Last updated: June 29, 2026
Effective date: June 18, 2026

HelloSteve is an iPad app for building your own voice or text assistant in plain English. You write the instructions, give the assistant a name, and place the iPad somewhere people can reach it. They then talk or type to it and read its answers on screen. HelloSteve is published by Fncore, Inc. (“Fncore,” “we,” “us”). You can reach us at [email protected].

In short

By default, HelloSteve runs entirely on the iPad. What people type or say is processed on the device and is not sent to Fncore or to any AI company.

The things people type or say can leave the device in only one way, and it happens only if the person who set up the iPad turns it on. In that case the information goes to a server that owner controls, not to us: the owner attaches a submit address to a form, and the answers a visitor enters are sent to the owner’s own endpoint.

Separately, because HelloSteve is a paid subscription, basic purchase information is handled by Apple and by RevenueCat, the service provider we use to manage subscriptions. That data is about the subscription and how you found the app, never about your conversations. See “Purchases and subscriptions” below.

The rest of this policy explains that in plain terms.

The two kinds of people HelloSteve involves

HelloSteve is meant to sit out in public, so two different people matter, and this policy treats them differently:

  • The owner is the person or business that installs HelloSteve, writes the instructions, builds any forms, and chooses the settings. The owner decides what the assistant does and where, if anywhere, information is sent.
  • Visitors are the people who walk up and talk or type to the assistant the owner set up. Visitors have no accounts and are not asked to sign in.

For anything an owner chooses to collect, such as the answers to a form they built and send to their own server, the owner is the party responsible for that information (the data controller). Fncore only provides the software, and we do not receive that information. Owners are responsible for telling their own visitors what they collect and for handling it lawfully.

What stays on your device (the default)

Out of the box, HelloSteve keeps everything local:

  • The conversation. By default, messages are processed on the iPad itself. There is no network call, so nothing typed or transcribed is sent to Fncore or to any AI company.
  • The owner’s configuration. The instructions, assistant name, greeting, forms, and saved history are stored locally on the device. They are not uploaded to us.
  • Speech. When a visitor uses the microphone, speech is turned into text on the device. See “Microphone and speech” below.

HelloSteve has no user accounts and no sign-in, and it builds no profiles of anyone. The conversation itself contains no third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking software. The one place HelloSteve uses a third-party service is for subscriptions: the RevenueCat SDK, described under “Purchases and subscriptions” below, handles your purchase and helps us measure how well our own ads perform. It is not used to track you across other companies’ apps or websites.

When information leaves the device (only if the owner turns it on)

There is exactly one optional path that sends what people enter off the iPad. It is off by default, and the owner enables it in the app’s setup screen. The destination is a server the owner chooses and controls, not Fncore, and not an AI company.

Submitting a form to the owner’s endpoint

An owner can build a form (text, number, choice, date, or yes/no fields) and attach a web address to it. When a visitor fills out such a form, the answers they entered are sent to that owner-chosen web address. This path carries real information that a visitor typed, so it deserves particular care. The owner decides whether a form has a submit address, what it asks for, and where the answers go. The owner, and the operator of that endpoint, is responsible for how the data is stored and used. Fncore does not receive form answers and has no access to the owner’s endpoint.

This is the only way the things people type or say leave the device. That is why HelloSteve can say your conversations aren’t sent to Fncore or to any AI company even when an owner turns it on. (Purchase and subscription data is handled separately by Apple and RevenueCat, as described below, and never includes your conversations.)

Microphone and speech

Talking is offered only as an easier way to type. When a visitor taps the microphone, the iPad asks permission, then converts speech to text entirely on the device. The audio is not sent to Apple’s servers or to ours. If a device cannot turn speech into text on its own, HelloSteve simply will not offer dictation rather than send the audio elsewhere. The resulting text goes into the same message box as typing and is then handled exactly like typed text.

Purchases and subscriptions

HelloSteve is a paid app offered as an auto-renewable subscription, with a monthly and a yearly plan. Payment is handled by Apple through the App Store: Apple processes the payment, and Fncore never sees or receives your payment-card details. Subscriptions are tied to your Apple Account and can be managed or cancelled in your Apple Account settings. Apple’s handling of your purchase is governed by Apple’s Privacy Policy.

