Privacy Policy
The short version
- You sign in with Apple or Google. We keep your name and email for your account, and never send them to AI services.
- We keep the links you save, the text we read from them and the notes our AI writes about them. Videos and images are deleted within seconds of being read.
- AI processing only happens after you agree to it, and you can withdraw in Settings at any time.
- Your saved content is sent to our AI providers (Anthropic and Voyage AI) only with your consent. We have turned off model training on your data at both providers.
- No ads, no tracking SDKs, and we never sell or share your data for advertising.
- Delete your account in Settings and live data is deleted right away. Server logs and backups age out on set schedules.
- Heapzero uses YouTube API Services, so Google's Privacy Policy also applies to YouTube content.
Who we are
Heapzero is an iPhone app and service run by Anil Kumar, an individual developer based in India ("we", "us"). We decide how your data is used, which makes us the data controller (or "business" or "data fiduciary", depending on where you live). You can reach us at privacy@heapzero.com.
What we collect and why
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| Name, email and sign-in identifier | To sign you in, keep one account if you use Apple and Google with the same Gmail address, and reach you about your account. Apple and Google give us an identifier, your email and your name. If you choose Hide My Email, we only get Apple's private address. If token revocation is set up, we also keep an encrypted Apple token so we can revoke Heapzero's access when you delete your account. |
| Links you save | The core of the service. |
| Text from those links | The caption, creator name and handle, text shown on screen or on photo slides. We use it to work out what each item is. |
| What Heapzero writes | A title, summary, key points, category, structured parts such as ingredients and steps, and an illustration choice. |
| What you do with items | Times you saved, opened, finished, postponed ("Later") or let go of items, and which reminders you opened. This picks what to show you and when. |
| Reminder settings | Your free times, time zone and daily limit, so reminders arrive only when you want them. |
| Push token | A device token from Apple so we can send reminders. Removed when you sign out or when your session expires. |
| AI consent record | When you agreed and to which version of the consent text. |
| Search text | Used to answer the search, then dropped. We do not store or log what you search for. For meaning-based search the text is sent to Voyage AI, a third-party AI service, and held in memory on our server for up to 10 minutes. |
| Server logs | IP address, time, request path, method, user agent, and status, used to keep the service running and secure. Search text and sign-in tokens are removed from logs. |
On your phone, Heapzero keeps your sign-in token in the iOS Keychain, your recent searches in device storage (cleared on sign-out), and a few preferences. We do not collect contacts, location, photos, advertising identifiers or analytics, and the app contains no third-party tracking or advertising SDKs.
Legal bases (UK): providing the service you asked for (contract); your consent for AI processing and notifications (posts you save can reveal things like health, religion or interests; where they do, we rely on your explicit consent); and our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and working.
AI processing and your consent
Heapzero reads the posts you save with AI, using two third-party AI services: Anthropic and Voyage AI. Before any saved content goes to them, Heapzero asks for your consent, either on the sample post during setup or on a separate screen, and links to this section. Without consent, items are saved as plain links and nothing is sent to AI services. Items you saved before agreeing are processed once you agree.
With consent, the post or page, its text and images (photo slides and a few frames from videos, to read the text on them), is sent to Anthropic, whose Claude models sort and summarize it and word your reminders. To word a reminder, Anthropic receives the item's title, summary and category, and your local time of day and day of the week. Voyage AI, our search embedding provider, turns titles, summaries, key points, and the text you type in search into numbers so search can match by meaning. Paper titles are looked up in public research databases to find the paper's real page. Every recipient is listed under Who we share data with.
We do not send your name, email or account details to these AI services. A post you save may itself contain your name or handle. What they do receive can still say something about you: the posts you save, what you search for, and your local time of day when a reminder is worded. Our copy of images and videos is deleted within seconds of processing.
You can withdraw consent at any time in Settings. New items are then kept as plain links, and the search embeddings made from your items are deleted. Existing summaries stay with your items until you let them go or delete your account. AI output can be wrong, so check anything important against the original post.
Videos and images are deleted after reading
To read a post, our server downloads the public video or photo slides from the link you shared into temporary storage, reads the text, and deletes the files within seconds, as part of the same job. We keep only the text. Heapzero never republishes content; every item links back to the original.
Who we share data with
We share data only with the recipients below, only for running Heapzero, and under data processing terms that limit how they may use it. We have turned off training on your data at Anthropic and opted out of training at Voyage AI. We name the providers you should know about and describe the rest by category. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.
| Recipient | What for | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic, our third-party AI provider for reading posts | AI understanding and reading text in images (with consent) | Item text, slide images and video frames, reminder context |
| Google (YouTube API Services) | Reading the title, description and channel of YouTube links | The video ID |
| Apple | Sign in with Apple and push notifications | Apple identifier, push token, reminder text |
| Sign in with Google, if you choose it | Google shares your identifier, email and name with us | |
| Cloud hosting provider (United States) | Hosting our servers and database; our servers are in the United States | Everything we store |
| Voyage AI, our third-party AI provider for search | Turns item text and the text you type in search into numbers for search by meaning (with consent) | Item titles, summaries, key points, search text |
| A backup service that fetches public posts when our own fetcher cannot | Reading a public post our own fetcher could not read (with consent) | The link you shared |
| Public research databases | Finding a paper's real page | The paper title |
| DNS, website hosting and email forwarding provider | Running this website and forwarding email sent to us | Website requests, emails you send us |
A current list of our service providers is available on request at privacy@heapzero.com.
