privacy policy

the short version

bob is a friendly companion app for notes, tasks, habits, a one line journal and chats with bob. To work, it keeps what you give it: your account details and the things you write, say and plan. We use that to run the app for you, never to show you ads, and we never sell your personal data. We do not use ad or tracking tools in the app. Your journal, notes, tasks and listening-mode chats are locked on our servers with a key made for your account, and text you send to bob is passed to outside services that help us run it. You can download your data, correct it, forget what bob has learned, and delete your account at any time. This page explains the details. Questions go to bob@refrez.com.

who we are

Refrez runs bob and decides how your personal data is used. In this policy "we", "us" and "our" mean Refrez. "You" means the person using the app. This version is effective from 20 October 2026.

Refrez can be reached at bob@refrez.com. We can tell you which outside providers we use for any of the services described below if you ask at bob@refrez.com.

Our postal address is Surabaya, East Java.

what this policy covers

This policy covers the bob mobile apps, the bob web app, and the servers behind them. It does not cover other sites or apps you open from bob, such as a link you shared into a note.

the information we keep: your account

When you make an account we keep your name, your email address and a password (stored as a one-way hash, never in plain text). If you sign in with Google, Apple or Facebook instead, we keep the identifier that service gives us and, when it vouches for it, your email address, but no password.

You can also choose to add a phone number, a birthday, your country, your timezone and your language. A birthday is used to check that you are old enough. Your timezone and language make reminders and bob's replies fit you. Phone and birthday are optional.

We also keep the settings you choose in the app (for example notification times, quiet hours, bob's tone and your accent colour), when you last used the app, and which version of the terms you accepted.

the information we keep: notes

Notes you type, voice notes you record (the audio file and the written transcript with word timings), and things you share into bob from another app, such as a link, text or a screenshot. We keep the note text, tags, pinned state, when it was made and, for a shared note, the name of the app it came from. Words in a screenshot are read on your phone, not on our servers, but the screenshot picture itself is stored.

Deleted notes wait in the trash for 30 days so you can bring them back, and then they are removed for good.

the information we keep: tasks

Tasks with their notes, due dates, priority, steps (subtasks), tags and lists, repeating tasks and the reminders you set. If you invite a buddy to share a task, we keep the buddy's name and email address, whether they accepted, and the tasks you share with them. A buddy can see the shared task, and only that.

the information we keep: habits, journal and focus

Your habits (names, times, streaks and check-ins), one line a day in your journal with an optional mood, past versions of an edited line, wind-down check-ins, focus sessions, and the points, gems and rewards you earn.

the information we keep: what bob knows

Bob can note down facts about you, such as a routine or a preference, so that his help fits you. We call these memories. Bob always asks before he keeps one, and you can look through them, forget one, or forget all of them. If you say no to a suggestion we keep it so that bob does not ask again. When you forget a fact we remove its text and keep only a one-way fingerprint so that bob does not learn it again.

To find related notes and memories we also store numeric summaries of their meaning (called embeddings). If you turn off "let bob learn", bob stops suggesting new memories from your notes and from how you correct them. If you turn off remembering chats, bob does not use your chat history for replies or memories.

the information we keep: chats with bob

The messages you and bob exchange, kept for up to 365 days, depending on your plan, and then deleted. Chats in listening mode, where you just want to be heard, are kept for 30 days, are not used to make memories, and do not make tasks or notes. If you use live talk, the audio is used while you talk and is not kept. Only the written text is.

the information we keep: voice

When you record a voice note, talk to bob, or have a reply read out loud, your audio or text goes to a speech service so it can be turned into text or into bob's voice. Your phone or browser can also do its own speech recognition for live captions, and that is done by the company that makes your phone or browser under their own privacy terms.

the information we keep: places and calendars

Location reminders keep the text of the reminder, a label, and the place you chose, with the coordinates rounded to about 11 metres. Matching a reminder such as "when I am near a store" happens on your phone. We do not keep a history of where you have been. When you type an address to look up a place, that text is sent to an address search service.

