SecondBrain Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 13, 2026 · Developer: Shtnegear · Contact: shtnegear@gmail.com

This policy explains what data SecondBrain collects, why we use it, and how we try to protect it. SecondBrain is a personal memory and planning app for notes, people, conversations, reminders, and schedules. Our approach is to limit identifying details in improvement datasets, keep each use tied to a stated purpose, use access controls and encryption, and separate any research donation from live account data. These steps reduce risk; no online service can promise zero risk.

1. Data we collect and why

Account and profile data. When you sign in with Apple, Google, or email, we may receive and store your name, email address, and account identifier. If you use Apple's Hide My Email feature, we receive Apple's private relay address.
Personal memory data. Notes, people, facts, reminders, and events you add are stored in our secure cloud database (EU region, Frankfurt) and may also be held locally on your device for the app's offline-first operation. This data is associated with your account.
Chat history and AI input. Conversations and text or images you submit to AI features may be stored in secure cloud account storage for continuity and may be sent to the AI providers needed to provide the requested feature.
Voice recordings. When you use voice input, your audio is sent to a transcription service. We do not retain the audio after the transcription request is complete. The resulting text may be stored as personal memory or chat data.
Google Calendar data. If you connect Google Calendar, SecondBrain may access your basic Google profile, the calendars you choose, and the calendar event fields needed to provide the Calendar features. Depending on the features you use, this can include event IDs, titles, descriptions, locations, dates and times, status, colors, and calendar IDs. Access can include reading events, listing calendars, creating a calendar, and creating, updating, or deleting events after you approve the action. Calendar data is cached on your device and, for signed-in accounts, an account-scoped mirror of the event data is stored in our secure cloud database so schedule state can synchronize across devices and recover from interrupted syncs. We may send derived availability windows, without event titles or details, to AI features when needed to check scheduling conflicts.
Real-place searches and interactions. When you ask Ideas to find real places, we store the search text, the returned Geoapify places and their rank, the search origin, and actions such as opening details, saving a place, or choosing it for a plan. The precise origin is used to perform the live nearby search. A separate local-only, read-only Insights Studio can display the search origin at approximately 1 km precision, the search text, Geoapify venue names, addresses, categories, rank, and interaction actions for users who accept the current notice. All Geoapify categories may appear, including sensitive categories. Google ratings are requested only after you open a place. We may retain the corresponding Google Place ID, but do not store Google's rating, rating count, reviews, Google place name, or Google photos in our database.
Subscription data. Purchases are processed by the app store and subscription-management services. We receive subscription or entitlement status to unlock paid features; we do not receive or store your payment-card details.

2. How we use your data

We use data to authenticate your account, store and sync your SecondBrain content, provide search and AI features, personalize real-place recommendations, show relevant schedule context, process subscriptions, prevent abuse, troubleshoot problems, improve ranking and future models as described below, and respond to support requests. We share data with cloud hosting, authentication, transcription, AI, location-search, Google Places UI Kit, app-store, and subscription-management providers only when needed to provide these services or comply with law.

3. Google API data and limited use

SecondBrain's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

We use Google Calendar data only to show schedule context, identify availability or conflicts, keep the Calendar features synchronized across your devices, let you choose or create a calendar, and carry out calendar actions that you explicitly approve. Calendar data is not used for advertising, credit decisions, or training generalized AI models. We do not sell Google user data. Service providers process the data only as needed to host and secure the user-facing Calendar features.

4. Required privacy notice: product analytics, model improvement, and local Insights Studio

What this required consent covers

Using SecondBrain requires one acceptance of the current privacy notice. The same checkbox covers de-identified product-usage analytics, screened information used to improve recommendations and future models, and eligible account activity shown in a separate, read-only Insights Studio. These are distinct uses recorded together under one required choice. If you do not accept, you cannot continue using the app. The live dashboard is not a model-training dataset: its records are not sent to AI providers or used as raw training data.

The Studio is run locally by the app operator and is available only from that computer. Its source records remain in account storage; “local-only” describes where the dashboard can be opened, not where all underlying data is stored. Some dashboard text is shown as written and may contain personal or sensitive details even when account and person IDs have been removed.

1. Product analytics

Product analytics may use de-identified patterns about how SecondBrain features are used to improve the app. In the current build, this choice is recorded but no separate product-analytics event stream is sent under it; app records shown in the Insights Studio are described below. If a future version adds a separate analytics stream, we will update this policy with its exact fields and use before collecting it. This purpose is separate from operational security and billing records. It is not for advertising, sale of personal data, or permission to send live Insights Studio records to AI providers. Direct account identifiers and contact details are not part of this de-identified analytics use.

