Near & Dear is built to help people stay connected through simple wellness check-ins. The person being checked on is called a Star. The person checking in on them is called a Companion.
This Privacy Policy explains what information Near & Dear handles, where it is stored, when it is shared, and how users can control it. It covers the Near & Dear iPhone app and the Near & Dear website.
Near & Dear is operated by Thomason Network LLC. In this policy, "Near & Dear," "we," "us," and "our" mean Thomason Network LLC.
The Short Version
Near & Dear is designed around a simple privacy principle: personal check-in information should stay on the user's own devices whenever possible.
- We do not sell personal information.
- We do not use personal information for advertising.
- We do not track users across other apps or websites.
- Check-in history, health readings, messages, reports, names, personal background, medication names, food preferences, and relationship details are stored on-device.
- A Star's information is shared with a Companion only when the Star is connected to that Companion or chooses to share it.
- Near & Dear may use cloud services to relay encrypted data, send notifications, verify subscriptions, generate non-personal app language, process de-identified patterns, record medical-disclaimer acknowledgments, and receive support feedback.
- AI providers do not receive names, contact information, addresses, device identifiers, account identifiers, medication names tied to a person, private messages between Stars and Companions, or other information intended to identify a specific Star or Companion.
- Health-adjacent information is not used for advertising, marketing, sale to data brokers, or unrelated data mining.
Information Near & Dear Handles
Depending on how Near & Dear is set up and which features are turned on, the app may handle the following information.
Profile and setup information
This may include:
- Star and Companion names or preferred names
- Relationship and household context
- Wake-up and wind-down times
- Check-in preferences
- Interests, personal details, and background information used to make the app feel familiar
- Emergency contact or home address information, if provided
- Companion-to-Star connection details
Check-in and wellness information
This may include:
- Mood check-ins
- Food check-ins
- Blood pressure readings
- Blood sugar readings
- Heart rate or pulse readings
- Medication check-in responses
- Notification and reminder status
- Reports, insights, trends, and alert history generated from the above information
Near & Dear uses commercial AI models to help build reports, generate insights, and identify trends from check-in data. AI-generated content can be inaccurate, so it should be reviewed rather than relied on as the sole basis for care or support decisions.
Near & Dear is not a medical device and is not a substitute for professional medical care, emergency services, or in-person judgment.
Messages and feedback
Near & Dear may handle:
- Messages between a Star and a Companion
- Star replies to Companion messages
- Questions a Companion asks Angel, Near & Dear's in-app assistant, about a Star's check-in patterns
- Feedback submitted to Near & Dear support
Private Star-Companion messages are stored on the users' devices and are not sent to AI providers.
Subscription and purchase information
Near & Dear uses Apple's StoreKit system for subscriptions and purchases. Apple processes payments. Near & Dear may receive limited subscription verification information from Apple, such as product identifiers, transaction status, and signed purchase records needed to confirm access to paid features.
We do not receive or store full payment card numbers.
Device and service information
To operate the app, Near & Dear may handle limited technical information such as:
- Push notification tokens used to deliver alerts
- App authentication or session tokens stored securely in the device Keychain
- Server request information needed for security, abuse prevention, rate limiting, debugging, and service monitoring
- Basic website access logs
Where Information Is Stored
On the user's device
Near & Dear stores the main app data on-device using Apple's local app storage technologies. This includes personal profile details, check-in responses, health-adjacent readings, medication check-in information, messages, reports, and locally generated insights.
On a connected Companion's device
When a Star is connected to a Companion, the Companion's device stores its own local copy of the Star information that is shared through the app. This is what lets the Companion review activity, alerts, reports, and messages.
Apple's services
Near & Dear uses Apple services for:
- App Store subscriptions and purchase management
- Apple Push Notification service for notifications
- iCloud/CloudKit relay records used to pass encrypted app data between paired devices
- iOS permission controls such as notifications and location
CloudKit relay records are used as a delivery mechanism, not as a permanent health record, backup, or profile store. The app encrypts the content before relay. Near & Dear is designed so relay payloads are temporary and deleted after delivery where technically possible. Near & Dear does not use iCloud to store a permanent copy of a Star's personal health information.
