Doodle Tone — Privacy Policy
Effective 3 November 2026 · applies to the Doodle Tone iPhone app
Doodle Tone turns what you draw into small looping soundscapes. You sketch on the canvas, scan a paper doodle or describe a mood, and an optional cloud sketch agent suggests tempo, key and loop layers. This page explains what stays on your iPhone, the little that leaves it, and who receives it.
At a glance
- No account, no sign-in, no in-app purchases, no ads, no analytics and no cross-app tracking. The app never shows the App Tracking Transparency prompt because it does not track you.
- Your sketches, loops and mixes are stored in the app’s own storage on your device. There is no Doodle Tone server and no cloud sync.
- Only two outside parties can receive anything: DeepSeek, which runs the cloud sketch agent, and only after you tap Allow; and Apple, when you dictate a mood with the microphone.
What is kept on your iPhone
- Sketch projects: the title, the canvas image (your drawing, or a photo you imported or scanned), the colour regions the app detects on it, and the loop layers you accepted.
- Sound briefs: when you score a scan, a dictated mood or a typed prompt, the app keeps the text it read or heard together with the suggested tempo, key, mood tags and layer names.
- Loops and mixes: short audio loops the app synthesises on the device, your mix desk settings and any mix you export.
- An AI activity log: for each suggestion, the sketch it belongs to, a short fingerprint (hash) of the request rather than its text, the suggested layer names and whether you used them.
- Small settings files: your AI sharing choice, the last screen you had open and a receipt of your last export to Photos.
Permissions and when they are used
| Permission | Asked when | What it is used for |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | You tap Scan to photograph a paper doodle | Takes one photo. It is shrunk, read on the device for words and shapes (Apple Vision), and saved as that project’s canvas. |
| Photo picker | You import a picture | The system picker hands over only the one image you choose. The app cannot browse your library. |
| Photos (add only) | You tap Export → Photos | Saves your canvas as an image in Photos. The app cannot read your photos. |
| Microphone | You tap the mic to describe a mood | Listens while you speak so the words can be transcribed. No recording is saved. |
| Speech recognition | Your first dictation | Turns your spoken description into English text using Apple’s speech service (see below). |
| Notifications | You switch on “Finish your soundscape” in Settings | Asks for permission only. This version does not send any reminders. |
You can turn any of these off at any time in iOS Settings. The matching feature then stops, and the rest of the app keeps working.
The cloud sketch agent (DeepSeek)
Scoring a sketch into loop layers is optional and uses an AI model run by DeepSeek (api.deepseek.com). DeepSeek’s servers may be located outside your country, including in China. Nothing is sent before you see the “Share doodle data with cloud sketch agent?” sheet and tap Allow. If you tap Not now, drawing, scanning, importing and exporting all keep working on the device.
What a request contains
- the colour regions detected on your canvas: a short colour-based label and the colour code of each region;
- the names of loop layers you already accepted for that sketch, if any;
- your note, which is one of these: the text you type into the agent bar, the transcript of a mood you dictated, or for a paper scan the words and object labels the app read from the photo on the device;
- a fixed instruction asking the model to reply with tempo, key, mood tags and layer names.
What is not sent
- The current version does not upload the canvas image, the scanned photo or any audio. Only the text listed above leaves the device.
- No name, email, contact, location, advertising identifier or device identifier is attached by the app. As with any internet connection, DeepSeek can see the IP address the request comes from.
A scan sends any words written on your paper, so avoid scanning pages that contain names, phone numbers or other personal details. The reply comes back as a proposal, and nothing is added to your sketch until you choose to use it.
To stop sharing, switch off Share doodle data for AI scoring in Settings › Cloud sketch agent. Turning it off stops future requests; it does not remove what DeepSeek already received, which is handled under DeepSeek’s own privacy policy.
Apple services
Dictation uses Apple’s Speech framework in US English. The app does not force on-device recognition, so depending on your iPhone Apple may process the audio on its servers under Apple’s privacy policy. Exports to Photos and the share sheet are iOS features; whatever you share from the share sheet goes to the app or person you pick.
Keeping and deleting your data
- Everything stays on the device until you delete the app. It is included in your iPhone or iCloud backups if you make them.
- This version has no button for deleting individual sketches, mixes or the AI activity log. Deleting the app erases all of it. Images you exported to Photos stay in Photos until you delete them there.
- Switching off AI sharing does not erase sketches or briefs already on the device.
- Requests to DeepSeek travel over HTTPS. Data on the device is protected by iOS data protection.
Children
Doodle Tone has no accounts and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone. A parent who lets a child use the cloud sketch agent should keep names and personal details out of notes and scanned pages.
Your choices and rights
Because we hold no copy of your content, you control it directly on your device. Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR or Californian law), you may have rights to access, correct or delete personal data. Write to us and we will explain what we can do. For data that reached DeepSeek, you can also contact DeepSeek directly.
Changes
If a future version sends different data or uses a new service, we will update this page with a new effective date before that version is released.
Contact
Questions about privacy: layers@crayonhum.studio