The short version
- Your record is stored on your iPhone. Trackers, entries, notes, photos and everything else you log are stored in the app on your device. Longnote has no account, no sign-in and no Longnote server, so your entries are never sent to us.
- Some optional features talk to Apple. Encrypted backups to your own iCloud Drive, weather for one home region, map tiles and app icons for workouts, saving symptoms to Apple Health, and purchases. Each is described below, with what it sends.
- The app sends usage statistics to TelemetryDeck. Which screens and features are used, with the app version and device type, under an identifier that does not contain your name. Never your entries, tracker names, notes, photos, body locations or anything from Apple Health.
- If you email us or use the contact form, we receive your message and use it to answer you.
- We do not sell data, show ads or use advertising identifiers.
The rest of this page says exactly what happens, why, and what you can do about it.
Who is responsible
The controller under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:
Max Metternich
c/o Impressumservice Dein-Impressum
Stettiner Str. 41
35410 Hungen
Germany
Email: support@longnote.io
Longnote is made by this one developer; there is no company behind it and no data protection officer (none is required). Write to the address above or to support@longnote.io about anything on this page.
What the app keeps on your iPhone
Everything you put into Longnote is stored in the app’s private storage on your device: trackers, entries, scores, notes, photos, where on the body a symptom was, reports, templates and settings. We do not receive any of it. Insights and charts are calculated on your iPhone.
Because this data is only on your device, we do not process it: it is under your control, and the rights described below are mostly things you can do yourself in the app.
Profiles. You can keep several people’s records on one device. Each profile has its own separate storage, only the profile you are in is loaded, and deleting a profile deletes that profile’s data with it.
Camera and photos. The camera is used only while you take a photo for an entry, and that photo is stored with your data in the app. Photos you pick from your library are copied into the app. Longnote adds a photo to your photo library only when you choose Save Image in the share sheet.
Face ID and App Lock. If you turn on App Lock, or reveal your backup passcode, iOS asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your device passcode. Longnote only learns whether the check succeeded; it never receives your face or fingerprint data.
Reminders and alerts. Reminders, dose reminders and weather alerts are notifications scheduled on your iPhone; there is no push server. A notification can appear on a locked screen. By default, dose reminders name the medication and a weather alert can name the tracker it relates to; turn off Show medication names (Settings → Reminders) to keep names off notifications.
Widgets. To show your trackers on the Home Screen and Lock Screen, the app shares the current profile’s tracker names and today’s state with its widgets through a storage area on your iPhone that only Longnote and its widgets can read. Widgets can be visible on a locked screen.
Import and export. If you import a CSV export from Bearable, the file is read on your iPhone and nothing from it is sent anywhere. CSV exports and report PDFs are created only when you ask; you choose where they are saved and who receives them.
Your iPhone’s own backup. If you use iCloud Backup or back up your iPhone to a computer, iOS includes the app’s data in that device backup, as it does for most apps. That backup is made by iOS under your Apple Account, not by Longnote, and we never receive it.
Apple Health
Reading. If you connect Apple Health, Longnote reads only the categories you approve (such as sleep, steps and exercise minutes, workouts and their routes, heart rate measures, mindful minutes, cycle tracking and symptoms) and shows them beside what you track. They are stored and processed on your iPhone. Data read from Apple Health is never sent to us, never sent to TelemetryDeck, and never included in Longnote’s backups. Two workout details do reach Apple, and only while Workout maps & app icons is on: the map area around a workout route, and the identifier of the app that recorded a workout (see “Connections the app makes”).
Writing. Longnote writes to Apple Health only if you turn on Save symptoms to Health (Settings → Apple Health). It then saves the symptoms you log on trackers that Apple Health has a symptom type for: the symptom, its time, and a severity if you rated one. It keeps them in step as you edit and delete entries. Notes, photos and body locations are not written. When you turn it off, you choose whether the saved symptoms stay in Apple Health or are removed.
You can change read and write access per category at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Health. Symptoms saved to Apple Health belong to Apple Health: deleting Longnote or using Delete all data does not remove them; delete them in the Health app.
Backups
Longnote can make backups of your record, encrypted on your iPhone with a passcode the app generates and keeps in your device’s keychain (it is never synced to other devices). Back up to iCloud Drive is on by default when your iPhone is signed in to iCloud; backups are then saved automatically, and whenever you choose, to a Longnote folder in your own iCloud Drive. You can turn this off under Settings → Privacy & data → Backup, or save backups wherever you choose in Files instead.
Entries that came from Apple Health are never included in backups. The file name carries only a date, a random device tag and your iPhone model (such as “iPhone 16”). Apple stores iCloud Drive content under your Apple Account and Apple’s terms. We never receive your backups or the passcode, and we cannot recover the passcode for you.