Near & Dear servers
Near & Dear uses server services to operate parts of the app that cannot run only on a user's device. These services are used for:
- AI request proxying, so AI provider API keys are not stored in the app
- Subscription verification and app session token issuance
- Push notification routing
- Invite link and invite code handling
- Feedback delivery to support
- Recording that a device has acknowledged the app's in-app medical disclaimer, so we have a durable record independent of any single device
- Security, reliability, rate limiting, and operational monitoring
Near & Dear servers are not intended to store a permanent copy of a Star's check-in history, health readings, reports, or personal profile. If a server endpoint receives information only to service a request in real time, Near & Dear limits that use to the request and does not use it for advertising, marketing, or unrelated profiling.
How Information Is Shared
Sharing between Star and Companion
When a Star and Companion connect, Near & Dear shares the Star's app information with that Companion as needed to provide the service. That may include check-ins, alerts, readings, reports, messages, schedule information, and selected profile details. The app makes this sharing clear during setup, invitation, or connection flows before the sharing begins.
If a Star starts using Near & Dear alone and later connects with a Companion, the app may ask whether to share:
- Everything, meaning earlier history may be shared; or
- Starting Today, meaning only new activity going forward is shared.
The Star should choose the option that matches what they are comfortable sharing.
AI providers
Near & Dear may use cloud AI providers, such as Anthropic or OpenAI, to generate varied app language and help analyze de-identified patterns. The app discloses this before AI-assisted processing is used for a Star's information.
Before data is sent to an AI provider, Near & Dear is designed to remove personal identifiers and avoid sending information that could reasonably identify a specific person. AI requests may include things like:
- A request for alternate wording for a check-in question
- A list of readings without a name or account identifier
- De-identified counts, categories, or trends
Near & Dear does not intentionally send AI providers:
- Names or nicknames
- Addresses or precise location
- Phone numbers or email addresses
- Device identifiers or user account identifiers
- Medication names tied to a person
- Private Star-Companion message content
- Personal background details that could identify someone
Near & Dear selects AI providers based in part on data protection commitments, including restrictions against training on submitted API data where available. AI provider use is limited to providing, securing, supporting, or improving Near & Dear, and not for advertising or tracking.
Near & Dear logs the requests sent to and responses received from AI providers, for quality, reliability, and troubleshooting purposes. This content is de-identified before being sent, as described above. These logs are retained on Near & Dear's servers and are not sold, shared with advertisers, or used for purposes other than operating and improving the service.
Push notifications
Near & Dear uses push notifications to send reminders and alerts. Notification content is minimized.
Routine and alert notifications are designed to avoid including full health data in the notification payload. In urgent situations, the Companion's device uses its local app data to show more detail after the notification is opened.
If a Star confirms an emergency flow, Near & Dear may send an urgent or critical alert to the connected Companion. That alert may include the Star's name, home address if provided, and current location if the Star grants location access, so the Companion can respond quickly. Location is not required for general use of Near & Dear; if location permission is not granted, emergency alerts may omit current location and may rely on information the Star entered manually, such as a home address.
Location
Near & Dear does not use background location tracking. If location is used, it is requested as "While Using" location access and is intended for specific escalation situations, such as helping a Companion respond when a Star indicates they need urgent help.
Location is not used for advertising.
Feedback and support
If a user sends feedback or contacts support, we may receive the information they choose to send. Feedback submitted through the app may be delivered to our support email provider. We use feedback to respond to users, troubleshoot problems, operate support, and improve Near & Dear. Feedback may include the contact information and message content the user chooses to provide.
Users should not include unnecessary sensitive information in support messages.
Service providers
Near & Dear uses service providers to operate the app and website. These may include Apple, cloud hosting providers, AI providers, email delivery providers, and monitoring tools. These providers are used only to provide, secure, support, or improve Near & Dear. We require service providers that receive user information from us to protect that information in a way that is consistent with this Privacy Policy and applicable privacy requirements.
We do not share personal information with advertisers or data brokers.
Law enforcement and legal requests
We may access, preserve, and disclose information we hold if we have a good-faith belief it is required by law, such as a valid subpoena, court order, or other lawful legal process, or if necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Near & Dear, our users, or the public. Given Near & Dear's on-device-only architecture, our ability to respond to such a request is generally limited to information that reaches our servers in the first place — server logs, subscription and account records, and similar operational data described elsewhere in this policy — not check-in history, health readings, or messages that stay on a user's own device.
Invite Links and Invite Codes
Near & Dear uses invite links and invite codes to connect a Star and Companion.
Invite links may contain an opaque token used to complete setup. Invite codes are short-lived codes that help a Star join when a full link is inconvenient. These systems may temporarily store connection information and encryption material on Near & Dear's server so the Star's device can complete pairing.
