Privacy Policy — Audelle
Last updated: November 3, 2026
Audelle ("the app") is published by Nova Science Ventures LLC ("we", "us"). This policy explains what data the app uses and how. It also covers the sign-up form at audelle.app. We keep your data to a minimum: there are no user accounts, no advertising, no analytics or tracking SDKs, and we never sell your data.
Location
With your permission, the app uses your device's precise location to show nearby places on the map and to narrate them as you pass. Because narration is meant to reach you while the phone is in your pocket, the app keeps using your location in the background, including when the screen is locked. Background location stops automatically once you have not moved for 60 minutes, and in all cases after 8 hours, so a forgotten app cannot keep tracking you.
Your precise location stays on your device. To find places near you, the app asks our server only for the general area you are in, a few kilometres across, never your exact position.
What we share with service providers
We use service providers to host our service, to write the stories, and to turn them into audio. What they receive is information about places (a place's name, what kind of place it is, and its town, region and country) and the text of the stories. They do not receive your location or anything that identifies you or your device. The one exception is our email provider, if you give us your address; see Your email address, if you give it to us. Each provider processes this information under its own privacy policy.
The map in the app is provided by Apple Maps. When you search for a place, what you type is sent to Apple Maps directly from your phone; we never receive it.
Photos of places
When you open a place, the app asks Wikimedia (Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons) for a photo of it, directly from your phone. As with any website, Wikimedia receives your device's IP address and which place's photo is being requested; it does not receive your location or your installation identifier. Wikimedia handles this under its own privacy policy (https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Privacy_policy).
How your installation is identified
The app has no login and never requires your name, email or contacts. Instead it creates a random identifier for your installation, which contains nothing about you. We use it to keep your story credits, to apply usage limits, and to protect the service from abuse. The identifier is stored securely on your device so that it survives reinstalling the app, which keeps your credits when you do.
To protect the service from abuse, the app uses Apple's App Attest. It creates a cryptographic key on your device, and our server uses Apple's attestation to confirm that requests come from a genuine copy of Audelle on a real Apple device. The key identifies a copy of the app, not you, and we keep its public half with your installation record.
During the beta, we may label a tester's installation with their first name so we can help them when they report a problem. This is only done for people we have invited.
Your email address, if you give it to us
Email is optional. You can give it to us in the app or at audelle.app to collect extra free credits and receive occasional travel emails. There are about four a year. They are promotional: they contain travel ideas, such as a place worth exploring, and suggestions to use Audelle. We confirm your address with a link.
Before Audelle is on the App Store, you can also join its waitlist at audelle.app. We then email you once, when it is out, and send nothing else unless you agree to it.
We keep the address, when and where you agreed, and the wording you agreed to. We use it only for those emails and for messages about this feature, such as a confirmation link. We keep the mailing list ourselves. To deliver a message, we give the address to our email provider, Postmark, which keeps a copy of each email we send, including your address, for a limited time under its own policy. Every travel email has an unsubscribe link, and we record your choice.
To remove your address, use Remove my email in the app's Settings, or email support@audelle.app if you signed up on the website and never installed the app. We then delete the address and the record of your agreement, and we stop emailing you. Postmark's copies of emails already sent are not deleted at that point; they expire under its policy. If the address collected free credits, we keep only a one-way hash of it and the date, so the same address cannot collect them twice. Credits already added stay yours. If you never confirm a sign-up, we delete it within a day after its 7-day link expires.
If you sign up on the website, we use your IP address briefly to limit repeated sign-ups and do not store it. The form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to check that a person is using it. Cloudflare receives technical details of your browser and connection for this check, under its own privacy policy.
What our server records
- Usage records. For each request we record the time, the installation identifier, which feature was used, which places or areas were requested, and technical details such as timing and errors. We use these to run the service, understand its costs, and fix problems.
- Credits. Your credit balance, and which stories and areas your credits unlocked, so you are not charged twice for the same thing.
- Purchases. Credits are bought through Apple's in-app purchase. Apple takes the payment, and we never receive your name, Apple ID, email or payment details. Apple sends our server a signed record of each purchase (a transaction number, which pack, the date, and whether it was a real or a test purchase), and later a notice if Apple refunds one. We keep these records against your installation identifier so we can credit the purchase once, take the credits back if Apple refunds it, and answer a question about a charge. Apple's own privacy policy covers what Apple holds.
- Country and network. Your IP address is not stored. From it we derive only the country and the name of the network operator (such as your mobile carrier), then discard the address. Neither identifies a person, a household or a street.
Together these records can show which places an installation asked about, so they are kept private, never sold or shared, and used only to operate the service. Usage records are deleted after 13 months at the latest. We may keep summary statistics that do not identify an installation, such as how many times a place was requested.
Stories and audio are stored on our server and shared between users, keyed to the place, not to you.
Data stored on your device
The app keeps on your device the stories and audio it has downloaded, the places it has loaded, a list of places you have already heard (so it does not repeat them), your settings, and a copy of your credit balance. Clearing the cache in the app's settings removes the downloaded stories and the list of places you have heard. Deleting the app removes all of it except the installation identifier described above.
Where your data is processed
We are based in the United States, and our server is hosted there. Our service providers may process data in the United States and in other countries. If you use the app from another country, the records described above are transferred to and processed in the United States. They are tied to a random installation identifier and not to your name, except your email address if you give us one.
Why we process your data, and how long we keep it
We use the records above to provide the service you asked for (showing and narrating places, keeping your credits), to keep it secure and prevent abuse, and to understand its costs. If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom, our legal grounds are performing the contract with you and our legitimate interest in running and protecting the service. Travel emails rest on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. We keep credit and purchase records for as long as the installation exists, because they are the record of what you bought. We keep your email address until you remove it. Usage records are deleted after 13 months at the latest.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask us for a copy of the records tied to your installation, to correct them, to delete them, or to object to how we use them. To use any of these, email support@audelle.app with the code shown in the app under Settings → Help & support → Your code, which is how we find your records, because we hold no name or account for you. If you signed up on the website and have no app code, write to us from that address instead. We will answer within 30 days. You may also complain to your local data protection authority. We do not sell your data and do not share it for advertising.
Tracking
The app does not track you across other apps or websites, and contains no third-party advertising, analytics or crash-reporting SDKs.
Children's privacy
The app is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from them.
Your choices
You can turn off location access at any time in your iPhone's Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services. Without it, the app's core features will not work.
To have the records linked to your installation deleted, see Your rights above. Deleting the app does not delete records on our server.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the app evolves. Material changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date above.
Contact
Questions about this policy? Contact Nova Science Ventures LLC at support@audelle.app.