- Effective date: 20 August 2026
- Last updated: 20 August 2026
- App: Ethos for iOS (
com.valenso.ethos) - Provider: Valentin Ranshakov (“we”, “us”)
- Contact: valentin.ranshakov@gmail.com
Ethos is a voice diary. You open it, it records, you shake to save, and the app transcribes and organizes the entry on your device. This policy explains exactly what the app does with what you say to it.
The short version: your recordings and transcripts stay on your device and, if you are signed in to iCloud, in your own private iCloud account. We never receive them, and we operate no server that could.
1. What Ethos stores
Everything below is created on your device and written to the app’s local database (SwiftData, stored in the app’s private container on your iPhone):
| Data | What it is |
|---|---|
| Audio recordings | The raw audio of each diary entry you save. |
| Transcripts | The text of each entry, produced by transcription (see §3). |
| Entry title | A short title generated from the transcript on your device. |
| Mood | A sentiment label (happy / calm / sad) and a numeric score, computed from the transcript text on your device. |
| Tags | Keywords extracted from the transcript text on your device. |
| Entry metadata | Creation and update timestamps, recording duration, a locally generated identifier. |
| Your notes | Any text you add to an entry yourself. |
| Language preference | The transcription language you select, stored as a device setting. |
Ethos has no user accounts. You do not create a profile, and we do not collect your name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos, location, or advertising identifiers.
2. Where it goes: iCloud sync
If you are signed in to iCloud on your device, entries — including their audio — are mirrored to your own private CloudKit database so they appear on your other devices signed in to the same Apple Account. This is Apple’s infrastructure operating on your behalf under your Apple Account. We do not run it, we cannot browse it, and we have no credentials that would let us read your CloudKit data. Apple’s handling of it is governed by the Apple Privacy Policy.
The app requests permission to receive silent push notifications from Apple (APNs) solely so iCloud can tell it that new entry data has arrived on another device. No notification content is sent by us.
If you are not signed in to iCloud, Ethos works exactly the same and nothing leaves your device. Local-only operation is a fully supported mode, not a degraded one. Sync can also be disabled remotely by us via a feature flag (see §4) if a sync defect is discovered; that only stops cross-device mirroring and never affects your local entries.
3. Transcription and on-device intelligence
- Transcription uses Apple’s Speech framework. Ethos requests on-device recognition whenever the language you have selected supports it, in which case your audio is never transmitted anywhere for transcription. If the selected language does not support on-device recognition on your device, Apple’s Speech framework may send that audio to Apple’s servers to transcribe it. That processing is performed by Apple under Apple’s privacy policy; we neither receive the audio nor the result of that transfer beyond the transcript your device stores locally. If you want a guarantee that no audio ever leaves your device, choose a language your device supports on-device.
- Title generation may use Apple’s on-device Foundation Models framework. This runs locally on your device; no prompt or transcript is sent to us or to any third-party model provider. When the model is unavailable or the feature is switched off, titles are derived from the transcript with simple local text processing instead.
- Mood detection and tag extraction are plain local text analysis. No network access.
There is no cloud AI service in Ethos, and your entries are never used to train any model.
4. Diagnostics and analytics (Datadog)
Ethos includes the Datadog Real User Monitoring, Crash Reporting, and Feature Flags SDKs, which we use to see whether the app is working and to be able to switch a risky feature off without shipping an update. Datadog is our data processor. Through it we receive:
- App usage events — that a screen was viewed or a named action occurred (for example
diary.recording.start,diary.recording.save,diary.entry.transcribed). These are fixed event names; the content of your entries is never attached to them. - Crash reports and errors — stack traces and the screen the failure occurred on.
- Technical context — device model, iOS version, app version and build, session duration, performance timings, and a randomly generated session/device identifier that is not linked to any account. Datadog also receives the IP address your device connects from.
- Feature flag evaluations — which flags your app instance resolved, so we know which code path you were on.
No audio, transcript, title, tag, mood value, or entry text is ever sent to Datadog or to us. Datadog’s processing is described in the Datadog Privacy Policy.
This diagnostic reporting is currently enabled by default and has no in-app opt-out. If you do not want it, you can block it at the network level or stop using the app; we intend to add an in-app control.
We do not use advertising SDKs, we do not track you across apps or websites, and we do not sell or share your personal information.
5. Permissions Ethos asks for
- Microphone — required; the app is a voice recorder. Recording begins when you open the Capture screen and stops when you save or cancel.
- Speech Recognition — required to turn recordings into text (see §3).
Both can be revoked at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security, and in Settings → Ethos. Revoking the microphone permission stops Ethos from capturing new entries; existing entries are unaffected.
6. Retention and deletion
- Entries are kept until you delete them. There is no expiry and no server-side copy for us to retain.
- Deleting an entry in the app removes it from the local store, and the deletion propagates to your other devices via iCloud.
- Deleting the app removes the entire local database, including all audio, from that device. Entries mirrored to iCloud remain in your Apple Account until you remove them: iOS Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Ethos.
- Diagnostic and crash data held by Datadog is retained according to our Datadog retention configuration and is deleted on that schedule. Because it carries no account identifier, we generally cannot single out an individual’s diagnostic records on request; we can tell you what categories we hold and confirm that they contain no diary content.
7. Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR or the CCPA/CPRA), you may have rights to access, correct, export, or delete your personal data, and to object to certain processing.
For your diary content those rights are exercised directly and completely by you: the data lives on your device and in your own iCloud account, and you can read, edit, export by sharing, and delete it without us. We hold no copy to produce or erase.
For the diagnostic data described in §4, write to valentin.ranshakov@gmail.com and we will respond as required by applicable law.
8. Children
Ethos is not directed to children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.
9. Beta testing
If you use Ethos through TestFlight, Apple provides us with the feedback and screenshots you choose to submit, along with crash logs and basic install/session metrics for the beta build. Feedback you submit may be filed as an issue in our development tracker to be acted on. Do not include anything in feedback text that you would not want recorded there.
10. Changes to this policy
If we change how Ethos handles your data, we will update this policy and its “Last updated” date, and — for any change that materially expands what leaves your device — surface a notice in the app before the change takes effect.
11. Contact
Questions about this policy or about Ethos’s handling of your data: valentin.ranshakov@gmail.com
Appendix: App Store privacy label mapping
For App Store Connect’s “App Privacy” questionnaire, the disclosures consistent with this policy are:
| Category | Collected? | Linked to identity? | Used for tracking? | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audio data | Not collected (never leaves the device / user’s own iCloud) | — | No | — |
| User content (transcripts, notes) | Not collected | — | No | — |
| Crash data | Yes | No | No | App functionality |
| Performance data | Yes | No | No | App functionality |
| Other diagnostic data | Yes | No | No | App functionality |
| Product interaction | Yes | No | No | Analytics, App functionality |
| Identifiers (Datadog session/device ID) | Yes | No | No | Analytics, App functionality |
Data stored only on the user’s device or in the user’s own iCloud account is not “collected” for App Store purposes, which is why the first two rows read as they do.