Privacy Policy

1. The Karu app

Karu does not collect your notes, tasks, saved items, event details, reminders, transcripts, purchases, or app usage. There is no Karu account, analytics SDK, advertising SDK, or Karu cloud service.

Your files and iCloud

Notes, images, and saved files are stored on your device in the folder you choose. If you choose a folder in iCloud Drive, which is how Karu keeps the same notes on your Mac and iPhone, Apple syncs those files under your Apple Account and Apple's privacy terms. Karu does not receive a copy. When a change from another device replaces a page, Karu keeps the earlier version in its own storage on that device so you can restore it from Versions. That history is not synced, and Karu removes old versions on its own.

Calendar, Reminders, and notifications

With your permission, Karu reads Calendar and Reminders through macOS and iOS so it can show them beside your daily note. Karu only creates or changes an event or a reminder when you explicitly ask it to. Todo alerts and reminders about saved items use the local notification system of your device. This information is not sent to Karu. On the Mac, to show where an event takes place, Karu searches Apple Maps for the location written in that event. Karu does not ask for or use your own location.

Dictation, meeting recording, and transcripts

On the Mac, when you start dictation or record a meeting, Karu uses the microphone and, for meetings, system audio. Karu for iPhone does not use the microphone. Transcription runs on your device using Apple's on-device speech technology. Audio is never saved or uploaded. Temporary meeting transcripts stay in local Application Support on your Mac and are deleted automatically after seven days. You can delete them earlier from Karu.

Apple Intelligence

On devices with Apple Intelligence, Karu uses Apple's on-device language model to summarize notes and meetings, answer questions about your library, suggest tags for a note and names for what you save, and read what you type in Quick Entry. The model runs on your Mac or iPhone, has no internet access, and sees only the text Karu gives it for that task. When a saved link or file has no words to read, Karu may show the model the preview image or file already on your device. Nothing from these features is sent to Karu. Apple's own system features, such as Writing Tools, follow Apple's privacy terms.

Saved, link previews, and the internet

Saved keeps the links, images, text, and files you send to Karu in your notes folder, like any other page. Images and files are copied into that folder. Karu has no server, so it never sends your notes anywhere. These are the only times the app makes a network request:

• Link previews. When a link appears in a note or in Saved, Karu requests the beginning of that page and its preview image to show a title and a card. Karu makes this request itself with an ephemeral connection, without cookies, and sends only the address of the link. When a page does not describe itself that way, Karu asks Apple's link presentation framework to load it, the same way Messages shows a link. The destination website receives a normal request and applies its own privacy policy. Previews are kept in a local cache, never in your notes. On the Mac you can turn link previews off in Settings.
• Event locations on the Mac, looked up with Apple Maps as described above.
• Karu Pro, restoring purchases, and the rating prompt, which go through the App Store and are handled by Apple.

What's New notes ship inside the app and need no connection.

Sharing to Karu

On iPhone, when you share a link, text, image, or file to Karu from another app, the share extension shows a sheet, may read the shared page to suggest a name as described above, and saves the item in a private space on your iPhone that only Karu's own app and extensions can read. Karu then adds it to Saved. If you ask Karu to notify you about it, the notification is scheduled on your iPhone by the local notification system. On the Mac, the share extension stores nothing: it hands the link or text to Karu, which opens Quick Entry and saves it only when you confirm. Nothing you share is sent to Karu.

Widgets

Widgets cannot open your notes folder, so Karu for iPhone writes a small snapshot of what they show, such as today's tasks, upcoming events, and recent saved items, into the same private space on your iPhone. It never leaves your device. Widgets you place on the Lock Screen can show this content while your iPhone is locked.

Karu Pro purchases and the free trial

Karu Pro packs are one-time purchases made through the App Store with your Apple Account. Apple processes the payment, and Karu never receives your name, email, or payment details. To know which packs you own, Karu reads the signed purchase records StoreKit keeps on your device and stores a small list of owned packs locally so they unlock at launch and in its extensions. The free 7-day Personality trial is an Apple purchase at no cost, and Karu reads its start time from that record to lock the pack again after 7 days. Family Sharing for purchases is managed by Apple. Like every developer, we may see the aggregated sales and App Store reports Apple provides, which do not identify you.

Now and then Karu asks Apple to show its rating prompt. Apple decides whether it appears, and any rating or review you leave is handled by Apple.

Spotlight, Siri, and Shortcuts

If Spotlight indexing is enabled, your device keeps a local search index so your Karu notes can appear in system search. If you use Karu's actions in Siri or Shortcuts, they run inside Karu on your device. Apple handles Siri requests under its own privacy terms.

2. The Karu website

TestFlight waitlist

If you join the TestFlight waitlist, we collect the email address you submit. We use it only to invite you to Karu's TestFlight and send occasional updates about that beta. Providing an email is optional and is not required to use Karu.

Website operations

The site is hosted by Cloudflare, which processes limited technical data such as IP addresses and request information to deliver and secure the site. Karu does not use advertising or marketing trackers on this website.

Visit statistics

This website, and only the website, counts visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics. It does not use cookies or local storage and does not follow you across other sites. It records which page was visited, the site that sent you here, your browser and device type, your country, and how fast the page loaded. Your IP address is used to find the country and is not kept. We use these numbers to know how many people visit and where they come from. The Karu app has no analytics of any kind.

3. Sharing and service providers

We do not sell or rent personal information. Cloudflare provides website hosting, security, and the database that stores waitlist emails. Cloudflare processes that information as a service provider under its own privacy commitments. Apple processes information when you choose Apple services such as iCloud Drive, Calendar, Reminders, notifications, speech recognition, Apple Intelligence, Apple Maps, the App Store, Siri, or Spotlight. Websites you link to receive the preview requests described above.

4. Retention, deletion, and your choices

Your notes remain in your chosen folder until you edit or delete them. Local preferences, caches, version history, the widget snapshot, and backups remain on your device until you remove the related app data or the app. Temporary meeting transcripts are deleted after seven days.

We keep a waitlist email until the public TestFlight program closes, you unsubscribe, or you ask us to delete it, whichever comes first. To access, correct, or delete your waitlist email, contact contact@karu.day. You can withdraw from the waitlist at any time. You can revoke Karu's permissions in System Settings on your Mac or in Settings on your iPhone, and disable optional features inside Karu.

5. Security

The website uses HTTPS, and access to waitlist emails is limited to operating the beta program. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we use reasonable safeguards and collect as little information as possible.

6. Children's privacy

Karu is a general productivity app and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through the website. If you believe a child submitted an email, contact us and we will delete it.

7. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when Karu's features or data practices change. The effective date at the top of this page will show the latest revision. Material changes will be explained on this page before they take effect when practical. The October 12, 2026 revision adds Karu Pro purchases and the free trial, Saved, sharing to Karu on the Mac, widgets, Apple Intelligence features, and Apple Maps for event locations, it lists every time the app makes a network request, and it says that the website counts visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics. The September 29, 2026 revision added Karu for iPhone and its share extension.

8. Contact

Questions or privacy requests can be sent to contact@karu.day. The terms for using Karu are in the Terms of Use.