TeethTalk Privacy Policy

Who we are

TeethTalk (bundle identifier com.teethtalk.app) is developed and operated by Patrick Timothy Shelffo. In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Patrick Timothy Shelffo. This policy covers the TeethTalk iPhone app and its iOS home-screen widgets.

No account or contact details

TeethTalk has no account system. You do not sign up, sign in or create a profile. We do not collect your name, email address, phone number or postal address. The backend uses random technical identifiers for abuse prevention, described below; they are not linked to a profile or contact identity.

No tracking, no analytics, no advertising

TeethTalk contains no analytics frameworks, no tracking, no advertising, and no third-party SDKs of any kind — no IDFA, no ad networks, no attribution services, and no crash-reporting services. The app does not track you across other apps or websites, and we do not sell or share any data for advertising purposes.

Apple Health data

With your explicit permission, TeethTalk:

• reads your toothbrushing history from Apple Health, to power its trends and insights; and
• writes completed brushing sessions to Apple Health, using the system toothbrushing event type.

Raw Health samples stay on your device and in your own Health database, which is controlled by Apple and by you. TeethTalk does not upload those samples. The app can calculate derived habit summaries on device, such as a Teeth Score, streak, session counts and average brush length. If you allow an optional AI chat or Insights outlook request, those derived summaries can be sent as described under Optional AI features below. They are never sold or used for advertising.

You can revoke this permission at any time in the Health app, under your profile → Privacy & Security → Apps & Services (Sources) → TeethTalk. Revoking it does not remove entries already written to Health; you can delete those in the Health app.

Data stored on your device

The following is stored in a local file on your device and never leaves it:

• Routine logs for mouthwash, flossing and whitening. (These have no Apple Health data type, so they exist only locally.)
• The name and personality settings for “Your Teeth”, including your onboarding quiz answers. These stay local unless you allow AI features, in which case the favorite tooth's nickname, number and personality are included in AI requests.
• Your goals, accent theme, achievements and other preferences.

Your Teeth Score is computed on your device from this history and your Health data. Deleting the app deletes all of this local data.

Optional AI features

AI chat and the Insights outlook are optional. The app asks for permission before the first AI network request, and you can withdraw permission under Settings → Privacy. Timers, the local Teeth Score, Apple Health integration, whitening and Premium access do not require AI.

When you send a chat message or request/load an Insights outlook, the following can be transmitted over HTTPS to a backend service we operate, hosted on Render:

• for chat, the message you type, recent conversation and a short on-device memory summary;
• your favorite tooth's nickname, tooth number and personality; and
• derived habit summaries, such as Teeth Score, streak, routine counts, average brush length and the most recent logged routines.

Raw Health samples and photos are never sent. Our backend first applies deterministic safety checks. Clear symptom, diagnosis, dosage, urgent-dental and emergency chat requests receive a fixed response and are not forwarded to OpenAI. Other AI content above is forwarded to OpenAI, which generates the reply or outlook returned to your device; generated text is checked again before it is returned. A random device token is sent only to our backend for rate limiting and is not forwarded to OpenAI. These automated checks are not clinical triage and cannot catch every unsafe message.

We do not use these conversations to train any model. OpenAI's API data-usage terms apply to data processed through their API.

If you decline AI features, no chat or outlook content is sent. Routine-completion celebrations use local scripted text and do not make AI requests.

Sub-processors

Device token for abuse prevention

Before the first AI request, the app registers once with our backend and receives a random, signed device token, which is stored in the iOS Keychain on your device. Its only purpose is to rate-limit AI requests and enforce the daily message allowance.

The token is not linked to an account or contact identity. The signed token stays in your Keychain; our backend verifies it without keeping a separate token record. The quota store keeps short-lived request counts keyed by the random device identifier inside the token. Registration is also rate-limited by IP address. Device and IP request-count keys expire after approximately 24 hours and are used only for security, cost control and abuse prevention — never for analytics, advertising or profiling.

Notifications

TeethTalk uses local notifications only — for example, to tell you a whitening timer has finished, or to remind you about a free trial. There is no push notification server and we send no marketing notifications.

Purchases

TeethTalk Premium is an auto-renewing subscription sold entirely through Apple's In-App Purchase system. Apple handles the transaction and charges your Apple Account. We never see or handle your payment details, card numbers or billing address. Subscription management and cancellation happen in your Apple Account settings. Apple's own privacy policy governs that transaction.

Data retention

• On your device: local routine logs and settings are kept until you delete them in the app or delete the app itself.
• In Apple Health: brushing sessions we wrote remain in your Health database until you delete them there. They are yours, not ours.
• On our backend: AI request content is processed to return a response and is not stored by us as a conversation history. Random device-ID and IP request counts used for rate limiting expire after approximately 24 hours.
• With sub-processors: retention of data processed through OpenAI's API is governed by OpenAI's API data-usage terms.

Your rights and choices

• Access and deletion of local data: your data lives on your device. Deleting the app removes everything TeethTalk stores locally. Health entries are deleted in the Health app.
• Health permissions: grant or revoke read and write access at any time in the Health app.
• Anything server-side: because we hold no personal identifiers, we generally cannot locate data about a specific person. If you have a question or a request about server-side data, email us at the address below and we will do what we can.

Children

TeethTalk is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will address it.

Apple privacy label summary

This summarises how TeethTalk maps to Apple's App Store privacy labels.

Medical and dental disclaimer

TeethTalk helps you time and track oral-care habits. It is not a medical device and does not provide medical or dental advice, diagnosis or treatment. AI replies can be inaccurate. Follow product labels and ask a qualified dental professional about symptoms, concerns or changes to your care.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app changes. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page, and material changes will be described here. Continued use of TeethTalk after an update means you accept the revised policy. This policy was last updated on 24 August 2026 to clarify optional AI chat and outlook processing, derived habit summaries, sub-processors and rate-limit identifiers.

Contact

Questions about this policy or about your data: patrick@monmouthconsulting.com.

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