2. Screened information used to improve recommendations

We may use carefully de-identified, screened preferences, safe chat excerpts, ideas, broad place-search context, returned-place rank, and place interactions to evaluate and improve recommendation ranking and future models. Names, email addresses, phone numbers, account IDs, Person IDs, precise coordinates, Google ratings and reviews, Google photos, Google place names, and sensitive personal facts are excluded from this model-improvement dataset. Personal facts are excluded rather than merely renamed.

3. What the live Insights Studio can show

For accounts that accepted the current notice, the Studio can display these account-side records in a browser on the operator’s computer:

In-app events: event titles, notes, locations, dates, times, durations, and status. Event text may include names or sensitive context that you entered.
Saved ideas: idea text, topic, kind, and save time. Links between an idea and specific people are not included.
Places activity: search text, returned Geoapify venue names and addresses, every venue category (including sensitive categories), result rank, and actions such as opening, saving, or choosing a place. The precise search origin is used for the live nearby search; the Studio rounds its map point to about 1 km.
AI service metadata: feature, provider, model, latency, token counts, cost, and status. Prompts, responses, and full live chat history are excluded.

The Studio removes account and Person IDs, but pseudonymized does not mean anonymous: free text can still identify someone or reveal personal details. The Studio is read-only. It fetches eligible records from account storage and does not send those records to AI providers or use them as raw training data.

4. What the live Studio leaves out

Google Calendar event content.
Full live chat history, AI prompts, and AI responses.
Google ratings, reviews, photos, and Google place names.
Links between saved ideas and specific people.

The map uses OpenFreeMap base-map tiles. Its tile requests reveal the visible map area to OpenFreeMap; Studio record rows and place markers are rendered in the browser and are not sent to that map service.

5. Optional research donation during account deletion

This is separate from the live Studio. Only if you choose the donation option during account deletion do we prepare screened, de-identified research excerpts under a random alias. Donated samples are shown in a separate Research corpus and are never mixed into live activity totals. Sensitive or identifying facts are excluded from those samples.

You can withdraw this acceptance in Settings. Withdrawal deletes recorded place-interaction rows, signs you out, and prevents further app use until you accept again. It stops new eligible analytics and model-improvement use; it cannot reliably remove information already incorporated into a de-identified aggregate or a previously trained model. Because one required consent covers these separate purposes, access to the app also depends on accepting both.

5. What we do not sell

We do not sell your name, email address, personal memories, notes, voice recordings, calendar data, or individual chat messages. Service providers may process data on our behalf as described in this policy.

6. Data retention

Account, memory, chat, place-search, saved-place, and place-interaction data is retained until you delete your account, except that withdrawing required model-improvement acceptance removes recorded place-interaction rows as described above. Calendar access tokens and locally cached Calendar data remain on your device until you disconnect Google Calendar, sign out as applicable, or remove the app's data. Account-scoped Calendar event mirrors remain while your account is active and are deleted when you delete your account; you may also request deletion by contacting us. Disconnecting Calendar stops new Calendar reads and writes and clears the device credentials and caches, but does not by itself delete the account-scoped mirror. Voice audio is not retained by us beyond the transcription request.

7. Your rights and account deletion

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data at any time by emailing shtnegear@gmail.com. To delete your account, open Settings → Delete account inside the app. Delete everything removes account-linked content. The default Delete account & donate a de-identified copy option first creates research records under a random alias and then removes the account and original identifiers; donated records exclude the sensitive and identifying fields listed above. Deletion is permanent and irreversible. You can revoke Google access from your Google Account's third-party connections page or disconnect Google Calendar in SecondBrain.

8. Security

Data is encrypted in transit and protected at rest through our service providers' infrastructure. Google access tokens are stored in the device's secure storage. Account-scoped Calendar mirrors are protected by account-level access controls in our cloud database. We follow industry-standard security practices, but no transmission or storage method is completely secure.

9. Children

SecondBrain is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, contact us at shtnegear@gmail.com.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be announced in the app or by another appropriate notice before taking effect. The latest version will always be available at this page.

11. Contact

For privacy questions, data requests, opt-out requests, or account deletion help, email shtnegear@gmail.com.