Hey Minnal Privacy Policy
Last updated: 1 November 2026
Hey Minnal ("we", "us") is an Android app that gathers your WhatsApp, SMS, missed calls, email, calendar and Teams into one inbox, with an assistant called Minnal that you can talk to. This policy says what data the app uses, where it's kept, who else sees it, and how to see, export or delete it.
- Messages the app reads from your notifications stay on your phone unless you turn on cloud sync.
- We never sell your data and show no ads.
- The AI only sees what it needs for something you asked it to do.
- Nothing is sent, called or deleted without a tap from you on a confirmation card.
- You can export your data or delete your account from the app at any time: Settings → Your data.
1. Signing in
You sign in to Hey Minnal with your Google account. Google tells us your name, your email address (which Google has verified) and an account id. We don't get your Google password or anything else from your Google account. Signing in creates your Hey Minnal account the first time.
2. Data kept only on your phone
These are stored in the app's private storage and never reach our server:
- Messages read from notifications (WhatsApp, SMS, missed calls, email apps, Teams), with their full text, unless you turn on cloud sync (section 3).
- How each message is sorted (OTP, bank, bill, offer, person) and whether it looks urgent.
- The Money page (credits and debits from bank messages, bills and the assistant) and the Trips page (train, flight, bus and movie bookings). Photos of bills aren't kept.
- WhatsApp chat history shown in the assistant's chat mode (the last 50 messages per chat).
- Your theme, smart-feature switches and voice settings.
- Photos you attach to the assistant, in the app's temporary cache.
Signing out, or an expired session, wipes this data from the phone. Uninstalling the app deletes it too.
3. Data on our server
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Account | Your email, name, Google account id, and your company's name for company accounts. |
| Settings | Which apps show in the inbox, hidden words, starred people, privacy level, how long to keep messages, and the AI provider and model you chose. |
| Messages from your phone | Depends on Settings → Privacy. Cloud sync off (the default for individuals): none. Basic details: sender and time. Short preview (the default for companies): sender, time and the first ~120 characters. Full: the whole message. |
| Connected Outlook, Teams and Google Calendar | If you connect Outlook or Teams, we fetch recent mail and chats and keep the sender, subject, a short preview and the provider's ids. The full email text is fetched when you open it and isn't stored unless you chose Full. Your calendar, and the names and addresses in your Outlook Sent folder used for To suggestions, are read live and never stored. Sign-in tokens are encrypted. Hey Minnal doesn't connect to Gmail itself: Gmail messages reach your inbox through the Gmail app's notifications, like WhatsApp and SMS. |
| Reminders | Title, note, time and repeat. A bill reminder's note can quote up to 200 characters of the bill message. |
| Assistant conversations | What you said or typed, Minnal's replies, and what it read to answer (messages, contact names and numbers, calendar events, attached photos). These are kept so you can continue a conversation. With cloud sync off or "Basic details only", they're deleted a day after you last used them; with Short preview or Full, after your "keep messages for" period. You can delete them sooner in the assistant's history. |
| Your own AI keys | If you save a Claude or ChatGPT key to your account, it's encrypted and only its last 4 characters are ever shown. |
| Credits, usage and purchases | Your credit balance; how much AI you used each day, by kind (numbers only, never message text); and for each Google Play purchase, its order id, product, country, credits and price. Card and UPI details stay with Google. |
| Phones | A push token and the phone's model, so we can tell the app to check for new mail. |
| Backup | Only when the phone last backed up and to which Google account. The backup itself goes straight from your phone to your own Google Drive, never through us. |
| Reports | If you report an AI-edited photo, what you asked for and why you reported it. Not the photo. |
4. Who else receives data
We share data only with these services, only for the feature you're using:
| Service | What it gets, and when |
|---|---|
| Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI (ChatGPT) | When you use the assistant: your command, attached photos, and the messages, contacts, events and reminders the assistant reads to answer. When you tap ✨ Suggest replies or Polish: that message's text, sender and subject, and your draft. Under their API terms these providers don't train their models on this data. Through our server, OpenAI is asked not to store the conversation (we keep it ourselves, as described above); assistant chats started before 31 October 2026 may stay at OpenAI for about 30 days. |
| Sign in with Google. Google Calendar, if you connect it. Gemini, only for an AI photo edit you approved (the photo and your instruction). Firebase Cloud Messaging, which gets a device token and a "check for new mail" signal, never message text. Google Play, which takes payments and gets a hashed account id, not your email. Google Drive, only if you turn on backup (straight from your phone to your own Drive). ML Kit runs on your phone to cut out a photo's subject; nothing leaves the phone for that. | |
| Microsoft | Outlook, Outlook Calendar and Teams, if you connect them. |
| Our hosting provider | Our server and database run on a cloud host (currently Railway). Data may be stored and processed outside India. |
We don't sell data, share it with advertisers or data brokers, or use analytics or advertising trackers. We may disclose data if the law requires it.
Google user data
Hey Minnal's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Google Calendar data is used only to show your calendar and to do what you ask, such as adding an event or reading out your day. It's sent to an AI provider only when you ask the assistant about it, is never used to train AI models, and is never read by people at Hey Minnal unless you ask us to look into a problem, it's needed for security, or the law requires it.
5. Phone permissions
- Notification access: to read WhatsApp, SMS, call and email notifications into your inbox and reply through them. Hey Minnal doesn't read your SMS inbox or call log directly.
- Contacts and Calendar: asked when the assistant first needs them, to find a person or an event. Contacts are read when needed and aren't stored.
- Microphone: for spoken commands, using your phone's own speech recognition.
- Notifications: for reminder alerts and the morning brief.
You can turn any of these off in Android's settings at any time.
6. How long we keep data
Our server deletes old data by itself every hour:
- Messages: after the "keep messages for" period you choose (7, 30, 90 or 365 days).
- Assistant conversations: a day after last use with cloud sync off or "Basic details only"; otherwise after your "keep messages for" period.
- Reminders: once done or cancelled, after your "keep messages for" period. Reminders still to come are kept.
- Phones: after 90 days without opening the app.
- Connected accounts: when you disconnect them, or after 90 days of needing to be reconnected.
- AI usage numbers: the current and previous month.
- Account and settings: until you delete your account.
- Purchase records: kept after your account is deleted, without your name or email, because tax and accounting law requires sales records and Google may report a refund later.
7. How we protect data
The app talks to our server over HTTPS. Sign-in is through Google, so we hold no passwords. Sign-in tokens for connected accounts and your own AI keys are encrypted with AES-GCM, and the app never shows more than the last 4 characters of a key. Each company's and each person's data is kept apart, and every request is checked against the signed-in user. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your data, we'll tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
8. Your rights and choices
Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and similar laws, you can:
- See and export your data: Settings → Your data → Export my data saves one file with everything our server holds for you plus what's on the phone.
- Correct it: change settings in the app, or write to us.
- Delete it: Settings → Your data → Delete my account. See how account deletion works, including how to ask without the app.
- Withdraw consent: turn off notification access, disconnect accounts, turn cloud sync off, or delete your account. What we did before stays lawful.
- Nominate someone to act for you if you die or can't act yourself, by writing to us.
- Complain: write to us first; if you're not satisfied, you can go to the Data Protection Board of India.
9. Children
Hey Minnal is meant for people aged 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect data from children. If you think a child has an account, write to us and we'll delete it.
10. Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change matters, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect.
11. Contact and grievances
For questions, requests or complaints about your data, write to heyminnalai@gmail.com. We'll reply as soon as we can, and within the time the law allows.