buddy.app