Privacy policy
Return is built by an independent developer. Return has no account system and runs no advertising or analytics. This page describes exactly what the app does with information, and it is written to match what the app actually does — if you ever find a gap between the two, that is a bug, and you can write to support@returntoyou.app.
The short version
- No account — there is nothing to sign up for and no profile to delete.
- No ads, no trackers, no cookies — including on this website.
- Your conversation with Return resets on its own each day.
- Your name, intentions, and API key are encrypted on your device.
- Check-in timing stays on your phone unless you choose to share it.
What Return's servers collect
By default, nothing. With your own Anthropic API key — or with no key at all — Return's servers receive no information about you. There is no account, no analytics, and no advertising anywhere in the app.
Three features are the only ones that ever contact a Return server, and all three are optional and off until you turn them on:
Invite-code AI access
If you use a Return invite code instead of your own API key, your requests pass through Return's server (api.returntoyou.app) on the way to Anthropic. That server records only anonymous metadata — a one-way hash of your invite code and a count of tokens used — so the shared budget stays fair. It never logs or stores the content of your messages, and the request body is never written down.
Weekly pause lines
If you turn on weekly line downloads, the app fetches a shared set of written lines with an ordinary web request. That request carries no account, no identifier, and nothing about you. Turning the setting off deletes the downloaded lines from your phone.
Sending diagnostics
If something goes wrong and you choose to send a diagnostic report, the app uploads a short technical record — the app version, a recent error log, and the state of Return's background service. You can see the entire report before you send it. It contains no conversation content and no personal messages, and it is kept for at most 90 days to find and fix the problem.
What is sent to the AI when you use it
When you use a check-in or reflection, Return sends to Anthropic's servers: the app you opened (or a category label such as "a social app" if app names are private, which is the default), a rough part of the day (never exact times, and never how long you were in an app), your name if you added one, and any intentions or alternatives you have written.
If you turn off "Keep app names private," the exact names of apps are sent — except apps you have individually hidden in My Apps.
This goes to Anthropic either directly under your own API key, or, if you are using an invite code, through Return's server under Return's key (metadata-only, as above). In both cases Anthropic handles it under Anthropic's privacy terms. Nothing is sent when AI features are off.
What stays on your device
- Your API key — stored in the Android Keystore.
- Your name and written intentions — encrypted.
- Your conversation — reset automatically each day, and clearable at any time.
- Local check-in timing — kept on the phone and deletable in Settings.
Deleting your data
Settings → Privacy and data holds a full reset that removes everything Return stored on the device. Because Return has no account, there is nothing stored on a server to delete, and Google Play's account-deletion requirement does not apply — no account can exist in the first place.
Children
Return is not directed at children and is intended for adults.
Where this applies
Return is made in Québec and follows Québec's Law 25 and Canada's PIPEDA. Because the app collects no personal information by default and sets no cookies, there is no cookie banner — the absence is the compliance. Visitors from the EU and elsewhere are covered by the same simple fact: nothing about you is collected unless you turn on one of the optional features above.
Changes
If this policy changes, the effective date at the top changes with it, and the previous wording stays in the site's version history.
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