If you connect a Google Calendar, we keep the connection and a token that lets us read your event titles and times. We fetch events when the app needs them and keep them only for a few minutes in a cache.

the information we keep: devices and notifications

For push notifications we keep a token for each of your devices, the type of device and the app version. A token that has not been refreshed for 60 days is removed. Notification text is kept short; task details are only shown in a notification if you turn that on. We also keep the cards in your in-app inbox.

the information we keep: backups

You can save a backup file (a .bob file) on your phone, to bob's cloud, or to your own Google Drive. Backups can include your notes, tasks, habits, journal, memories, settings and, if you choose, your media. If you set a recovery phrase, the backup is locked on your phone and we only ever hold a scrambled file that we cannot open. If you do not set a phrase, the key is wrapped by our server so that we can help you restore, and in that case we could technically open it. We keep your latest few verified copies for each place.

the information we keep: your trusted contact

You can name a trusted contact, a person bob may help you reach if you ever seem to be in a hard moment. We keep their name and their phone number or email address. Apart from the invitation when you add them, and a short note that the link has ended (for example when you delete your account), we only message them after you tap yes at that moment. None of these messages contains anything from your chats. We keep a log of when a message was sent, by which channel and whether you confirmed it. They can decline or leave at any time, and their record is removed after a short while.

the information we keep: invites, support and feedback

If you invite friends, we keep your invite code and who joined with it. If you write to us through the app, we keep your message, what kind it is (a problem, an idea or something you liked), your reply, a note of your app version and, only if you attach them, a cleaned bundle of error codes that contains no message text. You can also add up to three pictures and one short video. We clean what you send: the text is stripped of hidden characters and markup, each picture is saved again as a new image, which removes the place, camera details and anything else stored inside the file, and a video is kept exactly as you sent it, so look at it before you send it. Pictures and videos are stored privately on our servers and only the people who answer support can open them. We delete them 90 days after we close your message, or with your account. When you tap thumbs up or thumbs down on one of bob's answers, we keep your vote, the reason you pick, a note from you if you choose to write one (up to 500 characters), and some facts about that answer: which part of the service wrote it, whether it had a card, how long it took, how long your question and the answer were as numbers, your app language and app version. A note you write is for our team to read. We do not keep the words of your chat with that vote. Only if you switch on "share this question and bob's answer with the team" for that one vote, we also copy the one message of yours that bob answered and bob's answer, as plain text, and no other part of the chat. That switch is off every time and is never remembered. Listening-mode chats can never be shared, and neither can a message that looks like a password or code. Only the owner and the moderators can read what you shared. We delete it 90 days after you shared it, or when you tap the thumb again or choose to remove it, or with your account. Your vote stays with the answer it refers to.

the information we keep: purchases

If you buy bob+, the payment is handled by Google Play or the App Store. We never see your card number. We keep your plan, its state and dates, and the order and purchase identifiers that the store gives us so that we can check the plan is valid.

the information we keep: technical data

We record counts and timings for each call to an AI or speech service (what kind of call, how long it took, how many tokens, whether it failed) without the content. Our server logs record requests so we can fix problems and keep the service safe. If error reporting is turned on, an error report may contain the error text, the page address without its query, the app version and your numeric account number, but never your notes, chats, emails, names or request contents. When an admin changes something, we record it in an audit log.

what we do not do

We do not show ads. We do not sell your personal data. We do not use advertising or analytics tracking tools in the app. We do not use your notes, journal, tasks or chats to train AI models, and we do not allow our providers to do so with your data for their own purposes.

how we use your information

To run your account and the features you use, to answer you and make notes, tasks and reminders. To keep the service secure and to prevent abuse. To fix errors and measure how the service performs in numbers. To send you messages you asked for, such as reminders, a morning brief or the email that holds your data download. To follow the law. We do not make decisions about you by automated means that have legal or similarly serious effects.

the services we use

We use outside services to run bob. We choose them ourselves, we only use providers on our approved list, and we give them only what they need.

