You & I privacy policy
Last updated: 17 October 2026
You & I is a personal AI agent app made in New Zealand by Todd Gibson ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information the app collects, how it's used, who it's shared with, and the choices you have. You & I is currently in testing, and we'll update this policy as the app changes.
The short version
- We collect what's needed to run your agent: your account, your agent's settings, your journal and your chats.
- Phone features (location, calendar, contacts, reminders) are off until you switch them on, and you can switch them off at any time.
- Your journal is private unless you mark an entry as shared with friends.
- We don't sell your data and don't track you across other apps. Adults on the free plan can choose to watch a short video ad for extra chats; nobody under 18 sees ads.
Information stored in your account
- Account: your email address and password. Passwords are stored securely and never in plain text.
- Your agent: its name, your first name, the personality and style you choose, its picture, and your year of birth (used to apply age-appropriate safety rules).
- Photos: photos you take or choose in the app are stored privately in your account. A photo you send to your agent is shown to the AI (Anthropic) so it can talk about it. Photos you add to your journal are only seen by you. Photos you post as moments in Networking are seen by your accepted friends. Deleting a moment or journal entry deletes its photo when nothing else uses it, and Start over or deleting your account deletes all your photos.
- Memories and important dates: short facts your agent saves about you (or you add), and dates like birthdays you ask it to remember. You can see, change and delete these in My agent → Memories.
- Best friend journal: the entries you write or speak, the date, the mood you pick (optional), and whether each one is shared with friends. Moods are never shown to friends' agents.
- Chats: your messages and your agent's replies.
- Friends: your friend code, the people you connect with, and a record of questions friends' agents asked your agent and what it answered. You can see that record in the Friends tab.
- Networking (optional): any social media links you add, and your Last.fm username and music-sharing setting if you turn music sharing on.
- Notes: notes you write or speak in My notes. Only you can see them. They're never given to the AI or shown to friends.
- Messages with friends: messages you send to and receive from accepted friends, when they were sent and whether they've been read. Only you and that friend can see them, and the AI never reads them. You can unsend your own messages. If you mute, block or report someone, we keep that choice, and a report includes the reported message so our team can review it.
- Robots you connect: the name you give each robot paired with You & I Connect, when it was paired and last used. Conversations through a robot are saved in your chats like any other. You can disconnect a robot in the app at any time.
- Robot waitlist: if you join it on our website, your email address and whether you want a robot or build them. We only use it to tell you about You & I and robots; ask us to remove it any time.
- Notifications: if you allow notifications, a push address for your phone so friends' messages can reach you. It's removed when you sign out.
- Plus and invites: whether you have You & I Plus and until when, who invited you (if you used an invite code), and how many friends joined with your code. Using someone's invite code also sends them a friend request, which they can accept or ignore.
- Safety counts: an anonymous monthly count of how often crisis information was given, with nothing that identifies you. See our safety page.
- Usage: how many messages you send each month and approximate AI processing amounts, used for chat allowances.
Information that stays on your phone
- Share pictures: when you share one of your agent's replies, the picture is made on your phone and only goes where you choose to send it. It shows your invite code.
- Reminders: check-ins from your agent and important-date reminders are scheduled as notifications on your phone.
- Voice settings, look and feel, font choice, phone access settings, App lock, and any photos you choose as backgrounds. Background photos are copied into the app's private storage on your phone and never uploaded.
- Contacts: when you ask your agent to call, text or email someone, the app looks them up on your phone only. Your contacts are never sent to us or anyone else.
Information sent with your messages (only if you allow it)
- Location (if switched on): your approximate location and place name, used for local weather, nearby searches and directions.
- Calendar (if switched on): your events for the next 7 days (title, time and place), so your agent can answer questions about your schedule.
- Your phone's language, country and time zone, so replies, dates and helpline suggestions suit where you are.
Voice
Speech-to-text uses your phone's built-in speech recognition (from Apple or Google, depending on your phone), which may process audio under their own privacy policies. Your agent's spoken replies are created on your phone. We don't keep voice recordings.
How your information is used
- To run your agent: to reply to you, remember your journal and carry out actions you ask for.
