Privacy and security controls

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This page lists every control that changes what Bearly stores, what reaches an AI model, and who can open your work, with the exact path to each one.

What applies to every account

Bearly doesn’t train AI models on your chats.
No ads. We don’t sell your data.
Chats and files are encrypted at rest, each with its own key.
AI labs never learn who is asking: no name, account, or IP address reaches them. Anything you type about yourself is still part of your message.
Web and image search run on a provider that keeps nothing after it answers.
Computer use runs on your device. It’s in the desktop app only, and the screenshots you approve go to the model you picked.

What you type, attach, or let a tool read still goes to the model handling your request. The controls below decide how much context goes with it and where your chats are kept.

Quick reference

Control	Where	What it does	How to undo
Zero Data Retention only	Settings → Privacy & Security	Chats use only zero-retention models, and fallbacks stay on them	Turn it off
End-to-end encryption	Settings → Privacy & Security, and the lock beside the composer	New chats are encrypted on your devices	Choose standard encryption for a new chat. Existing encrypted chats stay encrypted.
Encrypt all new chats with this key	Same pane, after setup	Makes end-to-end encryption the default for new chats	Turn it off
Personalization	Settings → Personalization	Controls whether your name, occupation, and About you go to the model	Turn it on or off
Memories	This Chat, New Chats, or the composer	Off stops recall of earlier chats	Set it back to Auto
Web Search	This Chat, New Chats, or the composer	Off stops the chat from searching the web on its own	Set it back to Auto
Project password	Project Settings → Encryption → Protect	Adds a password lock to a project, and its chats are read-only while locked	Remove
Lock all data	Settings → Account	Relocks every password-protected project on this device	Enter the passwords again
Permissions	Composer	Standard asks before tools act. Full access doesn’t.	Switch back
Saved approvals	Composer → Permissions	Revoke all saved approvals or Clear all permissions	Approve again
Devices	Settings → Devices	Signs out other devices and removes extension or API keys	Sign in again
Log out	Settings → Account, or the account menu	Syncs, then clears Bearly’s data from this device	Sign in
Delete account	Settings → Account	Schedules permanent deletion after email verification	Cancel scheduled deletion before the final reminder
Text messages	Settings → Phone & SMS	Stops texts or deletes your number	Set it up again
Browser data	Settings → Browser (desktop app)	Resets tabs and approvals, deletes cookies and site data, blocks trackers	—

Zero Data Retention only

Turn on Zero Data Retention only and Bearly shows only zero-retention models, and automatic fallbacks stay on them too. Reach for it when a chat may include confidential material and you want no model provider keeping prompts or replies after it answers.

You need: any plan, on any platform. It’s off by default.

Open Settings → Privacy & Security — the pane reads “Only use AI routes where providers do not retain your prompts or responses after processing. Automatic fallbacks follow the same rule.”
Turn on Zero Data Retention only — the model picker now hides models without a zero-retention route.

What you get: in the model picker, every model has a ZDR or Standard badge (“Zero data retention” or “Standard retention”). While the setting hides models, the picker shows ZDR on · Some models hidden with a Change link back to this pane. The setting belongs to your account, so it applies on every device once they sync.

Limits:

It covers the language models that write and work in your chats, including the models Bearly uses inside chat tools such as Council’s experts. Council can offer fewer experts when it’s on.
It doesn’t cover image and video generation, transcription, text extraction from files, voice calls, or other tool services. Deep Research, People Search, Scholar’s academic web search, YouTube search, and reading web pages also reach their usual services.
If settings can’t sync, Bearly keeps the rule on and the switch is unavailable: “Settings sync is unavailable. Zero Data Retention routes remain required until Bearly reconnects.” The banner reads ZDR on until settings sync.
If your organization also limits models, you see only models allowed by both, and the banner notes managed account.

Combines with: Models to pick among zero-retention models, and the organization model allow-list for a team-wide rule.

End-to-end encryption

End-to-end encryption is opt-in, applies to new chats only, and is labeled Beta. Turn on end-to-end encryption and your new chats are encrypted on your devices. Bearly stores and syncs only the locked copies. Bearly can’t read your end-to-end encrypted chats: not the messages, the titles, or the files.

Signing in isn’t enough to open your encrypted chats. A new device needs approval from one you already use, your recovery phrase, or a passkey.

Use it when: a chat holds material only you should be able to open later, such as legal, medical, or personal records. Each message still goes to the model you picked, so this protects what’s stored, not what the model sees.

You need: nothing extra on a personal account. On a managed organization, an admin must turn on End-to-end encryption in your policy, and Require local encryption must be off. On the desktop app, a version newer than 5.2.8.