A third-party AI provider writes bob's replies, sorts what you say into notes and tasks, and helps find things. It receives the text you send and the notes, tasks, journal lines or memories bob needs to answer you or to find something for you. The weekly recap sends that week's journal lines to it in the same way. A third-party service may also turn text into numeric summaries for search, and an automated service may screen text for harmful content.

A third-party speech-to-text and text-to-speech provider turns your audio into words and bob's replies into speech.

A push notification service delivers notifications to your phone. An email delivery service sends our emails, such as sign-in, account and data download messages and, if you ask, messages for your trusted contact.

An SMS provider sends text messages, only to your trusted contact: their invitation, a short note if the link ends, and an alert only after you tap yes. Cloud storage keeps backups you choose to send to bob's cloud, and our hosting provider runs our servers.

An address search service looks up places when you type an address for a location reminder. An error-reporting service is used only if we turn it on, and it never receives your content.

Google, Apple and Facebook: if you choose to sign in with one of them, that company tells us who you are, under its own terms. Google Drive and Google Calendar are used only if you connect them, as described in the next section.

Google Play and the App Store process purchases of bob+ and tell us the state of your plan.

We can tell you which providers we use for any of these if you ask at bob@refrez.com. Our providers act on our instructions under their own terms. We do not give any of them permission to use your content for their own purposes, and we check each provider's terms before we use them.

google user data

bob uses two kinds of Google user data, and only after you connect them. The first is a private app folder in your Google Drive, called the app data folder (the drive.appdata permission). We use it only to store the backup files you choose to make and to read them back when you restore. We cannot see any other file in your Drive. The second is read-only access to the events of your primary Google Calendar (the calendar.events.readonly permission). We read event titles and times to show you your events in bob, for example in your daily brief and task list. We do not read descriptions, locations or guests, and we never change your calendar.

We use this Google data only to provide those features to you. We do not transfer it to others except as needed to provide the feature, to follow the law, or as part of our own business transfer with your notice. We never use it for advertising, we never sell it, and we do not use it to train AI models. People do not read it unless you ask us to help, we have to for security, or the law requires it.

bob's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. You can read it at developers.google.com/terms/api-services-user-data-policy. You can disconnect Google at any time in bob, and from your Google account's security page.

how we protect your information

Everything between the app and our servers travels over HTTPS. On our servers, text is encrypted. Your journal lines, notes (title, text, transcript and shared link), tasks and their notes, steps, repeating-task templates, the titles in your inbox and your listening-mode chat messages are locked with a key made for your account. Your memories and your normal chat messages are encrypted on our servers with a key that we keep.

Some things are not locked with your personal key. These include tags, list names, habit names, saved places, dates and times, and the pictures and videos you attach to feedback, and the question and answer you choose to share with a thumbs vote. They are stored privately on our servers, behind sign-in, but we do not encrypt them. Your voice recordings, screenshots and photos are stored privately on our servers, behind sign-in, but we do not encrypt them.

Please be clear about one limit. The keys and the database are on the same servers. That means this protects your data if a copy of the database or a backup is stolen. It does not stop someone who has full access to the running servers from reading it. So we describe your data as encrypted on our servers, and we do not claim that nobody here is able to read it. The one exception is a backup you locked with your own recovery phrase: that we truly cannot open.

Only the owner and the few people the owner gives admin access can reach our servers, and the admin tools do not show your notes, tasks, journal or chats. They do show what you write to us in support messages and feedback, and the pictures and videos you attach to it, so that we can answer. They also show the note you add to a thumbs vote, and, only when you chose to share it with that vote, the question and answer you shared, which only the owner and moderators can open. Admin actions are logged. No system is perfectly safe. If we learn of a breach that affects you, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

how long we keep your information

We keep your data while your account exists, with these exceptions. Chats are deleted after at most 365 days (sooner on a plan that keeps them for less), and listening-mode chats after 30 days. Pictures and videos you send with feedback are deleted 90 days after we close your message. A question and answer you share with a thumbs vote are deleted 90 days after you share them. Notes you delete stay in the trash for 30 days. A location reminder you delete can be restored for 30 days. Your data download link works for 48 hours. Push tokens that stop refreshing are removed after 60 days. Support conversations you have with us are kept for as long as your account exists.