Connections the app makes
Apart from usage statistics (next section), every connection the app makes goes to Apple, and none goes to us. Apple provides these services under its own privacy policy and is responsible for its own processing.
| Feature | What is sent | When | Your control |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Weather (Longnote Pro) | Coordinates of your home region, rounded to about a kilometre, and the dates needed: past days for history, the next three days for the forecast | Only after you set a home region | Settings → Weather; clearing the region stops it |
| Finding your region (Apple’s geocoder) | The place name you type, or, if you choose Use current location, your device’s location (approximate by default) | When you set a region; with Update automatically on, each time you open the app | Type a place instead, or turn location off for Longnote in iOS Settings |
| Weather credit | Nothing about you: the app loads Apple Weather’s logo and legal link, as Apple requires | When weather is shown | As above |
| Apple Maps tiles | The map area around a workout route from Apple Health (never the route itself or any health value) | When a workout with a route is shown | Settings → Privacy & data → Workout maps & app icons (on by default) |
| App Store lookup | The identifier of the app that recorded a workout, to show its icon | When such a workout is shown | Same switch |
| iCloud Drive | Your encrypted backup files | Automatic backups and Back up now | Settings → Privacy & data → Backup |
| App Store purchases | Product identifiers; Apple handles payment | When you open the Pro page, buy or restore | — |
Location, in more detail. Longnote asks for your location only if you choose Use current location under Settings → Weather. The place name you type, or your device’s location, goes to Apple’s geocoder, which returns the place’s name and coordinates. Longnote keeps only the region’s name and its coordinates rounded to about a kilometre, and sends only those rounded coordinates to Apple Weather. Delete all data clears the region.
Purchases. Apple processes payments. The app receives from Apple, on your device, the verified transaction and subscription status it needs to unlock Longnote Pro. We never see your payment details. Apple gives us sales reports and statistics that do not identify you.
Usage statistics (TelemetryDeck)
To learn which parts of Longnote are used, where people get stuck, and which errors occur, the app sends usage statistics to TelemetryDeck GmbH, Von-der-Tann-Str. 54, 86159 Augsburg, Germany, our processor under a data processing agreement. It stores the data on servers in Germany.
What is sent: which screens, features and settings are used (for example “a report was created”, “the Patterns tab was opened”, “an entry was saved from a widget”), how long a tracker’s overview stays open, counts in broad ranges (for example “4–10 trackers”), and error codes. When you buy Longnote Pro or start a free trial, the signal also carries the product, the type of purchase, the App Store country and currency, and the price converted to US dollars. The SDK adds to every signal: app version, device model, iOS version, language and region settings, time zone, the weekday and hour, display and accessibility settings, whether the app came from the App Store or TestFlight, and how often and how long the app is used (for example the number of days and sessions, and the average session length). Each signal carries an identifier for this installation and a random identifier for the current app session. The installation identifier is derived from an identifier iOS gives the app, and hashed on your iPhone and again at TelemetryDeck. It contains no name, email or Apple Account, and changes if you delete and reinstall Longnote. TelemetryDeck does not store IP addresses.
What is never sent: your entries, values or scores, tracker or measure names, which conditions, symptoms or medications you track, notes, photos, body locations, your weather region or any location, your profile details, backup contents, and anything read from or derived from Apple Health.
Legal basis: our legitimate interest in understanding how the app is used so we can fix problems and improve it (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The statistics are designed so that we cannot tell who you are, so we usually cannot find the data that belongs to your installation (Art. 11 GDPR). You can object at any time by email; deleting the app stops the statistics and resets the identifier. TelemetryDeck’s own privacy policy is at telemetrydeck.com/privacy.
How long: we keep usage statistics only as long as we need them to understand how the app is used, and review that need every two years; data we no longer need is deleted.
Crash reports and beta testing
Longnote contains no crash-reporting SDK of its own. If you have chosen to share analytics with app developers (iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements), Apple may pass us crash logs and performance data about Longnote, without your name or your entries.
If you test a beta through Apple’s TestFlight, Apple shares with us what its TestFlight terms describe: for example your email address if we invited you by email, how many sessions and crashes the beta had, and the feedback and screenshots you choose to send. We use this only to run the beta and fix problems (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) and delete it when it is no longer needed for that.
Email to us
If you write to support@longnote.io or any other @longnote.io address, we receive your message, your email address and anything you include. When you use Contact & feedback in the app, the draft it prepares contains only the app and iOS version; you see it before you send it. We use your email only to answer you, and, if you asked to be told when Longnote is on the App Store, to tell you once.
