Last updated: April 25, 2026
Nearfolks is built on one principle: your personal relationships are none of our business.
Every note, name, birthday, and memory you add stays on your phone. We have no servers.
We receive no data. We cannot read, sell, or lose what we never have.
Nearfolks is an Android application developed by Shahzaib Sultan. The app is a privacy-first personal relationship notebook — it helps you remember the people in your life without sending any information to us or anyone else.
Contact: contact@urduwriting.com
We collect nothing.
Nearfolks does not transmit any data to any server — ours or anyone else’s. There is no account registration, no login, no cloud sync, and no analytics. The app makes zero network requests of its own.
All information you enter — names, notes, birthdays, tags, reminders, quiz cards, and settings — is stored exclusively on your Android device in an encrypted local database (SQLCipher, AES-256 encryption). The encryption key is generated on first launch and stored in the Android Keystore, which is hardware-backed on supported devices.
This data never leaves your device unless you explicitly use the Export Backup feature, which writes a JSON file to your device’s local storage. You control where that file goes.
If you uninstall the app, all data is permanently deleted from your device.
Nearfolks requests the following Android permissions. Each is requested only when you first use the feature that needs it — never at launch.
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| USE_BIOMETRIC / USE_FINGERPRINT | Optional app lock using your fingerprint or face |
| READ_CONTACTS | Contact import — lets you pick one contact via the system picker. We do not read your full contacts list. |
| RECORD_AUDIO | Voice notes — microphone input is transcribed on-device using Android’s built-in SpeechRecognizer. Audio is never recorded or stored. |
| READ_CALENDAR | Smart Prep — reads your local calendar event titles to notify you before a meeting with someone you’ve added to Nearfolks. We never write to your calendar. |
| POST_NOTIFICATIONS | Smart Prep and reminder notifications |
| SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM / USE_EXACT_ALARM | Scheduling reminders at precise times |
| com.android.vending.BILLING | Required by Google Play for in-app purchases |
Nearfolks offers two optional one-time upgrades: Nearfolks Plus ($4.99) and Nearfolks Pro ($8.99). These are processed entirely by Google Play Billing.
When you make a purchase:
For questions about billing, refunds, or purchase history, visit Google Play Help.
The only third party involved in running Nearfolks is Google Play — for app distribution and in-app billing. Google’s own privacy policy applies to those interactions: https://policies.google.com/privacy
We do not integrate:
The voice notes feature uses Android’s on-device SpeechRecognizer API. Audio is processed locally by Android — it is never streamed to a third-party server by Nearfolks.
Note: Android’s own SpeechRecognizer may, on some devices, use Google’s cloud speech service depending on your Android and Google app settings. This is outside our control.
To use fully offline voice recognition, ensure your device has an offline speech model installed in Android Settings → General Management → Language → Text-to-Speech.
Smart Prep reads the titles and times of events from your local device calendar to check whether any upcoming event matches a person you’ve added to Nearfolks. This data is used only to generate a local notification. It is never stored in the database, never shared, and never leaves your device.
Nearfolks is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect any information from children. Since we collect no data at all, no special handling is required — but parents should be aware the app stores data locally on the device.
Since all data lives on your device, you have full control at all times:
There is no account to close, no server to request deletion from, and no data retention period — because we hold nothing.
If we add features that change how data is handled, this policy will be updated and the “Last updated” date at the top will change. Significant changes will be noted in the app’s release notes.
If you have questions about this policy:
Shahzaib Sultan
contact@urduwriting.com
Nearfolks — Keep the people you love close, even when life gets busy.