Data not collected.

Effective September 22, 2026. Kuya is published by Hayward Imagination Company LLC (Brandon Hayward, Canton, Michigan). Questions go to brandon@haywardimagination.com.

The short version

Kuya is an iPhone app for a Hermes Agent server. The app has no accounts and no backend, and we do not receive your messages, attachments, or credentials. Nothing in the app reports to us.

Kuya Cloud is different: it is an optional, invite-only service where Brandon runs a Hermes agent for you on a server he manages. If you use it, the Kuya Cloud section explains exactly what he can and can't see.

The Kuya app

Where your data goes

Your Hermes server. Messages and attachments you send go to the Hermes server address you enter, or that your pairing code contains. That server forwards them to the model providers and tools configured there. Review those settings before sending anything sensitive.
Apple. If you use dictation, Apple's speech recognition processes your audio and may send it to Apple. The transcript becomes a draft you review before sending. If you choose "This iPhone" for Improve prompt, Apple Intelligence rewrites the draft on the phone and it never leaves the device. If you choose Hermes for Improve prompt, the draft goes to your server.
Nowhere else. Kuya has no analytics, no crash reporting service, no advertising, and no tracking. The app's privacy manifest declares no collected data types and no tracking domains. Its App Store privacy label is "Data Not Collected."

What stays on your iPhone

Saved connections, drafts, attachments, and the transcript cache.
Connection credentials (access keys and dashboard passwords), stored in the iOS Keychain. Run controls in widgets use a shared Keychain group to reach your server.
Shared storage in the app group, so the app, its share extension, and its widgets can exchange drafts and widget state.
Conversation titles and identifiers, handed to iOS for Spotlight, Siri suggestions, and Handoff. Those system features can show that information outside the app.

Provider keys you add in Kuya's model settings are checked with the provider through your Hermes and saved on your Hermes server. Kuya does not keep a copy.

Permissions Kuya asks for

Camera: to scan a pairing QR code and to take photos you attach.
Microphone and speech recognition: for dictation.
Photos: to attach photos you choose, and to save an attachment when you tap Save to Photos.
Local network: to reach a Hermes server on the same Wi-Fi.

Each one is optional. Declining one turns off that feature only.

Diagnostics

Settings can copy diagnostic information for a problem report. It contains your server address, connection status, app version, and the last four characters of your access key. Nothing is sent until you paste it somewhere yourself, so review it first.

Deleting your data

Delete a connection in Settings to remove its credentials from the Keychain and its cached chats. Deleting the app removes everything else. Your conversations also live on your Hermes server; manage them there.

Kuya Cloud

Kuya Cloud is a small, invite-only test service that Brandon Hayward runs for friends and family. Your agent runs on a server he rents from Hetzner in Germany. This section covers what that means for your data.

What the admin panel shows

Your name, your email, and whether your agent is running.
How much of your monthly AI allowance you've used, in dollars.
How many messages your agent handled in the last day. That is a count, not the messages.
How many errors happened, by type, like "Timeout." Never the content that caused them.
When your agent was last active, and how much server memory it uses.

What it never shows

Your messages, your agent's replies, attachments, or anything you type.
Your conversation titles or files.
Your own API keys, if you add them.

To be straight with you

Your conversations are stored in your agent on that server, because that's how the agent remembers them. Brandon manages the server and technically could open those files, but has committed not to. The admin panel doesn't show them, and nothing reads them for statistics.

To answer you, your messages are sent to AI model providers through OpenRouter. OpenRouter's privacy policy and the policy of the model provider apply to that. If you switch to your own OpenRouter key, the same is true under your own OpenRouter account.

Email

Your name and email are used to send your invite and, now and then, a note to all Kuya Cloud testers about the service.

Backups and deletion

The server is backed up every night, and each backup is kept for seven days. Want everything gone? Ask Brandon to remove your agent and delete its files. Copies in the backups roll off within seven days.

This website

getkuya.com sets no cookies and runs no analytics or ads. If you pick light or dark with the theme switch, that choice is saved in your browser's local storage and never leaves your device. Cloudflare hosts the site and processes standard request data, such as your IP address, to serve pages and protect against abuse.

Children, changes, and contact

Kuya is not directed at children under 13.

When this policy changes, we'll update this page and the effective date at the top.

Questions or requests: brandon@haywardimagination.com.