How we handle your texts
The short version: we never keep your texts. The chat you bring to Afterbloom is read on your phone, the counting happens on your phone, and the only thing that leaves is a short set of anonymized excerpts used to write the quote cards, which are deleted after the answer comes back. We don't train on your messages, we don't sell or share them, and we never send them to advertisers.
What stays on your phone
- Your chat. Screenshots, screen recordings and exported chat files are processed on your device. Text recognition, counting who texted first, reply times and the "date of death" all run locally. The files you bring are deleted as soon as they have been read.
- Your quiz answers and the name you give us. They stay on the device and are never sent to us.
- Your evidence deck. The cards, including any quoted messages, are stored only on your phone.
- Your 90 days. Check-ins, how you rated the day, the notes you write, the times you logged contact, and the dates you mark as hard all live in one file on your phone. There is no copy on any server, and no way for us to read them. They are deleted when you tap Forget my data.
How your chat gets in
- Screenshots. You pick them. We never ask to see your photo library, and the app can only see the files you chose.
- A screen recording. When you record your chat through Afterbloom, the video is written into Afterbloom's own storage, not your camera roll and not iCloud backup. The app reads it, then deletes it. Audio is never recorded.
- A WhatsApp export. When you send an exported chat to Afterbloom from the share sheet, the file is copied into the same private storage and nothing reads it until you come back to the app. It is deleted once it has been read, and anything left behind is swept away the next time you open Afterbloom.
What leaves your phone, and why
- Anonymized excerpts for quote cards. To write the "receipt" cards, the app selects 30–60 short exchanges, replaces names with "ME" and "HIM", strips phone numbers, emails, links, handles and addresses, and sends them through our server to an AI model provider. Our server does not store or log them. The provider does not use them to train its models. The provider deletes them from its systems within 30 days; if its automated safety checks flag an excerpt, its own policy lets it keep that excerpt longer. We have asked the provider for a zero-retention agreement, and this page will say so the day one is in place.
- A random install code. Each install of the app makes up a random code that is sent with the quote-card request so we can limit how often one install can call our server. It is not tied to you, your Apple ID, your purchase or your chat. Our server never stores the code itself, only a scrambled, one-way version of it and a count of calls. The count resets after a day and the row is deleted within days.
- Usage steps. We record which steps of the app were reached (for example "quiz started", "upload completed", "paywall viewed", "day 7 reached") with a handful of coarse labels such as which chat app you chose and the price variant you saw. No quiz answers, no message text, no card contents, no mood ratings, no notes, no dates, and no counts derived from your chat are ever included.
- What our analytics tool adds. Those steps go to PostHog, which we use only as a pipe. Each step arrives with your app version, iOS version, device type, language, and a random id the app makes up on first launch to count one install through the funnel. That id is not linked to a profile, a purchase, or anything else. Session recording, screen tracking, automatic tap capture and profiles are all switched off, and location is switched off at our end, so we do not receive one. When the app starts, the tool fetches its own settings once; that request carries our project key and nothing about you. We do not use advertising pixels and we share nothing with ad platforms.
- Purchases. Payment is handled by Apple. We learn only which product you bought. Refunds are handled by Apple; we never contest one.
Notifications
Reminders are made and scheduled by the app on your phone. There is no server, no push token and nothing sent to us. At most one a day, never between midnight and 7am, and you can turn them off in Settings.
If a line reads like a crisis
The notes and one-line answers you write in the 90-day program are checked on your phone by a small model that ships inside the app. It was trained on written-for-the-purpose examples, never on anyone's messages, and it never sends anything anywhere. If a line looks like you might be in danger, Afterbloom opens the 988 screen instead of saving it, and that line is not kept.
Sharing a card
If you share a card, you make an image on your phone and send it yourself through your phone's share sheet. If you choose Save Image there, your iPhone asks once whether Afterbloom may add images to Photos: that permission only adds, so the app still cannot see anything in your library. We don't post anything and nothing goes through our servers. A shared card renders no real names, phone numbers, handles or photos. We record that a card was shared and which app you sent it to — never what was in it, and never who you sent it to.
What we don't do
- We don't store your texts on any server, ever, including in logs or crash reports.
- We don't train AI on your messages.
- We don't sell, rent or share your data with advertisers or data brokers.
- We don't ask for your email, your phone number or an account. There is nothing to sign up for.
- We never ask to see your photo library; you pick the files, and the app can only see what you picked. Saving a card to Photos asks only to add it.
The other person's messages
An autopsy includes messages someone else wrote. You may only bring conversations you were part of, and you confirm this in the app before anything is read. Their messages get the same treatment as yours: read on your phone, never kept by us, anonymized before any excerpt leaves.
Deleting your data
Everything Afterbloom holds about you is on your phone. Forget my data — on the unlock screen before you buy, in Settings after, and again on day 90 — deletes your case file, your receipts and your 90 days from the phone in one tap. Deleting the app does the same. What you paid for stays with your Apple Account, so a purchase is not lost when the rest is. Nothing on our side is tied to you that could be deleted, apart from the scrambled install code, which is a count and expires on its own.
Age
Afterbloom is for adults. You must be 18 or older to use it.
Not therapy, and if you're in crisis
Afterbloom describes a pattern in your texts. It is not a clinical assessment, medical care or therapy. If you're in crisis in the US, call or text 988 any time. More lines, including outside the US, are on our crisis resources page.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it and the app will tell you before anything new leaves your phone. Questions: privacy@afterbloom.co.