Software that stays on your phone.

I build iPhone apps that do their work on the device itself. There is no account to create and nothing gets uploaded. That is not a privacy policy I could quietly revise later; it is how they are built.

Trace VoiceTrace SocialTrace ChatTrace Notes

The apps.

Four different problems, built under the same constraint. Two keep track of what gets said: your own thinking, and the meetings you sit in. The other two take something away: an algorithm in the first case, a data centre in the second.

Trace VoiceOn the App StoreThe journal you talk to. Speak for a minute and get back a written entry you can search. Transcription and the weekly summaries run on your iPhone.Trace SocialIn developmentInstagram and YouTube with the infinite feed taken out. Messages and the people you follow stay. Reels, Shorts and For You go.Trace ChatIn developmentAn assistant whose model sits on your iPhone. It drafts, explains and talks things through without sending a request off the phone.Trace NotesIn developmentMeeting and lecture notes. It records, transcribes and writes the summary on your iPhone, so the audio never goes to a server.

Why it is built this way.

Most apps send your life somewhere so it can be processed, stored and eventually sold. Mine do the work where the data already is, which rules out a whole category of feature and makes three things true that are otherwise only ever promised.

  1. There is nothing to breach

    A leak needs a database behind it. There is no account system, no user table and no server holding your entries. The thing that would be stolen does not exist.

  2. The terms cannot change under you

    Companies get acquired and policies get rewritten. An app that never had your data has no way to start doing something else with it after an update.

  3. Aeroplane mode is not a downgrade

    Transcription and analysis run on the chip in your phone, so losing signal does not give you a reduced version of the app. It gives you the same one.

The same in every app.

Account
None. You never make one
Uploaded
Nothing
Works offline
Yes, entirely
Platform
iPhone

Questions.

What is Trace?
Trace is an independent iPhone app studio run by Thomas Peel. Trace apps do their work on the device itself, so there is no account to create and nothing is uploaded. There are four: Trace Voice, Trace Social, Trace Chat and Trace Notes.
Which apps does Trace make?
Trace makes four iPhone apps. Trace Voice is a voice journal that transcribes what you say on the device and finds patterns across your entries; it is out now on the App Store. Trace Social removes the infinite feed from apps like Instagram and YouTube while keeping messages and the people you follow. Trace Chat is an assistant whose language model runs on the phone. Trace Notes records meetings and lectures and writes the summary on the device. The last three are still in development.
Does Trace collect any personal data?
No. Trace apps collect no personal data. Recording, transcription and analysis happen on your iPhone. There is no Trace account and no Trace server holding user content, so there is no database your data could be stored in, leaked from or sold out of.
Do Trace apps need an account or a subscription?
Trace apps need no account: you never create a username or a password. Trace Voice is free to download, with an optional Trace Plus subscription that adds unlimited voice memos and the full set of insights.
Do Trace apps work offline?
Yes. Because the processing happens on the device, Trace Voice works fully in aeroplane mode. Transcription and weekly insights run on the chip in your iPhone rather than waiting on a network.
Is Trace available on Android?
Not yet. Trace apps are built natively for iPhone, with speech recognition and AI running on the device itself.

Start with the one that is finished.

Trace Voice is free on the App Store, and it works without an account.

Download on the App Store