Privacy policy

1. Who is responsible?

The controller is Ben Wegscheider. The postal address is in the legal notice. Email: info@assistentben.app. I am not required to appoint a data protection officer.

2. The key points

1. You send the assistant photos, scans, PDFs, text or voice. An AI service analyses them and makes suggestions (events, to-dos, contacts, drafts). A suggestion is only carried out under fixed rules and according to your settings. The app never makes payments.
2. The server deletes uploaded files as soon as your task is done, at the latest after 24 hours. The AI service keeps them for at most 30 days (exceptions in section 6). Anything you explicitly attach via “Report a problem” is kept for up to 90 days (section 9). The original stays on your phone.
3. AI processing currently takes place at Anthropic in the USA (section 6). Before you send your first task, you confirm in the app that you have read this notice.
4. No advertising cookies, no tracking on the website, no sale of your data.

3. Website

1. When you visit the website, the server processes technically necessary data: time, requested address, browser identifier and IP address for the connection. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (secure operation). The website server does not store access logs.
2. The website sets no cookies and uses no analytics or advertising services.
3. Fonts and images come from my own server. No content is loaded from third parties.
4. If you download the Android test version, your IP address is kept in a counter table for about 1 hour to prevent abuse. Likewise, the server briefly counts sign-in attempts per IP address to slow down attacks. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

4. Account and sign-in

1. Data: your email address, a password (stored only as a hash, never in plain text) and sign-in codes (stored only as a hash, valid for 10 minutes).
2. To prevent abuse of the trial and the referral bonus, I store a pseudonymised check value of your normalised email address, created with a secret key (HMAC-SHA256). The address itself cannot be read from it. It is kept after account deletion, for at most 3 years. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (abuse prevention).
3. Devices: device name, platform, time of last use, at most 5 devices per account.
4. Integrity check: so that only the genuine app on genuine devices can use the service, the server verifies the device via Apple App Attest (iPhone) or Google Play Integrity (Android). Apple Inc. or Google LLC (both USA) process device data as independent controllers under their own privacy terms. Google LLC is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (adequacy decision, Art. 45 GDPR). Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (abuse prevention).
5. I send sign-in codes and the app’s emails via ZeptoMail (Zoho CPaaS) of Zoho Corporation GmbH, II. Hagen 7, 45127 Essen, Germany, with a data centre in the EU. Zoho processes the emails as a processor (Art. 28 GDPR) and keeps message content for up to 60 days. For support and operations, Zoho may transfer data to Zoho group companies outside the EU; EU Standard Contractual Clauses apply to such transfers.
6. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (contract); for abuse and device protection Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

5. What is processed in a task

1. Your photos, scans, PDFs, videos (frames and audio), text files and your typed or spoken text. If transcription on the server is switched on, voice recordings are uploaded, transcribed on the server (section 7) and deleted after the task. Where the phone transcribes itself, only the text goes to the server.
2. Date, time, time zone and your filing groups.
3. If “Send location” is on (default: on): approximate coordinates (rounded to about 100 m), accuracy and a rough place name. The place name may include a street without a house number. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (better-fitting suggestions, e.g. for places and events). You object by switching the setting off.
4. Your “About me” details and your company name and signature. If a signature contains an address or phone number, it goes to the AI as part of the signature. People and objects from your company profile only with name, nickname, role or place and type.
5. Saved memory entries (at most 4,000 characters per task, can be switched off), the names of your active projects and friends. Memory is a feature of the service (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
6. Never sent to the AI: your birthday, your home town, the company address, phone numbers, email addresses, notes and addresses of people in your company profile, access notes for objects (e.g. key codes) and any credentials of your connections. Your company’s phone number and email address only go to the AI when a connected assistant asks your assistant a question and you have allowed it to do so (section 7).
7. If your task text or the file name contains words such as “vertraulich”, “geheim”, “PIN-Brief”, “TAN-Brief”, “Ausweisnummer”, “nicht an die KI”, “Anamnese”, “Gesundheitsfragebogen” or “Patientenakte” (German for confidential, secret, PIN letter, TAN letter, ID number, not for the AI, medical history, health questionnaire, patient file), the task is rejected without AI. This block does not check the content of a document. So please do not send documents that should not go to an AI service.
8. Letters and photos often contain information about other people. Only send content you are lawfully allowed to use.
9. Before a photo goes to the AI, the server removes location data and device details (EXIF).
10. Health data: photos, documents and messages may contain health data (e.g. a doctor’s letter). The AI only analyses such data because, before your first task, you gave your explicit consent with a separate checkbox (Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR). Without this consent, analysis by the AI is not possible, because the service necessarily analyses the content of your documents. You can withdraw your consent at any time in the app under Settings → Privacy & Security → “Einwilligung widerrufen” (withdraw consent); after that the assistant no longer analyses anything. Withdrawal takes effect for the future (Art. 7(3) GDPR). Please only send health data about other people if you are allowed to.
11. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (contract), unless stated otherwise for an item.

