Plainspoken · In development
Plainspoken privacy
Scope
Plainspoken is developed and operated by Toward Commonweal LLC in Washington State, United States. It is a general-audience reading and listening application, not a children’s app. This notice covers this website and support correspondence, and describes the data practices planned for Plainspoken’s first public release. Plainspoken is still in development. We will check and update the app-specific details against the finished release before launch. Updated October 24, 2026.
On your device
Speech is generated on your device. Reading text and generated audio are not sent to a speech service or to us. The planned app has no Plainspoken account, advertising SDK, developer analytics or developer content server. The consumer release does not include the experimental Companion feature. We do not build a profile of your reading interests or infer health conditions from them.
Websites and sharing
Opening a link contacts its website, redirects and resources used for capture. Optional source pictures and icons also contact their websites. Those sites can see your network address and request information; private capture does not make you anonymous. A specific public X post or article is acquired directly on your device without a signed-in session or developer content intermediary. Capture stops at authentication barriers, paywalls, challenges and rate limits. Source requests still reveal ordinary network information to the source.
Safari and native Share
Safari’s Plainspoken web extension can send the visible document you explicitly capture. Ordinary Safari URL sharing sends only the link. Plainspoken does not copy Safari cookies into its own web capture. Native Share saves the link, selected text or supported file you choose in private shared app storage until preparation succeeds or you remove it. When offered, Shared text saves a labelled passage with its source. Pending items are not uploaded to us and are not treated as completed readings.
Library, images and backups
Your Library retains readings, notes and separate reading and listening positions until removal. Full pictures from readings you have not opened recently may be removed to save space. Text, notes, positions and thumbnails may be included in iCloud or computer device backups. Full pictures, the search index, Safari transfer inbox, local diagnostics, access hints and the local purchase-handling record are excluded; pending native shares and system-managed preferences may be backed up. Apple and your backup settings govern device backups. Plainspoken does not provide developer-operated cloud sync.
Deletion and export
Export creates a copy at the destination you choose. Removing an occasion preserves the other occasions and their notes and places; removing the final occasion also removes the saved reading. Undo is available for 30 seconds. Final removal clears local retained copies that could restore the removed content. Remove local readings clears the Library, notes, positions, pending shares, transfers, search data and retained migration copies, including interrupted work that could otherwise restore them. Retry a reported cleanup failure before relying on completion. Existing device backups, exports elsewhere and original websites remain separate. We cannot remotely retrieve or erase your on-device Library.
Clipboard and diagnostics
Opening Add does not read your clipboard. Paste reads it when you ask. Unsubmitted Add input is held in memory while the app runs. Bounded local diagnostics record technical outcomes and timing, not reading text, full source addresses, cookies or account content. They are not automatically uploaded. Any support material you send is your explicit choice.
Apple commerce
Apple handles purchases, offer redemption, Family Sharing and restoration. The app uses verified purchase information, local trial-time checkpoints and a bounded local record of transaction handling. We do not receive your payment details through the app. Safari receives limited access status, trial expiry and app/freshness metadata, without your Apple Account or signed purchase receipt. Apple’s services and any diagnostic sharing you choose with Apple follow Apple’s policies.
This website
This static website has no advertising, analytics scripts, third-party fonts or tracking cookies added by us. Cloudflare delivers it and processes network addresses and technical request metadata for hosting and security. We do not use those requests to build consumer reading profiles.
Voluntary support
If you email us, our email provider processes your address, message and attachments. We use that correspondence to answer, resolve and document the request, subject to necessary security and legal retention. Do not send private readings, health records, credentials or identity documents. Ask us to access, correct or delete correspondence you supplied. We do not require a government ID; we verify a request proportionately, normally through the originating address.
Children and sensitive information
We do not request ages, dates of birth or consumer accounts. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through the app. If support correspondence shows that a child supplied personal information, we limit further handling and remove it or use an applicable legal exception. Our separate consumer health data notice explains local processing and accidental support disclosures without requesting health information.
Contact and changes
For privacy requests, contact hello@towardcommonweal.com. Material changes will be reflected here and in the bundled notice. We will not add consumer content collection, advertising or analytics under the existing notice.