Privacy
The short version.
Mel was built around a simple idea: your family's life isn't anyone's product. Here's how that holds up in practice.
Your data is local first.
Lists, reminders, recipes, kid info, the weekly plan. They live on your iPhone and in your own private iCloud, the same iCloud Apple gives you for Notes and Reminders. Mel doesn't keep a copy on a server we run.
A small backend, used sparingly.
Mel runs a thin backend so a few things work cleanly. Today, its main job is proxying calls to AI models: that keeps the API key off your device, prevents abuse, and lets Mel strip the context down to the minimum the model needs to answer (typically a few hundred words, with no information that identifies you or your family).
As Mel grows, the backend may take on a few more jobs. We've got an eye on serving audio voice files for the morning briefing, and on optional features like sending a partner the day's schedule by text. If anything new touches a server, we'll say what's stored, why, and how to opt out.
No tracking. No ads. No data sales.
None of these. We don't sell, share, or rent your data. There are no ad networks, no third-party trackers, and no resale to data brokers. If Mel ever uses analytics, they'll be anonymous and we'll say so here.
This page is alive.
Mel is in beta and the product is moving. Privacy policies are living documents, and we'll update this one as the app changes. When something material shifts, we'll flag it in the app and date it at the bottom of this page.
A full, lawyer-reviewed privacy policy will live here before launch. For now, this is the plain version.
Last updated: .