Guru App Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 12, 2026

1. Information We Process

Guru processes information needed to provide accounts, reading, note generation, flashcard creation, review, purchases, credits, support, and diagnostics.

• Account and app data: account identifiers, sign-in details such as email address and profile information supplied by your sign-in provider, app installation identifiers, device model, operating system, app version, locale, entitlement and credit state, and server logs.
• Product analytics: usage events, screen views, feature-flag assignments, analytics identifiers, IP addresses, and approximate location (country, region, city) derived from those addresses. When you sign in, Guru identifies you to PostHog using your signed-in account ID so activity can be associated with that account. The apps do not send your email address as part of this identification.
• User content: imported documents and media, book and deck metadata, selected pages or excerpts, highlights, annotations, notes, flashcards, review history, and imported or exported study files such as Anki packages.
• Sync and backups: account sync sends supported study content and review data to our servers. Cloud backups, where available, contain decks, notes, card templates, review history, and referenced media. On iOS and Android, backups can be started manually or created automatically if you enable automatic backups. Android also lets you export and restore local backup files.
• AI request data: content you submit, which can include an entire PDF and its filename, text or images, YouTube video addresses and transcripts, prompts, selected cards, your answers and conversation history, generation settings, and usage metadata. Speech transcripts can be used as answers in AI coaching.
• Purchase data: product and transaction identifiers, purchase tokens or receipts, subscription and renewal status, entitlements, and credit records. RevenueCat uses a mobile customer identifier to associate purchases with your app account; iOS also supplies its PostHog identifier to RevenueCat. Payment details for in-app purchases are handled by Apple or Google Play, not by Guru.
• Diagnostic data: crash, app hang, and error reports and technical device and app information. Each report includes the app's PostHog analytics identifier (your signed-in account ID when you are signed in) and analytics session ID, so a problem can be matched with what happened before it, and a short record of each report (its type and a link to it) is added to your product analytics. Sentry is configured without default personal information collection and does not store IP addresses. We do not intentionally add document contents, notes, names, email addresses, or payment details to diagnostic reports.
• Support communications: your email address and the information you choose to send when you contact support.

2. How We Use Information

• To sign you in and provide account, sync, and restore features.
• To display, import, organize, and export study material.
• To generate notes, flashcards, and coaching responses when you request AI features.
• To manage and restore purchases, subscriptions, entitlements, and credits, and prevent abuse.
• To understand feature usage, diagnose problems, and respond to support requests.
• To maintain security, reliability, and legal compliance.

3. Third-Party Services

The services used depend on your platform, enabled features, and app configuration:

• Apple: iOS distribution, App Store purchases and subscriptions, Sign in with Apple, and Apple speech recognition when used.
• Google: Android distribution and Google Play Billing, Google sign-in (through Credential Manager on Android), and Google Play services for ML Kit text recognition. ML Kit recognizes text on your device but sends usage and diagnostic metrics to Google; see ML Kit privacy information. Android speech recognition uses the device's speech service, which may be Google or another provider.
• RevenueCat: purchase validation, subscription status, and entitlements for App Store and Google Play products.
• PostHog: product analytics and feature flags, including account-linked analytics when you sign in. PostHog stores your IP address with events and derives approximate location (country, region, city) for analytics.
• Sentry: crash, app hang, and technical error reporting, linked to your analytics identifier.
• Meta and TikTok (iOS): measurement of Guru's own ads on those platforms. The iOS app sends app events (install and app open, onboarding completed, trial started, subscription started) and device information to their SDKs. If you allow tracking when the app asks, this includes your device's advertising identifier; if you don't, they measure through Apple's SKAdNetwork and aggregated reporting without it. The Android app does not include these SDKs.
• AI and hosting providers: Cloudflare hosts backend, storage, and AI services, and Google AI models may process submitted content through the backend. The provider used depends on the feature and server configuration. If you configure your own AI provider on iOS, requests go to that provider under its terms.
• Supadata: when you request a YouTube summary or study content, our backend may send the video address to Supadata to retrieve captions. If captions are unavailable and you use audio transcription, Supadata processes the video's audio to produce a transcript.
• External content services: opening AnkiWeb or other websites, embedded web content, or remote media connects to the relevant provider. Those providers receive the requests and any information you submit to them under their own policies.

