Your scripts belong to you.
Your scripts, scenes, and dialogue never leave your device unless you sign in with Apple — in which case they sync to your own iCloud private database, which only you can read. We never see your writing. We never sell, share, or rent any data. Anonymous diagnostics are off by default; turn them on in Settings if you want to help us fix bugs.
What we collect
Penova is built on Apple's first-party stack. Most of what would normally be "data collection" doesn't happen here — your content lives in your iCloud account, not ours. The exhaustive list:
| Data | Where it lives | Visible to us? |
|---|---|---|
| Scripts, scenes, characters, episodes, revisions, dialogue, notes | On your device. If signed in with Apple + iCloud, also synced via CloudKit to your iCloud private database. | No. |
| Your name and email from Sign in with Apple | On your device's keychain / UserDefaults. Mirrored through iCloud key-value store so the same Apple ID's other devices can recover them (Apple doesn't return these on subsequent sign-ins). | No. |
| Microphone audio for Quick Capture dictation | On-device, processed by Apple's Speech framework. Discarded after transcription. | No. |
| Anonymous usage events (only if you opt in) | CloudKit public database under our developer team. Keyed by a random per-install UUID — not your Apple ID, not your iCloud account. | Yes — see "Anonymous usage" below. |
| Crash, hang, and performance reports (only if you've enabled "Share With App Developers" in iOS Settings → Privacy → Analytics) | Apple's MetricKit pipeline. | Yes, in aggregate, via App Store Connect. |
iCloud sync (free, optional)
If you sign in with Apple inside Penova and have iCloud enabled on your device, your projects sync across all your devices through your iCloud private database. This is Apple's CloudKit — your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, lives in your iCloud account, and is accessible only to you. We never see it.
If you skip Sign in with Apple, Penova is fully usable as a local-only app. Nothing leaves your device.
Anonymous usage (off by default)
In Settings → Privacy you'll find a toggle: "Share anonymous usage". It's off by default. When you turn it on, Penova ships a small set of anonymous diagnostic events to a CloudKit public database we maintain. We use these to find and fix bugs the average user would never report.
What gets sent
- Event names (e.g.
import.failed,editor.kind_change,export.success). - Event properties (the format being imported, the kind being changed to, the failure reason). Never your text.
- App version, iOS version, device model identifier (e.g.
iPhone17,5). - A random UUID generated once per install — not your Apple ID, not your iCloud account, not your name. Reinstalling the app generates a new UUID.
- Apple's MetricKit summaries (launch time, hangs, crashes), if you have that toggled on in iOS Settings.
What never gets sent
- Your scripts, scene text, character names, dialogue, notes, contact block — any text you've written or imported.
- Your Apple ID, full name, email address, or iCloud account identifier.
- Any information that ties events from one install to events from another install of the same person.
- IP addresses or device-level advertising identifiers.
You can turn the toggle off at any moment, and you can wipe the local event log via Settings → Diagnostics in development builds. Existing rows already in the public database aren't deleted retroactively (we don't have a way to identify them as yours), but no new ones go up.
Device permissions
- Microphone — only while Quick Capture is recording your dictation. No audio is stored or transmitted off-device.
- Speech Recognition — used to transcribe dictation into text. On-device when supported by your device. No audio or transcription is sent to us.
- iCloud — used for the project sync described above. Penova does not access any other iCloud-stored content.
Third parties
None. Penova does not embed any third-party analytics, advertising, attribution, or crash-reporting SDK. Every framework in the binary is shipped by Apple. There is no tracking across apps or websites; NSPrivacyTracking is set to false in the app's privacy manifest.
Data retention and deletion
On-device data is yours to delete — uninstalling Penova or using "Delete all data" in Settings removes it. Data synced to your iCloud private database is governed by your Apple ID; you can delete it from any device via the Files app or by signing out of iCloud.
Anonymous usage events in the CloudKit public database are pruned periodically; we don't retain them indefinitely. Because they're keyed by a per-install UUID and not by you, we can't isolate "your" rows on request — but we also don't have anything that identifies them as yours in the first place.
Children's privacy
Penova is rated 4+ and does not knowingly collect data from anyone, including children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently received information about a child, please contact us and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as Penova evolves. Material changes will be called out in the next app update's release notes and reflected here with a new effective date.
Contact
Questions? Email rudra.ptp.singh@gmail.com.