To manage these subscriptions and to measure how well our own advertising performs, we use RevenueCat as our service provider. RevenueCat receives information about your purchase and subscription (such as which product you bought and the status, renewals, and cancellation of your subscription) and Apple Search Ads attribution information (such as the ad campaign and keyword that brought you to the App Store). RevenueCat processes this on our behalf so that we can run our subscriptions and understand which of our ads lead people to subscribe. This information is about the subscription and how you found the app, not about your conversations, and it is not used to track you across other companies’ apps or websites. RevenueCat’s handling of this data is governed by RevenueCat’s Privacy Policy.

What Fncore collects

Not your conversations. We do not operate servers that receive your conversations, your configuration, or your form answers, and there are no accounts to identify you. What we do receive is limited to running the business: purchase and subscription data and Apple Search Ads attribution through RevenueCat (described above), and what Apple provides to any developer — aggregate, non-identifying App Store sales and usage reports, and, only if you opt in through iOS, crash and diagnostic data. Apple’s information comes in summary form and is governed by Apple’s Privacy Policy.

A note for owners about instructions

The instructions an owner writes are stored on the device and are used to guide the assistant. Because the assistant runs on a public device, a determined visitor may be able to get it to reveal what it was told. Owners should never put passwords, secrets, or other people’s personal information into the instructions.

Children’s privacy

HelloSteve is intended for businesses and general audiences and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. An owner who chooses to deploy HelloSteve where children may use it, or who collects information through a form, is responsible for complying with any laws that apply to them.

If you are in the EU, the EEA, or the UK, data-protection law asks us to have a legal basis for each thing we do with your personal data. Because nearly everything in HelloSteve stays on your device, this only concerns the limited purchase information described above:

  • Running your subscription. We process your purchase and subscription data to provide the subscription you paid for and keep it working across your devices. The legal basis is performance of a contract (GDPR Article 6(1)(b)).
  • Measuring our advertising. We use Apple Search Ads attribution to understand which of our own ads bring in subscribers. The legal basis is our legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f)) in running our business efficiently. You can object to this at any time (see “Your rights”).
  • Crash and diagnostic data. We receive this only if you opt in through iOS, so the basis is your consent (Article 6(1)(a)), which you can withdraw in iOS Settings at any time.

We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

Where your data is processed

Fncore, RevenueCat, and Apple are based in the United States, so the limited purchase and subscription data described above is processed in the U.S. and possibly other countries. When this data is transferred out of the EEA or the UK, it is protected by safeguards such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (with the UK addendum where relevant) that our service providers put in place. Apple’s and RevenueCat’s policies, linked above, describe their transfer safeguards in more detail.

Your rights

Under laws like the GDPR (EU), UK GDPR, CCPA/CPRA (California), and similar privacy laws, you have rights over your personal data: to access it, correct it, delete it, receive a copy (portability), object to or ask us to restrict certain processing, and withdraw any consent you previously gave. Fncore holds no conversations, configuration, or form answers about you, so there is nothing of that kind on our side to access, correct, delete, or port. For the limited purchase and subscription information processed through RevenueCat, email us at [email protected] and we will help. We do not sell or share your personal information.

Some of that data — the Apple Search Ads attribution — reaches us from Apple rather than directly from you. If you are in the EU, the EEA, or the UK, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority, though we would appreciate the chance to address your concern first.

If a business used HelloSteve to collect your information through a form and send it to their own server, that business, not Fncore, is the controller of that data. Please contact the business directly to exercise your rights over it.

Data retention and deletion

The owner’s configuration and any saved history live on the device and are removed when HelloSteve is deleted from it. For information a visitor submitted through a form to an owner’s endpoint, the owner controls how long it is kept and how it can be deleted. The purchase and subscription data processed through RevenueCat is kept for as long as needed to run our subscriptions and meet our legal and accounting obligations, and is handled under RevenueCat’s and Apple’s policies.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the “Last updated” date above and, for material changes, note what changed. We will never retroactively collect data under a new policy.

Contact

Questions about this policy or about HelloSteve’s privacy practices? Email [email protected].

Fncore, Inc.
2261 Market Street STE 22895
San Francisco, CA 94114