Privacy Policy

Effective date: August 29, 2026

Unsent is designed as a private, local-first place for words you do not want to send. This policy explains what the app stores, what it does not send to us, and how backups and deletion work.

1. Privacy at a Glance

Your active chats are stored inside Unsent on your iPhone. Unsent does not require an account, show ads, use tracking, automatically sync your writing, or send your writing to us. Apple device backups and files you choose to export are handled separately by Apple or the storage location you choose.

2. What Unsent Stores

Unsent stores the information needed for its features: messages, drafts, contacts, categories, photos you choose, and app settings. It may also hold safety copies or preserved recovery data when those protections are needed.

This data stays in the app’s storage unless you choose to copy or export it. iOS may separately include app data in an Apple device backup according to your device settings.

Unsent also stores limited local review-prompt state: progress toward its minimum message and app-opening requirements, and the date it last requested a review prompt from iOS to enforce its cooldown. This state is used only to decide whether and when to request an App Store review; it is not sent to us.

Unsent does not operate servers that receive or store this app data. We do not receive it from the app.

3. What Unsent Sends to Us

Nothing. The Unsent app does not send us your messages, drafts, contact or category names, photos, clipboard contents, backups, or app analytics. The app does not use third-party advertising or tracking SDKs.

Apple may separately make App Store analytics and crash or diagnostic information available to developers under Apple’s own policies and sharing controls. Apple determines what is included and when it is available; Unsent does not transmit this information itself.

Actions you choose—such as copying text, exporting a backup, opening Apple’s EULA, or emailing support—are handled by iOS and the destination you select.

4. Apple Device Backups

Unsent does not provide automatic cloud sync. Apple may include Unsent’s app data in an iCloud or computer backup of your iPhone, depending on your Apple and device settings. Apple controls how those device backups are created, protected, retained, and restored.

5. Backup and Recovery

You can create a dated .unsent backup and save it through Files. A backup can include messages, drafts, contacts, categories, and photos. App preferences are not included.

Restoring a backup replaces all current chat data with the contents of that backup. It does not merge data and cannot restore an individual message or chat. Before replacing non-empty chat data, Unsent must create and verify a safety copy. If that protection cannot be completed, the restore does not begin.

Backup and restore are supported with On My iPhone and iCloud Drive. Other storage providers may not preserve the .unsent package correctly.

6. .unsent Backups Are Plaintext

A .unsent backup is a file package, not an encrypted vault. Unsent does not add encryption or password protection to its contents. Messages, drafts, and contact and category records are stored as plaintext, and photos remain extractable. Anyone who can access the backup may be able to inspect or read its contents. The .unsent extension helps Unsent recognize the package; it is not a security feature.

While data remains inside Unsent, Apple’s device data protection helps protect it when the iPhone is locked. After you export a backup, its protection depends on the device, account, and storage location you choose. Store and share backup files carefully.

7. Safety Copies and Preserved Recovery Data

A safety copy is a verified internal copy created before certain high-risk changes. Unsent requires one before replacing non-empty chat data during restore and before a data migration. Danger Zone Safety Copies is off by default. If you turn it on, Unsent also creates one before a Danger Zone deletion.

Unsent can keep up to five safety copies. When five are present, an operation that needs another copy pauses unless you delete one or have chosen to replace the oldest. Backup and Recovery shows whether any safety copies exist and lets you export or permanently delete them.

If Unsent cannot safely open existing app data, it may preserve that raw data instead of discarding it. Preserved recovery data is shown separately in Backup and Recovery. The current version of Unsent cannot restore it directly, but you may export or permanently delete it.

8. Copying and Universal Clipboard

Copied message text expires from the clipboard after two minutes. By default, copies stay on the current iPhone. If you turn on Universal Clipboard, new copies may also become available to nearby Apple devices signed in to your Apple Account. Clipboard handling is provided by Apple.

9. Face ID, Touch ID, and Passcode Protection

When protection is enabled, Unsent asks iOS to verify the device owner using Face ID, Touch ID, or the device passcode. Unsent receives only whether authentication succeeds; it does not receive or store biometric data.

Unsent also hides its interface from app-switcher previews. These protections reduce casual access, but they do not replace a secure device passcode or careful handling of exported backups.

10. Deletion and Recovery

Deleting a message, chat, category, or group of chat data permanently removes it from the current app data. Unsent has no trash folder and no undo.

Deleted data can be recovered only if an earlier safety copy, exported backup, or Apple-controlled device backup exists and contains it. Unsent does not promise that any such copy exists. Restoring a safety copy or backup replaces all current chat data; Unsent cannot restore only one deleted message or chat.

Deleting current chat data does not delete safety copies or exported backup files. Those must be managed separately. Deleting Unsent removes its data from that installation, but it does not delete .unsent files you previously exported, and Apple-controlled device backups may remain under your Apple settings.

When you permanently delete a selected safety copy or preserved recovery item inside Backup and Recovery, that selected internal copy is removed. Any separate copy you exported remains wherever you saved it.

11. Diagnostics

Unsent records fixed, content-free technical event codes in Apple’s on-device logging system to help diagnose errors. The app does not transmit these logs to us. The codes intentionally exclude messages, drafts, contact and category names, photos, backup contents, and file paths.

Apple may separately make crash or diagnostic information available to developers under Apple’s own policies and sharing controls. Apple determines what is included and when it is available; it is not transmitted by Unsent. Unsent’s own diagnostic event codes do not contain your writing.

12. Support Communications

If you email support, we receive your email address and anything you write in that email. Your email provider and ours handle that message under their own privacy practices. We use support correspondence to respond and troubleshoot. Unsent never attaches app data automatically. For your privacy, do not include messages, drafts, names, photos, or backup files in support emails.

13. Children’s Privacy

Unsent is not directed to children under 13. The app does not create accounts or send writing to us. If a parent or guardian believes a child has provided personal information through a support email, contact us so we can address it.

14. Changes to This Policy

If this policy changes, Unsent will update the effective date and publish the revised wording in the app and on the public website.

15. Contact

Questions about privacy or support can be sent to support@theunsentmessage.app.