Hi Kith — Privacy policy and terms of use

Last updated: October 11, 2026

Hi Kith (“Hi Kith”, “the app”) is a mobile app that helps you nurture your personal relationships: your people, promises, encounters, reminders and a caring view of your bonds.

This document is a translation of the French version (https://hikith.app/privacy). If the two versions differ, the French version prevails.

This document has two parts:

• Part A — Privacy policy: what data is processed, where, why, for how long, and how to exercise your rights.
• Part B — Terms of use: the rules for using the app.

Publisher and contact

• Publisher and data controller: Guelore Kabemba, independent publisher (natural person)
• Address: Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Contact (privacy and support): contact@hikith.app

Part A — Privacy policy

A.1 Our principle: your data stays on your phone

Hi Kith is designed “local first”. Everything you enter (your people, your promises, your encounters, your catch-ups) is saved in a database on your device. You can use the app without creating an account and without any of this information leaving your phone.

Some optional features require sending data to servers. They only turn on at your request and, where needed, after your explicit consent:

Hi Kith shows no ads, sells no data and includes no ad trackers or third-party analytics tools.

A.2 Data processed, feature by feature

A.2.1 Data entered in the app (on the device only)

• Your people: name, phone number, email address (optional), date of birth (optional), type of relationship, desired contact frequency, personal notes.
• Your promises: title, description, due date, person concerned, status.
• Your encounters: name, context, place, date, details, related reminders.
• Your catch-ups: shared moments (date, channel, note) and attempts that got no answer.
• Your profile: your first name (and, for profiles created with an older version, a phone number).
• Your progress: milestones, activity statistics, activity log.
• Messages prepared with “Find the words”: kept for at most 90 days and limited to 30 per person, on the device only. They are erased if you turn the feature off.
• Your settings: notification preferences, app language, consent choices.

This data is stored in the app's private space on your device. It is never sent to our servers, unless you use Cloud backup (A.2.4) or one of the smart features (A.2.5 and A.2.6), within the limits described below.

A.2.2 Access to your device's features

Each permission is requested when it becomes useful (for example during the introduction for notifications, or the first time you tap the microphone for dictation) and can be refused without preventing use of the app.

• Contacts: read only on your phone, to help you add people. Your contacts are never sent.
• Microphone and speech recognition: used only while you dictate a promise. Transcription is handled by your operating system's speech recognition service (Apple or Google), which, depending on your device and settings, may process the audio on its own servers, under its own terms. Hi Kith only receives the transcribed text and keeps no audio recording.
• Notifications: reminders (birthdays, promises, people to reach out to, encounters) are scheduled locally on your device. No server sends notifications and their content doesn't leave the phone.
• Exact alarms and battery optimization (Android): used only to deliver your reminders on time.

A.2.3 Account (optional)

You can sign in with Google or Apple. Authentication is provided by Firebase Authentication (Google). The following are then processed: the account's technical ID, the email address (which may be a relay address if you use Apple's “Hide My Email”), and the display name and profile photo that Google or Apple may provide.

The account is used only for Cloud backup and smart features. After you sign in, your account's first name may be suggested as your first name in the app; it is only saved with your agreement, and on the device only.

A.2.4 Cloud backup (optional)

When you start a backup, or if you turn on automatic backup (at most once every 24 hours, when the app goes to the background), a copy of your Hi Kith data (A.2.1) is sent to Firebase Cloud Storage (Google). Prepared messages are not included.

• Access: only your account can read or write your backup.
• Versions kept: the latest backup and the previous one.
• Location: data centers located in the European Union (eur3 multi-region).
• Restore: from any device signed in to the same account.
• Deletion: “Delete the Cloud backup” erases both versions.

A.2.5 Smart capture of promises (optional)

You type or dictate a sentence (for example: “I promised Luke I'd drop by next Tuesday”); Hi Kith pre-fills the promise form, which you always review and confirm yourself.

• Data sent: the sentence entered (500 characters at most), today's date, your time zone and the app language (with your phone's region).
• Data never sent: your contacts and your list of people. Matching the name mentioned with your people happens on the device.
• Processing: the sentence is sent to a server function (Google Cloud Functions, europe-west1 region, Belgium), which submits it to OpenAI, an artificial intelligence service based in the United States (see A.4 and A.5), then returns a structured result.
• Retention: Hi Kith does not keep the sentence on the server and does not write it to any log. Only a usage counter (number of requests and start of the hourly window), linked to your account ID, is kept to limit abuse (25 analyses per hour).
• Conditions: explicit consent on first use and sign-in to an account. The feature can be turned off at any time in Settings › Smart features.

A.2.6 “Find the words” (optional)

At your request, Hi Kith suggests a message to send to someone. You review it, edit it and choose yourself to open it in SMS or WhatsApp. Nothing is ever sent to your person by Hi Kith.

