Privacy policy for the phren apps
Effective 25 September 2026. This policy covers phren for iPhone and phren for Android ("the app"). It replaces the 12 September 2026 policy for phren for iPhone. The changes are listed at the end.
The app is a client for two things you own: a phren store (a Git repository of markdown files) and coding-agent sessions on your own computers. This page says, item by item, what the app keeps on your phone, what leaves it and to whom, and how to remove it. We checked each statement against the apps' source code.
The short version
- There is no phren account and no phren server. We receive no data from the app: no analytics, no crash reports, no telemetry, no advertising identifiers.
- Store data moves between your phone and GitHub, with your own sign-in, or between your phone and your own computer.
- Session data moves between your phone and your own computers, over SSH, with a key the phone made itself.
- Some optional features use Apple, Google, ElevenLabs or Hugging Face. Each is listed below with when it applies.
- Signing out or forgetting a computer removes what the app kept for it.
What the app keeps on your phone
| Item | Where | Why, and how it is protected |
|---|---|---|
| Your GitHub sign-in (a token) | iPhone: the Keychain, this device only. Android: encrypted with a key in the Android Keystore. | Sent only to GitHub, as an authorization header. Never in backups, never synced to another device. |
| One SSH private key per computer you add | iPhone: the Keychain, this device only, readable only while the phone is unlocked. Android: encrypted with a non-exportable Android Keystore key. | Identifies this phone to that computer. The private key never leaves the phone; only its public half is shown for you to authorize. Never in backups. |
| A copy of your store's files | The app's private storage | So the app works offline and searches locally: findings, notes, tasks, truths, the review queue, summaries, skills, agent instructions, and the store's own registry files (stores.yaml, machines.yaml, profiles/, each project's phren.project.yaml). |
| Changes not yet pushed | The app's private storage | Edits you made offline, sent to GitHub or your computer when you are back online. |
| Computer connections | App preferences | Addresses, usernames, the SSH host-key fingerprint you trusted, pinned sessions, and which folder on each computer belongs to which project. The last known session list, so the Agents tab can show it at launch. |
| Chat drafts and attached images | The app's private storage | So an unsent message survives a relaunch. |
| Preferences | App preferences | Theme, fonts, terminal toolbar and shortcut layouts, voice settings, task view choices, the default project for quick capture, and a short log of recent captures. |
| Widget snapshot | iPhone: the app group shared with the widget. Android: the app's private storage. | Counts, your top active task and the last sync time, so the widget can draw without opening the app. |
| Downloads you choose | The app's private storage | On iPhone, terminal fonts and the Whisper speech model, if you pick them in Settings. |
Backups
Your GitHub token and SSH keys are never included in a backup. Other app data is treated like most apps' data. On iPhone, an iCloud or computer backup can include the store copy and preferences. On Android, Android's backup to your Google account can include them; you can turn this off in Android's backup settings.
Removing it
Sign out deletes the GitHub token and every local store copy. Forget computer deletes that computer's SSH key. Deleting the app removes its storage and preferences; on iPhone, Keychain items can outlive the app, so sign out first if you want them gone. To revoke a phone on a computer, remove its phren-iphone or phren-android line from ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on that computer.
What leaves your phone, and to whom
GitHub
If you connect memory through GitHub, the app talks directly to github.com (to sign in) and api.github.com (repository contents). It reads the repositories you attach and writes your edits back as commits authored by your GitHub account. If you download a terminal font on iPhone, it comes from raw.githubusercontent.com. GitHub handles that traffic under GitHub's privacy policies.
Your own computers
When you pair or add a computer, the app connects over SSH to the address you gave, checks the host key against the fingerprint you trusted, and talks to Phren Hook, a helper you installed and run there. Over that connection the app:
- reads session details (workspaces, tabs, agent state, working folders, a folder's git branch, the computer's name, load and installed agent versions), the conversations you open, diffs and files you ask for, running web servers, schedules, code index results, and the account-usage figures your agents report;
- reads and writes your phren store, if you chose to use memory from that computer;
- sends the messages, images, files, approvals and keystrokes you submit, to the computer and agent you chose. The agent may send that content to its AI provider under that provider's privacy policy. The app has no part in that;
- starts or pauses agents, and creates workspaces, when you ask it to;
- registers the phone for notifications, if you turn them on.
