Your writing and stored information
Margin stores note titles and text, note identifiers, creation and update dates, pin and deletion metadata, formatting, and suggestions you have dismissed so it can avoid repeating them. If you attach a photo to a note, Margin keeps a smaller copy of it with the note, without the date, location and camera details the original carried. When image reading succeeds, it also keeps a short description written on your device, which you can edit or delete. This information is saved on your device; see Where notes live for syncing between devices. App preferences, such as your chosen mode and whether you have seen the introduction, remain in the app's own settings on the device.
Writing, Focus, iCloud Sync, formatting, export, pin, search, Siri actions and recovery do not require a purchase. Explore and Wonder come together in an optional monthly subscription. There is no Margin account. Purchases are made through the App Store and processed by Apple; Margin does not see or store your payment details.
Margin has no advertising or analytics SDK inside the app. The app does not track you across other apps or websites.
Intelligence on your device
Margin's current suggestions use processing on your device. When Apple Intelligence is available, Margin uses Apple's on-device model; when it is unavailable, built-in rules can offer suggestions. On devices that support image reading, photos you attach are read on the device too. You can choose a photo through Apple's photo picker, which gives Margin only the photo you pick, or choose Take Photo. The camera opens only when you choose it. Ask Margin retrieves excerpts from your notes on your device.
Questions and reflections are ways to revisit your writing. They are not independently verified factual answers. Choosing Focus, Explore or Wonder changes the kind of question asked; it does not change where processing happens.
We are planning more powerful, optional cloud features. These are not available in the current release. Before any launch, we would update this policy and explain what information is shared and how it is processed, so you can choose whether to opt in. Read about our plans.
Where notes live
Margin saves notes and attached photos on the device you are using. They can sync through your Apple account using Apple's CloudKit service when you are signed in and iCloud is available. Sync is free, independent of the Explore + Wonder subscription, and may take time. If iCloud sync is unavailable, your notes remain on this device; check Settings › iCloud Sync for the current status. Synced copies live in your iCloud account under Apple's terms, never on a Margin-operated note server. Removing the app from a device does not necessarily remove iCloud copies; you can review them in iCloud storage in Settings. Share or export a note if you need an immediate independent copy.
If you use Apple's device backups, those copies are controlled by Apple and are separate from anything Margin itself saves. Removing the app removes the notes stored in the app on that device, except for any copies in iCloud or an Apple backup, or copies you already shared or exported.
Purchases
Explore + Wonder is available as an optional, automatically renewing monthly subscription that unlocks Explore and Wonder together. It is bought in the app through the App Store and billed by Apple to your Apple account. The App Store shows the price for your country before you buy. You can cancel through App Store subscription settings; cancelling keeps access until the paid period ends. Margin does not see, process or store your payment details, and there is no Margin account.
Margin checks subscription status with Apple's StoreKit service on your device. It does not send your receipts or writing to a server of its own. You can restore purchases or open subscription management from Settings › Explore + Wonder › Subscription. If the subscription ends, your notes, formatting, saved questions and reflections remain available to read, export and keep syncing; only new Explore and Wonder questions stop.
Spotlight, Siri and other Apple services
Margin makes note text and related information available to the device's Spotlight and App Intents system so search and Siri can find or act on notes on this device. Your device's search and Siri settings control how those system features surface and use it. Margin currently has no separate switch to disable its system indexing.
Apple's services and privacy terms apply when you use iCloud, Spotlight, Siri, dictation, device backups or other system features. Describing Margin's own intelligence as on-device does not mean every action performed by Apple's services stays on your device. See Apple's privacy information.
Diagnostics, support and this website
The app includes local performance timing markers to help diagnose editor behaviour. They contain no note text or note identifiers. Margin has no custom analytics or diagnostic-upload service in the app. Apple's optional system diagnostics are separate and depend on your settings.
If you email eric@thinkmargin.co.uk, Eric receives your address and the information you choose to include, through Gmail. Those messages are used to respond to your request and investigate the issue. Please use fictional examples and avoid sending private writing or sensitive information. You can use the same address to ask about or request deletion of support correspondence. Gmail handles messages under Google's privacy policy.
This information site is published at thinkmargin.co.uk. Hosting is currently provided with ChatGPT Sites. It has no account form, note editor, contact form or comment system, and it never receives your notes. The hosting provider may process website requests to operate its service under its own policies; see OpenAI's privacy policy. Website hosting is separate from the app's storage of your notes.
On thinkmargin.co.uk, we use Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand visits, page views and page performance. Its JavaScript beacon sends website usage and performance information to Cloudflare, including the pages viewed, referring sites, country, and browser and device type. Cloudflare provides aggregate reports without using analytics cookies, browser storage or fingerprinting to identify individual visitors. This measures use of this website; it does not collect your Margin notes or activity inside the app.
Website analytics provider: Cloudflare Web Analytics. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.
The interactive examples run in your browser. They do not submit your chosen phrases or save your selections. If you choose one of your own photos in the photo example, it is shown only inside your browser tab: it is not uploaded, read or saved, and it is let go when you remove it, reset the example or leave the page.
Questions and updates
Margin is operated by Eric Anthony, a UK sole trader trading as Margin in Glasgow. For privacy questions, contact Eric at eric@thinkmargin.co.uk. This page will be updated when Margin's relevant data practices change, with the effective date shown above.