Privacy Policy

Who we are

Cuate is made by Arc Labs Holdings Inc. ("Arc Labs", "we", "us") in Pasadena, California. This policy covers the Cuate app for iPhone and Apple Watch, the relay service it uses (relay.cuate.app), and this website.

What stays on your iPhone

The following is stored on your device, and we do not receive it:

• Your emergency contacts: their names, phone numbers and any notes you add.
• Check-ins: your timer and check-in settings and their history.
• Your recordings, and the evidence your contacts send you.
• Location history from your alerts.
• Health data. If you allow it, Cuate reads your sleep and workout data so it can pause check-in reminders while you are asleep or exercising. It is read on your device and never leaves it. Cuate does not write anything to Health.
• Your settings.

When you send an alert

To contacts who use Cuate

The alert is sent as a push notification through our relay and Apple Push Notification service. It carries the name you set in Cuate, the alert message and your location, and during an active alert, updates to your location. The relay passes the alert to Apple for delivery; it does not store what the alert says.

If a contact has asked to hear about every check-in, a short notice that you checked in, with your name, is sent the same way.

To contacts who don't use Cuate

Cuate prepares a text message on your phone with your message, your location and a map link. Nothing is sent until you tap Send, and the message goes through your carrier like any other text. A contact who opens the map link is using Google Maps, under Google's privacy policy.

Recordings and evidence

Recordings are made on your phone and encrypted on your phone. While you record, Cuate sends them to your contacts in short pieces, so that what has been recorded reaches them even if your phone is taken.

• Contacts who use Cuate. Each piece is encrypted for that contact's device before it leaves yours. Our relay holds the encrypted pieces until the contact's phone fetches them, and cannot decrypt them. Alongside each piece it keeps what it needs to deliver it: your name as set in Cuate, the device identifiers of sender and recipient, the type of recording, the time, and a checksum used to verify the file. Pieces and these details are deleted automatically shortly after your contact receives them, and otherwise within about three days.
• Contacts who don't use Cuate. Cuate seals the recording in a passphrase-protected file, uploads it to our relay, and adds a download link and the passphrase to the text message you send. The passphrase is not sent to us, so we cannot open the file. The link record holds your name as set in Cuate and the contact's phone number, and is deleted when the link expires (after 72 hours unless a shorter time is set).
• Contacts nearby. When both phones are close, Cuate can hand encrypted pieces directly to a contact's phone over the local network, without our servers.

A contact who receives your evidence can choose to save it to their Photos library.

What our relay keeps

To deliver alerts to you, the relay keeps a record for your device:

• a random device identifier created by the app;
• your device's Apple push token;
• a public encryption key, so contacts can encrypt evidence for you;
• when the record was last updated.

It also keeps a short activity log used to prevent abuse: the time, the kind of request, the sending device identifier, the number of recipients and whether it succeeded. The log holds no message, location or recording.

The relay runs on Cloudflare, and Apple delivers push notifications. Like any internet service, they process network information such as IP addresses to carry the requests.

Permissions, and what each one is for

• Location: shared with your contacts during an alert. Cuate uses location in the background only during an active alert, and stops when you cancel it.
• Camera and microphone: to record during an emergency and during Door Protocol.
• Motion: to detect crashes and falls, on your device.
• Health: to read sleep and workouts, as described above.
• Local network: to deliver evidence directly to nearby contacts.
• Photos: to save evidence to your library when you choose to.
• NFC: to read a Cuate safety tag you tap; the tag is handled on your device.
• Face ID: to unlock Cuate. Face ID is handled by iOS, and Cuate never receives face data.
• Notifications: to show alerts and check-in reminders.

What we don't do

• We don't ask you to create an account
• We don't show advertising
• We don't use analytics, tracking or advertising SDKs
• We don't sell your information or share it for advertising
• We can't open your recordings

This website

cuate.app uses no cookies, analytics or third-party scripts. If you choose a language, the choice is saved in your browser and never sent to us. Our host, Vercel, processes standard request information such as IP addresses to serve the site.

Children

Cuate is meant for people 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us.

Your choices

• See and change your contacts, check-ins and recordings in the app at any time.
• Delete contacts and recordings in the app. Deleting the app removes everything Cuate stored on your phone.
• Ask us to delete your device's record from the relay by writing to the address below.

Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, we update the date at the top. Significant changes will also be noted in the app.

Contact

Arc Labs Holdings Inc., Pasadena, California
Email: hello@arclabs.ai