Set it up on your first device

Open Settings → Privacy & Security and, under End-to-end encryption, select Set up end-to-end encryption — the pane reads “Your chats are already encrypted. Keep the keys to end-to-end encrypted chats on devices you approve.” You can also start from Set up end-to-end encryption under the new-chat composer.
Under Name this device, keep or edit the suggested name, such as “Bearly on iPhone” — you’ll see this name when approving devices later. Select Continue.
Save your recovery phrase: Bearly shows 24 words. Use Copy or Download (some phones show Save), or take a screenshot on a phone or a photo of the screen on a computer, and keep one copy somewhere other than this device.
Check “I saved my recovery phrase. If I lose it and every approved device, Bearly can’t recover my encrypted chats.” and select Continue.
Leave Encrypt all new chats with this key on — “Existing chats stay as they are.” Optional: select Store a passkey in my keychain. Then select Done.

Choose encryption for each new chat

After setup, a lock appears beside the project picker on a new chat. Orange and closed means “End-to-end encrypted”. Gray and open means “Standard encryption”. Turning encryption off for a draft asks you to confirm, and you can’t change it while the draft has attachments (“Remove attachments before changing encryption”). If your organization requires device-only encryption, the lock is yellow, reads “Local key encryption”, and can’t be changed.

Approve a new device

Each browser and app needs its own approval, even on the same computer.

Sign in on the new device, open Settings → Privacy & Security, and select Approve this device. Name the device and select Ask another device to approve — it shows a Verification code and waits.
On a device you already approved, open Settings → Privacy & Security → Approve a device and choose the new device by name.
Enter the verification code shown on the new device, then approve — the new device can now open your encrypted chats.

From an approved phone, you can instead open “Using an approved phone? Scan instead” on the new device and scan the code with Bearly’s scanner (Approve a device → Scan QR code), not the phone’s Camera app. Requests expire after 10 minutes, and Request another approval code starts a new one. Without an approved device, choose Use my recovery phrase instead and select Unlock this device, or use Unlock with my keychain if you saved a passkey.

Manage devices and recovery

Once this device is unlocked, the pane shows:

Approved devices: “These devices can open your encrypted chats and approve another device.” Remove asks first and explains the result. Removing your only device means “You’ll need your recovery phrase to get back in.” Removing this device locks your encrypted chats here until another device approves it or you use your recovery phrase. Anything a removed device already downloaded stays on it.
Recovery: your saved passkeys with Remove, Store a passkey in my keychain (“Use your device keychain to unlock Bearly on a replacement device.”) where your device supports it, and Replace recovery phrase (“Creates a new recovery phrase. The previous phrase or key stops working.”).

What changes in an encrypted chat

Memories are off. The setup screen says so.
The chat can’t search documents, and Always Search Documents has no effect. Reading a specific file still works.
The chat doesn’t appear in Search chats and files.
The AI in a regular chat can’t list, read, rename, move, or delete your encrypted chats.
When you send a prompt, “Bearly’s execution service, the selected AI provider and tools still receive what they need.”
A routine made from an encrypted chat keeps its instructions and results in standard storage, and its runs wait until a device is unlocked. If a routine texts you each result, the routine editor notes that the text summary leaves end-to-end encryption.
Publishing a Page asks you to confirm that Bearly will store a readable copy of only the published Page, its preview, and any file you include. The chat stays encrypted.
On a device that isn’t approved, encrypted chats appear as “Encrypted chat” placeholders, and a banner reads “Encrypted chats are locked on this device” with Approve.

Limits:

Bearly can still see when each encrypted chat was last saved and when you last read it.
Clearing a browser’s site data removes that browser’s key, so it needs approval again.
Desktop app versions 5.2.8 and earlier can’t hold a key. They stay locked and can start standard chats.
Passkeys depend on your device’s keychain. The option appears only where it works.
If your organization later stops allowing it, setup and new encrypted chats stop, but existing ones stay available: “Your organization doesn’t allow new end-to-end encrypted chats. Your existing ones stay available.”

Combines with: Projects, since an encrypted chat’s title and project link are encrypted too, and Routines, with the storage note above.

Personalization

Settings → Personalization decides what Bearly tells the model about you. The Personalization switch is off by default.

Turn on Personalization (“Include your profile context in your chats.”) and fill in Name, Occupation, and About you. “This is shared with AI models in your conversations.”
With the switch off, nothing from your profile is added to your chats.
A project can turn on Disable Personalization, and then nothing from your profile is included in that project’s chats.

