Privacy policy

Knotlore (织微 or 織微 in Chinese) is an iPhone app for reading the I Ching and reflecting on your own situation. It's made by an independent developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (“we”, “us”). This policy describes what the app keeps, what it sends, and where. It covers the Knotlore app and this website.

What stays on your iPhone

The following are stored only on your device. We can't see them.

• Your readings. Cases, readings, facts you ask Knotlore to remember, and check-ins are stored in the app's local database. They aren't synced to iCloud.
• An install ID and daily usage counts. A random identifier created by the app, and the number of casts and follow-ups you've used each day, are stored in the iOS Keychain to make the free limits work. The install ID isn't your name, your Apple Account or a device identifier. It stays in the Keychain if you delete and reinstall the app.
• Your own API keys, if you add any. They're stored in the Keychain on this iPhone only, never synced and never sent to us.
• Your consent choices for each AI provider.

What is sent, and where

Knotlore sends data only to get AI help: an interpretation, an answer to a follow-up question, or help wording your question. A request contains your question, the hexagram and the passages involved, the rules for reading them, and the context needed for a useful answer. That context can include details from your earlier readings and facts you asked Knotlore to remember.

Where the request goes depends on the kind of request and on your choice in Settings › AI provider: Automatic (the default), Apple only, the Knotlore server, or your own API key.

Apple's Private Cloud Compute, or on your iPhone

By default, readings and follow-ups use Private Cloud Compute, part of Apple Intelligence. Help wording your question tries Apple's on-device model first, if your iPhone has one. On-device requests don't leave your iPhone. Private Cloud Compute requests are processed by Apple; Apple says this data is used only to fulfil your request and is not stored or made accessible to Apple. No server of ours is involved on either path. If you choose Apple only, requests use only these two paths and nothing is sent to another company.

The Knotlore server

If Apple's models can't answer, or if you choose the Knotlore server in Settings › AI provider, your request goes to our server at api.knotlore.app, which runs on Cloudflare Workers. This happens only after you've agreed to the provider it uses (see Consent comes first). The server forwards the request to the AI model provider we use, currently Xiaomi MiMo, and streams the answer back to your iPhone.

• We don't log or store the content of your requests or of the answers.
• Each request also carries your install ID, whether you're on Free or Pro, and which provider you agreed to. We use these only to apply daily limits and to confirm you agreed to the provider the server currently uses. The server keeps a count per install ID per day for each kind of request, plus one total daily cost count. These counts are deleted automatically after two days.
• Xiaomi, a company based in China, processes the request content to produce the answer, under its own terms and its privacy policy for the MiMo platform.
• If the provider behind the Knotlore server changes, the app asks for your consent again before sending anything to it.
• Cloudflare, which runs the server, processes network data such as your IP address to deliver and protect the service, under Cloudflare's privacy policy. Our server code doesn't record IP addresses.

Your own API key

If you add your own key for OpenAI, Anthropic, Xiaomi MiMo or DeepSeek, the app sends requests directly from your iPhone to that provider's official API. They don't pass through our server, and we can't see them. The provider handles them under its own terms and privacy policy, and any charges are between you and the provider. OpenAI and Anthropic are based in the United States; Xiaomi and DeepSeek are based in China.

• OpenAI privacy policy
• Anthropic privacy policy
• Xiaomi MiMo platform privacy policy
• DeepSeek privacy policy

Consent comes first

Before anything is sent for the first time to a cloud provider other than Apple, including the Knotlore server, the app names the provider and asks for your consent. Consent is given per provider and stored on your iPhone. You can review and withdraw it at any time in Settings › AI provider. If you decline, nothing is sent.

Purchases

Pro is sold through the App Store. Apple handles payment; we never receive your payment details or your Apple Account details. The app checks your purchase on your iPhone using Apple's StoreKit.

Notifications

Knotlore asks for permission to send notifications only when you set up a 30- or 90-day check-in, which is part of Pro, and uses notifications only for those check-ins.

Reports and email

Every AI answer has a report button. It opens an email to support@knotlore.app in your mail app. The report includes the AI answer, the passages it cited, which AI wrote it, the app version, the reason you picked and your note. You see it in a mail draft and can edit it before sending. If Mail isn't set up on your iPhone, the report is copied instead, so you can paste it into an email yourself.

When you email us, we receive your email address and what you write. Mail to knotlore.app addresses is forwarded to our inbox by Cloudflare Email Routing. We use your email only to reply to you, and we delete it within 12 months after our conversation ends, or sooner if you ask.

What we don't do

• No accounts or sign-in.
• No ads, no ad tracking, and no tracking across other apps or websites.
• No analytics or advertising SDKs. If you've chosen to share analytics with app developers in Settings on your iPhone, Apple may give us aggregated crash and usage reports that don't identify you.
• We don't sell your data or share it for advertising. It goes only to the services named in this policy, and only to answer you.
• No access to Health data, contacts, photos or location.
• This website uses no cookies, analytics or trackers. Cloudflare, which serves it, processes standard request data such as IP addresses to deliver it.

Export and delete

On the app's Data screen you can:

• export everything as JSON and Markdown, through the share sheet;
• view and delete the facts Knotlore remembers;
• delete all data, which erases your cases, readings, facts, check-ins and consents from your iPhone.

Delete all data keeps the install ID, the daily usage counts and your purchases, so the free limits and Pro keep working. The app tells you this before you confirm. Deleting the app removes its local database, but the install ID and usage counts remain in the Keychain. Your own API keys also stay in the Keychain, even after you delete the app, until you remove them in Settings › AI provider. Because there's no account, we hold no copy of your readings.

Children

Knotlore isn't directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, for example by email, contact us and we'll delete it.

Legal basis (EU and UK)

If you're in the EU or the UK, we rely on your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time, to send requests to the Knotlore server or to a provider you add a key for; on our contract with you to provide the app's features and purchases; and on our legitimate interest in applying usage limits and preventing abuse.

International processing

We're based in Canada. Depending on the path you use, a request may be processed outside your country by companies based in the United States (Apple, Cloudflare, OpenAI, Anthropic) or in China (Xiaomi, and DeepSeek if you use your own key). Data protection laws there may differ from those where you live, and data there may be accessible to courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of those countries. We use these services only for the purposes described here.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct or delete your personal information, or to object to how it's used. Almost everything Knotlore handles stays on your iPhone, under your control. For anything we hold, such as your emails to us, write to support@knotlore.app. You can also contact your local data protection authority.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll post the new version here and update the effective date. If a change affects what is sent or where it goes, we'll also describe it in the app's release notes.

Contact

support@knotlore.app