Some services run only in app versions where those services are enabled.

4. Advertising Measurement

Guru does not show ads in the app and does not sell personal information. On iOS, Guru measures which of its own ads on Meta and TikTok lead to installs and purchases. The app asks for tracking permission once, when onboarding finishes; only if you allow it do Meta and TikTok receive your advertising identifier, which counts as tracking under Apple's rules. You can change this at any time in Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking. The Android app does no advertising measurement.

5. Local Data, Permissions, and Processing

Documents, notes, decks, media, and review data can be stored locally. Account sync, cloud backups, and AI features send the data needed for those features to servers. AI processing is optional; avoid submitting content you do not want processed by the chosen service.

On Android, the system file picker grants access to files you choose to import or export. Microphone access is requested for speech input; audio may be processed remotely by your device's speech recognition service. On iOS, speech input uses Apple's speech recognition service and is not guaranteed to stay on-device. You can deny or revoke microphone permission in device settings. OCR uses Apple Vision on iOS and ML Kit on Android to recognize text locally; this is separate from submitting images or recognized text to AI features.

Android may request camera access to scan a Desk Remote pairing code and notification permission for reminders. File imports can use a foreground task to continue processing. These permissions are used for the corresponding features.

Android uses WebView to display study content and Media3 for media playback. AnkiWeb browsing can store website cookies and local website data. Spoken coach replies send reply text and language to our backend to generate audio; Android can fall back to the device's text-to-speech service. Opening remote content can send network requests to its host. Desk Remote connects to your paired computer over the local network and exchanges pairing information and review commands. Both apps use an unencrypted local WebSocket for this connection, so use it only on a trusted network.

6. Retention

Local data remains until you remove it from the app or device. Exported files and local backups remain wherever you saved them; deleting an account does not delete those copies or guarantee removal of app data from every device.

Cloud backups can be removed by you or during account deletion. When automatic backup is enabled on iOS or Android, a completed new whole-library backup may replace the prior whole-library backup. You can manage cloud backups at Settings → Account → Backups. Account deletion includes stored backup files, subject to the file-ownership and shared-file exceptions below. A storage error can prevent deletion from completing; retry or contact support if that happens.

Deleting your Guru account does not itself erase records held by Apple, Google, RevenueCat, PostHog, Sentry, or other independent providers, or messages already sent to support. Those records are subject to the relevant provider's retention and deletion processes. Contact us with access or deletion questions.

7. Your Choices and Account Deletion

• You can choose not to use AI, speech input, cloud backup, or external content features.
• You can delete study content inside the app and manage exported files on your device.
• You can use Restore Purchases in the app with the Apple or Google Play account used for the original purchase. Contact support about missing credits or purchases.
• Cancel App Store subscriptions in Apple's subscription settings; cancel Google Play subscriptions in Google Play subscriptions. For refunds, use Apple's refund request page or Google Play's refund process. Store rules and applicable law determine eligibility.

On iOS and Android, open Settings → Account → Delete Account and confirm to request permanent deletion. You can also sign in at guruowl.com/settings/security and use the web account deletion control.

Both options remove your Guru account and its associated server-side account, study, review, sync, backup, payment, AI usage, credit, and entitlement database records, including linked mobile identities and sessions. An in-app deletion of an unlinked mobile identity removes that identity and its associated records.

Both options also remove cloud backup and Anki sync files and other account files whose ownership we can verify. Files whose ownership cannot be verified, or that are still referenced by another account, are skipped and retained; we record their file references in operational logs for manual follow-up. These exceptions do not prevent deletion of your account and associated database records. Some files that no longer have a database reference, or are written by work already in progress, may also need follow-up. Contact support if you need help with remaining files or a deletion error.

Export content you want to keep first. Deleting an account or uninstalling the app does not cancel an App Store or Google Play subscription; cancel it separately with the store.

8. Children

Guru is not directed to children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information through the app, contact us so we can review and delete it where required.

9. Changes

We may update this policy when app features, service providers, or legal requirements change. The updated version will show a new effective date.

10. Contact

For privacy or support questions, email hello@guruowl.com.