- To connect you with friends you choose, and to show their shared information to you as described above.
- To keep the service working, prevent misuse, and manage chat allowances.
We don't use your information for advertising, and we don't sell it.
Sharing with friends
Only accepted friends are affected, and only by things you choose to share:
- A friend's agent can answer questions using only journal entries you've marked as shared. Your private entries are never given to it.
- Your social links, and what you're listening to (if music sharing is on), are visible to accepted friends. Their agents may also mention what you're listening to, and the captions of moments you post.
- Your agent's name and your first name are visible to people you're connected with, including pending friend requests.
- Find people by name: if you're 18 or over, other adults using You & I can find you by searching your first name. They see your first name, your profile picture, and your agent's name and picture, and can send you a friend request, which you can accept or ignore. You can turn this off any time in Networking ("Let people find me by name"). People under 18 never appear in search and can't search. People you block can't find you.
Service providers we use
- Supabase: secure hosting for accounts and data, located in Sydney, Australia.
- Anthropic (Claude): the AI that powers your agent. Your messages, along with relevant journal entries and settings, are sent to Anthropic to create replies. Anthropic doesn't use this data to train its models under its commercial terms.
- Open-Meteo: weather forecasts. Receives the place name or approximate coordinates of the weather you asked about.
- Openverse (and Brave Search for Plus): when you ask your agent for pictures, the words it searches for (like "puffins") are sent to these picture search services. Nothing else about you is sent. The pictures load from the sites they come from, such as Wikimedia Commons and Flickr.
- OpenStreetMap (Photon) and Open-Meteo Marine: for surf reports, the approximate coordinates of the area you're asking about are used to find the closest beach and its wave forecast.
- YouTube (Google): when you ask your agent for a video, the words it searches for are sent to YouTube. Videos play inside the app using YouTube's player, under YouTube's own privacy policy.
- Last.fm: if you turn on music sharing, we use your Last.fm username to fetch your recently played songs for your friends.
- Google Cloud Text-to-Speech (Plus premium voices): the text of your agent's replies is sent to Google to be turned into speech when a premium voice is on. Nothing else about you is sent.
- Google Gemini (Plus agent selfies): when your agent sends a selfie, a short description of the scene and your agent's picture from the app are sent to Google to create the image. Your own photos and messages are not sent. Selfies are saved privately in your account.
- Google AdMob (optional rewarded videos, adults on the free plan only): when you choose to watch a video for extra chats, Google shows a non-personalised ad and tells our server it was watched, using your account ID and the date. In the UK and Europe, Google asks for your consent first. Ads are never shown to anyone under 18 or to Plus members.
- Expo, Apple and Google push services: deliver message notifications to your phone. They receive your phone's push address, the sender's first name and a short preview of the message.
- Apple and Google: app distribution, and the speech recognition built into your phone.
Some of these providers are located outside New Zealand, such as in Australia and the United States. We use providers that protect information in ways comparable to the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020.
Security
Information is encrypted in transit, and our database ensures each person can only access their own data, plus what friends have chosen to share with them. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.
Your choices and rights
- Switch phone access, music sharing and journal sharing on or off at any time.
- Delete individual journal entries, remove friends, and remove your social links in the app.
- Start over (My agent → Start over) permanently deletes your agent, journal and chats.
- Delete my account (My agent → Delete my account) permanently deletes your account and everything in it straight away: your agent, journal, chats, notes, friends, messages, connected robots, links, music sharing and Plus. Settings kept on your phone are cleared too.
- If you can't use the app, or to request a copy or correction of your information, email us at support@southstarcompanion.com. We'll respond within 20 working days, as the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 requires.
Children
You & I isn't intended for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, please contact us and we'll delete it.
Not professional advice
Your agent is an AI. It can make mistakes and isn't a substitute for professional medical, legal, financial or mental-health advice. If you're in crisis, contact your local emergency number or a helpline. Your agent can suggest one for your country.
Changes to this policy
If we make important changes, we'll update the date above and let you know in the app.
Contact
Todd Gibson, You & I, New Zealand · support@southstarcompanion.com