On this page is a list of frequently-asked questions about Penbook, followed by Penbook's human-readable privacy policy and our contact information.
No, never. All your work is stored on your iCloud account (which only you can access), and locally on your device. Even if we wanted to, we cannot access your work. Because of this, your work can never be used by us to train AI, accessed by us, used by us for ad targeting, etc. Everyone deserves absolute privacy for their notes, whether for a grocery list or a diary.
Penbook does not collect any identifiers about you or your device – it doesn't collect your email, your device's ID, your IP address, or anything else like that. Penbook may generate a random ID for you to enable in-app functionality (e.g., automatically restoring any previously-purchased Penbook upgrades when you reinstall Penbook).
Penbook is a big project, and there's lots to do. We collect usage data to prioritize what to work on. We never see the usage data of individual users. We can only see how many users performed a certain action. Usage data can also help us diagnose bugs – see below.
If you opt in to sharing your crash reports with app developers, and Penbook crashes on your device, Apple will send us an anonymized copy of the diagnostic report your device generated about what might have caused the crash. These diagnostic reports are aggregated (so we can see how many users experienced a crash with the same cause).
We collect these diagnostic reports because they are invaluable in fixing app bugs and crashes, especially when we can't figure out how to reproduce the issue on our own devices. (Sometimes, a bug in the app only affects users who use certain locales or languages, or users with certain device models, etc.)
We minimize data collection from our app and website, and we make every reasonable effort to keep private the data that we do collect. Wherever possible, we avoid collecting per-user data (e.g., "Did you open the app yesterday?") in favor of aggregate, anonymous data (e.g., "How many people in Argentina opened the app yesterday?"). Here is an outline of what information we do collect, why we collect it, and who processes the information. By using our website or the Penbook app, you accept this privacy policy. Except as disclosed here, Penbook does not share data with other parties, except when required by law.
Penbook for iPadOS and iOS does not contain any third-party advertising SDKs.
Penbook uses the aggregated, anonymous telemetry provided to us by Apple. This data lets us see, for example, how many users from a given country downloaded Penbook, how many users installed Penbook from a given marketing campaign, how many users subscribed to the upgraded version, etc. Apple never provides information about individual users to us.
Penbook uses RevenueCat to facilitate in-app purchases and subscriptions. RevenueCat records the in-app purchases you make in Penbook (like when you upgrade to the premium version), as well as when you first and last used the app. This information is correlated with your device's country. This data is not used by us for cross-app tracking, fingerprinting, or audience building.
For more detail, please see RevenueCat's privacy policy.
Penbook uses TelemetryDeck, a third-party analytics provider, to track usage. TelemetryDeck counts the number of users who perform certain actions, like running the app or tapping a button. TelemetryDeck does not store any information on a per-user basis. We chose TelemetryDeck because of their commitment to the privacy of end users.
For more detail, please see TelemetryDeck's privacy notice.
Penbook uses AppsFlyer, a third-party attribution provider, to track the effectiveness of in-app and in-App Store advertisements that promote Penbook. AppsFlyer counts Penbook downloads and upgrades, and attributes those purchase counts to ads we run in the App Store and in other apps. AppsFlyer's attribution is based on aggregate, anonymous data provided by Apple, and AppsFlyer cannot attribute specific users. This data is not used by us for cross-app tracking, fingerprinting, or audience building.
For more detail, please see AppsFlyer's privacy notice.
We maintain mailing lists for distributing news about our apps. To accomplish this, we use the following services: Mailcoach and Substack. We will never add your email address to our mailing lists without your clear consent. Once you consent (by entering your email address in a clearly-marked form, and then opting in to a confirmation email), you may withdraw your consent at any time. You can do so by clicking the 'Unsubscribe', or by contacting us directly for manual removal.
Some parts of our website allow you to submit an inquiry to us that requires your contact information. We will only use your contact information for the purposes of replying to you.
Similarly, when you contact us by email (for technical support, etc.), we will only use your contact information for the purposes of replying to you.
This website, Penbook.app, contains no third-party trackers or analytics. It is hosted by WebFlow.
If you have any questions about this policy, please email us at [email protected].
Our service address is:
User Camp Inc. DBA Pencil Research
2223A Oak Bay Avenue, Suite 122
Victoria, BC
V8R 1G4
Canada
Last updated: 2024-12-02
