Your privacy, in plain language.

Who we are

Maxwell is a health companion app for older adults and the people who care for them. This policy explains what information Maxwell collects through the app and this website, why we collect it, and the choices you have.

In this policy, "Maxwell," "we," "us," and "our" refer to Maxwell Labs, Inc., 5 Scott Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. "You" means the person using the app — whether for yourself or on behalf of someone you care for.

Information we collect

Information you give us

• Account details — the name, date of birth, email address, phone number, and password you enter when you create an account. Your password is stored only as a secure, one-way hash; we never keep the password itself.
• Profile information — anything you choose to add, such as a display name or details that help personalize your experience.
• Connections you make — if you link your account with someone else's, we store that connection and the permissions you grant.

Two of those are worth saying plainly. We ask for your date of birth because Maxwell is for adults, so we use it to confirm you are 18 or older when you sign up. We ask for your phone number so that services you request through Maxwell can reach you — a driver, say — so you can sign in with it, and so we can contact you about your account. We do not send you marketing texts.

Information from your phone, with your permission

Each of these is off until you allow it in your phone's settings, and you can turn any of them off again there at any time.

• Contacts — the names, phone numbers, email addresses, and birthdays of the people in your phone's address book. They are sent to our servers so Maxwell can call the right person when you ask, remind you of a birthday, and answer questions about them. If you turn the Contacts permission off, the copy on our servers is removed the next time the app syncs.
• Calendar — the title, time, and place of events on the calendars you choose to share, sent to our servers so Maxwell can tell you what is on today. You choose which calendars in Settings → Calendar; switching one off removes its events from our servers on the next sync, and disconnecting removes them all.
• Location — while you are using the app, your phone's location is sent with your messages and voice calls so Maxwell can tell you the weather, answer questions about places near you, and set the pickup point when you book a ride. We do not collect your location when the app is closed.
• Microphone — for voice conversations with Maxwell, and, when you ask, to record a visit or a call so Maxwell can write notes from it. See "Voice and recordings" below for what is kept.
• Camera and photos — only the photographs you choose to send: a medicine label, a message you want checked, something you want to ask about.
• Apple Health (iPhone only) — if you connect it in Settings → Apple Health, the health data you choose to share in Apple's Health app: activity such as steps and exercise, heart rate and heart notifications, blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, temperature, blood oxygen, sleep, falls, workouts, and the medicines you track there. If you also connect health records, the records your hospital or clinic sends to the Health app — lab results, conditions, allergies, immunizations, prescriptions, procedures, and visit notes. This is sent to our servers when you open the app so Maxwell can answer questions about it. You choose which types to share in the Health app, and disconnecting in Maxwell removes our copy straight away.

Information about how you use Maxwell

• Content you provide — the messages, voice, images, medicines, to-dos, and other information you enter into Maxwell or ask it to act on, so it can respond and keep context within your account.
• Device & usage data — app version, device type, crash reports, and how the app is used (which screens you open and which buttons you tap — never what you type or say). This is tied to your account so that when you report a problem we can find it.

Voice and recordings

• Voice conversations are recorded. When you talk to Maxwell, the audio and a transcript are kept by our voice provider for as long as your account exists, so that we can look into a problem you report and improve how Maxwell listens. They are deleted when your account is.
• Recorded visits — when you use Maxwell to record a doctor's visit or a call, the recording stays on your phone. It is sent once to be turned into text and notes, and the audio is not stored on our servers. The transcript and notes are kept in your account.

Information from our website

• Early-access sign-up — if you join the list on our website, we collect your email address and whether you are signing up for yourself or for someone else, and use them only to email you about Maxwell's launch. You can unsubscribe from any of those emails.
• Visit data — like most websites, our hosting providers record standard technical information your browser sends, such as IP address, browser type, and the pages requested, to keep the site running and secure.

Health information

Some of the information you share with Maxwell relates to your health — for example, what you choose to record about it, and topics you raise in conversation. We treat this information as sensitive.

• We use it only to provide the service you asked for.
• We do not use your health information for advertising, and we do not sell it.
• We share it with another person only when you have given explicit permission, and you can withdraw that permission at any time.
• Data from Apple Health and health records is used only to answer your own questions and, if you turn on "Health data & records" for a caregiver, to show that caregiver a summary. It is never used for advertising or marketing, never sold, never used to train AI models — ours or our providers' — and never stored in iCloud. It is sent to the AI provider below only when a question you ask needs it.
• A small number of our staff can read a conversation when you report a problem with it or when our safety checks flag a message, and an automated review runs over recent conversations to catch things the assistant got wrong. Nobody reads your conversations for any other reason.

