The Idea Button.
Last updated 23 August 2026 · Version 1.0
This is a summary for convenience. The full policy below governs.
The Idea Button is operated by Felix Van Dokkum (“we”, “us”, “our”), the data controller for the purposes of the UK and EU General Data Protection Regulation.
Contact: [[EMAIL]]
This policy explains what happens to information when you use the App and this website. It is written to describe what the App actually does, not what a template assumes.
Most of what the App remembers is stored locally on your phone, in your browser storage inside the App. It is never transmitted to us, and we have no way to read it. This includes:
Deleting the App deletes all of it. We cannot recover it for you, and we cannot restore consumed credits.
The App makes network requests in exactly one situation: when you use an AI feature. If AI Idea Generation is off and you are only using the built-in idea library, the App does not contact our servers at all.
When you use an AI feature, our server receives:
| What | Why | How long |
|---|---|---|
| A random device ID Generated on your device the first time the App runs. It is a random string plus a timestamp. It is not your Apple ID, advertising ID, phone number, or any hardware identifier, and it cannot identify you personally. |
To count how many AI requests one device has made in a day, so a single device cannot exhaust the service for everyone. | Counters expire automatically within roughly 48 hours. |
| Your request context The deck, niche, and budget filters you selected, and the titles of recent ideas so the AI does not repeat itself. For the Founders Engine, the question you asked and the idea it is about. |
To generate an idea that matches what you asked for. | Passed through in real time. We do not store it on our servers. |
| Your IP address Received automatically by our hosting provider as an unavoidable part of delivering any internet request. |
Network routing, security, and abuse prevention by our hosting provider. | Held briefly in our provider’s standard logs and not retained by us. |
We also keep a running total of how much the AI service has cost us in a given month. That total is a single number and is not linked to any device.
We do not collect: your name, email address, phone number, postal address, date of birth, precise or approximate location, contacts, photos, camera or microphone data, health data, browsing history outside the App, or any payment card details.
When you use an AI feature, our server forwards your request context to OpenAI, which generates the idea or answer and returns it. Your random device ID is not sent to OpenAI; only the content needed to write the idea is.
OpenAI processes this as our service provider. Their handling of API data is governed by their own terms and privacy policy. As at the date of this policy, OpenAI states that data submitted through its API is not used to train its models by default. We do not control OpenAI’s practices and you should review their policy if this matters to you.
Please do not type personal or confidential information into the Founders Engine. It is a text box that sends what you write to a third-party AI provider. Treat it as you would any public form.
The free version of the App shows adverts, including optional rewarded videos that grant credits. Adverts are served by Google AdMob.
To serve and measure adverts, AdMob may collect: your device’s advertising identifier (IDFA), IP address, device model and operating system version, coarse location inferred from IP, and data about which adverts you were shown and interacted with. This is collected by Google, not by us, and is governed by Google’s privacy policy.
Your control over this:
All purchases go through Apple. Apple processes the payment and tells the App only whether a purchase succeeded. We never receive or store your card number, billing address, or Apple ID. Apple’s handling of your payment information is governed by Apple’s privacy policy.
We do not embed any third-party analytics SDK in the App. We rely on the aggregate statistics Apple provides to every developer in App Store Connect, such as download counts, crash reports, and retention percentages. These are aggregated by Apple and only reach us if you have enabled sharing of analytics with developers in iOS, in Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements. We cannot identify individual users from them.
If you enter your email address into a sign-up form on this site, we use it for one purpose: to tell you when the App launches or when there is a significant update. We do not sell it, rent it, or use it for anything else, and every email includes a way to unsubscribe. The form is processed by a third-party form provider on our behalf.
Our web host receives standard server logs, including IP addresses, as a normal part of serving pages.
The App is rated 13+ and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child under 13 has provided us with information, please contact [[EMAIL]] and we will delete it promptly. Because the App has no accounts and collects no directly identifying information, in most cases there will be nothing held that identifies a child; deleting the App removes everything stored locally.
If you are between 13 and 17, please read this policy with a parent or guardian.
If you are in the UK or EEA, we rely on these legal bases under Article 6 of the GDPR:
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you; correct it; delete it; restrict or object to processing; receive it in a portable format; and withdraw consent. You also have the right to complain to your data protection authority, such as the ICO in the UK.
If you are a California resident, the CCPA as amended by the CPRA gives you the right to know what personal information is collected and how it is used, to delete it, to correct it, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We do not sell your personal information and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising beyond what is described in section 5, which you control through the iOS tracking permission. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any right.
An honest note on access requests: because the App has no accounts and the only identifier we receive is a random string generated on your device, we usually have no practical way to link a request to a specific person. If you want the small amount of data tied to your device removed, deleting the App removes everything stored on it, and the server-side counters expire on their own within about 48 hours. To make a formal request, contact [[EMAIL]].
We use these service providers. Each processes data only as needed to provide their service.
| Provider | What they do | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | App distribution, payments, aggregate analytics | Purchase and account data, held by Apple under its own policy |
| Cloudflare | Hosts the server that handles AI requests and rate limiting | Random device ID, request context, IP address |
| OpenAI | Generates ideas and Founders Engine answers | Request context only. No device ID |
| Google AdMob | Serves adverts in the free version | Advertising identifier, IP, device and ad interaction data |
Our service providers operate globally, and your information may be processed in the United States and other countries whose data protection laws differ from your own. Where we transfer personal data out of the UK or EEA, we rely on our providers’ Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent safeguards.
We keep as little as possible. On-device data stays until you delete the App. Server-side rate-limit counters expire automatically within roughly 48 hours. Request content is passed through and not stored by us. Our monthly cost total holds no personal data. Email sign-ups are kept until you unsubscribe.
Requests between the App and our server, and between our server and OpenAI, are encrypted in transit using HTTPS. Our AI provider key is held as an encrypted secret on our server and is never present in the App. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security, but the amount of personal data at risk here is deliberately kept close to nothing.
We may update this policy. When we make a material change we will update the date and version at the top, and the App will ask you to review it before you continue. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated policy.
Questions, requests, or complaints about privacy:
Felix Van Dokkum
[[EMAIL]]