NianFlow Privacy Policy
中文版
Last updated: October 5, 2026
NianFlow (“the app”) respects your privacy. This policy explains what data the app handles, where it is stored, and who it is sent to. It covers the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch app and the Android app; where they differ, each is described separately.
The developer doesn’t collect your data
The app has no server of its own, needs no account, and has no ads, analytics, or tracking. The developer never receives and cannot access your thoughts, recordings, photos, or articles.
Where your data is stored
- Your device: thoughts (recordings, photos, text), flows, and articles are stored on your phone.
- iPhone: your own iCloud: when iCloud is on, this data syncs through Apple’s CloudKit to the private database in your iCloud account. Only you can access it, and it uses your iCloud storage. Apple handles this data under its privacy policy.
- Android: this phone only: the Android app has no cloud sync and turns off the system’s automatic backup, so data isn’t uploaded to Google Drive. Data isn’t kept if you switch phones or delete the app.
- API keys (Android only): stored in the app’s private storage and kept on this phone only. The iPhone app doesn’t use API keys.
Data processed on your device
- Recordings: transcribed on your phone only (Apple’s speech recognition on iPhone; the system’s on-device speech recognition on Android, which downloads a speech model when needed). Recordings are never sent to an AI service or any third party.
- AI features (iPhone): cleaning up transcripts, Converge, refreshing flows, and writing articles all run on your iPhone with Apple Intelligence’s on-device model. Your thoughts, flows, and articles are not sent to the developer or any AI service during processing (when iCloud is on, data still syncs to your own iCloud as described above). Requires a model that supports Apple Intelligence, with Apple Intelligence turned on.
- Language: the Recording & AI Language setting (Chinese or English) only chooses which language is used on your device for speech recognition, AI processing, and reading aloud. It doesn’t send any data anywhere.
- Text in photos: on iPhone, text in photos is extracted on your phone with Apple Vision; photos aren’t sent to an AI service. On Android, photos aren’t read unless you use OpenAI; only your note is used.
- Reading aloud: playback uses your phone’s built-in speech synthesis. On Android, only voices installed on the phone are used, never voices that need a network connection.
Data sent to AI services (Android only)
On iPhone, AI features run on your phone and no data is sent to an AI service.
On Android, AI features (cleaning up transcripts, Converge, refreshing flows, writing articles, reading photos) need your own OpenAI or DeepSeek API key. Before anything is sent the first time, the app shows a consent screen. Only after you agree does the app send the following directly from your phone, using your own key, to the service you chose:
- Thought text: voice transcripts, typed thoughts, and notes on photos
- Flow titles and content, and your writing style setting
- With OpenAI: photos (compressed), to describe them and extract text
The service handles this data under its own privacy policy:
You can withdraw consent or remove the API key in the app’s Settings at any time; after that, the app no longer sends data to that service.
Discussing with another AI assistant
When you choose Discuss in ChatGPT/Claude under Write an Article and tap the button, the app copies the flow’s text (title, summary, narrative, key points, questions to explore, the text of your original thoughts, and your writing style) to the clipboard and opens the AI assistant you chose in your browser or its app. The content may be placed in the new chat’s link and message box; recordings and photos are not included. On iPhone, the app asks for your consent the first time you take a flow to each assistant. This only happens when you tap the button, you review and send the content in that service yourself, and the conversation is then handled by the company providing the service under its privacy policy:
Permissions
- Microphone: to record your thoughts, including thoughts you add while listening.
- Speech Recognition (iPhone): to transcribe your recordings on your phone.
- Camera: on iPhone, to take photo thoughts. On Android, photos are taken with the system camera, and the app itself doesn’t request camera access.
- Photos (iPhone): read only when you use Latest Screenshot, to save your most recent screenshot as a thought. Other photos are never read or uploaded. Screenshots shared to the app from the share sheet stay on your phone and are handled the same way as photo thoughts.
- Notifications (Android): to show playback controls in the notification shade and on the Lock Screen.
These permissions are only used for the features above, and you can turn them off in your phone’s Settings at any time.
Deleting your data
Deleting a thought, flow, or article in the app removes it from your phone; on iPhone, it’s also removed from your iCloud through sync. Deleting the app removes the data on your phone. On iPhone, data in iCloud can be deleted in Settings › Apple Account › iCloud › Manage Account Storage. For data already sent to an AI service, request deletion under that service’s policy.
Children
The app isn’t designed for children under 13 and doesn’t knowingly collect data from children.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, this page and the date above will be updated.
Questions about this policy? Email wdhsieh99@gmail.com.