Privacy Policy

Your diary is yours. We don't collect it.

This policy covers the Secret Diary: Private Journal app for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and this website. It's written to be read, not skimmed past.

Last updated: October 10, 2026

The short version

  • DuttLabs doesn't collect, see, sell or share your journal. There's no Secret Diary account and no Secret Diary server.
  • Your entries stay on your device, and in your private iCloud only if you turn on iCloud Sync.
  • The app has no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Its App Store privacy label is "Data Not Collected".
  • This website sets no cookies, runs no analytics and loads nothing from third parties.

What we collect

Nothing that identifies you. Secret Diary has no sign-up, no account and no server of ours to send anything to. The app contains no advertising SDKs, no third-party analytics and no tracking code. It doesn't use your device's advertising identifier and never asks to track you across other apps and websites.

One thing is controlled by Apple rather than by us: if you've turned on Share With App Developers in iOS Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements, Apple may give us anonymous crash reports and basic usage statistics through App Store Connect. These never include your journal content, and you can turn them off at any time.

Where your journal is stored

  • On your device. Entries, photos, voice recordings, dreams, time capsules and settings are stored in the app's private storage on your device, protected by iOS Data Protection and by the app's Face ID lock.
  • In your private iCloud, if you choose. When you turn on Settings › iCloud & Backup › iCloud Sync (a Premium feature, off until you turn it on), your journal is also stored in your iCloud account's private database (Apple CloudKit), so it can appear on your other devices. Only your Apple Account can access it; DuttLabs can't. Apple encrypts iCloud data in transit and on its servers, and Apple's iCloud terms and privacy policy apply.
  • In the Keychain. Your decoy code and the app's backup passcode are stored in the iOS Keychain on your device.

Permissions the app asks for

Secret Diary asks for each permission only when you use the feature that needs it, and works without the ones you decline.

  • Face ID or Touch ID, to unlock the app. iOS handles this; the app only learns whether you unlocked it.
  • Photos and Camera, when you add a picture to an entry. The app keeps a resized copy of the picture and removes its metadata, including any location it was taken at.
  • Microphone, when you record a voice note.
  • Speech Recognition, only if you ask for a transcription. Apple's speech recognition processes the audio on your device or on Apple's servers, depending on your device and language, under Apple's privacy policy.
  • Add to Photos, only when you save an image you made, such as your Year Wrapped card. This lets the app add that image to your library; it can't read your library this way.
  • Notifications, if you turn on the Daily Reminder, ask to hear when a time capsule opens, or start a free trial (a reminder before it renews). All are scheduled on your device, never contain what you wrote, and use neutral wording while Decoy Mode is on.

The app doesn't access your location. Any place name on an entry is text you type yourself.

Widgets and Apple Watch

Widgets show a small summary, such as your streak, today's mood and whether today's entry is done, never what you wrote. The app shares that summary with its widgets through a private container on your device (an App Group), and while Decoy Mode is on the widgets show nothing about your journal.

The Apple Watch app keeps the moods and quick notes you log on the watch on the watch itself for up to 30 days, so it can show today's notes and your recent moods. They travel directly between your watch and iPhone using Apple's Watch Connectivity and are added to that day's entry in your journal. Your iPhone sends back only your streak and recent moods, never entry text. Deleting your journal data in the app also clears them from the watch. Notes and moods are hidden in Always On and while the watch is locked. None of this is sent to us.

Watch-face complications show your streak and today's mood, read from a private container on the watch; today's mood hides while the watch is locked.

Purchases

Premium subscriptions and the Lifetime purchase are processed by Apple through StoreKit. The app reads your purchase status from Apple on your device (which plan is active, when it renews or ends, and whether it came from Family Sharing) so it can unlock Premium features and show your plan in Settings, and remembers whether Premium is active so features don't flicker as locked when the app opens. Offer codes are redeemed through Apple's own sheet. We never receive your name, email address or payment details. Apple's privacy policy applies to your purchase, and Apple gives us only aggregated sales reports.

Apple services the app uses

  • LocalAuthentication: Face ID, Touch ID and passcode unlock.
  • CloudKit: optional iCloud Sync, in your private iCloud database.
  • Apple Push Notification service: when iCloud Sync is on, silent notices from iCloud tell the app that your journal changed on another device. They contain no journal content.
  • Watch Connectivity: moves Apple Watch check-ins to your iPhone, and your streak and recent moods back to the watch.
  • StoreKit: Premium subscriptions, the Lifetime purchase and Restore Purchases.
  • Speech: optional voice transcription.
  • User Notifications: the optional Daily Reminder, time-capsule unlock notices and the free-trial reminder, all scheduled on your device.
  • WidgetKit: Home Screen, Lock Screen and StandBy widgets, and Apple Watch complications.

The app uses no third-party services, analytics, advertising or tracking.

Exports and backups

Backups, photo exports and PDF photo books are created on your device and go only where you send them, for example to the Files app, AirDrop or email. A password-protected backup is encrypted with a key made from the password you choose. We never see that password and can't recover it for you. Once you share an export, the privacy of that copy depends on where you put it.

Deleting your data

  • Delete a single entry from the entry itself, or everything at once with Settings › iCloud & Backup › Delete Journal Data.
  • If iCloud Sync is on, a copy of your journal stays in your iCloud until you delete it, either in the app or in iOS Settings › your name › iCloud › Manage Storage.
  • Deleting the app removes the journal stored on that device.

This website

secretdiary.duttlabs.app is a static website hosted on GitHub Pages.

  • No cookies, analytics or ads. We don't use cookies, tracking pixels, analytics or advertising of any kind.
  • Nothing from third parties. Fonts, images, videos and scripts are all served from this site, so visiting doesn't send your details to font or script providers.
  • Your theme choice. If you use the light and dark switch, your choice is saved in your browser's local storage on your device. It's never sent anywhere.
  • Hosting logs. GitHub, which hosts the site, may log technical information such as your IP address and browser type when you visit, to run and protect its service. See the GitHub General Privacy Statement. We don't receive these logs.
  • Email. The support form doesn't send anything by itself. It opens your email app with a message you can edit before sending. If you email us, we use your address and message only to reply, and delete them when they're no longer needed.
  • App Store links take you to Apple, whose privacy policy applies there.

Children

Secret Diary isn't directed at children under 13, or the minimum age for digital consent where you live. Because we don't collect personal data through the app, we don't knowingly collect data from children. If you think a child has sent us personal information by email, contact us and we'll delete it.

Your rights

Privacy laws such as the EU and UK GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act and Australia's Privacy Act 1988 give you rights to access, correct, delete and move your personal data. With Secret Diary you exercise most of these yourself: you can read, export and delete your whole journal inside the app at any time. We don't hold a copy of it, so there's nothing for us to hand over or erase. If you've emailed us, you can ask to see or delete that correspondence. We don't sell or share personal information.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll post the new version here and update the date at the top. If a change affects how the app handles your data, we'll also describe it in the app's update notes.

Contact

Secret Diary: Private Journal is made by DuttLabs, the studio of Dr. Shankar Dutt, in Australia.