Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 8, 2026

The short version

Heirloom collects no personal data. There is no account, no server of ours, no analytics, no advertising, and no tracking. The only network connections are to Apple: the App Store for the one-time purchase, and iCloud if you have it turned on for Heirloom. We cannot read anything you put in Heirloom.

Your child's memories

Everything you write, and every photo, video and voice note you add, lives on your iPhone, inside the app. If iCloud is on for Heirloom, a copy is also kept in your iCloud (below). Nothing goes anywhere else unless you send it.

iCloud backup and sync

If you are signed in to iCloud and iCloud is on for Heirloom, your memories are also kept in your private iCloud database, so they survive a lost or new phone and appear on your other devices signed in to the same Apple Account. Apple stores this data in your iCloud under Apple's privacy policy, and it counts toward your iCloud storage. We cannot see it and it never touches a server of ours. Apple may send your device silent notifications so it knows when to fetch changes.

To turn it off, go to iPhone Settings › [your name] › iCloud and switch off Heirloom. Your memories then stay only on this iPhone. Deleting the app deletes the copy on this phone; to remove the iCloud copy too, delete Heirloom's data from your iCloud storage under Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Manage Account Storage.

Sharing a child with another Apple Account

You can share one child's journal with the other parent from Settings › Both parents. The invitation goes through Apple's iCloud sharing, never through us. Once they accept, that person can read and add to everything in that child's journal: memories, photos, videos, voice notes, growth numbers, letters and the child's photo. Apple shows each of you who is in the share, by name or Apple Account email.

If you type a name in Settings › Your name, it is saved with the shared journal in iCloud (in the iCloud of the parent who shared it) and shown only to the parent you share with, next to what you add. If sharing stops, each parent's copy keeps those names. It never reaches us.

On a shared child, Heirloom shows who added each memory, letter and growth number, and who last changed it. The name is the one each parent typed in Settings › Your name, otherwise the name iCloud gives for that person; your own entries say "you", and with no name it reads "another parent". To keep track of who added what, each memory, letter and growth number also stores an identifier Apple assigns to your iCloud account for this app. It stays in iCloud with the journal and never reaches us.

A shared journal is stored in the iCloud of the parent who shared it, including what the other parent adds, and only the people in the share can open it. Your other children are never shared unless you share them too.

When sharing stops. The parent who shared can stop sharing at any time, and the other parent can remove the child from their iPhone. After that:

• If the parent who shared stops sharing, you each keep a full copy of the journal as it was that day: the child's profile and every memory, photo, video, voice note, letter and growth number, whoever added it. You then carry on separately.
• While the child is shared, Heirloom keeps that copy for the other parent in their own iCloud (if iCloud is on for Heirloom), so it uses their iCloud storage, photos and videos included. Neither copy ever touches a server of ours.
• If the other parent removes the child from their iPhone themselves, nothing stays on their iPhone or in their iCloud. The parent who shared keeps everything, including what the other parent added.

Voice notes and the microphone

Heirloom asks for the microphone only to record a voice note, and listens only between your tap on record and your tap on stop. The recording is saved with that memory, on your iPhone and in iCloud if it is on, like a photo. It is never sent to us or used for anything else. You can turn microphone access off any time in iPhone Settings › Heirloom.

Face ID lock

If you turn on the lock, iOS checks your Face ID (or passcode) on the iPhone itself. Heirloom never sees your face or any face data; it only gets a yes or no from iOS.

Growth numbers

Heights, weights and head sizes you enter are stored like any other memory: on your iPhone, in iCloud if it is on, and with the other parent if you share that child. Heirloom does not compare them to other children or send them anywhere.

Sealed letters

A letter you seal stays closed in the app until the day you picked. Sealing is a lock in the app, not encryption: the letter is stored like any other memory, including in iCloud and, for a shared child, with the other parent, whose app also keeps it closed until that day. A sealed letter stays sealed in the export too. On the opening day you may get a local reminder.

Importing from Photos

Photos and videos come through Apple's photo picker, which runs outside Heirloom. Heirloom never gets access to your library, only the items you pick. It reads the date stored in each picked item so the memory lands on the day it was taken.

Exports, the book, the cover, Send to Grandma and the year video

The export of everything, the text export, the keepsake book and its printable cover, the Send to Grandma picture, the birthday recap picture and the year-in-review video are all made on your iPhone when you ask. Nothing is uploaded by Heirloom to make them. They go only where you send them with the share sheet, for example to Messages, WhatsApp, Files, AirDrop or a print service you choose; once sent, that app or service handles them under its own policy. Sealed letters never appear on the Send to Grandma picture or in the video.

Your child's photo

If you choose a photo for your child, from Photos or from a memory, it is saved with that child: on your iPhone, in iCloud if it is on, and with the other parent if you share that child. It also appears in the widgets (below). If you don't choose one, Heirloom uses the child's newest photo.

Reminders

The daily reminder, month-birthday and birthday notes, and letter opening-day notes are local notifications scheduled on your iPhone. No notification service of ours is involved.

Widgets

Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets read a small snapshot kept on your iPhone: today's question, a child's name and photo, and for "On this day" a past memory and its photo. A widget shows that to anyone who can see your Home Screen or Lock Screen. With the Face ID lock on, widgets keep only the question and the child's name, never a photo or anything you wrote.

The one-time purchase

Heirloom Forever is handled entirely by Apple's App Store under Apple's privacy policy. Heirloom stores only a local flag that the purchase was made.

Children

Heirloom is for parents to use. It has no accounts, no chat and no public sharing, and it collects no data from or about anyone.

Contact

Questions? See the support page.