buddy.

Privacy

Last updated 24 October 2026

This policy covers Buddy for Mac, the Buddy iPhone app (listed on the App Store as “Buddy by Ashoon”) and this website, buddy.ashoon.dev. Buddy is made by Sergey Hovakimyan, an individual developer (“I”, “me”). “Ashoon” is a brand name, not a company.

The short version

Who is responsible

Sergey Hovakimyan is responsible for this website and for the emails you send me (the “controller” under the EU and UK GDPR). Contact: buddy@ashoon.dev.

The apps run on your own devices, and the data they share between your Mac and iPhone is kept in your own iCloud account, which Apple runs under its own terms. I have no access to that data and do not decide what happens to it beyond how the apps are built.

Buddy for Mac

Claude Code runs Buddy’s small helper, buddy-hook, through its hooks. The helper passes each event to the Buddy app over a connection on your Mac that only your user account can open. An event can include the name of the project folder, the session’s state, the tool Claude wants to use with its command or a summary of it, permission requests, Claude’s questions and their options, your latest prompt and Claude’s latest reply. Buddy keeps this in memory to show it to you. It leaves your Mac only if you use the iPhone app (below).

On your Mac, Buddy also keeps:

Buddy for Mac does not check for updates and does not contact any server. Its only network traffic is the iCloud link to your iPhone. A link such as “GitHub” in its settings opens in your browser only when you click it. While Claude works, Buddy asks macOS not to put the Mac to sleep; this is a power setting and involves no data.

The iPhone app and your iCloud

When the Mac and the iPhone are signed in to the same Apple Account, they exchange records through Buddy’s area of the private database of your iCloud account. Only your Apple Account can read that database; I cannot. The records hold:

Project names, tools, commands, prompts, replies, questions, answers and message text are stored as encrypted fields, so not even the iCloud developer tools show their text. The remaining details, such as record and session IDs, states, times, counts and the allow or deny decision, are stored in the same private database without that extra encryption.

The iPhone app does not keep its own copy of your sessions; it reads them from iCloud while it runs. Before the app allows a request, sends an answer or sends a message, it asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. When you act from a notification, iOS asks you to unlock the iPhone first. iOS does that check: Buddy only learns whether it passed and never sees your face, fingerprint or passcode. Deny needs no check.

Notifications

Notifications are delivered by Apple’s push service. The push itself carries only a fixed text (“Claude Code needs approval” or “Claude is asking”) and a reference to the record, never the command, project or question. Buddy’s notification extension on your iPhone then fetches the details from your iCloud and shows them. With the iOS default, “Show Previews: When Unlocked”, the details stay hidden on the lock screen until the iPhone is unlocked; if you change that setting, they may show on the lock screen. Notifications stay in Notification Center until you clear them. Silent pushes from Apple also tell the Mac when you have answered.

Messages to Claude and typing into your terminal

When you send a message from the iPhone, Buddy for Mac types it into the tmux pane, iTerm2 tab or Terminal tab of that Claude Code session, but only if no key was pressed on the Mac in the last few seconds and Claude Code is the program in front. Typing into iTerm2 or Terminal needs your permission, which macOS asks for first; you can withdraw it in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation. Otherwise the message reaches Claude through Claude Code’s Stop hook.

Either way, the message becomes part of your Claude Code session, and Claude Code sends it to Anthropic just like anything you type, under your own agreement with Anthropic. The same is true of your answers to Claude’s questions. Buddy sends nothing to Anthropic itself, and I receive nothing.

Try a sample

“Try a sample” in the iPhone app shows made-up sessions, a request and a question. They exist only in the app’s memory on your iPhone. Nothing you do in the sample reaches iCloud, a Mac or me.

The website

The website is a set of static pages. It sets no cookies, has no forms or ads, and I do not build profiles of individual visitors. When you visit:

When you contact me

If you email buddy@ashoon.dev, I receive your email address, your name if you include it, and your message. I use them only to reply and to deal with your request, and I keep them only as long as that takes. Issues you open on GitHub are public and handled under GitHub’s terms.

The App Store and Apple

Apple distributes the iPhone app through the App Store and handles your App Store account, downloads and purchases under its own policies. Apple gives app developers download and sales figures, and, if you have chosen in your device settings to share analytics with app developers, crash reports and usage statistics that Apple prepares. Those come from Apple, not from Buddy, and I use them only to understand and fix the app.

Who else receives what

The apps contain no third-party code: no analytics, advertising or tracking libraries. They share no data with anyone. These services receive data because of how Buddy works or is hosted, each under its own privacy policy:

I do not sell or rent personal information, and I do not share it for advertising.

How long data is kept

Deleting Buddy’s data

Security

Buddy’s connection on your Mac is open only to your user account. The records it shares with your iPhone stay in your private iCloud database, with their text in encrypted fields. Push notifications carry no command or question text. Every Allow, answer and message on the iPhone needs Face ID, Touch ID, your passcode or an unlocked iPhone. No system is perfectly secure, so keep your Apple Account, Mac and iPhone protected with a strong passcode and two-factor authentication.

International transfers

The services listed above may process data in the United States and other countries. Where they move data from the EU, the EEA or the UK, they rely on the safeguards described in their own policies, such as adequacy decisions or standard contractual clauses. Emails you send me are processed where my email provider and I are.

Legal bases (EU and UK)

Where I am the controller, I rely on these legal bases:

You can object to processing based on legitimate interests at any time by writing to me.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what personal information I hold about you, to get a copy, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict or object to its use, and to receive it in a portable form. In the EU, the EEA and the UK, you can also complain to your data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office).

If you live in California or another US state with a privacy law, you can ask to know, correct or delete the personal information I hold about you. I do not sell or share personal information, do not use it for targeted advertising, and will not treat you differently for using your rights.

To use any of these rights, email buddy@ashoon.dev. I will answer within the time the law sets (under the GDPR, normally one month) and may ask you to confirm it is really you. In practice, the only personal information I may hold is your emails; the apps’ data is in your own iCloud, and website logs are kept by the hosting providers.

Children

Buddy is a tool for software developers. It is not directed at children, and I do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under the age of digital consent where you live). If you believe a child has sent me personal information, write to me and I will delete it.

Changes

If this policy changes, this page changes with it, and the date at the top is updated. If a change is significant, for example if Buddy starts to send data anywhere new, I will say so on this page and in the app’s release notes before it takes effect.

Contact

Privacy questions and requests: buddy@ashoon.dev. For help with the app, see Support. The Terms of Use also apply.