Privacy Policy
Last updated October 12, 2026
Pen Buddy is a study notebook with an AI study partner for Mac and iPad. This policy explains what Pen Buddy collects, why, where it goes, and how you can delete it. Pen Buddy is a product of Laxatunga ehf. (Companies Register of Iceland no. 590207-1280), Sporðagrunni 13, 104 Reykjavík, Iceland, the controller of your personal data, which you can reach at atulranjan975@gmail.com.
What Pen Buddy collects
- Your account: your name, email address and user id from the Google account you sign in with.
- A device id: a one-way hash of an identifier for your device, used only to stop the free questions being claimed again on the same device. It can't be turned back into the original identifier.
- Your plan and credits: your plan, the questions you have left and records of your purchases. Purchases on the Mac are handled by Stripe; Pen Buddy never sees your card details.
- Usage counts: how many questions and AI requests your account has used, so plans and limits work.
Where your notebook is stored
Your notes, PDFs, handwriting (Pencil drawings) and their transcripts, conversation transcripts and review cards are stored on your device. Pen Buddy's servers don't store them. When iCloud sync is available and turned on, they're also kept in your own iCloud account (Apple's private database for the app), so they appear on your other Macs and iPads; Pen Buddy can't read them there, and Apple's privacy policy applies to iCloud.
AI processing
To answer you, Pen Buddy sends what you say, your open note and handwriting, and the page you're studying to AI providers through Pen Buddy's server, only after you allow it in the app:
- your voice goes to Amazon Transcribe (Amazon Web Services) to turn speech into text;
- text and images go to Google Gemini, and to Amazon Bedrock (Amazon Web Services) as a backup model.
They're used only to answer you. Pen Buddy's server passes them through without keeping them, and Pen Buddy doesn't use your content to train AI models. You can turn AI data sharing off any time in Settings › Privacy; your notes keep working.
What Pen Buddy doesn't do
- Pen Buddy doesn't sell your data or share it for advertising.
- Pen Buddy shows no ads and doesn't track you across other companies' apps or websites.
- Pen Buddy doesn't use Apple or Google data for tracking.
How long it's kept
Your account is kept until you delete it.
Deleting your data
In the app, choose Settings › Account › Delete Account. This deletes your account, your plan and credits, and any notes an earlier version of Pen Buddy synced to its servers. Notes on your device, and in your iCloud, stay until you delete them (iCloud data can be removed in your device's iCloud settings). You can also ask for deletion by email at atulranjan975@gmail.com.
Children
Pen Buddy isn't directed at children under 13, and doesn't knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, contact atulranjan975@gmail.com and it will be deleted.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is posted here with a new date.
Contact
Questions or requests about your data: atulranjan975@gmail.com.