Shipped · The VOLTS notebook
Privacy, in plain English.
Last updated 29 October 2026.
The short version
Your notebooks stay on your phone. There's no account, no ads, no tracking and nothing is sold. A few features send the minimum they need to work, and you can switch those off. Everything that leaves your phone is listed below.
Who we are
Shipped is made by Matthew Packer, trading as VOLTS Method, in the United Kingdom. For anything about your data, email matt@voltsmethod.com.
What stays on your phone
These never leave your device:
- Notebooks, notes, questions, checkpoints and decisions
- Photos, sketches, handwriting and voice recordings, and their transcripts (speech is turned into text on your phone)
- Meeting mode recordings and the decisions and actions pulled from them (worked out on your phone)
- Your calendar: Shipped reads it on your phone to place your notebook moves between meetings, and writes checkpoints back as events. Nothing is uploaded.
- Book highlights, bookmarks, notes and quiz answers
- Headroom check-ins, parked thoughts and journal entries
- Saved places (Home and Work) and planned trips
Your Apple Watch gets a small summary (next move, checkpoints, your trip) straight from your iPhone. Notes you dictate on the watch go straight back to your iPhone.
What leaves your phone, and why
| Feature | What's sent | Where it goes | How long it's kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ask VOLTS live answers (Settings: Live answers) | Your question and the last few messages of that chat. If "Answer from my notes" is on, short snippets of matching notes. Notebooks marked private are never included. | Our server (hosted on Cloudflare), then Anthropic, the AI provider that writes the answer. | We don't store questions or answers. Anthropic deletes API inputs and outputs within 30 days and, under its commercial terms, doesn't train on them. |
| Cards from my notes | Short snippets of your notes, recent questions and meeting titles, to write tips for you. | Our server, then Anthropic. | As above. |
| Daily answer limits | A random ID made when you install Shipped. It isn't your name, email or Apple ID. | Our server. | 48 hours. |
| Live train times | The three-letter codes of the stations you're looking up. | Our server, which asks National Rail. | Cached for up to a day; not linked to you. |
| Travel countdown on the lock screen | A push token from Apple for the countdown, and your train's stations and times. | Our server, which sends updates through Apple's push service. | Until the journey ends. |
Switch Live answers off in Settings and Ask VOLTS answers from the book on your phone instead, with nothing sent.
Apple services
- Apple Maps works out walking, cycling and driving routes and finds places. When you plan a trip from "Here", your location goes to Apple for the route. Shipped doesn't store or send your location anywhere else. Apple's privacy policy covers this.
- Purchases go through the App Store. Apple handles payment; we never see your card or Apple ID details.
- Notifications use Apple's push service.
Permissions
Shipped asks for each one the first time you use the feature that needs it, and explains why first: microphone and speech recognition (voice notes, meeting mode), camera and photos (whiteboards), calendar (your day), location while using the app (trips from Here) and notifications (checkpoint reminders). You can change any of them in iOS Settings.
What we don't do
- No account or sign-in
- No advertising, analytics or tracking SDKs
- No selling or sharing your data with anyone for marketing
- No tracking across other apps or websites
Children
Shipped is made for working adults and isn't directed at children under 13.
Your rights and deleting your data
Because your notebooks live on your phone, deleting Shipped deletes them. Back up anything you want to keep first: open a notebook, tap the ••• button, then Share the brief. Our server holds nothing linked to you, and the daily limit counter expires after 48 hours. Under UK data protection law you can ask what we hold, ask us to delete it or complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk). Email matt@voltsmethod.com and we'll answer.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top and say what changed in the app's release notes.