last updated sep 8, 2026
privacy policy
folk is made by Nozomio, Inc. here's what we collect, why we collect it, the companies that help us run folk, and how to delete it all - in plain english, no legalese.
the short version
your data is yours. we never sell it, and we never use it to train AI models.
it stays private. your data lives in your own private cloud computer, separate from everyone else's, and anything sensitive (like the logins for apps you connect) is encrypted.
you're in control. delete your account from settings → privacy and we wipe it from our systems in seconds - your cloud computer, your memory, and the apps you connected.
what we collect
your account. your phone number, your Telegram details if you use Telegram, a small file that keeps you signed in, and your basic settings.
your cloud computer. every folk user gets their own private cloud computer. we keep a few technical details - like whether it's running and which region it's in - so we can keep it online. what's on it stays private to you.
apps you connect. for apps you choose to connect (like Gmail, Calendar, or GitHub), we store the secure key that lets folk act for you, and what you've allowed it to do. you can disconnect anytime.
your iPhone connections. only if you choose to connect them, folk receives the location, Apple Health categories, calendars, reminders, contacts, or photos you authorize. photos you grant access to sync to your private folk account, including periodically in the background, so folk can answer questions about them. we also store your device's notification token so we can deliver reminders. each connection can be turned off and deleted separately. if you let folk read your contacts, their phone numbers are also matched, as one-way hashes rather than raw numbers, against other folk users so we can tell your contacts you joined and show you who is already on folk. you can turn this matching off by emailing support@nozomio.com.
your conversations. the messages, photos, and files you send folk, and its replies - that's what makes folk useful, and it's what gets wiped when you delete your account. if you talk to folk by voice, the audio is transcribed so folk can act on it. dictation in the iPhone app uses Apple's speech recognition, which may process the audio on Apple's servers under Apple's privacy terms; only the finished transcript reaches folk.
characters you make and publish. the characters you create in the app (name, picture, tagline, greeting, description, tags) and your chats with them. when you publish a character to the gallery, those listed fields become public to other folk users, along with your handle - or, if you have not chosen a handle, your first name. public listings have a share link and can be indexed by search engines. pictures you pick or generate for a character are stored on a public content delivery network, so anyone with the link can load them. unpublishing removes the listing from the gallery; the picture may stay cached for a short while.
billing and purchases. your plan, whether your subscription is active, and your invoices. on the web, our payment provider Stripe handles your card - we never see or store your full card number. in the iPhone app, subscriptions are Apple in-app purchases handled by Apple, and Superwall (which runs our purchase screens) receives the purchase events so we know which plan you are on.
your bank, if you connect it. only if you choose to link a bank account through Plaid, folk receives read-only account balances and transactions so it can answer money questions you ask. folk can never move money. you can unlink your bank anytime and the synced copy is removed.
how you use folk. which features you use, pages you visit, your device and browser type, and any errors or slowdowns - so we can fix bugs and keep folk fast.
when you ask for help. emails, bug reports, screenshots, and anything you send us when you reach out.
how we use data
run folk. sign you in, keep your cloud computer running, do the things you ask, and send you replies.
use the apps you connect. read or act on the apps you've connected only when it's needed to answer you or run something you set up.
bill and support you. handle your subscription, stop abuse, answer your questions, and keep folk reliable.
make folk better. see how folk is used overall - in totals, not by reading your stuff - fix what's broken, and decide what to build next. we never use your data to train AI models.
run characters. character conversations are processed by our AI vendors exactly like your other messages: OpenAI models (through OpenRouter) write the replies and transcribe your voice, and fal.ai generates character pictures when you ask for one. when you build a character from an existing work, folk looks the name up on Fandom, AniList, MyAnimeList, Danbooru, TVMaze, Instagram, or a web image search for reference - only the character's name is sent, never anything about you. published characters are also filtered for objectionable content before they are listed, and reports you send about a character are reviewed by our team.
apps you connect
when you connect an outside app, folk only uses the permission you give it to act for you. for example, if you connect Gmail or Calendar, folk can use it to answer you, draft, schedule, or automate what you ask. you can disconnect apps anytime in settings.
