Idea Compass

Privacy Policy — last updated 23 July 2026

Idea Compass is a personal idea and moment journal. This page explains what data the app collects, how it's used, and who it's shared with.

Account

There is no sign-up. The app creates an anonymous account on your device automatically the first time you open it. No name, email address, or phone number is ever requested or collected.

What's collected

• The text of every idea and moment you capture, plus notes on any connections you draw between ideas, stored in a Firebase/Firestore database and scoped to your anonymous account.
• Location (GPS coordinates), only for moments where you've granted location permission. This is optional every time you capture something.
• Your anonymous account identifier, used only to keep your journal separate from anyone else's.

What's not collected

Contact information, financial information, health data, browsing or search history, photos, purchase history, advertising identifiers, or analytics/usage data of any kind. Voice dictation is processed entirely on-device by Apple's Speech Recognition — raw audio is never stored or sent anywhere.

AI features

By default, AI features (like nudges about ideas you've let go quiet) run entirely on-device using Apple Intelligence — nothing leaves your phone.

If you choose to add your own Claude API key in Settings, some idea and moment text is sent directly from your device to Anthropic's Claude API using your key, to power features like linking suggestions and weekly digests. This only happens if you've explicitly turned it on. Idea Compass's own servers never see this traffic.

Maps

Map tiles are loaded from OpenStreetMap, attributed on-screen wherever the map appears. No location data is sent to OpenStreetMap beyond the map tiles themselves being requested for the area you're viewing.

Sharing and selling

Your data is never sold, and never shared with advertisers or data brokers. It is not used for tracking across other apps or websites.

Deleting your data

You can delete any idea or moment directly in the app — swipe it away, or use the delete option on its detail screen. Deleting a top-level idea also removes everything logged against it. To have your entire account and all data permanently erased, email the address below.

Questions

Email basava.ias@gmail.com with any privacy questions.