Our mailboxes are hosted by Heinlein Hosting GmbH (mailbox.org), Schwedter Str. 8/9A, 10119 Berlin, Germany, our processor under a data processing agreement. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in answering you (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR), or steps related to a purchase you ask about (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
We delete correspondence 12 months after the conversation ends. We keep it longer only where tax or commercial law requires it, for example mail about a purchase (6 or 10 years under the German Commercial Code and Fiscal Code), and then use it for nothing else. A request to be told when Longnote is on the App Store is deleted once we have sent that one notice. Please do not send health details we do not need to help you.
Contact form
The form at longnote.io/contact/ is a second way to write to us. It does the same job as an email, and your message ends up in the same mailbox.
What is collected: your email address, your message and, if you give one, your name, plus the confirmation that you have read this section. The form also contains two fields you do not see: one that should stay empty (automated senders fill it in) and the time the page was opened. We use both only to tell people from automated spam, and they are not sent on to us. We do not record your IP address, browser or device with your message.
How it is delivered: the form sends your entries to a small program run by Cloudflare for us (see This website), which checks them and passes them as an email to support@longnote.io, hosted by mailbox.org (see Email to us). To stop one connection from sending many messages in a row, Cloudflare counts submissions per IP address for about a minute; the address is used only for that count and is not passed on to us. Cloudflare processes the submission to deliver it and keeps technical delivery records, such as the time and whether delivery succeeded, under its data processing agreement.
Purpose and legal basis: to answer your message. This is our legitimate interest in answering you (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR), or steps related to a purchase you ask about (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). Filling in the form is voluntary; without an email address we cannot reply, which is why it is required.
How long it is kept: as an email, for 12 months after the conversation ends. We keep it longer only where tax or commercial law requires it, as described under Email to us. Please do not send health details we do not need to help you.
This website
longnote.io is hosted by Cloudflare, Inc. (101 Townsend St, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA), our processor. To deliver pages and protect the site against abuse, Cloudflare processes technical connection data such as your IP address, browser type and the page requested. We see only aggregate counts from Cloudflare, such as page views per page and country, which do not identify anyone. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in operating a secure, working website (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
The site sets no cookies and loads nothing from other websites: its fonts, videos and four small scripts (the menu, the support search, the play/pause control for videos, and the contact form’s sending in place) are served from longnote.io itself. Links to Apple, TestFlight or the App Store take you to Apple’s websites, under Apple’s policy.
Recipients and transfers outside the EU
We do not sell, rent or share personal data with anyone for their own purposes, and we do not use advertising or advertising identifiers. The only recipients are:
- TelemetryDeck (usage statistics) and mailbox.org (email): processors in Germany.
- Cloudflare (website and contact form delivery): a processor in the USA. Transfers are covered by Cloudflare’s certification under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses in its data processing agreement.
- Apple (the services listed above, the App Store and TestFlight): Apple decides how it processes data for its own services, under its own privacy policy. For users in the EU, Apple’s privacy policy names Apple Distribution International Ltd. in Ireland as responsible, and says that Apple transfers personal data out of the EU under the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
How long data is kept
| Data | Kept |
|---|---|
| Everything in the app | On your iPhone, until you delete it or the app |
| Longnote backups | In your iCloud Drive or Files, until you delete them; automatic backups keep only the number you choose |
| Usage statistics | At TelemetryDeck, only as long as we need them to understand how the app is used; we review that need every two years and delete what we no longer need |
| Emails | 12 months after the conversation ends; longer only where tax or commercial law requires it (for example mail about a purchase, 6 or 10 years) |
| A request to be told about the App Store release | Until we have sent that one notice |
| Website connection data | Processed by Cloudflare only as long as needed to deliver the page and protect the site |
Your rights
Under the GDPR you have the right to access your personal data (Art. 15), to have it corrected (Art. 16) or erased (Art. 17), to restrict its processing (Art. 18), to receive it in a portable format (Art. 20), and to object to processing based on legitimate interest (Art. 21).
For what is on your iPhone, these rights are in your hands: export your history as CSV, correct any entry directly, and erase a profile’s data with Delete all data (Settings → Privacy & data). It removes the profile you are using; other profiles stay until you delete them. Deleting the app removes the app’s data from your iPhone. Neither touches backup files you made or symptoms you saved to Apple Health; delete those in Files or iCloud Drive and in the Health app.
For anything we hold, such as your emails, write to support@longnote.io. You also have the right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the EU country where you live or work, or where you think the infringement happened.
No automated decisions
We make no decisions about you by automated means (Art. 22 GDPR) and build no profiles of you. The patterns Longnote shows are calculated on your iPhone, for you only.
Children
Longnote is not directed at children under 16. It is a self-tracking tool for adults managing their own record, or a family member’s on their behalf.
Changes to this policy
When this policy changes in a way that matters, we update the date at the top and say so in the app’s release notes.