sgeulai

Legal

Privacy policy

Last updated: 13 September 2026

This policy covers the Sgeulai app for Mac and iPad, and this website, sgeulai.com. Both are published by Buster Mungus Industries (“we”, “us”).

The short version: the app collects nothing. Your manuscript is a file on your own device, and we never see it. The website collects only what you type into its forms.

The Sgeulai app

What we collect

Nothing. Sgeulai has no accounts, no sign-in, no servers of ours, no analytics, no crash reporting, no advertising and no tracking. Nothing about how you use the app is reported to us or to anyone else, and we have no personal information of yours to sell or share.

Where your writing lives

Everything below stays on your own device, under your control. We have no access to any of it.

  • Your projects (.sgeulai files) are saved wherever you choose. If you keep one in iCloud Drive so it syncs between your Mac and iPad, Apple stores and syncs it under your Apple Account and Apple's privacy policy. It never passes through us.
  • Preferences, such as editor settings and writing goals, are stored in the app's own storage on the device.
  • Your AI spending record. If you use the optional Claude features, the app keeps token counts and estimated costs so it can show you what they have cost. It holds numbers only, never manuscript text.
  • Saved AI responses. Each response from an AI reading is kept in the app's own storage so a failed run can be recovered. These files contain what the model said about your book, and they stay on your device until you delete them.
  • Backups and snapshots are written to the app's own storage on the device.
  • API keys you enter are kept in your device's Keychain, not in your project. If you use iCloud Keychain, Apple syncs them to your other devices.

When something leaves your device

Only when you ask. Each of the following starts with something you do, and none runs in the background.

  1. AI readings with Claude (optional, with your own API key). When you run one, Sgeulai sends the manuscript text you chose, plus the Story Bible records it needs for context, to Anthropic's API over HTTPS. The feature is off until you turn it on, and the app asks your permission, telling you what will be sent, before any of your manuscript leaves your device. The key is billed to your own Anthropic account and is never sent to us. The app also downloads Anthropic's list of available models, a request that carries none of your writing. The request goes straight from your device to Anthropic, under your agreement with Anthropic and Anthropic's privacy policy.
  2. Apple's own features. Apple Intelligence analysis, Writing Tools and portrait generation are features of macOS and iPadOS that Sgeulai calls for you. They are governed by your Apple Intelligence settings and Apple's privacy policy.
  3. Wikipedia and Wikidata. A reference lookup or link scan sends the name of the record you are looking up, such as a person or place from your Story Bible, to Wikipedia and Wikidata. None of your prose is sent. Governed by the Wikimedia Foundation's privacy policy.
  4. Google Books and Open Library. When Research Highlights fills in a book's publisher, date and description, it sends an ISBN, or a title and author, to Google Books and Open Library, and downloads the cover image if one is found. None of your prose is sent. This happens when you import Apple Books highlights or paste a highlight into your manuscript, for any source whose details are still blank. If you add your own Google API key, it is kept in your Keychain. Governed by Google's privacy policy and the Internet Archive's terms.
  5. The Web Clipper. Sgeulai fetches the web address you give it so it can save that page's text as research. Nothing about you or your book is sent, though the site you clip may log the visit, as any website can.
  6. Antidote (if you have it). Sgeulai hands the chapter or scene you are working on to Antidote over a connection that stays on your own device. Nothing goes to the internet from Sgeulai. Antidote itself is governed by Druide's terms.
  7. Opening an AI assistant in your browser. The History timeline brief can copy a prompt and open ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity in your browser. Sgeulai sends nothing to those sites. Whatever you paste there is between you and that service.

Grammar and style checking with Harper runs entirely inside the app, with no network connection. Importing a Scrivener project, an EPUB, a Plottr or Aeon file, a bibliography or your Apple Books highlights reads files you select, on your device. Exports are saved wherever you choose.

Removing the app's data

On Mac, delete the Sgeulai folder in your Application Support folder, remove the app, and delete any Sgeulai items in Keychain Access. On iPad, deleting the app removes what it keeps in its own storage. Project files you saved in Files or iCloud Drive stay until you delete them yourself.

Buying the app

Sgeulai is sold through Apple's App Store, which handles the payment. We never see your card or billing details.

This website

What we collect

There are two forms on this site:

  • Email signup for release updates: the name and email address you enter.
  • Support form: your name, email address, and message, plus the device and version details if you choose to add them.

The beta tester section of the download page is password-protected. Entering the correct password sets a first-party cookie so you aren't asked again for 30 days. It holds no personal information, only proof that you entered the password, and it isn't shared with anyone.

The site also uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to see roughly how many people visit and which pages they read. It uses no cookies and can't track you across sites or build a profile of you.

How it's used

Signups are stored in a database so we can email you about Sgeulai releases and updates. That is the only use.

Support requests are emailed straight to our support inbox so we can answer you, and aren't stored anywhere else on this site. We use what you send only to help with your request.

Who else sees it

This site runs on Cloudflare, which hosts the site, stores the signup list, and provides the analytics mentioned above. Emails, including support requests on their way to our inbox, are sent through Resend, an email delivery service. Both handle data only as needed to run the site. None of it is used for advertising, and your information isn't sold or shared with anyone else.

Both

Children

Sgeulai is a professional writing tool. It isn't directed at children, and we don't knowingly collect information from children.

Your choices and rights

The app holds nothing about you on our side, so there is nothing for us to hand over or erase. Your writing is in your own files, and you can export or delete it at any time. Requests about data sent to Anthropic, Apple, Wikimedia, Google or the Internet Archive go to those companies, using the links above.

For the website, every email includes an unsubscribe link. To have your signup or support messages removed sooner, or to ask what we hold, email me@sgeulai.com and we'll take care of it.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top will change with it. If the app changes what it sends, and where, the change will also be described in the app's release notes.

Contact

Questions about this policy or about privacy in Sgeulai: me@sgeulai.com, Buster Mungus Industries.