Dear Ones

Privacy Policy

Your family's memories belong to your family.

Last updated: May 29, 2026

The short version. Dear Ones is a private family keepsake. Your entries live on your phone and sync between mom and dad through your own iCloud account. We don't host your memories on our servers. We don't track you. We don't sell or share your data. When you use the optional AI helpers, only the text you submit with that request is sent off your device, and we don't store the contents.

1. Who we are

Dear Ones is published by Next Frontier Builders, a Tennessee limited liability company ("we," "us," "our"). You can reach us at info@nextfrontierbuilders.com.

2. What lives on your device

The entries you save — quotes, milestones, photos, voice notes, videos, letters — are stored locally on your iPhone in the app's private container. They are not visible to us or to other apps. If you delete the app, this data is deleted with it.

3. What syncs through iCloud

If you and your co-parent both sign in with Apple to the same family, Dear Ones uses Apple's CloudKit to sync your entries between your devices through your own iCloud account. We do not have access to your iCloud container. Your entries pass directly from your device to Apple's servers and back out to your co-parent's device. We never see them.

4. What gets sent when you use the AI helpers

Dear Ones includes optional AI features (letter writing prompts, voice note transcript polish, quote attribution suggestions). When you tap one, the app sends the relevant text from that specific entry to our backend, which forwards the request to Anthropic for AI inference. The response is returned to your phone and saved with the entry on your device.

We do not attach your Apple ID, name, email address, IP address, or any device identifier to that request. We do not log the contents of your requests on our servers. Anthropic's handling of inference requests is governed by their commercial terms; under those terms, your inputs are not used to train their models.

If you never use the AI helpers, nothing ever leaves your device.

5. Photos and voice recordings

Photos, videos, and voice recordings you save stay on your device and (if both parents are signed in) sync through your private iCloud. They are never sent to our servers. Voice note transcription is performed on your device using Apple's on-device Speech framework.

6. Subscriptions and payment

Subscriptions are sold and processed by Apple through the App Store. We never see your card number, billing address, or Apple ID password. Apple reports a subscription status (active / trialing / expired) to the app, and we use that status to unlock or lock subscription features. That's all.

7. Third parties we rely on

That's the entire list. We do not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, ad networks, attribution SDKs, crash-reporting services, or any other third-party tracker.

8. Children

Dear Ones is intended for parents and guardians who are 18 and older. The app is designed to save a parent's memories of their own children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. Many of our users are parents who save quotes, photos, and milestones about their children. That data stays on the parent's device and (if family sync is on) within the family's private iCloud. We never receive it.

9. Data retention

Because we don't host your entries on our servers, there's nothing for us to retain. Your entries persist on your device until you delete them or uninstall the app. Your iCloud-synced entries are governed by your iCloud storage settings with Apple.

10. Your rights

Because we don't hold a profile about you on our servers, the usual "right to access" and "right to delete" requests don't have anything to apply to on our end. To delete the data on your phone, delete the app. To delete iCloud-synced entries, manage them inside the app or through your iCloud settings on the device. To cancel your subscription, go to Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions on your iPhone. If you live in a jurisdiction with specific data-rights laws and have a question, email us and we'll respond.

11. Security

Requests between the app and our backend are sent over HTTPS. Our backend forwards AI requests to Anthropic over HTTPS. We don't store the contents of your requests, so there is no inference data on our servers to breach. Your synced entries are protected by Apple's CloudKit encryption between your devices and Apple's servers.

12. Changes to this policy

If we materially change how we handle data, we will update this page and revise the "last updated" date. Continued use of the app after a change means you accept the updated policy.

13. Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns: info@nextfrontierbuilders.com.