Privacy
Grove Note Privacy Policy
Summary
Grove Note is a notes app operated by Humble Fern LLC. Your notes stay on your device unless you turn on optional iCloud sync. We do not sell personal information. This site has no analytics, cookies, accounts, or form backend.
Notes and local storage
Notes, attachments, tags, categories, and related metadata are stored locally on your device in the app’s private storage. Humble Fern does not operate a Grove-hosted notes database.
Optional iCloud / CloudKit sync
If you enable Grove Pro iCloud sync, note data may be stored in your personal iCloud / CloudKit container tied to your Apple ID. Apple provides that storage under Apple’s terms. Sync is optional; leaving it off keeps notes device-local.
Protected-note encryption
If you set a note password or vault, note bodies, attachments, edit history, and OCR text for protected notes are encrypted on the device using keys derived from your password. Humble Fern cannot read protected notes and cannot recover a forgotten password.
On-device OCR
When you scan or import images, Grove Note may run optical character recognition on the device so the text can be searched. OCR for password-protected notes is encrypted with the same note keys and is not sent to Humble Fern servers.
Optional audio transcription
Transcription happens only when you choose it. Grove Note sends that audio file to our Cloudflare Worker. The Worker forwards the audio to Deepgram for speech-to-text, returns the transcript to the app, and does not keep audio or transcripts on Grove systems after the request finishes.
We configure Deepgram for no long-term audio retention; confirm this Deepgram account setting at launch. Do not treat Deepgram as ephemeral unless that configuration has been verified for the production account.
App Attest, quotas, and rate limits
Transcription requests are authenticated with Apple App Attest. The Cloudflare Worker stores installation and quota records needed to enforce free-tier and Grove Pro limits (for example, an attested install key, job counters, and one-time challenges). Those records are not your notes.
The Worker also applies short-lived rate limits using a hashed form of the request IP (SHA-256 with a rotating salt). Raw IP addresses are not stored beyond the rate-limit window and are not written into ordinary logs.
Purchases and StoreKit
Grove Pro subscriptions and in-app purchases are processed by Apple StoreKit. The Worker may verify StoreKit signed transaction data so it can unlock quota that depends on a valid purchase. We do not receive your full payment card details.
Retention
- Local notes: remain on your device until you delete them or uninstall the app.
- iCloud sync: retained according to Apple’s iCloud policies for your Apple ID.
- Grove transcription proxy: does not keep audio or transcripts after the job completes.
- Deepgram: we configure Deepgram for no long-term audio retention; confirm at launch. Transcript text is returned to the app; we do not build a Grove-hosted transcript library from proxy traffic.
- App Attest / quota records: kept as needed to enforce limits and prevent abuse.
- Hashed-IP rate limits: exist only for the rate window, then expire.
- Support email: kept only as long as needed to handle your request.
Your choices
- Use Grove Note without iCloud sync to keep notes on the device.
- Do not use audio transcription if you do not want audio sent to our Worker and Deepgram.
- Manage iCloud and Apple subscriptions in iOS Settings and your App Store account.
- Delete notes, disable sync, or uninstall the app at any time.
Children
Grove Note is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Security
We use TLS for network requests, on-device encryption for protected notes, Apple platform security for Keychain and StoreKit, and App Attest plus StoreKit checks on the transcription Worker.
Territories and international processing
Grove Note 1.0 launches in the United States and Canada. If you contact us or use transcription, related technical data may be processed in the United States and in other countries where Apple, Cloudflare, or Deepgram operate.
Changes
We may update this policy. The current revision identifier is 2026-09-22-r1. We will post the revised policy at this URL and update the effective date and revision id.
Contact
Humble Fern LLC
Email: hello@humblefern.com