6. AI service and transfer to the USA

1. Your tasks are analysed by the AI service Claude. The contracting party and processor (Art. 28 GDPR) is Anthropic Ireland, Limited, 6th Floor, South Bank House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, D04 TR29, Ireland. Anthropic Ireland uses Anthropic, PBC (548 Market St, PMB 90375, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA) as a sub-processor; the data is processed in the USA.
2. The USA is a third country. Anthropic is not certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework; the transfer is based on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR), which are part of Anthropic’s data processing agreement. You can request a copy of the safeguards.
3. Anthropic does not use your tasks to train its AI. Anthropic deletes inputs and outputs within 30 days. Longer only if a task is flagged as violating Anthropic’s usage policies (up to 2 years) or if the law requires it.
4. Before your first task, you confirm in the app that you have read this notice. If the AI location changes, the app asks again.
5. Web search: if you ask about prices, where to buy something or suppliers, or send a camera photo of a product without text, the AI can run up to 3 web searches. As location, only the country set on the server (currently Germany) and your time zone are passed on. The AI is instructed to search only for the item itself, at most with the name of your town, never with names, addresses or bank details.

7. Other recipients

1. Hosting: Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany. The server is located in a data centre in Germany. Hetzner processes the data as a processor (Art. 28 GDPR).
2. Email delivery: ZeptoMail (see section 4).
3. Speech transcription on the server (only if it is switched on there): Mistral AI SAS, 15 rue des Halles, 75001 Paris, France, as a processor (Art. 28 GDPR). Mistral stores the data in the EU. Individual sub-processors may be located outside the EU; EU Standard Contractual Clauses apply to them. I have opted out of the use of the data for training.
4. Notifications on your phone (e.g. “Task done”): via the Apple Push Notification service (Apple Inc., USA) or Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google LLC, USA). A device token and the short notification text go to Apple or Google. Google LLC is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (adequacy decision, Art. 45 GDPR). Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. You can turn notifications off in your system settings.
5. In-app purchases: you buy plans and extra credit via the App Store (Apple) or Google Play (Google). Apple or Google process payment data as independent controllers. I only store the product, transaction number and period of the purchase. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
6. If you connect a mail account yourself: the app only sends emails after your tap, to exactly one address, with exactly your text. The app only reads the inbox if you switch on the Mail Traffic Light for that mailbox (next item). Credentials are stored encrypted on the server and deleted when you disconnect or delete your account.
7. Mail Traffic Light (“Mail-Ampel” in the app; only if you switch it on for a mailbox): the server fetches new emails from that mailbox, read-only (emails are not marked as read). It sorts them by fixed rules into “deal with it”, “take a look” or “ignore”. No AI is involved, and nothing from your emails goes to the AI. Only the sender, sender name, subject, time received, the email’s technical identifier (Message-ID), the rating and its reason are stored. The server uses the beginning of the email text (at most 8 KB) only in memory for the rules and does not store it. Once a day it reads the recipients in the “Sent” folder to recognise known contacts; they are stored on the server only as a checksum (HMAC). On your tap, an email becomes a to-do. Entries are deleted 30 days after receipt, open emails rated “deal with it” after 90 days at the latest. If you switch the Mail Traffic Light off or disconnect the mailbox, everything related to it is deleted immediately. To-dos you made from emails and your own rules remain.
8. Google and Microsoft account (only if you connect one): you sign in in the Google or Microsoft sign-in window and choose what the app may use the account for (sending emails, calendar, tasks, and with Microsoft also OneNote notes). For this, the server stores only your email address and an access key, encrypted. It then creates events, to-dos and notes from your tasks there (title, time, place, note, reminders). To keep to-dos in sync, it reads the title and status of the tasks in the list the app uses. A copy of the events and notes it created stays on the server for 30 days after the last change (section 9). Google LLC and Microsoft Corporation (both USA) are certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (adequacy decision, Art. 45 GDPR). Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. When you disconnect, the server deletes the access key.
9. Friends and company: what you send to a connected friend or share in a company (team tasks, shared projects) is visible to those people. A company admin cannot see private data.
10. Assistant asks assistant: a connected friend can only ask your assistant what you have allowed. 1. Free times: the server reads only the start, end and status of your events from your connected Google or Microsoft calendar, never the title, place, note or attendees. Without a calendar connection, it uses the events it knows from the app. If you have allowed it, an event can then be added to your calendar or suggested to you. 2. Questions: your assistant answers them with one AI request (section 6), using only these details: nickname, first and last name, club, what you use the assistant for, and your company’s name, phone number and email address. Never emails, documents, money, events, to-dos, memory, birthday or home town. Your friend sees the answer.

