Privacy Policy

Effective Date: August 25, 2026
Last updated: August 26, 2026

Operator: Denis Balogh (“we”, “us”).
App: Dear Universe for iPhone and Android.
Website: https://www.dearuniverseapp.com.
Contact: info@dearuniverseapp.com · Gáň 290, 92401 Gáň, Slovakia.

This policy covers the Dear Universe mobile app and the dearuniverseapp.com website. It matches how the app works today.

We do not run a server that stores your journal. There is no Dear Universe account for your diary.

1. Journal data (on your device)

You can create entries with text, photos, video, voice recordings, feelings, and an optional day title. Several entries can belong to one day. The app can also store an optional transcript of a voice memo (text and word timings) after on-device transcription.

This journal lives in a local database and files on your phone. We cannot open your entries, photos, audio, or video. Uninstalling the app deletes the local copy unless you have a backup you made yourself.

Lock. An optional passcode is stored on the device as a hash, not as the PIN itself. Face ID or fingerprint stays on the device’s biometric system. The lock is not included in Google Drive backups.

Settings that stay on the device include theme, language, reminder time and message, backup preferences, and similar flags. Reminder notifications are scheduled on the device.

2. Optional Google Drive backup

Backup is optional. You choose it. It is a copy in your Google Drive, not live sync and not a Dear Universe cloud.

If you sign in with Google:

• The app requests the Google Drive drive.file scope: it can only use files and folders it creates. It cannot browse the rest of your Drive.
• It creates a folder (dear_universe_app_backup) with your days, entries (including transcripts when present), and media files referenced by those entries.
• Not copied to Drive: lock PIN hash, biometrics, notification setup, and the on-device transcription model file.
• You may turn on automatic backup (after you are signed in). That still writes to the same folder you own. The copy on the phone remains what you edit day to day.
• Google Sign-In may show your Google name or email in the backup screen so you know which account is connected. We do not use that as a Dear Universe login.

Google’s own policies apply to your Drive account. You can disconnect Google in the app; that does not delete the folder already on Drive — you manage that in Google Drive.

Without backup, journal content is not sent to Google or to us.

3. Optional on-device transcription

Voice recording works without transcription.

If you opt in, the app can download a speech model (about 250 MB) from Hugging Face (a public whisper.cpp model file). Download uses your network. After that, turning a memo into text runs on the device. Diary audio is not uploaded to us or to a cloud speech API for transcription.

The model file stays on the phone. It is not part of the Drive backup.

Hugging Face may see technical data typical of a file download (for example IP address). See their privacy policy.

4. Anonymous usage analytics (Aptabase)

The App sends anonymous product events to Aptabase.

We do not send journal text, photos, audio, transcripts, or feelings.

Events we send:

• App opened
• Onboarding started, skipped, or completed
• Entry created (that an entry was created — not what it contains)
• Ads intro shown, continue, or “buy” tapped
• Remove-ads purchased, restored, or failed (with a purchase vs restore flag)

Aptabase may also receive technical data their SDK collects (for example app version, OS, device class, country, and an anonymous identifier). See Aptabase privacy.

5. Crash reports (Sentry)

If the app hits an unexpected error, a report may go to Sentry (stack trace, app version, OS, and a small area tag such as backup, purchases, Google sign-in, or transcription). We do not attach diary content.

See Sentry privacy.

6. Advertising

Journaling is free. After you have created three entries, the app may show a one-time notice. If you continue, it gathers ads consent (Google User Messaging Platform / UMP, and on iOS Apple’s App Tracking Transparency when that flow applies) and may show Google AdMob ads.

Ads do not run until that funnel (owners of Buy me a coffee skip it). Ads need a network connection.

AdMob and related Google services may collect device and advertising identifiers and use them for personalized or non-personalized ads, according to your consent choices and platform settings. Max ad content rating in the app is G. The app is not tagged as child-directed.

You can reset or limit ad personalization in system settings (and, where shown, the Google consent form). A one-time purchase Buy me a coffee removes ads forever on that store account.

See Google Privacy Policy and how Google uses data in apps.

7. In-app purchases

Buy me a coffee is a one-time product sold through Apple or Google. Payment data is handled by the store, not by us. Restore uses the same store account.

8. App updates

The App may download updates from Expo over HTTPS so we can ship fixes without a full store release. Expo may receive the technical data needed to deliver the correct update (for example app version and platform).

9. This website

The marketing site at dearuniverseapp.com does not host your journal.

The site uses Vercel Analytics (which pages were viewed, and which store badge was clicked) and Vercel Speed Insights (how fast those pages load). Neither sets cookies. Measurements are aggregated: page path, approximate region, device and browser class. They are not used to identify you as a person. See Vercel Analytics privacy and Speed Insights privacy.

When you open these pages from inside the App, these tools are not loaded.

The site may log basic server or host logs (IP, user agent) as any website does.

10. Permissions the app may ask for

Only when a feature needs them:

11. Children

Dear Universe is a personal journal for a general audience. It is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Ad configuration is not child-directed.

12. Third-party services

Each has its own privacy policy. We do not control how they process data once it reaches them.

13. Your choices

• Do not enable Drive backup — the journal stays only on the phone.
• Skip the transcription download — recording still works.
• Decline tracking / restrict ad personalization where the OS allows.
• Buy Buy me a coffee to stop ads.
• Delete entries or uninstall the app to remove local data.
• Remove the Drive folder in Google Drive if you used backup.
• Email info@dearuniverseapp.com with privacy questions. We cannot retrieve diary content we never received.

14. Security

Journal files stay on the device, or in your Drive folder if you back up. Connections to Google, Aptabase, Sentry, Expo, Hugging Face, and ad services use HTTPS. Drive backups are not extra-encrypted by the app with a user key; they rely on Google’s storage and transport.

15. Changes

We may update this policy. The Effective Date at the top will change. Continued use after an update means you accept the new policy. Material changes that affect the in-app WebView should keep this same URL: https://www.dearuniverseapp.com/privacy-policy.

16. Contact

Denis Balogh
Gáň 290, 92401 Gáň, Slovakia
info@dearuniverseapp.com