Privacy Policy

Who we are

PJ Journal is made by Jack McVickar, an independent developer in Illinois, USA. Questions about this policy: support@pjjournal.com.

What PJ stores, and where

• Your entries (text, voice recordings, voice transcriptions, labels, and any small pictures you choose to keep) are encrypted on your device before they're saved.
• They sync across your own devices through your iCloud account. We can't see or access them.
• A little content-free information rides along unencrypted so your devices can sync: when an entry was written or changed, which of your devices wrote it, and whether it has a recording, a picture or a pin. Never your words, and never your labels.
• Search runs on your device and never writes your words to a plain-text index or a log.
• The key that unlocks your journal stays in your iCloud Keychain and on your devices. It is never sent to us.

Apple's handling of iCloud data is covered by Apple's Privacy Policy.

What we collect

Nothing, automatically. PJ contains no analytics, advertising, or tracking tools, and we don't share or sell any data. We only receive what you choose to send:

• Support emails and problem reports. If you tap "Report a problem" or email us, we receive your email address and whatever you include. PJ's diagnostics summary contains none of your journal's words, and you see it before you send it.
• Beta testing. If you test PJ through Apple's TestFlight, Apple may share your name or email, crash reports, and any feedback you submit with us, under Apple's terms.

We use these only to answer you and fix problems, keep them only as long as needed, and delete them on request.

Permissions PJ asks for

• Microphone and speech recognition: to record your voice and turn it into text. Transcription happens on your device. Your recordings are kept with your entries, encrypted, so you can listen again; on the Mac, the "Keep my recordings" setting lets you keep only the words.
• Photos: "Start from a photo" uses Apple's photo picker, so PJ only sees the one picture you choose. Kept pictures are stored as small copies with location and camera details removed.
• Journaling Suggestions (iPhone and iPad): "Start from a moment" uses Apple's suggestions picker. Nothing about a moment leaves your device.
• Face ID or Touch ID (optional): to unlock PJ. Apple handles this on your device; PJ never sees your face or fingerprint data.
• Location details from a photo or moment are kept only if you turn on "Include who & where," and stay encrypted in your journal.

Every permission is optional, and you can change them anytime in Settings.

Your choices and your data

• Delete entries: deleted entries go to Recently Deleted, where you can restore them or delete them permanently from all your devices.
• Delete everything: delete PJ from your devices and remove its data from iCloud in Settings → [your name] → iCloud.
• Private mode adds a passphrase over your whole journal. If you lose both your passphrase and your recovery key, we cannot recover your journal — that's what keeps it private.

Future optional features

If PJ ever adds an optional feature that sends anything outside your devices, it will be off unless you turn it on, and we'll update this policy first to explain exactly what it does.

Children

PJ is not directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top and post the new version here.