App privacy policy

AEIOU privacy policy

For AEIOU on iPhone and iPad. Effective from 1 January 2026. Last updated 3 May 2026.

AEIOU is an intelligent AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) keyboard for iPhone and iPad, built by Chardie. This page explains exactly what AEIOU does — and does not do — with your data. It is written to match the app's actual technical behaviour, and serves as the privacy policy submitted to Apple's App Store.

The short version. AEIOU collects no personal data. Everything you type, every phrase you pin, every blink calibration lives on your device. Camera frames used for blink detection are processed in memory by Apple's ARKit framework and never stored or transmitted. There is no Chardie account and no analytics SDK in the app.

Who operates AEIOU

AEIOU is built and operated by Chardie, based in Manchester, United Kingdom. Chardie is the data controller for any personal data processed in connection with the app — though, as set out below, that processing is intentionally minimal.

Data we collect: none

Chardie does not collect any personal data through AEIOU. We have no servers that AEIOU contacts. We do not have a Chardie account system. We do not track you, identify you, or build any profile of your behaviour.

In Apple's App Store privacy taxonomy, the relevant declaration is "Data Not Collected".

What's stored on your device

AEIOU stores the following on your device, in standard iOS storage (UserDefaults) provided by Apple, scoped to the AEIOU app:

App settings — your preferences for theme, voice, rate, pitch, scanning behaviour, and so on.
Pinned phrases — phrases you have explicitly chosen to keep one tap away.
Word and phrase learning — small frequency counts that let predictions improve as you type. Capped to keep storage bounded.
Recents — the most recent sentences you have spoken, so you can repeat them with one tap.
Blink calibration — the threshold and timing parameters AEIOU has learned for your blink, so the feature works accurately for you.

All of this is on your device. None of it is transmitted to Chardie. Deleting AEIOU removes it. Resetting it inside the app's settings removes it.

Camera and blink detection

If you turn on blink detection, AEIOU uses the front camera to run Apple's ARKit face-tracking. ARKit returns the "eye blink" blendshape value to AEIOU, and AEIOU uses that signal to decide whether you have blinked deliberately on the highlighted key.

Camera frames themselves stay inside Apple's ARKit framework and are processed in memory on-device. AEIOU does not record video, does not save still images, and does not transmit any camera data anywhere. iOS shows the green dot in the status bar whenever the camera is active, which lets you verify this for yourself.

You can disable blink detection at any time from inside AEIOU. You can also revoke camera access entirely in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera.

Speech and Personal Voice

AEIOU speaks the text you compose using Apple's AVSpeechSynthesizer. Speech happens locally on your device using the system voices installed by iOS. AEIOU does not send your text to any speech service operated by Chardie or any third party.

On iOS 17 and later, AEIOU can read text in your Personal Voice, an Apple feature that lets you record a model of your own voice. Personal Voice is recorded by you in iOS Settings → Accessibility → Personal Voice, not in AEIOU. Apple stores the voice model on your device and protects it under your device authentication. AEIOU only requests access to use voices you have already created, and that access can be granted or revoked at any time in iOS Settings.

iCloud sync (optional)

If you enable iCloud sync, AEIOU stores a small portable subset of your data — primarily your pinned phrases — using Apple's NSUbiquitousKeyValueStore. This places the data in your own iCloud account, encrypted by Apple, so that a paired iPhone or iPad signed in to the same iCloud account can pick it up.

Chardie cannot see this data. It is your iCloud, your encryption keys, and entirely under your control. You can disable iCloud sync inside AEIOU at any time, and you can revoke iCloud access for AEIOU in iOS Settings → [your name] → iCloud.

Third parties

AEIOU does not embed any third-party analytics, advertising, attribution, crash-reporting, A/B-testing, or feature-flagging SDKs. The only external code in the app is Apple's own iOS frameworks (SwiftUI, UIKit, Foundation, ARKit, AVFoundation, NaturalLanguage, FoundationModels, Combine).

Use by children and vulnerable users

AEIOU is designed to be safe to use for people of any age, including children, and for users who may rely on a carer to set the app up. Because AEIOU collects no personal data, there is no Chardie-side profile that could be built about a child or vulnerable user. Carers and parents are responsible for any iOS Family Sharing controls they wish to apply at the device level.

Permissions AEIOU requests

Camera — only if you choose to use blink detection. Used live by ARKit to detect blinks, in memory, on-device.
Speech audio output — to play synthesised speech aloud through the device. No microphone access is requested.
Personal Voice (iOS 17+) — only if you have created a Personal Voice and choose to use it for AEIOU's speech.
iCloud — only if you turn on AEIOU's iCloud sync. Uses your existing iCloud account.

AEIOU does not request access to your contacts, calendar, photos, location, microphone, health data, motion data, Bluetooth devices, or local network.

Apple privacy manifest

AEIOU ships with an Apple PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy manifest declaring exactly which Apple "required reason" APIs it touches and why. Today that manifest declares:

NSPrivacyTracking — false. AEIOU does not track users across apps or websites.
NSPrivacyTrackingDomains — empty. AEIOU does not contact any tracking domains.
NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypes — empty. AEIOU collects no data types.
NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes — UserDefaults under reason CA92.1 (access info from same app, per Apple documentation), used for word/phrase learning history, blink calibration parameters, and the user's app settings.

Your rights under UK GDPR

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to ask whether we hold personal data about you, to ask us to correct it, to ask us to delete it, and to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) if you believe we have mishandled it.

Because Chardie does not collect personal data through AEIOU, there is nothing on Chardie's side to disclose, correct, or delete — your data is on your device. To remove the on-device data, delete AEIOU from your device, or use the reset controls inside the app.

Changes to this policy

If we materially change how AEIOU handles data, we will update this page, change the "last updated" date at the top, and submit the updated policy to the App Store. Where appropriate we will also surface the change inside AEIOU itself the next time you open it.

Contact

Questions, concerns, or requests under UK GDPR — please email hello@chardie.co.uk. We aim to reply within five working days.

Data controller: Chardie · Manchester, United Kingdom · chardie.co.uk