• Data sent (for the person concerned only, each field being limited in length): their first name (never their full name), the type of relationship, the situation (for example “birthday coming up”), your notes about this person, your last five catch-ups (date, channel, note), your last five prepared messages, at most two promises in progress (title and relative due date), the desired contact frequency, the number of days since the last catch-up or before their birthday, the target channel, the optional direction you add, and the app language (with your phone's region).
• Data never sent: their phone number, their email address, their date of birth, your contacts.
• Processing: server function (Google Cloud Functions, europe-west1), then OpenAI, an artificial intelligence service based in the United States (see A.4 and A.5).
• Retention: Hi Kith does not keep this context on the server. Only a usage counter (number of requests and start of the hourly window), linked to your account ID, is kept to limit abuse (20 suggestions per hour).
• On the device: the message you reviewed and actually opened in SMS or WhatsApp is saved as a “prepared message” (A.2.1). It is never considered sent or received.
• Conditions: explicit consent and sign-in to an account. Can be turned off at any time in Settings › Smart features; turning it off erases prepared messages from the device.

A.2.7 Usage statistics (optional)

If you agree to help improve Hi Kith, the app measures the screens you open and a few actions (for example: a person created, a promise kept, a permission granted or refused).

• Data collected: the event name, values from closed lists (type of relationship, channel, screen…), the timestamp, a session ID and a random installation ID. At the start of each session, the app language, how it was set (automatically or in settings) and the phone's main language, reduced to its code (for example “fr”), without the region, are added.
• Never collected: the name, notes, phone number or any free text about your people; events containing an unauthorized field are rejected by the server.
• Link to your account: none. The installation ID, drawn at random on your phone, is not linked to your account. This data is pseudonymous: it doesn't name you, but stays linked to the same installation.
• Storage: Cloud Firestore (Google, European Union), via a server function.
• Retention: 90 days, then automatic deletion. A technical counter per installation, which limits the volume sent, is deleted one day after its last use.
• Withdrawal: at any time in settings; events still waiting to be sent are then erased from the device.

Before you choose, and if you refuse, nothing is collected.

A.2.8 Security and technical logs

• App verification: to protect our servers, each call to our server functions comes with an integrity attestation (Firebase App Check, based on Google Play Integrity on Android and Apple App Attest or DeviceCheck on iOS). It contains none of your Hi Kith data.
• Error logs: when a smart feature fails, we only record the type of operation, the step, the reason and a random support ID (shown in the app as CAP-… or MSG-…), never the content of your request.
• Infrastructure logs: like any online service, our host records standard technical logs (for example the IP address, the date and the function called), kept for a limited period according to its policy.

A.2.9 hikith.app website and waiting list

The hikith.app website presents the app and publishes this document. It sets no cookies, uses no audience measurement and loads no third-party scripts or content.

• Visiting the website: its host, Netlify, records standard technical logs (for example the IP address, the page requested and the date) to serve the pages and protect the website, kept for a limited period according to its policy.
• Waiting list (optional): if you leave your address to hear about the release of Hi Kith on iPhone or Android, we record your email address, the platform you chose, the page language and the sign-up date.
• Purpose: sending you a single email on release day for the platform you chose. No other email, no sharing.
• Processing: Netlify Forms (Netlify, Inc., United States) receives and stores sign-ups, after the Akismet spam filter (Automattic, United States).
• Retention: your address is deleted after this email is sent, and at the latest 12 months after you sign up.
• Withdrawal: write to contact@hikith.app to have your address deleted before then.

A.3 Purposes and legal bases

You can withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.

A.4 Recipients and processors

Your data is only shared with the technical providers strictly needed, who act on our behalf and on our instructions:

Data sent to the OpenAI API is not used to train its models, according to OpenAI's contractual commitments. It may be kept temporarily by this provider for abuse detection, in line with its policy.

The screens that turn on smart features name OpenAI. If we change analysis provider, this list and these screens will be updated before the change, and you will be asked for your consent again.

We neither sell nor rent your data, and share it with no advertisers.

A.5 Transfers outside the European Union

Our server processing is configured in the European Union. Some providers (notably OpenAI, Google, Apple and, for the website, Netlify and Automattic) are based in the United States or may access data there. These transfers are covered by appropriate safeguards under the GDPR: an adequacy decision for the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework for certified companies, and/or standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission.

A.6 Retention periods

A.7 Security

• Encrypted exchanges (HTTPS/TLS) between the app and our servers.
• Data hosted by Google encrypted at rest by default.
• Strict access rules: everyone can only access their own backup; statistics and counters can't be read by any client.
• Technical secrets (API keys) kept on the server side, never in the app.
• Verification of the app's authenticity (App Check).

Your local data is protected by your device's security: lock screen, system encryption and updates. We recommend turning them on.

A.8 Your rights

Under the GDPR and the French Data Protection Act, you have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and portability, as well as the right to withdraw your consent and to set instructions for what happens to your data after your death.