When you delete your account, it stays restorable for 7 days. After that we delete your account, your notes, tasks, journal, memories, chats, files, backups, devices and the key made for you. We keep a short record that an account was deleted, with its number, the date and the reason if you gave one, and nothing else.

Server logs are kept for 14 days. Records of AI calls (which job, how big, what it cost, never the words) are kept for 730 days. Audit records of what our team changed are kept for 730 days. Usage counts tied to your account are removed with it. Audit records (which hold your account number) and server logs are not removed when you delete your account.

your rights

You can ask to see your data, and you can download it: ask for a data download in the app's settings and we email you a link that works for 48 hours. You can correct anything you wrote by editing it, and you can ask us to correct your account details. You can delete your account in the app. You can forget one memory or all of them. You can turn off learning, remembering chats, notifications, calendar access and location access at any time. You can remove your trusted contact, disconnect Google, and stop backups. Turning off a feature you agreed to does not affect what happened before.

Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to object to or limit some uses of your data, to move your data to another service, to withdraw consent, and to complain to your local data protection authority. Write to bob@refrez.com and we will answer within one month.

our legal reasons

Where the law asks for a legal basis, we rely on these. Contract: we need your account details, notes, tasks and other content to give you the service you signed up for. Consent: for things like the microphone, location, push notifications, calendar and Drive connections, a trusted contact, and letting bob learn about you. You can withdraw consent at any time. Legitimate interests: keeping the service safe, preventing abuse, fixing errors and measuring performance in numbers, as long as your rights do not outweigh them. Legal obligation: where the law requires us to keep or share something.

where your data goes

Our providers may be in other countries, so your data can be processed outside the country where you live. Where the law requires it, we use safeguards such as standard contractual clauses, and we ask providers to protect your data to the same standard.

children

bob is for people who are 18 or older. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you think a child has made an account, write to bob@refrez.com and we will remove it.

cookies, local storage and the web app

The bob web app does not use advertising or tracking cookies. It signs you in with a token it keeps in your browser, and it stores your settings, your queue of changes that have not synced yet, and saved copies of your recent screens in the browser's local storage so that it works offline. The web app also installs a service worker, a small helper that keeps the app files and recent responses so it opens quickly and works without a connection. The mobile apps store the same kind of data on your phone, and keep secrets in the phone's secure storage. Signing out, clearing your browser data or removing the app deletes them. Our admin pages, which only staff use, use a session cookie to keep staff signed in.

safety and wellbeing

bob is a friendly companion. It is not a doctor, a therapist or an emergency service, and it does not give medical, legal or financial advice. Every message you send to bob is checked by a safety check that looks for signs that you may be in danger, before any AI sees it. If it finds them, bob shows a helpline for your country from a list we keep. When we have switched on a second, automated check from an outside provider, it also reads what you type or say to bob, after that first check and before bob's answer, to look for signs that you may be in danger and for harmful content; if it cannot answer, bob simply carries on. That list may be incomplete or out of date. If you are in danger, contact your local emergency services.

The trusted contact feature only works if you set it up, and nothing is sent without your yes. AI can be wrong, so check anything important. Listening mode is a calmer chat for when you want to be heard: it has no tools, creates no tasks or notes, is not used for memories and is kept for a shorter time.

changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The date at the top tells you when this version took effect. For important changes we will tell you in the app or by email before they apply. Older versions are available if you ask.

contact

Questions, requests or complaints about your privacy: bob@refrez.com. Refrez is the controller of your data.

Last updated 2026-10-20.