Images you upload stay on that computer for up to 14 days. Your GitHub credentials are never sent over this connection. Web previews (iPhone) load a development server from the computer in an isolated in-app browser; pages can load whatever outside resources they include.
If you use Tailscale to reach your computers, the Tailscale app on your phone carries that connection under Tailscale's privacy policy. phren does not talk to Tailscale.
ElevenLabs, through your computer (optional)
Talk mode can read replies aloud with an ElevenLabs voice, and on iPhone dictation can use ElevenLabs Scribe. Both only work if you saved your own ElevenLabs key on a computer. The phone never talks to ElevenLabs: it sends the reply text, or your voice for Scribe, to your computer, and your computer sends it to ElevenLabs with your key, under ElevenLabs' privacy policy. Without a key, or if you choose the phone's voice, replies are read on the phone.
Apple (iPhone)
- Dictation uses Apple's speech recognition on the phone wherever the device supports it; otherwise iOS may send the audio to Apple. Audio is not stored; only the text you keep becomes a message, note or task.
- Siri and Shortcuts are handled by Siri under Apple's policy and pass your words to the app.
- Live Activities and widgets carry display text and an opaque local identifier, never credentials or commands.
- Reply summaries on iPhones with Apple Intelligence are written by Apple's on-device model.
- Notifications. The app checks your computers itself and shows local notifications; no server is involved. If you set up your own Apple push key on a computer, that computer sends alerts, with the agent's request text, through Apple's push service to your phone.
- Push relay. Current builds do not use one. A future build may use the phren push relay so alerts arrive without setting up a key. It would carry only your phone's push token and alerts encrypted with a key that only your phone and your computers hold. We will update this policy before a build uses it.
Google (Android)
- Dictation uses your phone's speech recognition service, usually Google's. Depending on the device and its settings, it may process audio on Google's servers.
- The pairing scanner is Google Play services' code scanner. It reads the QR code on the phone and returns only its text to phren.
- Notifications come from the app itself: about every 15 minutes Android lets it check your computers over SSH. There is no push service.
- Backups: see Backups above.
Hugging Face (iPhone, optional)
If you choose the Whisper speech engine in Settings, the app downloads the model (about 632 MB, over Wi-Fi only) from Hugging Face, under Hugging Face's privacy policy. After that, Whisper runs entirely on the phone.
Nobody else
Neither app contains analytics, crash-reporting or advertising code. The networking and SSH libraries they use carry no telemetry. The phren command-line tool has an opt-in usage counter (phren config telemetry on); when on, it keeps counts in a local file on your computer and does not send them anywhere. The app does not use it.
Permissions the app asks for
iPhone
- Camera: to scan a computer's pairing code, and when you take a photo for an agent.
- Microphone and Speech Recognition: only while you dictate or use talk mode.
- Local Network: to reach computers on your Wi-Fi over SSH.
- Notifications: if you turn on alerts for agents waiting on you and for schedules.
Photos you attach come through Apple's photo picker, which shares only what you pick.
Android
- Microphone: only while you dictate or use talk mode.
- Notifications: if you turn on alerts for agents waiting on you and for schedules.
- Internet and network state: to reach GitHub and your computers. Android grants these without asking.
The app does not ask for the camera on Android; the pairing scanner runs in Google Play services. Photos come through Android's photo picker.
On both platforms, declining a permission turns off only the feature that needs it.
Children
The app is not directed at children under 13, and we collect no data from anyone.
Changes to this policy
We publish changes at this address with a new effective date and note them in the app's release notes.
25 September 2026: one policy for iPhone and Android. Added: phren for Android and what Google's services see; memory read from a paired computer instead of GitHub; ElevenLabs talk mode and Scribe dictation through your own computer; the optional Whisper model download from Hugging Face; terminal font downloads; notifications, including a computer's own Apple push key and the push relay that current builds do not use; and how backups treat app data. The statement that we receive nothing is unchanged.
12 September 2026: the iPhone app began mirroring the store's machines.yaml, profiles/ and per-project phren.project.yaml; reading a computer's name and a folder's git branch from Phren Hook; and starting an agent in a project folder on request.
Contact
Questions about this policy: alaarab@gmail.com
Source for the CLI and Phren Hook: github.com/alaarab/phren. The apps themselves are closed source.