Privacy Policy
MERLIN lets you control music, your Mac and messages to people you trust by voice from Apple Watch. This policy explains what MERLIN keeps, for how long, and how to remove it.
What MERLIN collects
- Account: an account ID and, if you use Sign in with Apple, the email address Apple shares (often a private relay address). It is used only for your account.
- Commands: the text of what you asked, and a record of what MERLIN did.
- Connections: sign-in tokens for services you connect, such as Sonos, encrypted at rest.
- CONNECT: voice notes and messages you choose to send, for a short time (below).
- Purchases: whether you have a subscription. Apple handles payment; MERLIN never sees your card.
- Diagnostics: counts and timings only, if you leave diagnostics on.
Audio and voice commands
MERLIN listens only on the Listening screen, which always has a visible stop control. Dictation happens on your watch using Apple's system dictation. If audio is sent to MERLIN's servers to be transcribed, it is processed in memory and discarded. Command audio is never stored.
Transcripts and activity
The text of each command is kept with its record so you can see what MERLIN understood, then deleted after 30 days. The activity log records which action ran and how it went, with secrets removed. You can see it in the iPhone app under Activity.
CONNECT voice notes and messages
- You can message only someone who accepted your invite code, or whose code you accepted, and only while neither of you has blocked or removed the other.
- Nothing is sent until you confirm. Voice notes and messages are encrypted at rest and deleted 7 days after sending or 24 hours after the recipient first plays them, whichever comes first. Either of you can delete one sooner.
- Notifications show the sender's name and "Voice note" or "New message", never the content.
- Blocking takes effect immediately, stops delivery both ways and deletes what that person sent you. A report keeps only the reason, the IDs and any note you write, never the message.
Diagnostics
Diagnostics are on by default and contain only numbers and fixed categories, never text, contacts or room names: how long a gesture session lasted and how it ended, and crash and hang counts with the app and OS version. They are kept 30 days. Turn them off in the iPhone app under Privacy > Share diagnostics, which also deletes what was collected.
Service providers
- Anthropic interprets the text of your command to decide what to do. It receives the transcript, not audio.
- Microsoft Azure hosts MERLIN's servers in the United States.
- Apple provides dictation, Sign in with Apple, notifications and payments.
- Services you connect, such as Sonos, receive the commands you send to them.
No tracking, no ads
MERLIN does not track you across apps or websites, show ads, or sell or share your data for advertising.
How long things are kept
- Command audio: not stored.
- Transcripts: 30 days.
- CONNECT voice notes and messages: at most 7 days, or 24 hours after first play.
- Diagnostics: 30 days.
- Connection tokens: until you disconnect the service.
- Your account: until you delete it.
Your choices
- Export: iPhone app > Privacy > Export my data gives you everything stored about your account, except credentials.
- Delete: iPhone app > Privacy > Delete account removes your account and everything linked to it.
- Disconnect: iPhone app > Connections removes a service and deletes its tokens.
Children
MERLIN is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly collect their data.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes too. Significant changes will be shown in the app.
Contact
Questions or requests: support@merlinwatch.app.