Privacy

What leaves
your device.

Last updated 6 August 2026

Neew is a second brain. It only works if you put your own thinking into it, so the only version of this worth writing is the one that says exactly where that thinking goes.

The short version

Your library — links, notes, voice recordings, transcripts, tags — is stored on your iPhone.
Your account exists so a backup can be restored. It holds your email and a user ID, nothing else.
Text is sent to an AI provider only when something is being summarised, tagged, or discussed. It is not used to train their models.
There is no advertising, no tracking, no analytics SDK, and nothing is ever sold or shared with data brokers.
Deleting your account deletes your backup with it.

Who is responsible

Neew is built and operated by Álvaro Samagaio, in Portugal. For anything in this policy — questions, requests, complaints — write to hello@neew.ai. For the purposes of the GDPR, that is the data controller.

What stays on your device

Everything you capture is written to a database inside the app's own container on your iPhone: the links you share in, the pages Neew reads, your notes, your voice recordings and their transcripts, the summaries and tags it writes, the categories you declare, the names it extracts, the search index, and your chat history.

None of that is uploaded anywhere by default. Capture, reading, and keyword search all keep working with no network at all.

What leaves it, and why

Your accountSigning in with Apple or Google creates an account through Firebase Authentication (Google LLC). It stores an email address and a user ID. Sign in with Apple's private relay address works fine — Neew never needs your real one.

Your backupOnly when you tap Back up. A snapshot of your database is uploaded to Firebase Storage under your user ID. Search embeddings are stripped out first; they are rebuilt on the new device. Nobody but you can read it, and it is overwritten each time you back up again.

Text for the AIWhen Neew summarises an item, tags it, tidies a transcript, writes a briefing, or answers a question, the relevant text is sent to Anthropic or OpenAI — whichever provider is selected in Settings — to produce that answer. Both providers state that API data is not used to train their models. If you bring your own API key, the call goes to your own account instead.

Web searchesWhen a question needs the open web, the search runs on the AI provider's side. The search terms go out; your library does not, beyond whatever the question itself contains.

SpeechTranscription uses Apple's speech recognition. Neew asks for the on-device engine whenever the device offers it for that language; where it does not, audio is processed by Apple under Apple's own privacy policy. The audio file itself stays on your phone.

Media in iCloudOff unless you switch it on. When on, your recordings and saved pages are copied into your iCloud Drive, in your own Apple account. Neew has no access to it.

ConfigurationThe app fetches a small settings file (Firebase Remote Config) that controls which features need a subscription. It sends no content.

PurchasesSubscriptions are handled entirely by Apple. Neew is told whether an active subscription exists. It never sees your payment details.

Those are all of them. There is no analytics SDK, no crash reporter, no advertising identifier, and no third-party tracking of any kind in the app.

What is never done with it

Your material is not sold, rented, or shared with data brokers or advertisers.
It is not used to train any AI model — not ours, not a provider's.
It is not read for marketing, profiling, or recommendations.
Neew never posts anything anywhere on your behalf.

Why it is allowed to leave (GDPR)

Where the GDPR applies, the lawful basis for everything above is performance of a contract — running the app you asked for. Backup, the iCloud mirror, and the AI features are each separately optional, and turning one on is your consent to that specific thing. There is no legitimate-interest processing for marketing, because there is no marketing.

How long it is kept

Your library stays on your device until you delete it, or delete the app. A backup stays in storage until you overwrite it or delete your account. Requests to the AI providers are subject to their own retention — typically a short abuse-monitoring window, after which they are deleted.

What you can do about it

Delete everything. Settings → Account → Delete account removes the account and its backup. Deleting the app removes the local library.
Delete one thing. Any item can be deleted from its own screen; that removes its text, its media, and its index entries.
Turn the AI off. Without a key or a subscription, the app still captures, stores, and searches. Nothing then goes to a provider at all.
Get a copy. Ask at hello@neew.ai and you will get what is held under your account. Your library is already yours, in a standard SQLite file on your device.
Complain. In the EU you may lodge a complaint with your national supervisory authority; in Portugal that is the CNPD.

Children

Neew is not directed at children under 13, and no account should be created for one.

Sub-processors

Google LLC (Firebase Authentication, Storage, Remote Config), Anthropic PBC and OpenAI OpCo LLC (the AI features, whichever is selected), and Apple Inc. (sign-in, speech recognition, iCloud, purchases). Data may be processed in the United States under those providers' standard contractual clauses.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that affects what leaves your device, the date at the top changes and the change is described here. Old versions are available on request.

Questions, corrections, or a request about your data: hello@neew.ai. Also see Support.

What leavesyour device.