Zen Chess privacy policy
This policy covers Zen Chess for iPhone and iPad, published by Company31 Pty Ltd. The company31.com website is covered separately by the website privacy policy.
Version 1.0 · 22 October 2026
The short version
Company31 collects nothing from Zen Chess. It has no account, no sign-in, no analytics, no advertising, no tracking, no third-party SDKs and no Company31 server. Your progress, settings and games stay on your device. On the App Store its privacy label reads Data Not Collected.
One thing is up to you. If you choose to add your own API key for an AI provider, the app talks to that provider directly from your device when that AI is your master. That is described in full below, and it never involves Company31.
What Zen Chess stores, and where
Everything below lives only on the device you use, inside Zen Chess’s own app storage, which other apps cannot read. Company31 receives none of it.
| What | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Your progress | Where you are on the eight-stage path: lessons, puzzles, practices and trial games you have completed. |
| Game records | The games you have played in the app. |
| Settings | Your choices in the app’s Settings, such as board theme, piece sounds and which master you play with. |
| API keys | Only if you add one. Stored in the iPhone Keychain on that device only, and used only to talk to the provider it belongs to. |
What leaves your device
Nothing goes to Company31. Zen Chess sends nothing to Company31 or to any analytics or advertising service. It contains no third-party SDKs and no advertising identifier, and it does not track you across other apps or websites, as Apple defines tracking. The chess engine and all eight opponents run on your device.
Apple Intelligence runs on your device
On a device that supports it, Zen Chess uses Apple Intelligence, on the device, to give Master Kū its voice; the chess engine supplies the facts. That model runs on your iPhone or iPad, and what it is given and what it writes stay on the device. Without Apple Intelligence, the master uses built-in teachings, and everything works.
Your own AI provider, only if you add a key
Apple Intelligence is the default. If you choose, you can add your own API key for ChatGPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google) or DeepSeek, and choose that AI as your master before a game. While it is your master, the app sends, directly from your device over HTTPS to that provider only:
- the current position on the board (in FEN, the standard notation for a chess position);
- the moves of the game; and
- any question you type to the master.
Your key is stored in the iPhone Keychain on that device only. Company31 runs no server and never receives your keys, your games or your questions. Nothing is sent to a provider you have not added and chosen.
What the provider does with what it receives is governed by its own privacy policy and the terms of your account with it:
- OpenAI (ChatGPT): openai.com/policies/privacy-policy
- Anthropic (Claude): anthropic.com/legal/privacy
- Google (Gemini): policies.google.com/privacy
- DeepSeek: DeepSeek Privacy Policy
To stop it, remove the key in the app’s Settings. From then on nothing is sent to that provider.
Crash reports, only if you share them with developers
Zen Chess contains no crash-reporting service. If you have told iOS to share analytics with app developers, Apple may show us an anonymous crash report that names the part of the code that failed. That is Apple’s mechanism, under your control in iOS Settings, and it contains nothing from inside the app.
Backups
Zen Chess has no cloud of its own. If you back up your iPhone or iPad to iCloud or to a computer, iOS may include the app’s data in that backup, as it does for other apps. That is between you and Apple; Company31 has no access to it.
Zen Chess is not a health service
The breathing practices in Zen Chess are part of a practice of calm attention at the chess board. They are not a health service, and the app makes no health claims.
Retention and deletion
Company31 holds no data about you from Zen Chess, so there is nothing for us to retain or delete. What exists, exists on your device, until you remove it:
- To start again: open Settings › Reset my progress in the app. It clears your progress from the device.
- To stop using your own AI provider: remove its key in Settings.
- To remove everything: delete the app. iOS deletes its data with it.
If you email us for support, we keep that correspondence only as long as it takes to help you, and we do not add you to any list.
Your rights
Australian privacy law, the GDPR and similar laws give you rights over personal information a company holds about you: access, correction, deletion, portability and objection. Because we hold none from this app, there is nothing to exercise those rights against, but if you believe we hold something about you, write to us and we will answer. For anything you send to an AI provider with your own key, those rights are exercised with that provider. You may also complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Changes to this policy
If the app ever starts doing something this page does not describe, this page changes first, and the version and date at the top change with it.
Contact
- connect [at] company31.com
- Publisher
- Company31 Pty Ltd, ACN 698 697 166, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.