How we use information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide and personalize the service.
• Send emails you have asked for or need — account and service messages, billing receipts, and notices you have chosen to receive.
• Text you a one-time code when you sign in with your phone number, if you agreed to it when you created your account, when you change your phone number, and when you ask to confirm your number, as described under "Text messages".
• Keep accounts secure, prevent abuse, and detect fraud or safety risks — including, when you have linked a caregiver and turned on safety alerts, letting them know when Maxwell hears something that sounds like an emergency.
• Review conversations to find and fix the assistant's mistakes, as described under "Health information".
• Understand how the app and website are used so we can fix problems and improve them.
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms.

We rely on a lawful basis for each use — typically your consent, the performance of our agreement with you, our legitimate interest in running a safe service, or a legal requirement, as applicable in your region.

How we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only in these limited situations:

• With people you choose — only with your explicit permission, and only what that permission covers. You can change or revoke it at any time in your settings, and if someone else linked your account to theirs, you can review and end that connection.
• With the companies that run Maxwell's AI — to answer you, Maxwell sends what you say or type, and when it is relevant your medicines, contacts, calendar, location, and Apple Health data, to the artificial-intelligence and voice providers named in "Who we work with" below. The first time you use the assistant, the app asks for your permission before any of this is sent. These companies act only on our instructions and under contract; they may not use your content to advertise to you, and we configure them so that your content is not used to train their general models.
• With other service providers — companies that host our systems, deliver email and text messages, process payments, arrange rides, and provide other infrastructure, each named below, acting only on our instructions and under contract.
• For safety — to protect someone from serious harm, or to investigate fraud or abuse.
• For legal reasons — to comply with the law, a valid legal request, or to enforce our terms.
• In a business transfer — if Maxwell is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, with notice to you.

Text messages

If you choose, Maxwell can text a one-time code to the phone number on your account so you can sign in with that number. You agree to receive these texts by ticking the box "Text me sign-in codes from Maxwell at this number" when you create your account. The box starts unticked, and you do not have to tick it to use Maxwell. If you leave it unticked, we never text you a sign-in code. If you tick it, we text you a code straight away to confirm the number is yours, because drivers booked through Maxwell call that number. Until you enter that code, you can't book rides or sign in by text, and Settings reminds you. When you change your phone number, whether or not you ticked the box, we text a code to the new number when you ask us to, and your number changes only once you enter it, so a mistyped number never ends up on your account. If you get sign-in codes, they go to the new number from then on; the app tells you so before the code is sent. Whether or not you ticked the box, the app may ask you from time to time to confirm the number on your account, because a confirmed number is what lets you text and call Maxwell and what a driver calls. We text a code for it only if you choose to go ahead, and confirming your number does not sign you up for sign-in codes. Apart from that first code, a number change and a confirmation you ask for, we send a code only when you ask for one, and each text carries only the code and a reminder never to share it.

Texting and calling Maxwell. You can also text or call Maxwell's own phone number. When you do, we look up the number you are texting or calling from. If it is the number on your account, and you have confirmed it and agreed to the AI companies named below, Maxwell answers you using your account, exactly as it does in the app: what you send, and when it is relevant your medicines, contacts and calendar, go to those companies to write the answer, and the conversation is saved to your account. Calls are recorded, as calls in the app are. If we cannot match the number to a confirmed account, nothing you send is passed to an AI company: we reply once with a link, either to create an account or to confirm your number, and we send at most one such link to a number a day. Replying to you is the only reason we text you back, and we never text a number that has not written to or called us, apart from the codes described above and the ride texts described next.

Booking a ride by text or phone. You can ask Maxwell for a ride by text or on a call. Maxwell tells you the pickup, the destination and the price, and nothing is booked or charged until you reply YES, say yes on the call, or open the link we text you and tap to book; replying NO, or saying anything else, drops the quote. If you ask for a ride and no card is saved on your account, we text the confirmed number on your account a link to the page where you add one; it asks you to sign in first and carries nothing about your account. Once a ride is booked, whether in the app, by text or by phone, we text the confirmed number on your account about that ride and nothing else: that your driver is on the way, the car and its licence plate, that the driver is outside, that you have been picked up (naming the car again and asking you to reply if anything is wrong; that text is kept in your text conversation with Maxwell, so a reply to it can be answered), a changed arrival time, a different car after a driver cancels, and a cancellation. These texts never include your destination. They stop when the ride ends, and you can reply STOP at any time.

