Privacy policy

Matcha Cat · last updated October 20, 2026

Matcha Cat is an iPhone game about a cat that gets to know you. It has no accounts, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. This page explains what stays on your phone, what leaves it and why, who handles it, how long it's kept, and how to delete it.

Who is responsible

The controller of your data (the person responsible for it under data-protection law) is Oliver Encabo, trading as Taxpayer Labs, who makes Matcha Cat. Write to thehonestcivilian1@gmail.com about anything on this page.

What stays on your phone

Your cat, its name and look, your games, matcha and things, everything you've said to your cat and its thoughts and replies, its memory book (what it has learned about you), its diary pages, letters and treasures, the reports you save, and your settings are stored only on your iPhone, in the app's own storage. We never store them.

The memory book deliberately keeps what you tell your cat so it can remember you, including your name and the names of people you mention ("Your sister Mia lives in Lisbon"). It is told never to keep addresses, phone numbers, schools, passwords or other contact details. You can read it in the Scrapbook under "About you" and make your cat forget any of it.

What is sent, only if you agree

Your cat's thoughts, its diary pages, letters and treasure notes, the updates to its memory book and, after the change, its tea-time replies are written by an AI model. The first time, the game asks you, and nothing is sent until you tap Agree. You can withdraw that at any time in Settings › AI and your data; from then on nothing is sent, and the game keeps working (your cat keeps its thoughts to itself). Turning it back on asks you again.

When the AI writes something, the game sends a request through our server (matcha-brain.thehonestcivilian1.workers.dev) to OpenAI. It contains:

• what you just said to your cat, and the recent part of your conversation;
• the parts of the memory book that matter to what you said: your name and nickname if it knows them, its impression of you, the facts relevant to the moment, things it meant to ask you about, and its latest diary page;
• your cat's name, breed, girl or boy, what it's wearing, and how far your friendship has come;
• the games you've played lately and how you did;
• today's date.

Each request also carries an anonymous identifier made on your iPhone when you first play and, where your iPhone supports it, a proof from Apple's App Attest that the request comes from the real app. They let us apply a fair daily limit, and aren't linked to your name, Apple Account or anything else about you. If you're a Tea Club member, it may also carry the App Store's signed record of your subscription, so the server can give members a larger allowance; we read only the subscription's id, product and dates, never your name, email or payment details, which Apple doesn't share.

Our server

Our server does not keep the text of requests or replies. It counts, per identifier and per day, how many requests were made and how many tokens they used (to apply the daily limits) and deletes those counts after a week. It keeps the public half of your iPhone's App Attest key, to check each request's proof. It runs what you say to your cat through OpenAI's moderation check before the reply is written, and keeps only a count of how often the self-harm check fires (no text, no identifier), for the yearly report California asks of companion apps. It runs on Cloudflare, which, like any web host, sees the internet address your iPhone connects from and keeps short technical logs (not the contents) for a few days.

OpenAI

OpenAI writes the AI text as our processor. We ask it not to store requests (store: false). Under OpenAI's API terms, what is sent through its API is not used to train its models, and it may keep requests for up to 30 days to detect and investigate abuse before deleting them. Each request carries a one-way scrambled form of the identifier above, which helps OpenAI detect abuse without knowing who you are. See OpenAI's privacy policy.

OpenAI and Cloudflare handle data in the United States and elsewhere, under their data-processing terms, which include the standard contractual safeguards UK and EU law ask for when data leaves those places.

Reports

You can report anything the AI wrote: press and hold it, then Report. A report contains the words you reported, the few lines before them, the reason you chose, anything you added, and the identifier above. We keep reports for up to a year to review them and improve how the cat behaves. To have one deleted, email us roughly when you sent it and a few of its words.

Purchases

Purchases and the Tea Club subscription are sold and managed by Apple. We never see your payment details. The game keeps a list of its own transaction ids on your phone, so a purchase is never credited twice.

Photos and reminders

Saving a wallpaper adds it to your photo library, only when you tap Save, and only after you allow it; the game never reads your photos. The daily reminder, if you turn it on, is scheduled on your iPhone; nothing is sent to send it, and it never shows what you've said.

What we don't do

We don't sell or share personal data, show ads, track you across apps or websites, use analytics, or build profiles of you. We don't use what you tell your cat for anything but writing its words.

How long things are kept, and deleting them

• On your phone: until you delete them. Settings › Start over deletes your cat, its memory book, diary, letters, treasures, your conversations, saved reports and earned matcha from your phone (matcha and items you bought stay, because you paid for them). Deleting the app deletes everything.
• Daily counts on our server: a week. Your App Attest key's public half: while you play; it says nothing about you, and deleting the app makes a new one.
• Reports: up to a year, or until you ask us to delete one.
• At OpenAI: up to 30 days. Cloudflare's request logs: a few days.

Your rights

Wherever you live, and under the UK GDPR and the EU GDPR where they apply, you can ask us for a copy of what we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict or object to how we use it, and to receive it in a portable form, and you can withdraw your consent at any time in Settings without affecting what was done before. Almost everything is on your phone, where you can see and delete it yourself; our server holds no conversations, only the counts and reports described above. Email thehonestcivilian1@gmail.com and we'll answer within a month. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK (ico.org.uk) or the data-protection authority where you live.

Crisis help

How the game responds when someone may be in danger is published on our support page. It never needs a purchase, a connection or the AI.

Children

Matcha Cat is rated 13+ and is not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect anything from children under 13; if you believe a child under 13 has used the AI features, write to us and we'll delete any report they sent. Because younger players may still find it, the cat is written for all ages: its affection is a pet's, never romantic, it never asks for personal details, and it points anyone in distress to a trusted adult and a crisis line.

When you agree to your cat's thoughts, the game asks Apple for your age range (Apple's Declared Age Range, which you or a parent can choose to share or not). If Apple says you're under 13, the AI stays off and nothing is sent to it; the rest of the game is yours. Only "under 13 or not" is kept, on your iPhone; your age is never sent to us or to OpenAI.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, this page will say so, with a new date at the top. Questions: thehonestcivilian1@gmail.com.