Privacy

Data We Collect and How It’s Used

Account & Device

Taeppl doesn’t require an account or login. Instead, each installation of the app is identified by a persistent installation ID generated on your device. This ID is used to deliver tapes to you, manage your contacts and group memberships, and enable push notifications.

Push Notifications

If you enable notifications, Taeppl registers your device’s push token and a delivery public key with our server so we can notify you of incoming tapes, Link Tape turns, Group Tape updates, and contact requests. This registration is tied to your installation ID. Notification content may include the sender’s name and the type of update, which can appear on your lock screen depending on your device settings.

Contacts (“Linked People”)

Taeppl’s contacts are internal to the app — we don’t access your iOS Contacts. When you link with someone, we store a record of that connection (both installation IDs), your display name, and, if you choose to share it, a birthday (month and day only). This lets us notify you of birthdays and manage your linked relationships.

Encrypted Tape Delivery

Tapes sent via Link Tape, Birthday Tape, and Arc Tape are end-to-end encrypted before they leave your device. We store only encrypted data — we cannot read the contents of these tapes. Only the intended recipient can decrypt them.

Group Tape

Group Tape works differently. Direct updates pushed to individual group members are encrypted the same way as Link Tape. However, the shared “authoritative” copy of a Group Tape — the version used to sync new members and reconcile everyone’s copy — is currently stored on our servers without end-to-end encryption. Access to it is restricted to current group members through our server, but the content itself is not encrypted at rest the way Link, Birthday, and Arc tapes are. We’re working on extending end-to-end encryption to Group Tape in a future update.

Location

If you allow location access, Taeppl records where each recording session began, so you can see your recordings on a personal map. This location data is always stored precisely on your device for your own map.

When you share a tape with others (Link, Group, Birthday, or Arc), you control what location information, if any, is included: you can choose to share your precise location, an approximate location, or no location at all. This setting applies to future shares and does not affect what’s already been sent or your own local map, which always remains precise.

Data Retention

Encrypted tape packages and delivery previews are generally removed from our servers within about seven days of successful delivery. Group Tape data — including membership, contribution history, and the shared authoritative copy — is retained for as long as the group tape remains active, since it’s needed for members to sync and join.

Server Logs

Our infrastructure provider (Cloudflare) logs standard request information, including IP address, timestamps, and request metadata, for operational and security purposes.