Invite codes are designed to expire quickly and be deleted after use. Invite links expire after a limited time. Users should send invites only to the person they intend to connect with.
Security
Near & Dear uses technical safeguards intended to protect user information, including:
- On-device storage for personal app data
- Device Keychain storage for sensitive tokens and relay keys
- Encryption for Star-Companion relay payloads
- HTTPS for network communication
- Rate limiting and abuse prevention on server endpoints
- Limited notification payloads where practical
- Server-side checks intended to block requests that appear to contain personal information before forwarding them to an AI provider
No app or network service can guarantee perfect security. Users should protect their devices with a passcode, keep iOS updated, and be careful about who receives invite links or codes.
Data Retention and Deletion
On-device data
Personal app data remains on the user's device until it is deleted through the app, removed by an app lifecycle event, or deleted when the app is uninstalled.
Connected Companion copies
When a Star disconnects from a Companion, the Star's check-in and health data is deleted from the Companion's device.
When a Companion removes a Star, the Companion's local copy of that Star's shared data is removed from the Companion's active monitoring experience. The Star's own data remains on the Star's device unless the Star's account is no longer covered by an active subscription and the applicable grace period expires.
Grace periods after disconnection
If a Star is no longer connected to the Companion whose subscription was covering them, Near & Dear may give the Star a grace period to start their own subscription and keep their access and data.
If the Star starts their own subscription during the grace period, their data is kept and the app can continue. If the grace period expires without active subscription coverage, the app may delete the Star's local check-in history, health readings, messages, and reports.
Relay and invite data
Encrypted relay records, invite codes, and invite link tokens are all temporary: relay records are deleted once retrieved by the recipient's device, and invite codes and links are automatically deleted once used or after they expire.
Server logs
Near & Dear keeps limited server logs for security, debugging, abuse prevention, and service reliability. Logs are kept only as long as reasonably needed for those purposes, unless a longer period is required to investigate abuse, protect the Service, comply with law, or resolve a support or legal issue.
User Choices and Controls
Users can control Near & Dear data in several ways:
- Choose which check-ins are enabled, where the app allows that setting
- Choose whether to connect with a Companion
- Choose whether to share earlier solo history or only new activity when connecting later
- Disconnect a Companion, where the app offers that option
- Manage notification permission in iOS Settings
- Manage location permission in iOS Settings
- Manage subscriptions through Apple's App Store subscription tools
- Delete the app from the device
- Initiate account deletion through the app
- Contact Near & Dear to ask privacy questions or request help with data deletion
Some settings may depend on the user's role, subscription coverage, and whether the setup is managed by a Companion. Paid features should not require users to grant unrelated permissions such as location, notifications, or AI-assisted processing. If a permission is declined, some related features may be limited or unavailable.
Account deletion
If Near & Dear creates or maintains an account for a user, the app provides a way to initiate deletion of that account from inside the app. Account deletion is intended to delete the account record and associated personal data that Near & Dear is not legally required to keep. Deleting an account is different from canceling an App Store subscription; subscriptions are managed through Apple. If deletion takes time to complete, Near & Dear will explain the expected timing and provide confirmation when deletion is complete.
Some information may be kept when needed for security, fraud prevention, legal compliance, subscription records, dispute resolution, or to complete a user's request. Local data stored only on a user's device may also need to be removed from that device by using in-app deletion tools, disconnecting a Companion, or deleting the app.
Website Privacy
The Near & Dear website is used to provide information about the app, support content, invite-link fallback pages, and legal pages.
The website may process basic technical information that browsers and servers normally exchange, such as IP address, browser type, requested pages, timestamps, and security logs. We use this information to operate, secure, and improve the website.
The website is not intended to collect Star check-in history, health readings, medication information, or private Star-Companion messages.
Children's Privacy
Near & Dear is intended for adults and families coordinating care or wellness check-ins. It is not directed to children under 13. A minor may use Near & Dear only when the Service is set up or managed by the minor's parent or legal guardian. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without appropriate parent or guardian involvement.
Medical and Emergency Notice
Near & Dear is a support tool. It helps people notice patterns, share updates, and respond more quickly when something may need attention.
Near & Dear does not provide medical advice, diagnose conditions, monitor health continuously, or replace emergency services. If there is an emergency, call emergency services right away.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy as Near & Dear changes. If we make material changes, we will update the effective date and provide notice as appropriate through the app, website, or App Store listing.
Contact
For privacy questions or requests, contact:
Thomason Network LLC
Email: privacy@thomasonnetwork.com