Last updated: November 8, 2026
Hold This Thought is built so your thoughts stay yours. There are no accounts, no ads, and no tracking, and we never sell or share data. The developer never sees your places, contacts, or location. If you agree to “Help train the app,” the words of your thoughts, with names and numbers removed and nothing that identifies you, are sent to help the app understand thoughts better (see Helping train the app). Otherwise the only things we receive are emails you choose to send us. Hold This Thought is made by Mason Di Leo, an independent developer.
Your thoughts
Your thoughts, reminders, photos you attach, saved places, and settings are stored on your device. If iCloud backup is on (Settings → Backup), a copy is also saved to your own private iCloud account so you can restore it on a new iPhone. That copy is in Apple's CloudKit private database: only you can access it, not the developer. You can turn backup off anytime. Photos are saved without the hidden location data cameras add. A thought due soon, or a store list while you shop, can show on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island; that is drawn on your iPhone, like a notification.
Helping train the app
To get better at telling whether a thought is about a time, a place, a grocery, or just a note, the developer trains a machine-learning model on real thoughts. If you say yes to Help train the app, the app sends a short record each time you save, change, check off, or snooze a thought, or delete one within 30 minutes of saving it (so mistakes can be left out). Each record has: the thought's words, what the app made it (Time, Place, Grocery, or Thought), what it would have guessed from the words alone, what happened (new, changed, deleted, restored with Undo, done, or snoozed), whether you said or typed it, the hour of the day and day of the week (never the exact time), for done, snoozed, or deleted how long after saving it and after the reminder went off, in rough ranges (like “under 5 minutes” or “1–24 hours”), the kind of place if it's a store or a common place like “Home” (otherwise just “custom”), the app version, and whether it came from a test version of the app. Google Sheets adds the date it arrived.
Before anything is sent, on your iPhone: names, email addresses, phone numbers, long numbers, links, and street addresses are replaced with placeholders like [name], and thoughts that mention passwords, PINs, card numbers, or bank accounts aren't sent at all. Name removal catches most names but can miss some, especially unusual ones. Thoughts longer than 280 characters, thoughts friends share with you, and changes a friend makes to a thought you shared with them are never sent. Photos, your location, where your saved places are, your calendar, and your contacts are never sent.
Not linked to you: no name, account, iCloud ID, device ID, or advertising ID is sent, so we can't tell who a thought came from. Each thought gets a random code only so that a later change to it can be matched to it, and each record its own random code so a record sent twice is kept once. The data is stored in a Google Sheet that only the developer can open (Google processes it under Google's Privacy Policy; like any web service it sees the connection's IP address, which we don't store). It is used only to train and test the models in this app (like reading what a thought is, or learning when reminders work best) and to see which features help people. It is never sold or used for ads, and is deleted when it's no longer needed for that, at most three years after it's received.
Your choice: this is off unless you say yes. After you save your first thought, the app asks whether you'd like to help and explains what's sent; nothing is sent unless you tap "Yes, help train it." Until you answer, your thoughts wait on your iPhone; if you say no, they're deleted there without being sent. You can change your mind anytime in Settings → Help train the app; turning it off deletes anything not yet sent. If you never answer (the app asks at most three times, on different days), nothing is sent and what was waiting is deleted. Because sent thoughts can't be traced back to you, we can't find and delete yours individually afterwards.
Friends and shared thoughts
When you add a friend, you pick them from your contacts. Their name and phone number or email are used on your iPhone to address the invitation and to find their Apple Account through Apple's iCloud, so only they can open it. The invitation is sent as a text from your Messages app. The developer never receives your contacts.
When you share a thought with a friend, its words, time, and place (if it has one) are saved in a space in your iCloud that only you and that friend can open, and a copy appears in their app. They see when you check it off, and you see when they do. Your first name, as set in the app, is shown to them. Removing a friend ends the sharing; thoughts already shared stay on their phone as their own. Blocking someone also removes everything they shared from your app.
Groups (iCloud)
If you create or join a group, that group's tasks, member names, and optional places are stored in the group creator's iCloud using Apple's CloudKit and shared only with people they invite. The developer cannot access them. Leaving a group removes it from your iCloud; deleting a group you created removes it for everyone.
If a group task has a place, the first member to arrive claims it: the group sees who claimed it and when, so other members aren’t reminded too.
Location
Location is used only to deliver reminders you tie to a place, like "when I get home," "next time I'm at Trader Joe's," or "when I leave Grace's." Whether you've arrived or left is checked on your device. To find a place you haven't saved, the app searches Apple Maps, which receives the search and your approximate area under Apple's Privacy Policy. Your location is never sent to the developer. A place you attach to a shared thought is visible to the friend you share it with.
Microphone and speech
When you tap the mic, your words are turned into text using Apple's speech recognition. On iOS 26 and later this happens on your iPhone with Apple's on-device speech engine, so the audio doesn't leave your device (the first time, iPhone downloads the language files for it). On earlier versions, or until that download finishes, Apple may process the audio under Apple's Privacy Policy, depending on your device and settings. The app does not store recordings.
Calendar, camera, and photos
Calendar events are read on your device to time reminders around your schedule (for example, "before the party"), and events are only added when you ask. Photos you take or pick are stored on your device with the thought.
Apple Intelligence
On supported iPhones, short titles for your thoughts are written by Apple's on-device model. Your words don't leave the device for this.
Apple's role
The app relies on Apple's services (iCloud/CloudKit, Apple Maps, speech recognition, and notifications). Apple handles that data under its own Privacy Policy. No other companies are involved, except Google: emails you send us are stored with our email provider (Google), and, if you agreed to Help train the app, the anonymous thoughts described above are stored in Google Sheets.
When you contact us or report someone
If you email us, or tap Report or Contact in the app (which opens an email for you to send), we receive what's in that email: your email address, your message, and, for a report, the person's name and the text of what they shared. It is used only to answer you and to deal with the report, isn't shared with anyone, and is deleted within 90 days after the matter is closed. You can ask us to delete it sooner.
Deleting your data
To keep a copy, Settings → Export thoughts makes a text file that you choose where to save or send. Delete a thought by swiping it, or delete the app to remove everything on your iPhone. To delete the iCloud copy, turn off backup in the app (Settings → Backup) and tap Delete iCloud backup. You can also open iPhone Settings → your name → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Hold This Thought → Delete Data. The developer never has your iCloud copy, so there is nothing for the developer to delete there; to delete an email you sent us, just ask. For anonymous thoughts sent to help train the app, see Helping train the app.
Do Not Track
The app doesn't track you across apps or websites, so there is nothing for a Do Not Track signal to turn off.
Children
Hold This Thought isn't directed at children under 13, and it doesn't knowingly collect personal information from them. Apart from emails you choose to send, the developer doesn't collect personal information from anyone; thoughts sent to help train the app (only if you agree) are anonymous, with names and numbers removed.
Your rights (including EU and UK)
You control your data directly on your device and in your iCloud, and can view, change, or delete it at any time as described above. If you have a question or request about your data, email the address below. If you’re in the EU or UK, you can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date, and significant changes will be mentioned in the app's update notes.
Contact
Questions? Email holdthisthought.app@gmail.com.