Balk Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 18, 2026


Balk is a personal journaling app. This page explains what happens to what you write in it.


What Balk stores

Balk saves the posts you write directly on your device: text, up to three photos, an optional voice note, an optional location, tags, replies and reactions, plus the lists you organise tags into. Settings such as your colours, font and compose prompts are stored on the device too.


iCloud sync

If you're signed into iCloud, Balk mirrors your posts to your own private iCloud account using Apple's CloudKit framework, so your entries can reach your other Apple devices. This sync goes directly from your device to your personal iCloud account. It does not pass through any server run by Balk's developer or by anyone else. No one other than you can access this data through Balk, because there is no shared database and no backend server for it to sit on.


Backups

Once a day, Balk saves a backup copy of your journal to your own iCloud Drive (Files → iCloud Drive → Balk → backups), or to the app's own storage on your device if iCloud Drive is off. Posts in a locked list are encrypted in these backups, with a key kept in your iCloud Keychain. Like sync, backups go only to your own iCloud account. You can delete them in the Files app at any time.


Voice posts and transcription

Voice notes, including voice posts recorded with the Action button or Control Center, are turned into text on your device, using Apple's speech recognition. The audio is not sent to the developer or to any transcription service. The first time, iOS downloads Apple's speech model for your language; that download comes from Apple and contains none of your recordings.


Sharing into and out of Balk

  • Share sheet. When you share a photo, web page or text from another app to Balk, it's handed to Balk on your device and added to your journal the next time you open the app. Nothing goes to a server.
  • Sharing a post. When you choose to share a post, Balk creates a file you send however you like (for example, Messages). It contains the post's text, photos, voice note and tags, and its location only if you pick "share with location". Who receives it is up to you.
  • Export. Exporting to Markdown writes files wherever you choose to save them.

Siri, Spotlight and app lock

  • Siri and Shortcuts. Balk offers actions such as adding a post or searching your journal. They run on your device. Posts in a locked list are never available to Siri or Shortcuts.
  • Spotlight. This is off by default. If you turn it on, your posts are added to your device's Spotlight search index so you can find them from the home screen. The index stays on your device and is never sent to the developer. Posts in a locked list are left out, and the setting turns itself off while the app lock is on.
  • App lock. An optional setting that asks for Face ID or your passcode when balk opens. It is handled entirely by iOS; Balk never receives your biometric data.

Things that contact other services

  • Place names. When you add a location, iOS sends the coordinates to Apple to look up a place name. Apple's own privacy policy covers this.
  • Link previews. When a post contains a web link, your device loads that web page to show a preview card, as any browser would. The website sees an ordinary request for the page, not your post.

What Balk does not do

  • Balk does not run its own server, and does not send your posts to one.
  • Balk does not share, sell, or transmit your data to any third party, advertiser, or analytics service.
  • Balk does not use tracking, analytics SDKs, or advertising identifiers.
  • Balk does not require an account, login, or any personal information beyond what you choose to write.

Permissions

Balk asks for a few iOS permissions, each used only for the feature it names, at the moment you use that feature:

  • Location to tag a post with where you wrote it, if you choose to. By default this happens only when you tap the pin. There is an optional setting (off unless you turn it on) that adds your location to each new post you write in the app.
  • Microphone to record a voice note or voice post, if you choose to.
  • Speech Recognition, if iOS asks for it, to transcribe your voice notes on your device.
  • Face ID to lock the app, unlock locked lists, and open the more sensitive pages behind the balk button (lists, tags, backups and export).

None of these are required to use Balk, and none of them send data anywhere beyond your device and your own iCloud account, apart from the place-name lookup described above.


Deleting your data

Deleting a post in the app removes it from your device and, once sync completes, from your private iCloud database. Deleting the app removes everything stored locally. If iCloud sync was on, your data still exists in your private iCloud account until you also remove it there (for example via Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Manage Account Storage). Backups in iCloud Drive stay until you delete the Balk folder in the Files app.


Contact

Balk is a single-developer personal project. Questions about this policy can be sent to tommyfox@hey.com.