Curtilage

Privacy policy

MindVault privacy policy

How MindVault handles your information.

Last updated:

Summary

  • Your mind maps (titles, node text, notes, colors, and priorities) are saved only in the app's private storage on your phone. The app has no account, no sign-in, and no sync, and we do not receive your maps.
  • The version from our website checks our update server for a new version at most every 6 hours, while the app is open. The Google Play version has no internet permission, so Android does not let it connect to any network.
  • If Private BrainTrust is installed, the version from our website can send part of a map to it on your phone, but only when you tap an AI assist action.

What the app collects

  • Your maps. These include each map's title and the times it was created and last changed. For each node, they include its text, its position in the tree, whether it is folded, its color, its priority, and its note.
  • In-app usage counts. The app records events such as opening the app, creating, opening, or duplicating a map, adding or editing nodes, searching, importing, exporting, and update checks. Each record has the time, a random ID that changes each time the app starts, and sometimes a map's internal ID or a version number. The app never records the text of your nodes or your search words in these records.
  • Update-check timing. The version from our website stores when it last checked for updates and which update you dismissed.

The app does not ask for access to your contacts, location, camera, microphone, files, or phone.

Where it goes

On your phone

  • Your maps and usage counts are saved in a database in the app's private storage, which other apps cannot read. The app does not encrypt this database. It is protected by Android's normal app storage protections.
  • Backups. The app turns off Android cloud backup. On Android 12 and later, Android may still copy app data when you move to a new phone with a direct device-to-device transfer. To move your maps on purpose, export them (see "Your choices").
  • Files you export or share. When you export, the app writes the file to the place you pick. When you share, the app gives the file to the app you pick from Android's share menu. After that, the file is outside MindVault's control.

Our servers

  • Version from our website only. When you open the map list, the app downloads a small version file from our update server, at most once every 6 hours. It sends nothing extra with this request. Like any internet request, it shows our server your IP address. If you tap Install, the app downloads the new version from the same server, checks it against a fingerprint in the version file, and hands it to Android's installer. Android asks you before anything is installed.
  • Google Play version: none. That version has no internet permission.
  • We do not receive your maps, your notes, or your usage counts in either version.

Third-party services

None. MindVault does not connect to any AI service or any other outside service. For AI assist, see "Sharing with other Curtilage apps."

Permissions and why

  • Internet (version from our website only)
    • Why the app asks: Check for updates and download them
    • When: When you open the map list (at most every 6 hours), and when you tap Install
  • Install apps (version from our website only)
    • Why the app asks: Hand a downloaded update to Android's installer
    • When: Only when you tap Install
  • Private BrainTrust assist access (version from our website only)
    • Why the app asks: Connect to Private BrainTrust on your phone for AI assist
    • When: Only when you open AI assist. Android grants this only to apps signed by an approved key

The Google Play version asks for none of these.

Analytics

The app keeps the usage counts described above in its own database on your phone. It does not send them to us or to anyone else. The app has no crash reporting and no advertising code.

Sharing with other Curtilage apps

  • Private BrainTrust (version from our website only). When you open AI assist on a node, MindVault checks whether Private BrainTrust is installed and what it can do. It sends none of your map in this check.
  • When you tap "Suggest sub-topics," "Rewrite this node," or "Summarize this branch," MindVault sends Private BrainTrust the map title and the selected node's text and note. It also sends some nearby context: up to 8 parent nodes, up to 40 existing child nodes (for suggestions), and up to 40 nodes in the branch (for a summary). It sends no more than 60 nodes per request, and no field longer than 400 characters. If you picked a persona, it sends that persona's ID.
  • The request goes to Private BrainTrust on your phone over Android's internal connection between apps. MindVault itself sends nothing over the network for this.
  • What Private BrainTrust does with the request depends on how you set it up. If you have set it to use a remote AI model, your request may leave your phone through Private BrainTrust. The Private BrainTrust privacy policy explains this.
  • MindVault shares nothing with any other Curtilage app.
  • The Google Play version does not include AI assist.

Your choices

  • Export. From a map's menu, export it as a FreeMind file (.mm), a JSON file, Markdown, or a PNG image, or share it to another app. You can also import .mm and JSON files.
  • Delete a map. Deleting a map removes it from your list. The app currently keeps the deleted map's data in its database, hidden from view, until you uninstall the app or clear its storage in Android settings. You can undo a deleted node right after deleting it.
  • Turn off AI assist. Do not use the AI assist button, or uninstall Private BrainTrust. You can also use the Google Play version, which does not include AI assist.
  • Updates. You can dismiss an update notice. In the version from our website, the update check itself cannot be turned off.
  • Delete everything. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its storage in Android settings, deletes all maps, deleted maps, and usage counts from your phone. Files you exported are not deleted.

Children

MindVault is not made for children, and it does not knowingly collect information about children. The app has no accounts and sends us nothing about you.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page and update the date at the top.

Contact

Questions about this policy: https://curtilage.zone/contact