Privacy Policy

Overview

Purple is a local-first application. Your data lives on your device. This policy explains what data Purple stores, where it goes, and what the author (Matt Mierzwinski) does — and does not — receive.

1. Data stored on your device

All application data is stored locally in a SQLite database at ~/.purple/purple.db. No copy of this data is transmitted to the author or any author-operated server. This includes:

• Conversation history and messages
• Persistent memories (facts you ask Purple to remember)
• OAuth access tokens for Google and Dropbox integrations
• Shell command approval preferences
• Application settings (server URLs, API keys you configure)

2. AI model processing

Purple sends your prompts and conversation context to an Ollama server for language model inference.

Local models (default): If Ollama is running on your own machine (the default endpoint is http://localhost:11434), all AI processing happens entirely on your device. No data leaves your machine for model inference.

Cloud-hosted models: Ollama offers cloud-hosted model tiers. If you configure Purple to use one (for example by running ollama pull gemma4:31b-cloud), your prompts and conversation context are sent to Ollama's servers for processing. The author does not receive or have access to this data. Please review Ollama's Privacy Policy for details on how they handle that data.

3. Google Calendar integration

Connecting your Google account is entirely optional and is used solely for Google Calendar. If you connect it, Purple can list, create, update, and delete calendar events — but only when you ask it to. Purple complies with the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. Gmail and Google Drive / Docs access have been removed — Purple no longer requests those scopes.

What Purple can access (only the single scope necessary to carry out the calendar actions you explicitly request — no background access):

• Google Calendar events (calendar.events scope) — event titles, times, descriptions, and attendees. Purple can list, create, update, and delete events. This scope grants access to events only — not to your calendar list, account settings, Gmail, Drive, or any other Google data.

How it's used: Purple only accesses calendar data to carry out actions you explicitly ask for (e.g. "schedule a meeting for tomorrow"). It does not access Google data in the background or for any purpose beyond executing your instructions. That data is passed to the AI model running on your own machine and is not sent to the author or any other third party. The one exception: if you configure Purple to use a cloud-hosted Ollama model, calendar data included in your prompts will be processed by Ollama's servers — see Ollama's Privacy Policy. Google user data is never shared with any other third party.

Storage and deletion: Your Google OAuth token is saved encrypted in ~/.purple/purple.db on your device only — it is not retained on any server. API requests go directly from your device to Google. Any calendar data that surfaces in a conversation may be saved in your local chat history; you can delete it at any time by clearing the database. You may also revoke Purple's access to your Google account at any time via Google Account Permissions.

Purple's use of Google APIs is also subject to Google's Privacy Policy.

4. Email (IMAP / SMTP) integration

Purple connects to your email directly over standard IMAP (reading) and SMTP (sending) — there is no Gmail API or any developer-operated server involved. Setup happens entirely in the chat: Purple asks for your email address, detects your provider's server settings, and asks for your password.

• Local-only credentials. Your email address and password are stored only in ~/.purple/purple.db on your device. They are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM using a key derived from your machine's identity. They are never transmitted to the author or any third party.
• App Passwords. For providers like Gmail you generate a provider-issued App Password (a 16-character credential created in your own Google account) rather than your main password. That App Password is a credential issued by your provider and is stored only on your device; you can revoke it at any time from your provider's account settings.
• Direct connections. All mail flows directly between your device and your email provider's IMAP/SMTP servers. No message content is proxied through any author-operated infrastructure (unless you use a cloud-hosted Ollama model, in which case the email content in your prompts is processed by Ollama's servers).
• Read-only on the server. Purple reads mail non-destructively — it never marks messages as read, deletes, or otherwise modifies your mailbox on the server. The only write operation is sending mail you ask it to send.
• Machine-bound encryption. Because the encryption key is derived from your machine, copying purple.db to a different computer will make the stored email credentials and OAuth tokens unreadable there. This is intentional. You would simply reconnect your accounts on the new machine.

5. Dropbox integration

If you authorize Purple's Dropbox integration:

• OAuth tokens are stored locally in ~/.purple/purple.db.
• All API calls are made directly from your device to Dropbox's servers. No data is proxied through any author-operated infrastructure.
• Use of Dropbox is subject to Dropbox's Privacy Policy.

6. Web search

If you configure a Brave Search API key or a SearXNG instance, search queries are sent directly from your device to those services. The author does not see, store, or process any search queries.

7. This website (getpurple.net)

This landing page may use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to collect anonymous, aggregated usage statistics — page views, approximate geographic region, and browser type. No personally identifiable information is collected. No persistent analytics cookies are set by this site.

To opt out, use a browser extension that blocks requests to googletagmanager.com. No other tracking, cookies, or persistent storage is used on this website.

8. No telemetry from the application

The Purple application does not transmit telemetry, crash reports, usage statistics, or diagnostic data to the author or to any author-operated service. There is no analytics SDK, no error-reporting service, and no call-home mechanism in the application.

9. Children

Purple's Kids Friendly Mode and Kids Profile Mode adapt the assistant's behavior for younger users. These modes do not change how data is stored or transmitted — the same local-storage and direct third-party API practices described above apply regardless of operating mode.

10. Contact

For privacy-related questions, please contact the author or open an issue at the project repository.