Directly in the app:

• View and edit your data: in the corresponding screens.
• Erase everything on the device: Settings › “Erase all data”. Your data, your first name, your settings and your choices (smart features, usage statistics) are removed from the device, scheduled reminders are canceled and automatic backup is turned off. Only the app language is kept. Your account stays signed in and your Cloud backup isn't touched.
• Delete your Cloud backup: Settings › Cloud backup › “Delete the Cloud backup”.
• Sign out: Settings › Account › “Sign out”.
• Delete your account: Settings › Account › “Delete my account”. Your account, your Cloud backup and the smart feature usage counters are deleted; the data on your device is kept (you can erase it separately).
• Turn off smart features: Settings › Smart features. Withdraw your consent to statistics: Settings › Privacy.
• Get your data back: the Cloud backup contains all your data in a structured format (JSON).

By email, at contact@hikith.app, for any other request. We answer within one month.

You can also file a complaint with the CNIL (www.cnil.fr) or the supervisory authority of your country of residence.

A.9 Your people's data

Hi Kith lets you record information about other people. Used in a strictly personal context, this information remains your responsibility. We invite you to record only what is useful to your relationship and to respect your people's privacy. When you use “Find the words” or Smart capture, only the information described in A.2.5 and A.2.6 is sent.

A.10 Minors

Hi Kith contains no adult-only content. Features based on consent (smart features, usage statistics) must not be turned on by a person under 15 without the agreement of a holder of parental authority.

A.11 Changes

We may update this policy, in particular to reflect a change in the app or a provider. The date of the update appears at the top of the document. In case of an important change, you will be informed in the app and, if needed, asked for your consent again.

Part B — Terms of use

B.1 Purpose and acceptance

These terms govern the use of the Hi Kith app. By installing or using the app, you accept them. If you don't accept them, don't use the app.

B.2 Access to the service

Hi Kith is offered free of charge on Apple's and Google's app stores, whose terms also apply to its download. Most of the app works without an account and without an internet connection. Cloud backup and smart features require a Google or Apple account and an internet connection.

B.3 Account

You are responsible for the security of the Google or Apple account used to sign in. You can sign out at any time; account deletion can be requested as described in section A.8.

B.4 Acceptable use

You agree to use Hi Kith for personal, non-commercial purposes, in accordance with applicable laws, and in particular not to:

• record unlawfully obtained information or use the app to monitor, harass or harm a person;
• enter unlawful, hateful or deceptive content into the smart features;
• circumvent usage limits or security measures, or attempt to access other users' data;
• decompile, copy or exploit the app or its services beyond what the law allows.

B.5 Smart features

Smart capture and “Find the words” produce automatically generated suggestions, which may be incomplete or inaccurate (for example a misinterpreted date or a misidentified person). You must review and confirm them: nothing is saved or sent without your action. You remain solely responsible for the promises you save and the messages you choose to send.

To ensure fair service, usage limits apply (25 analyses and 20 suggestions per hour and per account). These features may be changed, suspended or withdrawn, in particular if the provider changes.

B.6 Reminders and notifications

Reminders depend on your device (permissions, battery saver mode, system restrictions). We do our best to deliver them on time, but can't guarantee it. Hi Kith doesn't replace a calendar for critical deadlines.

B.7 Backup and keeping your data

As your data is stored mainly on your device, losing it (for example after uninstalling, resetting or losing the phone) is permanent without a backup. We recommend using Cloud backup. A restore replaces the data on the device with the data from the backup.

B.8 Your content

You remain the owner of everything you enter in Hi Kith. You only grant us the right to process this content as far as needed for the services you use (backup, smart features), in accordance with Part A.

B.9 Intellectual property

The app, its name, logo, texts, illustrations and code are protected. You have a personal, non-exclusive and non-transferable right to use the app; no other right is granted to you.

B.10 Availability and liability

The app is provided as is. We strive to keep it working properly but don't guarantee that it is error-free or that the online services are permanently available; they may be interrupted for maintenance or in case of an incident at a provider.

To the extent permitted by law, we can't be held liable for indirect damages, or for the consequences of an automatically generated suggestion that you confirmed. Nothing in these terms limits the rights you have as a consumer, or our liability in case of gross negligence or willful misconduct.

B.11 Suspension and end of use

You can stop using Hi Kith at any time, erase your data and uninstall the app. In case of a serious breach of these terms, we may suspend access to the online services linked to an account.

B.12 Changes to the terms

We may change these terms. The version in force is the one published at https://hikith.app/privacy (in French) and https://hikith.app/en/privacy (in English). In case of an important change, you will be informed in the app.

B.13 Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, without prejudice to the more protective mandatory provisions of your country of residence: if you are a consumer residing in the European Union, you keep the protection granted by the mandatory rules of your country of residence. In case of a dispute, we invite you to contact us first to seek an amicable solution. Failing agreement, the competent courts are those designated by law.

B.14 Contact

For any question about these terms or your data: contact@hikith.app.