Tessera
Last updated 5 August 2026
Tessera is built on one rule: preserve first, interpret second. That applies to your data too. This page describes what the app actually does, not what a template says it might — including the parts where we keep more than the shortest possible answer would suggest.
What we collect
Voice recordings and entries
When you record an entry, the audio is sent to a transcription provider to be turned into text, then processed to build your timeline, the people and places you mention, and your Life Book. Both the audio file and the text are kept: the recording is the original, and the transcript is derived from it. Your entries are not read by us, not reviewed, and not used to train anyone’s models.
Location
Location is opt-in and controlled in Settings → Location. Tessera never tracks you in the background in any mode:
| Mode | What happens |
|---|---|
| Off | No location is captured. Entries are saved without a place. |
| Journaling only (default) | Location is captured at the moment you record, and nowhere else. |
| Trip Mode | You start and stop a journey yourself; a route is kept only for that journey. |
We store the coordinates, and we should be plain about that. When a location is captured it is resolved to a place name, and the app only ever shows you the name — coordinates are never displayed in the app, in an export, or in a Life Book. But the underlying point is retained, because it is what lets Tessera recognise somewhere you have been before instead of asking again, and what draws the map and Trip Mode routes. If we discarded it, those features would not work.
Account information
Your email address, used to sign you in with a one-time code and to keep your entries separate from everyone else’s. Tessera has no passwords.
Subscription
If you subscribe, the purchase is handled entirely by Apple or Google. We receive confirmation of which tier you are on and when it renews. We never see or store card details.
Who we share it with
A small number of providers, each receiving only what its job requires:
| Provider | What it receives |
|---|---|
| OpenAI | The audio of an entry, to convert it to text |
| Anthropic | The text of an entry, to edit it into readable prose, identify the people and places mentioned, and write digests and the Life Book |
| Supabase | Stores your entries, recordings and account; handles sign-in |
| Mapbox | Receives coordinates in order to return a place name, and to draw map tiles. It is not told who you are. |
| Apple, Google | Handle payment and tell us your subscription status. Receipts are verified directly with them; there is no third-party billing service in between. |
We do not sell your personal data, share it with advertisers, or use your entries for advertising of any kind.
Your controls
- Change your location mode — Off, Journaling-only or Trip Mode, at any time, in Settings.
- Export your entries — a machine-readable export of your own words is available on every tier, including the free one. We do not put a price on leaving.
- Delete everything, yourself— Settings → Delete everything. You type a confirmation phrase, and your entries, recordings, the people and places Tessera learned, and your trips are removed. It is immediate and it cannot be undone. We are not in the loop and you do not have to ask us.
- Delete a single entry — not available in this version. Email us and we will remove it for you.
How long we keep it
Entries are kept for as long as your account exists, because a journal that quietly forgets is not a journal. If you delete your account, your entries and recordings are removed from our active systems, and backups age out on their normal rotation.
Children
Tessera is not intended for anyone under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will remove it.
Security
Data is encrypted in transit. Entries are isolated per account at the database level, so one person’s journal cannot be returned to another’s request even if the application layer were wrong. No system is perfect; what we can say is that Tessera collects only what its features need, which is a smaller thing to protect.
Changes
If we change how your data is handled, this page and the date at the top change with it, and significant changes are surfaced in the app.
Questions about your data
Write to info@geoinfortrak.com. Access, deletion and correction requests are answered within a reasonable time.