Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 2026

1. Introduction

The Garden Within ("we", "our", or "the app") is an AI companion that combines wisdom from religions, philosophy, science, and psychology. This privacy policy explains how we handle your information when you use our app.

2. Information We Collect

We do not collect or store your conversations on our servers for marketing purposes. Messages you send are processed in real time to generate responses. Conversation history may be stored locally on your device to provide continuity.

Microphone / Voice Input: The app may request permission to use your device's microphone for voice input. When you use voice features, your speech is processed to convert it to text. Audio is sent to our servers only when you choose to use voice input, and is used solely to provide the feature. We do not store voice recordings.

We do not require you to create an account to use the core features. Optional account features may store your preferences and conversation history.

3. Information Stored on Your Device

Your conversation history and preferences may be stored locally on your device. This data remains on your device. It is only sent to our servers when you send a message, for the purpose of generating a response. We do not have access to or control over locally stored data on your device.

4. Third-Party Services

To provide chat and voice features, we use the following third-party services:

• DeepSeek — processes your messages to generate chat responses. See DeepSeek's privacy policy.
• Microsoft Edge TTS — converts text to speech for the voice feature (same voice across devices).

When you send a message, it is transmitted to these services. Their respective privacy policies govern how they handle that data.

5. Data Retention and Deletion

Message content sent for AI responses: Message text is processed to generate a response and is not retained for marketing use. Temporary server logs may retain technical request data for security and reliability for up to 30 days, after which they are deleted or anonymized.

Voice input: Audio used for voice input is processed only to provide the feature and is not stored as voice recordings after processing, except where short-lived technical logs are required for service reliability (up to 30 days).

Data stored on your device: Local conversation history and preferences remain on your device until you delete them. You can remove this data by clearing app data or uninstalling the app.

How to request deletion: If you want us to delete any server-side data associated with your use of the app, contact us using the details in the Contact Us section with the subject line "Data Deletion Request." We process deletion requests within 30 days, subject to legal and security obligations.

6. How We Use Information

We use your messages only to generate responses in real time. We do not use your data for advertising. Analytics, if collected, are used only to improve the service.

7. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. Data is only sent to DeepSeek and our voice provider as necessary to provide the chat and voice features.

8. Data Security

Communications between the app and our servers use HTTPS. We follow industry practices to protect your data.

9. Children's Privacy

The Garden Within is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy at this URL and update the "Last updated" date.

11. Contact Us

For privacy questions or data deletion requests, contact us at: davidmitchell8888@gmail.com. Please include enough detail for us to identify your request and respond.