Iconsmith has no account, no ads and no analytics. Your icon sets, slots and exported packs live on your device. The only thing that goes to an outside server is a message you type to the coach, and only after you tap Allow. That message goes to DeepSeek.
Kept on your device
Iconsmith saves its working files in the app's own private storage on your iPhone. We (the developer) cannot see any of it.
| Item | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Icon sets & app slots | Device | Set titles, theme briefs and slot labels you choose (e.g. "Mail", "Music"). |
| Style profiles | Device | Palette words, corner and shadow tokens taken from your theme text. |
| Generated icons | Device | PNG previews for each slot, plus whether you accepted them. |
| Generation runs & coach notes | Device | Short summaries of past runs, so the coach can build on earlier choices for a set. |
| Export packs | Device cache | The ZIP of accepted icons and its iconsmith-manifest.json, made when you tap Export. |
| Consent & screen state | Device | Whether you allowed AI sharing, and where you were in the app. |
Reference photos
When you add a moodboard photo from your library or the camera, Iconsmith keeps it in memory while you compose the set and uses it on the device to choose a softer corner style. The photo is not uploaded and is not saved as a file by the app.
The AI coach (DeepSeek)
The coach panel suggests app slots and refines your theme. It only works after you allow AI data sharing in the consent sheet. When you send a coach request, Iconsmith sends the following to DeepSeek's chat API (api.deepseek.com):
- the text you typed or dictated into the coach field;
- short notes from earlier runs of that set, if there are any;
- a random identifier for the set. This identifier is not linked to you or your device.
No photos, icons, contacts, location or device identifiers are included. The reply is shown in the app and any suggested slots are applied only when you confirm them.
DeepSeek is operated by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd. and processes requests on servers in the People's Republic of China under its own privacy policy. Please don't put personal or sensitive information in coach messages.
How icons are rendered
In this version, Iconsmith draws every icon on your iPhone using its own clay and neon-grid renderer. Your theme and slot labels are not sent to any image-generation service. If a future version adds a cloud image service, we will update this policy and ask for your consent first.
Permissions
| Permission | Used for |
|---|---|
| Camera | Taking a reference photo for your icon theme. Asked only when you tap the camera option. |
| Microphone | Hearing your spoken theme description when you tap Speak theme. |
| Speech Recognition | Turning that speech into text. Iconsmith uses Apple's speech recognizer (English, US), and Apple may process the audio on its servers under Apple's privacy policy. Iconsmith doesn't record or keep the audio; only the text ends up in the theme field. |
| Photos (add only) | Saving accepted icons to your photo library when you tap Save Icons to Photos. Iconsmith can't read your library this way. |
Picking a reference photo uses Apple's system photo picker, which shares only the photo you choose and does not give Iconsmith access to your library.
What we don't do
- No sign-in, account or profile.
- No advertising, no ad identifiers, and no tracking across other companies' apps or websites.
- No analytics, crash-reporting or attribution SDKs.
- No in-app purchases or payment data.
- No push notifications. The "Set-ready notifications" switch doesn't contact any server.
- We don't sell or rent any data.
Your controls
- Turn the coach off: Settings → AI data sharing. Iconsmith stops sending anything to DeepSeek until you turn it back on.
- Permissions: iOS Settings → Iconsmith. You can turn the camera, microphone, speech recognition and photos access on or off there.
- Deleting your data: Iconsmith has no server copy of your sets. Deleting the app removes all of its sets, icons, exports and settings from your device. Icons you already saved to Photos or shared stay where you put them.
- Requests to DeepSeek: for coach messages already sent, you can also contact DeepSeek through its privacy policy page.
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR or CCPA), you may have rights to access, delete or object to the processing of your personal data. Since we keep no personal data, most requests can be met on your device. Email us about anything else.
Children
Iconsmith is a general design tool and isn't directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children.
Changes & contact
If the app's data handling changes, we'll update this page and the effective date above, and ask for consent again in the app where needed.