Storyline
privacy policy.
How Storyline handles your information.
Effective: July 2, 2026 · Applies to the Storyline app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac
The short version
- We collect nothing. Storyline has no server of ours, no account system, no analytics, no ads, and no tracking. We never see your writing, your research, or your conversations with AI.
- Your data lives on your device, encrypted, and syncs only through your own private iCloud.
- AI runs on your device by default. Cloud AI is used only if you connect your own API key, and then your text goes directly from your device to that provider, never through us.
- You can see every crossing. When the app reaches the web at your request, the exact outbound text and everything that came back are recorded on your device for you to inspect.
1. Who we are
Storyline is made by PurvaKalpa Studios (“we,” “us”). Contact: sara.app.support@gmail.com. This policy explains what happens to information when you use Storyline. It is deliberately specific, because the honest answer, that we do not collect your data, only means something if we explain where your data actually goes instead.
2. What we collect: nothing
We do not operate servers that receive your data. Storyline has no sign-up, no login, and no backend of ours. We do not use analytics SDKs, advertising SDKs, crash-reporting services, or tracking of any kind. The app’s App Store privacy label reads “Data Not Collected” because that is the architecture, not just the policy.
If you email us for support, we receive whatever you choose to include in that email (see Support). That is the only way information reaches us.
3. Where your data lives
On your device
Your manuscripts, research notes, story bible, AI conversations, audio recordings, and settings are stored on your device. Content you mark as privileged, and your vault generally, is encrypted at rest with keys derived from your passphrase (industry-standard AES-GCM encryption; passphrase strengthened with Argon2id). Face ID / Touch ID unlock is optional and handled entirely by the system; we never see biometric data.
Your passphrase is yours alone. We cannot recover it, because we never have it. If you lose it, encrypted content cannot be decrypted: not by you, not by us, not by anyone.
In your iCloud
If iCloud is enabled, Storyline syncs through your own private iCloud database (Apple CloudKit), tied to your Apple Account. This data is stored by Apple under Apple’s privacy terms, encrypted in transit and at rest. We have no access to your private iCloud database. Privileged content is additionally sealed with your vault key before it syncs, so it is ciphertext even inside your iCloud.
Between your devices
If you pair your own devices (via QR code), they can exchange data directly over your local network using an encrypted channel, and can hand AI tasks to one another. This traffic goes device-to-device; it does not pass through us. Privileged work is never handed to another device; it runs only where it lives.
4. AI processing
On-device (the default)
Storyline’s AI runs on your device: Apple Intelligence (the on-device model only; Storyline is built so that its Apple Intelligence requests cannot use Apple’s server-side processing) and/or open-source models you download to run locally. On-device AI requires no network and sends nothing anywhere.
Cloud AI, only with your own key (optional)
You may connect your own API key for a third-party AI provider (for example OpenAI or Anthropic), or point Storyline at a server you run (for example Ollama). When you choose a cloud model, the text needed for that request travels directly from your device to that provider, under your account and their terms. We are not in that path and never receive it. Providers’ policies:
| Provider (optional, your key) | Their privacy policy |
|---|---|
| Anthropic (Claude) | anthropic.com/legal/privacy |
| OpenAI (GPT) | openai.com/policies/privacy-policy |
| Self-hosted / Ollama / custom endpoint | Your own server, your rules |
Privileged projects cannot use cloud AI. Projects you mark privileged are forced to on-device processing at the architecture level; the app refuses to route their content to any network provider, including one you configured yourself.
5. Web research
When you ask Storyline to research something, the app fetches public web pages and performs web searches on your behalf. Two safeguards apply, both visible to you in the app:
- Outbound screening. Every outgoing query or URL is screened against your project’s private facts (names, places, protected terms) before it leaves. Blocked attempts never leave. Every crossing (sent, warned, or blocked) is recorded verbatim in an on-device ledger you can read (the Egress screen, and Data flow inside each project).
- Inbound screening. Content that comes back is screened before your AI reads it: invisible manipulation characters are stripped and instruction-like text designed to hijack an AI assistant is flagged, with the verdict recorded.
Web requests necessarily reach the websites and search services involved, which see the request the way any browser visit would (including your IP address). Optional citation lookups (for example DOI resolution) similarly contact the relevant public service at your request.
6. Audio
If you record or import audio, transcription happens on your device using Apple’s speech frameworks. Recordings and transcripts follow the same storage rules as everything else (encrypted vault, your private iCloud). A retention setting controls whether audio is kept after transcription.
7. Permissions we ask for, and why
| Permission | Used for |
|---|---|
| Camera | Scanning the QR code when pairing your own devices. Nothing else. |
| Microphone + Speech Recognition | Recording and on-device transcription, when you use audio features. |
| Local Network | Finding your own paired devices on your Wi-Fi for direct sync and task handoff. |
| Face ID / Touch ID | Unlocking your vault. Handled by the system; we never see biometric data. |
| Photo Library | Attaching images you pick. Uses the system picker; the app sees only what you select. |
| Notifications (silent) | iCloud uses silent pushes so your own devices sync promptly. No marketing notifications. |
8. Your choices and rights
- Export: your content can be exported from the app at any time (with an optional password-protected format for sensitive exports).
- Delete: deleting content in-app deletes it locally and from your iCloud sync; deleting the app removes local data. iCloud data can also be managed in your device’s iCloud settings.
- Regional rights (GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and similar): because we do not collect or hold your personal data, there is normally nothing for us to access, correct, delete, or port on your behalf: your data is under your control on your device and in your iCloud. If you believe we hold anything about you (for example a support email thread), contact us and we will honor access and deletion requests. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA.
9. Children
Storyline is not directed at children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your region), and we do not knowingly collect information from them, consistent with the fact that we collect no information at all.
10. Security, honestly stated
Encryption at rest with passphrase-derived keys, biometric-gated unlock, screening and verbatim logging of every network crossing the app’s agents make, forced on-device processing for privileged work, and no developer server to breach. No system is perfectly secure; a compromised device or operating system can undermine any app’s protections. But Storyline’s design goal is that trust in us is never required: there is nothing of yours on our side to protect.
11. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update this page and the effective date, and material changes will be noted in the app’s release notes. Continued use after a change means acceptance of the updated policy.
12. Contact
sara.app.support@gmail.com · PurvaKalpa Studios