Effective date: October 13, 2026 · Developer: Joseph Khan
None. We (the developer of Buddy) do not collect, receive, store, or have access to any of your personal information, conversations, photos, files, or usage data. Buddy has no user accounts, no sign-in, no advertising, no analytics, and no third-party tracking tools.
To be a friend who remembers you, Buddy saves the following only on your device, inside the app's private storage:
This data is excluded from iCloud and computer backups, so it never leaves your phone that way either. As a result, if you move to a new phone, Buddy starts fresh.
Buddy works offline. It connects to the internet only in these cases:
| When | What is sent | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| First launch: downloading Buddy's AI model (about 3 GB), and then his "eyes" for photos (about 0.7 GB) | A standard file download request. Like any download, the server sees your device's IP address and basic connection details. No personal information and no chats are sent. | Hugging Face, the service hosting the model files (privacy policy) |
| Web search, only after you tap "Agree & Search" | Only the search words shown to you in the request card. Never your chats, your name, or anything Buddy knows about you. | DuckDuckGo, a search engine (privacy policy) |
| Links you choose to tap (for example a helpline or website) | Whatever that app or website normally receives when you open it | The service you open |
Buddy only accesses your camera, photo library, or files when you choose to share something. Shared photos and files are processed on your phone and stored only in Buddy's private storage. They are never uploaded.
When you talk to Buddy, your voice is turned into text right on your phone by Apple's on-device speech recognition. Your voice recordings are not saved or sent anywhere.
Buddy's Burrow lets you chat with Buddy from a laptop's web browser, and invite friends as guests, over the same Wi-Fi network or your phone's Personal Hotspot. It is off unless you turn it on, a laptop or guest can only join with a one-time code shown on your phone, and it turns itself off after a while without use. Messages travel directly between your phone and those devices on your local network, never through the internet or through us. Guests can't see your private chats or what Buddy knows about you, and their chats aren't saved after the Burrow closes.
Buddy is distributed through Apple's App Store. Apple may provide us with aggregated, anonymous statistics (such as the number of downloads), and only for users who chose to share analytics with app developers in their iPhone settings. This is handled by Apple under Apple's privacy policy; we cannot identify you from it.
Buddy is an AI companion, not a person. His replies are generated on your phone and can sometimes be wrong. Buddy is not a doctor, therapist, lawyer, or emergency service, and his responses are not professional advice. If you are in crisis, please contact a real person: in the US, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or call 911 in an emergency. Outside the US, visit findahelpline.com. Buddy also shows these options in the app ("Need help now?").
Because we never receive your data, there is nothing stored on our side to request, export, or delete.
Buddy's data is protected by your iPhone's built-in security and encryption. To keep it safe, use a passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID on your phone. Anyone who can unlock your phone may be able to open Buddy and read your chats.
Buddy is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.
If we change how Buddy handles data, we will update this page and the effective date above. If a future version adds any optional data sharing, it will be off by default, explained clearly in the app, and only turned on if you choose to.
Questions about privacy? Email buddyprivateai@gmail.com.
Need help with Buddy? Email buddyprivateai@gmail.com and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
That's Buddy's brain. Unlike cloud AI apps, Buddy runs entirely on your phone, so his AI model has to live on your phone too. It downloads once; after that, Buddy works without internet. Wi-Fi is recommended. You can leave the app while it downloads.
Yes. After the one-time download, you can chat with Buddy even in airplane mode. Only optional web searches (which always ask you first) need internet.
Buddy can only hold so much of a conversation in his short-term memory. When it fills up, he takes a short nap to save what you talked about into his long-term memory, so he remembers you next time.
Buddy runs a full AI model on your phone, so he needs an iPhone with at least 6 GB of memory, and works best with 8 GB. If your phone doesn't have enough, Buddy will tell you instead of crashing.
Tap Buddy's name at the top of the chat. In his profile, tap any fact to fix it or make him forget it.
For your privacy, Buddy's data is kept only on the phone you used, and not in backups. On a new phone, Buddy starts fresh.
Open Buddy's profile and tap "UnFriend Buddy", or delete the app.
© 2026 Joseph Khan. Buddy: Private AI Friend.