• Message and data rates may apply. How often you receive texts depends on how often you sign in.
• Reply STOP to stop receiving texts from us, and HELP for help, or write to [email protected]. After you reply STOP you can still sign in with your password, or with Apple or Google.
• We do not send marketing or promotional texts.
• We do not share or sell your mobile phone number, or your consent to receive texts, with anyone for their marketing or promotional purposes. Your number is shared only with the text-message provider named below, to deliver the code, and as described elsewhere in this policy — with Lyft when you book a ride, for example.
• Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Who we work with

These are the companies that process your information on our behalf, and what each one receives. We will update this list when it changes.

Artificial intelligence and voice

• OpenAI — understands and answers your messages, reads the photographs you send (such as a medicine label), and writes notes from recorded visits. It receives the conversation and whatever context it needs: your medicines, contacts, calendar, location, and Apple Health data and health records you have connected, when relevant.
• Retell — runs voice conversations: hears what you say, speaks Maxwell's reply, and keeps the recording and transcript of each call.
• ElevenLabs — turns a recorded visit into text, and reads text aloud when you ask.
• Tavily — looks things up on the web for health questions and everyday questions. It receives the question, never your name or account.

Places, rides, and information

• Google Maps and Places — finds addresses, places, and travel times. It receives the place you asked about and, for "near me", your location.
• Lyft — when you book a ride, receives your name, phone number, pickup, and destination, so the driver can find and reach you.
• The Movie Database (TMDB) — film and television information. It receives the title you asked about.

Payments and subscriptions

• Stripe — holds the card you save for rides and charges it. We never see your full card number.
• RevenueCat, the Apple App Store, and Google Play — manage your subscription. We receive whether it is active, not your payment details.

Running the service

• Sentry — receives crash and error reports, tagged with your account ID and email so we can find the report when you write to us.
• PostHog — receives how the app is used (screens opened, buttons tapped), tagged with your name, email, and account ID. Never the content of a conversation.
• Email delivery providers — send the emails we send you.
• Twilio — sends the sign-in codes we text you, and carries texts and calls to and from Maxwell's phone number. It receives your phone number and the content of each text and call.
• Hosting providers — run our servers and store your account data, in the United States.

Your information is processed in the United States. If you use Maxwell from elsewhere, it is transferred there to provide the service.

Your choices & rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct information that is inaccurate or out of date.
• Delete your account and associated data — you can do this yourself in the app, under Settings → Account settings → Delete my account.
• Export a copy of your data in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent — including ending access you have given someone else — at any time.
• Object to or limit certain processing.

To exercise any of these, contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within the time required by applicable law. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

How long we keep data

We keep your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the service.

When you delete your account, it is closed immediately and we wait 30 days before removing your information, so that a deletion you did not intend can still be undone — sign in again within those 30 days and choose "Keep my account". After that we delete your account and the information associated with it from our systems, delete your voice recordings and transcripts at our voice provider, and delete your subscription record at RevenueCat. If you signed in with Apple, we also tell Apple to disconnect your Apple ID from Maxwell. This cannot be reversed.

Crash reports and usage records already sent to Sentry and PostHog are kept by those providers for a limited time under their own retention schedules and are no longer connected to a working account. Content already processed by our AI providers is not retained by them beyond the short periods their contracts allow for abuse monitoring.

Two things deliberately outlive the account. Records of payments — what was charged, when, and to which account — are kept because a refund or a card dispute can arrive afterwards and has to remain explicable. And if someone else had shared their information with you, your access ends but their records remain theirs. We may also retain information where we must to meet legal, security, or accounting obligations.

Deleting your Maxwell account does not cancel a subscription bought through the App Store or Google Play. Those are managed by the store, and you need to cancel there as well.

How we protect data

We use technical and organizational safeguards — including encryption in transit, access controls, and regular review — to protect your information. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we work to protect your data and to notify you and the authorities if a breach occurs, as required by law.

Who Maxwell is for

Maxwell is designed for adults. It is not intended for, and we do not knowingly collect information from, children under 18. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can remove it.

Because many of our users are older adults, we aim to keep this notice clear and our privacy choices easy to find. If you need help understanding or exercising your choices, someone you trust or our support team can assist.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Maxwell grows or as the law changes. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify you in the app or by email before the changes take effect.

Contact us

Questions about your privacy or this policy? We're happy to help.

• Email — [email protected]
• Mail — Maxwell Labs, Inc., 5 Scott Street, Cambridge, MA 02138