Privacy
Refs Privacy Policy
Last updated: February 14, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how Refs collects, uses, shares, and protects information when you use the Refs mobile app and related services.
Contact
Who We Are
Refs is currently operated by John Heald.
We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
Information We Collect
Account information
- Email address
- Name or display name you provide
- Authentication/session data needed to keep you signed in
Content you create
- Text notes
- Voice notes and voice transcripts
- Photos you capture or select
- Lists, references, and related metadata
- Content you choose to publish via public links
Optional permissions data
- Microphone data when you record voice notes, including lock-screen recording behavior
- Camera and photo library content when you capture or select photos
- Photo library change events if you enable automatic photo sync
- Foreground location when you grant location permission
Technical and usage data
- Device/app metadata for reliability, debugging, and abuse prevention
- Request logs and timestamps
How We Use Information
- Provide core app features: capture, organize, and retrieve your notes and references
- Authenticate users and secure accounts
- Process voice notes through transcription and structuring
- Process photos and screenshots through classification, summarization, and organization
- Add optional location context to notes and photos
- Enrich references, such as finding canonical titles, links, and images
- Enable publishing and sharing when you explicitly choose to publish content
- Maintain service security, reliability, and abuse prevention
- Comply with legal obligations
Service Providers and Third Parties
To operate Refs, we use third-party processors and infrastructure partners for cloud authentication, database, storage, delivery infrastructure, AI and transcription, mapping/geocoding, place metadata, and link enrichment.
When these providers are used, they receive only the data needed to perform the requested task, such as note text, reference queries, links, images, audio, or location context you choose to share.
Publishing and Public Links
Refs allows you to publish certain content, such as pages, lists, and moments, to unlisted public links. If you publish content, that content and selected author metadata may be visible to anyone with the link.
You control whether to publish. Do not publish sensitive personal information.
How We Share Information
We do not sell your personal information.
We may share information with service providers described above to run the product, if required by law or legal process, to protect rights or safety, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or asset sale.
Data Retention
We keep data for as long as needed to provide Refs and for legitimate business or legal purposes, such as security, fraud prevention, and dispute resolution.
You may request account or data deletion at delete@refs.nyc. We will delete or de-identify data unless retention is legally required.
Security
We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards, such as access controls and encrypted transport, to protect data. No method of storage or transmission is 100% secure.
Your Rights and Choices
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights to access your personal information, correct inaccurate information, request deletion, object to or limit certain processing, and withdraw consent for optional permissions via device settings.
To exercise rights, contact privacy@refs.nyc.
International Transfers
Refs infrastructure is primarily operated in the United States. If you access Refs from another region, your information may be transferred to and processed in the U.S. and other jurisdictions.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the Last updated date and provide notice where appropriate.