Instagram, the websites you save and other platforms see a request from our server when we fetch the public post or page you shared; it is not linked to your identity. We may also disclose data if the law requires it, or to a buyer if Heapzero is ever transferred, with this policy continuing to apply.
Web pages, X and TikTok
When you save a web page, our server fetches that one page and identifies itself as HeapzeroBot. We follow the site's robots.txt and noai rules and do not read pages marked as paywalled; those stay as plain links. With consent, the page's text goes to our AI provider so it can be summarized. We do not store the page's full text. We keep the link, the page's short description and the summary.
For an X post or a TikTok link we read only the text and the author's name through the public embed service each platform offers. We never download their video or images. Your name, account and Apple ID are not part of any of these requests.
YouTube content
Heapzero uses YouTube API Services to read YouTube links you share. By using Heapzero with YouTube links you also agree to the YouTube Terms of Service, and Google's handling of data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.
For a YouTube link we read only the video's title, description and channel name and handle through the official YouTube Data API. We never download YouTube video, audio or thumbnails. We store those three fields with your item, refresh them after 25 days, and delete them if the video stops being public or if they could not be refreshed within 30 days. Heapzero's own title and summary are written from them. We do not share YouTube data with anyone except as described in this policy, and we do not place cookies or read device identifiers for YouTube.
Heapzero uses an API key, not your Google account, so it never has access to your Google or YouTube account. If you ever connected an app to your Google account, you can review and remove its access at Google security settings. To delete YouTube data held by Heapzero, let go of the item or delete your account.
International transfers
Heapzero serves people in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Our servers are in the United States, and we operate from India, so your data is processed in the US and may be accessed from India. Our providers may process data in other countries. Where the law requires it (for example UK GDPR), we rely on recognized safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or Standard Contractual Clauses offered by our providers.
How long we keep data
| Data | Kept |
|---|---|
| Videos, slide images, frames | Our copies are deleted within seconds of reading. Frames sent to Anthropic are retained per Anthropic's commercial policy (up to 30 days for safety and abuse prevention). |
| Items you keep, finish or that fade | Until you let them go or delete your account. Items you do not touch fade after 14 days: they move out of your heap but stay in your account. |
| Items you let go | Recoverable for 30 days, then permanently deleted with all their text. |
| YouTube API data | Refreshed after 25 days; deleted when no longer public or older than 30 days. |
| Search text | Not stored. Up to 10 minutes in memory. |
| Your account and everything in it | Until you delete it. Live deletion is immediate; backups age out within about 14 days. |
| Database backups | About 14 days, then deleted. Deleted data can remain in backups until then. |
| Server logs | Overwritten in rotation as they reach a fixed size. |
Your rights
Wherever you live, you can:
- Access and export your data. Everything you saved is in the app; for a full copy in a machine-readable format, email us.
- Correct it, by emailing us or by letting go of an item and saving it again.
- Delete it: Settings, then Delete account. This removes your data from our live systems right away, prunes backups within about 14 days, and where set up, revokes Heapzero's Sign in with Apple access.
- Withdraw consent to AI processing in Settings, and turn off reminders in Settings or iOS Settings.
- Object or restrict processing, and complain to a regulator.
Email privacy@heapzero.com from any address and tell us about something only your account would know (for example a link you saved), so we can find your data without asking who you are. We reply within 30 days and never charge for it. We will not treat you differently for using your rights.
- UK: you have the right to access, rectification, erasure, and to complain to us at privacy@heapzero.com. We acknowledge complaints within 30 days and tell you the outcome without undue delay. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
- California: you have the rights to know, delete, correct and opt out of sale or sharing. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising. We offer these access, deletion and correction rights to everyone. You may use an authorized agent.
- Canada: you can access and correct your data and complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or, in Quebec, the Commission d'accès à l'information. Our person in charge of personal information is Anil Kumar, privacy@heapzero.com.
- Australia: we give you the same access and correction rights as everyone else. If you are not satisfied, contact us. You can also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
- India: under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act and IT rules, you can access, correct and erase your data, and raise grievances with our Grievance Officer: Anil Kumar, privacy@heapzero.com.
Age and eligibility
Heapzero is for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 has used Heapzero, email us at privacy@heapzero.com and we will delete the account immediately.
Security
All traffic between the app and our servers uses HTTPS. Data is stored on servers we control with access limited to the operator; Apple tokens are encrypted, backups are readable only by the server, and every request checks that you only reach your own data. No system is perfectly secure, and we will tell you and the relevant regulators about a breach where the law requires it.
Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date above. If a change affects how your data is used in a meaningful way, such as a new AI provider, we will tell you in the app and ask for consent again where needed.
Contact
Privacy questions, requests, and grievances: privacy@heapzero.com. Grievance Officer: Anil Kumar, India.