8. Device permissions

Camera (scanning and photos), microphone and speech recognition (voice tasks, transcribed on the phone where possible), approximate location (only with “Send location”), calendar (only for “Add events directly”, on iPhone add-only, no reading), reminders (iPhone only), notifications, contacts (only for “Save contacts without asking”: saves after your tap without the system dialog), Face ID or fingerprint (app lock, checked on the device only). You pick photos in the system picker; the app only gets what you select. You can revoke every permission in your system settings.

9. How long I keep data

After account deletion your data may therefore remain in a backup for up to 14 days. A marker prevents a restored backup from bringing your account back.

10. Improving the app

To find errors and improve the app, I analyse data that is stored anyway: results, whether you accepted, edited or rejected suggestions, follow-up questions and crash reports. Accounts appear only as an identifier. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. You can object (section 12).

“The assistant learns along” (“Der Assistent lernt mit” in the app; default: on, can be switched off in the app): so that your suggestions fit better, the server remembers for your own account what you changed in suggestions or why you rejected them, plus a short form of each case. Only characteristics are stored, no full texts. IBANs and names of other people appear there only as a checksum or in short form. From this, the server derives preferences by fixed rules, without AI (e.g. which list or calendar suits a sender). You can see the preferences in the app and delete them one by one or all at once. If you delete a task, its short form and corrections are deleted with it immediately. Retention: section 9. This data is used only for your own account. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

11. Deleting your account and exporting data

1. In the app: Settings → Account → “Delete account”. All sign-ins end immediately; memory, chat and connections including credentials are deleted. Everything else is deleted within 24 hours. Without the app: see Delete account.
2. You cancel a subscription in the App Store or on Google Play there. Deleting the account does not end it.
3. Entries the app created in your phone’s calendar, reminders or contacts belong to you and stay there.
4. Export: Settings → Account → “Export my data” gives you all your data as a JSON file (Art. 20 GDPR).

12. Your rights

You have the right of access (Art. 15), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction (Art. 18), data portability (Art. 20) and to object (Art. 21). Write to info@assistentben.app. You can switch off “Send location”, “Memory” and “The assistant learns along” yourself in the app at any time.

You can lodge a complaint with a data protection authority. The competent authority is the Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht, Promenade 18, 91522 Ansbach, Germany.

13. Automated decisions and age

1. Without an email address and without your confirmation of the AI notice (section 6), I cannot provide the service.
2. The AI only makes suggestions. There are no automated decisions with legal effect within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR. What is added without your tap is set by you during setup and under “Without asking”. Payments, emails and contacts always need your tap.
3. The app is intended for people aged 16 and over.

14. Security

Encrypted transfer (HTTPS), passwords stored as hashes only, encrypted credentials, server with firewall and key-only login, app lock with Face ID or fingerprint.

15. Changes

If the service or providers change, I will update this policy. If the location of AI processing changes, the app asks you again.

In case of doubt, the German version applies.