Your words, and where they go
A journal only works if you can trust it. Here is exactly what happens to what you write or say, in plain language.
The short version
- Your notes, plans and books are saved on your own device, in this browser. You can use EchoMuse without an account.
- If you choose to sign in, they are also saved to your account on a server in Canada, so they follow you between devices.
- To reply to you, the app sends the text you just wrote to Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic.
- No ads, no tracking, no analytics, no selling of data.
Who runs EchoMuse
EchoMuse is run by Nilvan Marques, based in Canada. For any question or request about your privacy, write to nilvanmsjunior@gmail.com.
What stays on your device
Journal notes, steps, plans, your Book Finder answers, your saved books and your summaries of books you've read are stored in this browser on this device. Unless you sign in, they are not uploaded to us. That also means we can't recover them: if you clear your browser data or switch devices, they are gone. On an iPhone, Safari may also clear a site's saved data after about a week without a visit; EchoMuse added to the Home Screen keeps it. To let EchoMuse open without signal, your browser keeps a copy of the app's own pages and code (never your words, and never anything sent to Claude).
If you sign in
Signing in is optional. If you do, we store your email address and a copy of your notes, steps, plans, saved books and Book Finder answers in a database run by Supabase, on servers in Canada. The database is set up so each account can only read its own entries. We don't read your journal. As the operator we have the technical ability to access the database, and would only do so to fix a problem you ask us about or if the law requires it.
To sign you in we email you a link, with no password. Signing out removes the journal from that device and keeps it in your account.
What is sent to Claude
When you do one of these things, the text involved passes through our server to Anthropic's Claude so it can write a reply:
- Save a note: that note, plus up to five of your recent notes so the reply can notice patterns, and the titles and one-line descriptions of your books so it can spot book material.
- Check spelling and grammar: the text in the box, only when you tap that button.
- Polish this: that one passage from your book, only when you tap a polish option. Your original words are always kept.
- Read my week so far: your notes and finished steps from the last seven days, only when you tap that button.
- Ask for a step or a plan, or answer "Tell me more": the note or goal, and your answers in that conversation.
- Find your books: your answers to the six questions.
- Work on a step: the step and what you've written for it, if you tap "Help me start" or "Make it smaller".
- Grow a book: the book's title and premise, what it grew from, and your answers for that book. "Look in my kept notes" sends only the notes you marked "Keep for a book".
- Summarize a book you've read: what you typed about the book and, if you added one, your photo of it (made smaller on your device first). If you tap "Keep this book", the summary and mind map are saved on this device only, with a small copy of the photo; otherwise nothing is kept. They are not saved to your account, and they stay on the device when you sign out; the erase button below removes them.
- Read it as a book: that book's title and premise and everything you wrote for it, the first time you open it and when you tap "Update the chapters". The reply is chapter titles and short linking lines, which are always marked as written by EchoMuse.
Our server passes the text along and returns the reply. It does not keep a copy. Anthropic handles the text under its own terms, which say content sent this way is not used to train its models by default. You can read Anthropic's privacy policy.
If you'd rather a thought never leave your device, don't save it here.
Your voice
We never receive audio. When you use the mic in the app, your browser turns speech into text, and the browser's maker (for example Google or Apple) may process the audio to do that. The mic on your phone's keyboard works the same way, through the keyboard's maker. In the EchoMuse iPhone app, Apple's speech recognition does this on the phone or on Apple's servers; in the Android app, the phone's speech service (usually Google's) does it.
What a website always sees
EchoMuse is hosted by Vercel. Like any website, the host receives your IP address and basic technical details when your browser connects, and keeps short-lived logs. We also use your IP address, held briefly in memory, to limit how many requests one visitor can make per hour. EchoMuse sets no advertising or tracking cookies. If you sign in, your browser keeps a sign-in token so you stay signed in.
Where this happens
If you sign in, your saved journal is stored in Canada. Vercel and Anthropic may process data in the United States, so text you send for a reply can leave Canada.
If you write about being in danger
If a note suggests you may be in danger or thinking about harming yourself, the app shows crisis resources instead of its usual reply. This is automatic. No person reads your notes and nobody is alerted, so please reach out to someone you trust or a crisis line (call or text 988 in Canada and the US). EchoMuse is not therapy or medical care.
Your books
Notes are private by default. A note is only read for books if you tap "Keep for a book" on it, answer a book's question, or use the six questions. You can undo "Keep for a book" on any note in the Journal tab.
Who it's for
EchoMuse is meant for adults, 18 and over.
Your choices
- Delete any note from the Journal tab, and any goal from the Plans tab.
- Erase everything EchoMuse has saved on this device with the button below.
- If you signed in, delete everything stored in your account from the Account page. To also remove your email address from our records, write to us.
- Ask us what we hold about you, or ask for a correction. Without an account, that is normally nothing beyond short-lived host logs.
- If you're in Canada and unhappy with an answer, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
When this changes
If we change how your words are handled, this page will say so first.