Privacy policy

This policy describes how ChatOBD handles information in its iPhone app and on its website. The information processed depends on the features you use, your permissions, and your sync and analytics settings.

Information used to provide the app

• Your account. Clerk processes sign-in details, including your email address and a name when your sign-in provider supplies one. Account identifiers connect your account to ChatOBD’s backend and subscription services.
• Your vehicle. ChatOBD works with vehicle profiles, VINs, odometer readings, trouble codes, and available OBD sensor readings. Vehicle information can be included in AI requests and synced trips. VIN decoding sends the VIN to NHTSA’s vPIC service without your ChatOBD account identifier.
• Location and trips. With location permission, the app can record precise coordinates and trip routes. If you enable trip sync on a device, routes, places, and associated trip information are sent to Convex and linked to your account. Synced trip data is readable by the server; it is not end-to-end encrypted.
• ChatOBD AI and your permission. Chat, dictation, Siri questions, trouble-code explanations, and generated car pictures use third-party AI services. Nothing is sent to them until you tap Allow on the in-app screen that names who receives your data and what they get. If you choose Not now, AI features stay off and the rest of the app keeps working.
• What ChatOBD AI uses. When you use an AI feature, ChatOBD sends what you type, dictate (the recording is transcribed), or ask Siri, along with your name; your vehicle’s details, mileage, trouble codes, and readings; photos and files you attach; your area, recent drive names and dates, and your exact location when you search for nearby places or in an emergency; and the memories ChatOBD has saved about you and your car.
• Where AI requests go. Requests pass through ChatOBD’s Convex gateway, which keeps usage counts and request metadata but not the content. The gateway sends them to OpenRouter, which routes them to OpenAI for answers, transcription, and regenerated car pictures, and to Google for automatically generated car pictures. Car pictures receive only your vehicle’s year, make, model, trim, series, body style, and color, plus any appearance notes you add. OpenRouter does not store prompts or responses. OpenAI does not train on this data and deletes it within 30 days, unless the law requires it to keep it longer; other provider retention follows the applicable provider policies. ChatOBD does not keep your chats on its servers; they stay on your iPhone. This content is not end-to-end encrypted.
• Optional live voice. If you opt in and start an available voice session, microphone audio and spoken results pass through ChatOBD’s authenticated relay to OpenAI. Read-only task selection and explanations may send short transcripts and the requested, minimized vehicle evidence to OpenRouter and its selected model provider. ChatOBD does not save the session recording or transcript; provider retention follows the applicable provider and project policies. Muting keeps the session open. End voice stops local microphone capture and playback and requests provider closure; provider closure and final usage may remain unconfirmed.
• Glovebox. When you enable Glovebox sync, records and attachments are encrypted on your device before upload to Convex. Their contents use end-to-end encryption. The server still processes the account association, encrypted file sizes, and sync metadata needed to store and deliver them. If you explicitly share or submit content to another feature, that destination’s processing applies.
• Subscriptions. Apple processes App Store payments. ChatOBD, Convex, and Superwall use purchase and entitlement information to verify access, restore purchases, and manage subscriptions. ChatOBD does not receive your full payment-card details from Apple.

Analytics and service diagnostics

Crash and hang reports. When Share crash reports is enabled, ChatOBD uses Apple’s MetricKit to send technical crash and hang reports to Convex so we can diagnose failures and improve reliability. Reports include app and iOS versions, device model, crash or hang details, and sanitized call stacks. They do not contain your account identifier, chat content, vehicle data, or trip routes. A random installation identifier is used only for upload rate limiting and is not stored with reports; it resets when you turn reporting off. Reports are retained for up to 90 days. This setting is separate from Product Analytics. Turning it off discards reports waiting to upload and stops future uploads; it does not delete reports already received.

Superwall also processes account and device identifiers, subscription and paywall interactions, device and app details, an approximate city or region derived from your IP address, and SDK timing and error diagnostics. This supports subscriptions, paywall operation, and analytics. Its SDK collection is separate from the Product Analytics setting.

When app analytics is enabled, ChatOBD sends fixed-schema feature and screen events, connection and scan outcomes, and limited technical metadata to Convex. Convex forwards selected events to PostHog to help us understand usage and reliability. AI analytics include the model, token counts, cost, latency, and completion status; they do not include the prompt, response, photos, audio, or raw tool payloads.

Before sign-in, app analytics uses a randomly generated identifier stored on the device. After sign-in, those events can be associated with a pseudonymous account identifier. Pseudonymous does not mean anonymous: the backend can associate this identifier with your account.

You can turn off Product Analytics in the app’s Settings. Turning it off stops future optional product events sent by the app. Backend subscription lifecycle events, including the product, renewal state, and billing status, are separately forwarded to PostHog; the current device setting does not stop that forwarding. The setting also does not disable processing needed to authenticate, provide AI features, verify subscriptions, enforce usage limits, or secure the service.

ChatOBD does not use these data for cross-app advertising tracking or sell these data to data brokers.

Website visits and the waitlist

Cloudflare hosts the website and provides security and form protection. If you join the waitlist, we process your email address and confirmation state to send access-related emails through Resend. Website analytics, when enabled, use PostHog with automatic interaction capture, session replay, person profiles, and persistent browser storage disabled. Hosting and security providers process technical request information to deliver and protect the site. Some website fonts load from Google Fonts, which receives the network request needed to deliver them.

Service providers

Our service providers include Clerk for authentication; Convex for backend processing, account data, and sync; OpenRouter for routing AI requests; OpenAI for AI answers, transcription, regenerated car pictures, optional live voice, and gated routing experiments; Google for generated car pictures; Apple and Superwall for purchases and subscriptions; PostHog for analytics; Cloudflare for website hosting and security; Resend for waitlist email; Google Fonts for website fonts; and NHTSA for vehicle information. Information sent to these services may be processed outside your country.

Your choices and deletion

You can change camera, microphone, photo, Bluetooth, and location permissions in iOS Settings. Trip sync and Glovebox sync are optional. Disabling sync stops future syncing; it does not by itself delete previously uploaded records.

You can review what ChatOBD AI receives, or withdraw your permission, at any time in ChatOBD Settings › Privacy › Share data with ChatOBD AI. Turning it off stops a reply in progress and blocks new AI requests, including chat, dictation, Siri questions, code explanations, and new car pictures. Your chats and vehicle data stay on your iPhone. Signing out keeps your choice on the device; deleting your account or removing ChatOBD data from the iPhone resets it, and you are asked again before any data is sent.

Live voice is optional and read-only. You can turn off voice consent in ChatOBD Settings. Turning it off stops local capture and playback, requests closure of active sessions and blocks new voice sessions. If account opt-out cannot be confirmed online, the device keeps voice off until that request succeeds or you explicitly opt in again. Existing verified results may remain readable for the same account and vehicle.

You can request account deletion from Account in ChatOBD Settings. Deletion covers ChatOBD account data and initiates cleanup in the connected services; some cleanup is asynchronous. Apple retains its own transaction records. Deleting ChatOBD or your ChatOBD account does not cancel an Apple subscription—manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings.

To request access, correction, or deletion of personal information, contact the privacy address below. We may need to verify that the request concerns your account. Your rights and any applicable exceptions depend on where you live.

Information is retained as needed to provide the features you use, maintain service security and billing records, and complete deletion. Local files and copies you export or share are subject to the controls of the device or service holding them.

Contact and policy changes

For privacy questions or requests concerning your personal data, email privacy@chatobd.com. For general app support, email support@chatobd.com.

We will update this page when our practices change and identify the effective date of the published policy.