Privacy Policy
Effective August 23, 2026
The short version: Sidetree has no servers of its own. Your trees live on your device and, if you turn it on, in your own iCloud account — never on a computer we run or can see. We don't collect analytics, we don't track you, and there's nothing to sign up for.
01Where your data lives
Every tree you create in Sidetree — its thoughts, structure, and formatting — is stored as a file on your own device. Sidetree does not operate a server, a database, or any backend of any kind. There is no Sidetree account, no sign-in, and no step where your content is transmitted to us.
When you export a tree — as PDF, plain text, Markdown, or a Sidetree file — that export goes exactly where you choose to save it, on your device or wherever you send it from there. We never see it.
When you create a password-protected Library backup, the password never leaves your device. Sidetree encrypts the backup locally using Apple's CryptoKit before it's written to disk; we have no way to open it, and neither does anyone else without that password. If you choose to save the password, Sidetree stores it only locally in your device's Keychain. Saving it is optional, and you can tell Sidetree to forget the saved password at any time in the app.
02iCloud sync
If you enable iCloud in Settings, Sidetree stores your trees in your own private iCloud container, using Apple's standard iCloud Documents system. This lets your trees appear on your other devices signed into the same Apple ID. That data is:
- Encrypted and managed entirely by Apple, under Apple's own privacy terms — not ours
- Accessible only to you, through your Apple ID
- Never visible to us at any point — we have no access to your iCloud account or its contents
iCloud sync is optional and can be turned off at any time in iOS/iPadOS/visionOS Settings, under your Apple ID's iCloud settings for Sidetree.
03On-device summaries
Sidetree can optionally generate short summaries of folded (collapsed) branches, using Apple's on-device Foundation Models framework — the same system behind Apple Intelligence. This feature is off by default and must be turned on in Settings.
Generation happens entirely on your device. No thought, tree, or summary is sent to Apple, to us, or anywhere else to produce it. The feature is only available at all when Apple's on-device model is present and supported on your device.
04Purchases
Sidetree's trial and one-time unlock purchase are handled entirely by Apple through the App Store and StoreKit. We never receive your payment details, card number, or billing address — Apple processes the transaction and simply confirms to the app whether you're entitled to the unlocked features. This is standard for every App Store app and works the same way whether you're buying a game or a productivity tool.
05What we don't collect
This isn't a policy choice layered on top of tracking code — the app simply contains none. There is no network request Sidetree makes on its own behalf; the only network activity involved is Apple's own iCloud sync and App Store purchase processing, described above.
06Children's privacy
Because Sidetree collects no personal data from anyone — adult or child — there is nothing about a child's use of the app that we ever receive or could disclose. Sidetree does not knowingly collect information from children, and by design, has no mechanism to do so.
07Your control over your data
Because everything stays on your device or in your own iCloud account, you're already in full control:
- Delete a tree the same way you'd delete any file — it's gone from your device and, if synced, from iCloud.
- Turn off iCloud sync in Settings at any time; your trees remain on-device.
- Delete the app to remove all locally stored trees, drafts, and preferences at once.
- Manage or delete iCloud data directly through your Apple ID's iCloud storage settings, independent of Sidetree.
Because we have no server and no account system, there is no "request my data" or "delete my account" process to run — there is no copy of your data anywhere for us to act on.
08Changes to this policy
If this policy ever changes — for example, if a future version of Sidetree adds a feature that does transmit data — we'll update this page and change the effective date above. Given the app's design, we don't expect that to happen, but we're not going to promise never to add anything without saying so plainly if we do.