Compass Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 20, 2026

Compass is an app for keeping track of your projects, tasks, and the things you own. It's run by Brian Carmer Jr. ("we"). This policy explains what Compass collects, why, who helps us run it, and the choices you have. In short: we collect only what Compass needs to work, we don't sell your data, and we don't show ads or track you across other apps.

What we collect

  • Your account. Your email address and password, used to sign you in. Your password is sent over an encrypted connection to our sign-in provider, which stores it only in scrambled (hashed) form.

  • What you put in Compass. The Workspaces, projects, tasks, assets, maintenance, notes, links, captures, and other records you create, and the photos and files you choose to attach.

  • Your time zone and email choice. Your phone’s time zone, so the look-ahead email arrives in the morning your time, and how often you want that email (monthly, weekly, or never) and any pause.

  • What you send to the AI features, only when you use them. If you tap Ask Compass on a photo, record a voice capture, or choose Review with AI, Compass sends that photo, recording, or text to OpenAI, together with a limited selection of relevant details from your Workspace so it can suggest where things belong or answer you: for example project, task, and asset names, task status, priority, and due dates, which project a task belongs to, and an asset's make and model. Voice and typed requests also include your local date, time, and time zone, and a follow-up includes the last few exchanges (which can include a suggestion you haven't saved yet). Compass never sends your whole Workspace. During a live conversation (if you turn it on), your iPhone turns what you say into text on the phone itself, and only that text is sent, like a typed request; no audio leaves your phone. If you choose an online voice in Settings, the text of each reply is sent to OpenAI to be turned into speech, played, and discarded. If you tap Research on an item and confirm, its name, maker, model, and category are sent to OpenAI to search the public web for its manual, maintenance, parts, and warranty, and its maker and model (or its name, when it has no maker) are checked against the U.S. government's public recall lists (CPSC and NHTSA). The serial number, location, purchase date, photos, and notes are never sent, and the result is saved with the item. If you scan an item's label or add its receipt, the photo or screenshot you choose is sent to OpenAI to read the maker, model, and serial number, or the purchase date, store, and price, and it's kept with the item like any attachment; nothing it read is saved until you tap Save. Voice recordings aren't stored by Compass: the recording is deleted from your phone once it's sent, or if you close without sending. (If deleting ever fails, the file stays in the app's private storage on your phone until iOS clears it.)

  • AI usage records. For each AI request: when it happened, the AI setting you chose, how much it used and cost, how long it took, and whether it worked. These keep AI spending within limits. They don't contain your photos, recordings, text, or the AI's answers.

  • Update and crash information. To deliver app updates, Compass sends our update provider a random number created by the app (not your account or email). If Compass crashes, a short description of the error is sent with the next update check so a faulty update can be rolled back.

Some things stay on your phone: reminder alerts are scheduled there, unfinished drafts are saved there (until you submit one to an AI feature or save it), and Compass's own error history stays there unless you choose to export it. Your AI setting is saved on your phone too, but the setting you chose goes with each AI request and is noted in the AI usage records. Read-aloud uses your phone's built-in speech.

How we use it

Only to run Compass for you: signing you in, saving and syncing your Workspaces, making the AI suggestions you ask for, keeping AI spending within limits, delivering updates, and fixing problems. We don't use your data for advertising, and we don't sell or rent it.

Who helps us run Compass

  • Supabase hosts your account, your Workspace records, your photos and files, and the AI usage records.

  • OpenAI receives what you send to the AI features, only when you use them. Compass doesn't add your sign-in email or account to these requests (though anything you type, say, or photograph is sent as it is); some requests include a scrambled code made from your account, which helps prevent abuse. OpenAI handles that data under its API data policies, which may include keeping it for a short time to prevent abuse.

  • Expo delivers app updates and receives the update and crash information described above.

  • Apple provides the App Store and the iPhone features Compass uses, under Apple's own privacy policy.

  • Resend sends Compass’s emails to your sign-in address: password emails, and the monthly or weekly look-ahead email if you turn it on in Settings & Privacy. That email lists your Workspace names, the titles and dates of your upcoming maintenance and tasks, and the names of the items and projects they belong to. It’s off unless you turn it on, every email has a link to turn it off, and we don’t track opens or clicks. Tester notes, emails about new versions of Compass, also go through Resend to your sign-in address; turn them off in Settings & Privacy, or reply “stop”.

Each provider receives only what it needs for its part. We may also disclose information if the law requires it.

How long we keep it

  • Your account and Workspace content are kept until you delete them or your account.

  • Archived attachments are kept, so you can restore them, until their Workspace is deleted.

  • AI usage records are kept to enforce spending limits. When you delete your account, they stay with nothing linking them to you.

  • Our providers keep their own operational logs (which can include your IP address) under their policies.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account in the app: Settings & Privacy, then Delete account. This permanently deletes your sign-in account and every Workspace that only you belong to, with all its records, photos, and files. If a Workspace is shared with others, you're removed and the Workspace stays for them; your account links are cleared, though its activity history and captures you made keep a code that no longer belongs to any account. Compass also clears its data from your phone. Deletion can't be undone, so the app reminds you to export first.

Your choices

  • Permissions. Compass asks for the camera, photos, microphone, or notifications only when you use a feature that needs them. You can decline and still use Compass, and change your mind in iOS Settings.

  • AI is optional. You can attach photos, type captures, and save to your inbox without using AI.

  • Export. You can export a Workspace from Settings & Privacy. Exports are created on your phone and go only where you send them.

  • Access and correction. You can view and edit everything you've added in the app. For anything else, contact us below.

Security

Compass sends data over encrypted connections. Each Workspace's records, photos, and files are available only to its members. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and fix problems quickly.

Children

Compass isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll post the new version on this page and update the date at the top.

Contact

Questions or requests: Carmer03@gmail.com.