Last updated: April 2026

Privacy Policy

The short version: your games stay on your device. Notation is built to coach you, not to harvest you.

What Notation stores

Your games, your move history, your coaching insights, your Shadow checkpoints, and your settings are stored locally on your device using Apple's standard data storage. They are also synced across your own devices using your private iCloud account if you have iCloud enabled — Apple holds this data, not us, and we cannot access it.

How Nadia coaches you

The chess engines (Stockfish 18, Fairy-Stockfish, Maia) all run entirely on your device. The majority of Nadia's coaching also runs on-device: pattern detection, mistake classification, the post-game analysis you see in the app — none of that requires an internet connection or sends anything to a server.

Optional cloud AI features (bring your own key)

Some of Nadia's richer commentary uses cloud AI from Anthropic (the makers of Claude). This is entirely optional and works on a bring-your-own-key basis:

• If you want to use these features, you provide your own Anthropic API key from your own Anthropic account.
• Requests go directly from your device to Anthropic. We don't proxy them, and we don't see them.
• Your API key is stored only on your device, in the iOS Keychain.
• Usage is billed to your Anthropic account, not ours. It's your data, on your account, under your terms.
• If you don't want to use cloud AI, leave the field blank. Notation works fully without it.

When cloud AI is in use, the data sent is what's needed to coach the move in question — typically the position, the move played, the engine's evaluation, and a small amount of game context. Anthropic's handling of that data is governed by Anthropic's own privacy policy and your account settings with them.

Online play and account integrations

If you connect a Lichess or Chess.com account, Notation communicates with those services on your behalf to fetch your games and play live. Your credentials are stored only on your device. We do not see, store, or proxy your account passwords or tokens.

What Notation does not do

• No third-party analytics or tracking SDKs
• No advertising
• No selling or sharing of your data with anyone
• No account required to use the app
• No server-side storage of your games or coaching data

Crash reports and diagnostics

If you have opted in to share diagnostics with app developers in your iOS/macOS settings, Apple may send us anonymised crash reports. These contain no game content and no personally identifying information. We use them only to fix bugs.

Children

Notation is suitable for all ages and is safe for children to use. We do not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to how Notation handles your data, we will update this page and note the change in the app's release notes.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email hello@notationchesscoach.app. Solo developer, every email is read.