when you connect Google apps directly with folk you can pick read-only access, so folk can see but never send, edit or delete. every connected account shows what folk may do with it in settings.
disconnecting one app revokes folk's access to that account immediately and turns off the alerts it powered. emails, files and notes folk already saved for you stay until you delete them or your account; deleting your account wipes everything.
those apps have their own terms and privacy policies. we never sell anything folk sees through them.
iPhone connections are always optional and requested one at a time. folk uses background location for location-aware requests and reminders; Health data for the health actions and insights you ask for; Calendar and Reminders data for scheduling; and Contacts data to find or update people you name. iOS may let you authorize only some Health categories or selected contacts, and folk respects that choice.
health data you ask folk about is sent to our AI model provider to answer you, and to nothing else. it is never used for advertising, never sold, never used to train models.
if you ask folk to call you, folk may phone you at your own verified number - never anyone else's - through our voice call provider, and only when you ask it to.
we never sell Health data, use it for advertising, or use it to train AI models. folk never invents measured health values. when you ask folk to write Health, Calendar, Reminder, or Contact data, sensitive changes require confirmation and remain pending until your iPhone reports that they succeeded.
google workspace limited use
The use of raw or derived user data received from Workspace APIs will adhere to the Google User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
folk uses Google Workspace data only to do what you asked in that moment: read, draft, send, schedule, or file something in the Google apps you connected. we do not sell that data. we do not use it to train, fine-tune, or improve any generalized or foundational AI/ML model, ours or anyone else's. we do not transfer it to a third-party AI service for those purposes.
when folk calls an AI provider to answer you, it is on a paid API plan whose terms prohibit using API inputs to train their models. google user data is processed to fulfill your request and is not retained by those providers for training or other secondary use.
companies that help us run folk
we rely on a few trusted companies (the legal term for these is “subprocessors”) to host, secure, deliver, and run folk. we only ever share what each one needs to do its job.
want the full, current list of these companies? see our subprocessors page.
keeping your data safe, and deleting it
every folk user is kept separate - your data lives in your own private cloud computer, never mixed in with anyone else's. anything sensitive we store, like the logins for apps you connect, is encrypted. only a few people can reach our live systems, and only to keep folk running and help you.
while your account is active, we keep your account info, your connected apps, and your cloud computer. when you delete your account from settings → privacy, we immediately remove your data from our live systems: your memory, messages, and chat history are deleted within seconds, and your private cloud computer and saved app logins are destroyed. deletion is permanent - we can't bring back a deleted account. for a short while, leftover copies may still sit in our encrypted backups before they're automatically erased, and we may keep limited records when the law requires it (for things like payments, taxes, security, and preventing fraud).
your choices and rights
see and change your info. you can view and update most of your settings right in the app. need something we don't show? just email us.
disconnect iPhone data. turn off Location, Health, Calendars, Reminders, Contacts, or notifications independently in the folk app. disconnecting stops new access and removes folk's synced copy of that connector's data.
delete everything. you can delete your account from settings → privacy anytime. your data is wiped from our live systems in seconds, and deletion is permanent.
get a copy of your data. want a copy of your data to take with you? email us and we'll send what we reasonably can.
marketing. we keep marketing minimal. if we ever email you something promotional, you can opt out in one click. promotional push notifications from the iPhone app (offers, trial reminders) can be turned off in the app's Settings; reminders and replies you asked for keep working. to measure whether our own ads work, we may confirm a signup back to the ad platform it came from (Meta, Google, or OpenAI) using hashed contact details - never your conversations, and never for anyone else's advertising.
getting your name right. when you sign up by phone number, we may look that number up with a verification provider to prefill your name and city so folk can greet you properly. it's a one-time lookup, you can correct or delete the result by telling folk or editing your details in settings.
depending on where you live, you may have extra rights - like asking to see, fix, delete, or limit how we use your personal data. just contact us and we'll help.
children, changes, contact
folk is not for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. characters and the gallery are for adults only (18 or older).
we may update this policy as folk changes. if it's an important change, we'll let you know in the app or another reasonable way.
privacy questions: support@nozomio.com.