Your data lives on your device
Most apps keep your data on their servers, and your phone is just a window into it. Unity is built the opposite way: your personal database is stored on your phone, and the work happens there too.
Stored on your phone
Your tasks, journals, trackers, and program progress are saved in a private database on your device. We don't sync this data to our servers.
Processed on your phone
The engine that builds your programs, schedules your tasks, and reacts to your progress runs on your device — not on a server.
Yours by default
Backups are off until you turn them on. If you do, your backup goes to your personal iCloud — never to Unity's servers.
Why Unity asks you to keep the app open
When you install a program, Unity builds it right on your phone: it creates your stages, tasks, reminders, and the rules that adapt the program to you. Because there is no copy of your program data in our cloud, there is no server doing this work for you — your phone does it.
iOS pauses apps shortly after you close them. If you close Unity in the middle of setup, the work pauses too — and a setup that stays interrupted for too long may have to start over. Keeping the app open for that one minute avoids all of this.
So when you see the setup notice in the app, just keep Unity open for up to a minute. That small wait is the price of keeping your data entirely on your device — we think it's worth it.
What leaves your phone: AI requests
Unity's coaching, daily messages, and program intelligence are powered by large language models. We want to be straightforward with you: today's phones can't run models this capable on the device, so AI requests are sent to AI providers through our server.
Here is how we keep that as private as possible:
- Zero data retention. The AI models we use are configured so the providers keep no record of your requests — each one is processed to generate your response, not stored on their side.
- Never used for training. Your requests are not stored as history on the provider's side and are not used to train AI models.
- Only what's needed. A request includes only the context required to give you a useful answer — your database as a whole stays on your phone.
Conversations you have with Unity's AI assistant also travel through our servers to be processed, as described in our Privacy Policy.
The day phones can run these models locally, this design means we're ready to bring the AI on-device too. The rest of the system is already there.
What stays, what leaves
Stays on your device
- Your task and project database
- Journals and tracker entries
- Program progress and stages
- The program engine and all its rules
Leaves with safeguards
- AI requests — zero data retention at the providers, never used for training
- Conversations with Unity's AI assistant — processed through our servers
- Audio versions of your messages — kept in our media store so they don't have to be regenerated
- Optional backups — to your personal iCloud, not our servers
- Account basics like sign-in and subscription status — covered in our Privacy Policy
Backups are yours, and optional
Because your database lives on your phone, you decide what happens to it. If you opt in to backups, Unity backs your data up to your personal Apple iCloud account — the same private storage your photos use. It never touches Unity's servers.
Don't want backups? Don't turn them on. Your data simply stays where it has always been: on your device.
Questions?
Read the full Privacy Policy or reach us at privacy@theunity.ai — we're happy to explain how any part of this works.