Foldmate Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 6, 2026
Developer: Griffin Smith
Contact for privacy questions: support@foldmate.app

Foldmate runs AI models on your iPhone and iPad, and it can connect to your own computer. This policy covers the Foldmate app.

The short version

Foldmate has no account, no analytics, no ads and no tracking. We do not run a server that receives your chats, prompts, files, photos, contacts or search queries. Chats with the models on your iPhone never leave it. Most other things stay on your phone or on your own computer. A few things leave them when you use the feature: web search, the outside services listed below, and a conversation you send from your computer to a cloud model you set up there.

What stays on your iPhone

• Your chats with the models on your phone are saved on the phone when "Save chats on this iPhone" is on. It is on by default. Each chat is a file that iOS protects while the phone is locked. Those files are left out of iCloud and computer backups.
• You can turn saving off in Settings. Turning it off deletes the saved chats. A temporary chat is never saved. You can delete single chats, or all chats, in Settings.
• Your saved prompts and personal instructions are kept in the app's settings on your phone. iOS can include app settings in a device backup.
• Downloaded models and the natural voice are kept in the app's own folder on your phone, left out of backups.
• Pairing details (your computer's address, this phone's name and session, and this phone's keys) are kept in the iOS Keychain, on this iPhone only. They are not synced to iCloud Keychain and are not moved to another phone.
• Tor's directory cache is kept in the app's Caches folder. It is encrypted while the phone is locked. It is deleted when you unpair.

Speech, photos, contacts, reminders and calendar

• Dictation and voice mode recognize speech on your iPhone. The app asks for on-device recognition only. If your phone cannot recognize your language on the device, dictation does not start, and the audio is not sent elsewhere.
• Photos and videos you add to a chat on your phone are read on your phone. Text in a photo is read on the phone. Attachments in a chat on your computer go to your computer, as described below.
• Phone actions. When a model asks to do something on your phone, the app shows a card. It runs the action only if you tap Allow.
  • Contacts are read only for a message or email you asked for. Details you ask Foldmate to look up are shared with the model you chose, on this iPhone or on your computer. If that model runs on your computer, the details go to your computer.
  • A reminder or calendar event is added only when you allow it. Foldmate cannot read your calendar.
  • Messages and emails open in Apple's compose screen, and you send them yourself. Maps opens in Apple's Maps app.
• Shortcuts run only if you allowed them by name in Settings, and you confirm with Face ID or your passcode.

Your computer (optional)

• Pairing. You scan a code shown on your own computer. The app then sends your computer this iPhone's name (you can change it) and the keys the link needs. These go only to your computer.
• Using it. Chats, messages, attachments, the screen pictures you view, and the actions you take go between your iPhone and your computer. They travel over Tor, or directly over your own Wi-Fi when your computer allows it. The app turns on that direct link by default, and it uses Tor when the direct link is not available. We do not receive any of them.
• Your computer's chats are shown in memory while you look at them. The phone does not save them, and the screen you view is not saved.
• Cloud models. Your computer may send a conversation to a cloud model you set up on the computer. The app asks you to confirm first. After that, that provider handles the conversation under its own terms. We do not receive it.
• Unpair removes the pairing from this phone and asks your computer to forget it, if the computer supports that.

Outside services, when you use them

• Model search and downloads: Hugging Face. Your search text, or the model you chose, is sent to Hugging Face. The app sends no account or token.
• The natural voice: GitHub. The app downloads the voice pack once, from GitHub.
• Web search: DuckDuckGo. Web search is off for each chat until you turn it on.
  • Your search text goes to DuckDuckGo, either directly, or through Tor if you choose "Private search" in Settings.
  • On the direct route, the app also reads up to three of the result pages from their own websites, unless you turn off "Read the top pages" in Settings. Those websites see your iPhone's IP address and a standard browser identifier. The Tor route does not read pages.
• Tor. The app runs Tor inside the app, while the app is open. Tor carries your traffic under its own design. When the app uses Tor, it reaches only onion addresses: your computer, and DuckDuckGo's onion service.
• Apple. Speech recognition, Maps, Messages and Mail are Apple's services, under Apple's policies, when you use them.

What we do not collect

We do not receive your chats, prompts, files, photos, contacts, calendar, reminders, search queries, location, device identifiers, usage data or crash reports. The app has no analytics, advertising or tracking code.

Your choices

• In Settings: save chats on or off; delete all chats; export chats (you choose the folder); import chats from a file you choose; lock the app with Face ID; web search options (Private search, time range, "Read the top pages", sites to skip); phone actions on or off; the Shortcuts you allow; Face ID before the app takes control of your computer's screen.
• Before you delete the app, unpair in Settings, so the pairing is removed from your computer and the phone. Deleting the app removes its files from your phone.

Children

Foldmate is not made for children, and it does not knowingly collect information from anyone.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will post the new version at this address and change the "Last updated" date. If we make a material change, we will note it on this page.

Trademarks

Tor is a trademark of The Tor Project, Inc. Foldmate is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Tor Project.

Contact

Griffin Smith
Privacy questions: support@foldmate.app

Support