Memories and Web Search

Memories lets a chat recall earlier conversations. In Settings → This Chat or New Chats, choose Off or Auto. In the composer’s sliders menu, choose Off or All Chats, or Project Only inside a project. Deleting a chat deletes its memory. Your organization’s Memory Recall policy can turn Memories off for everyone.

Web Search set to Off stops a chat from searching the web on its own. Tools you start on purpose, such as Deep Research, still reach the web. Set New Chats → Web Search to Off to make that the default. See Chat settings.

Project passwords and Lock all data

A project password locks a project’s files and settings. While it’s locked, its chats are read-only. Bearly can’t recover a forgotten password, and you enter it again on each new device and after you log out. A project password is a separate lock on stored project data, not end-to-end encryption. See Password protection.

Settings → Account → Lock all data relocks every password-protected project on this device. The pane still calls them “notebooks”. Select Lock, then confirm with Lock All — Bearly clears saved passwords on this device and reloads.

Permissions: Standard and Full access

The Permissions button beside the composer decides whether Bearly asks before it uses tools that act outside the chat, such as local files, Computer Use, Bearly Browser, Chrome, Skill scripts, and connectors.

Standard: “Ask for approval when needed. Saved approvals still apply.”
Full access: “Use enabled tools without asking each time.” Turning it on asks Enable full access? and applies to this chat on this device only. Organization rules, operating-system permissions, and required safety checks still apply. Full access never turns on a tool or connects an account.
Saved approvals · N lists approvals you’ve given, each scoped to “This response”, “This session”, or “This chat · this device”, with Revoke. Revoke all saved approvals clears them. Clear all permissions switches to Standard and revokes them all.
Settings → Privacy & Security → Start new chats in Full access makes new chats on this device start in Full access. It asks Start every new chat in Full access? first. Existing chats and routines aren’t changed. If Full access isn’t available for your account or app, the switch says why.

Routines have their own Full access setting in the routine editor. On a managed organization, admins decide who may use Full access under Agent access. See Permissions.

Devices

Settings → Devices lists where your account is signed in: “Where your Bearly account is signed in. Sign out of any device you don’t recognize.” Each row shows the device, This device for the one you’re on, an approximate location, and when it was last active, with Sign out.

Sign out all other devices keeps this device signed in and keeps your API keys.
Browser extension and API keys: “These have separate access. Remove a key to disconnect anything using it.” Each key shows when it was created and last used, with Remove.

Log out

Settings → Account → Log out, or Logout in the account menu: “Bearly syncs your recent changes, then clears its data from this device. You’ll need to sign in again.” If some changes haven’t synced, Bearly asks before discarding them. Logging out also ends the session on Bearly’s side.

Delete your account

You need: to transfer or close any organizations you administer, and to transfer ownership or remove collaborators from shared work. Bearly blocks the request until you do.

Open Settings → Account and, beside Delete account, select Delete — the dialog lists what’s deleted and what’s kept.
Review the subscription note. A web subscription is canceled when the deletion runs, so cancel first if it could renew in the next 24 hours. An App Store subscription isn’t canceled, and unused time and credits aren’t refunded. Manage subscription helps you cancel.
Select Email verification code, enter the six-digit Verification code and your full Account email, then select Schedule account deletion.
Save the Deletion receipt and scheduled time — Bearly also emails the schedule to your account address.

Deleted	Kept as restricted records
Chats, projects, documents, and generated files	Invoices, payment and subscription records
Settings, saved prompts, phone profile, and team membership	Usage and transaction totals needed for reconciliation
API keys, extension credentials, and Bearly sessions	Required fraud, dispute, consent, tax, and legal records

Deletion runs 24 hours after you verify. You can keep using Bearly until then. To cancel, select Delete again and Cancel scheduled deletion. Cancelling closes when Bearly sends the final reminder, about one hour before deletion.

Phone & SMS

Settings → Phone & SMS manages text messages. Set it up with a US or Canadian mobile number for verification codes and notifications. Once verified, the pane offers Send test text, Change number, Turn off text messages (“Stops codes and notifications. Same as replying STOP.”), and Remove phone number (“Deletes the number from your Bearly account.”). The pane appears when your organization’s Text messages policy allows it. See Email and text.

Controls only an organization admin can set

On a managed organization, admins can set these for members in a policy. The full list is in the policy control catalog.

PII Blocker replaces email addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, and US Social Security numbers with “[REDACTED: type]” before a message is sent, and shows Personal Information Redacted.
End-to-end encryption must be turned on before members can set up encrypted chats.
Require local encryption makes new chats open only on the device that created them, and blocks end-to-end encryption.
Lock existing chats converts existing chats to device-only. It can’t be undone.
File uploads and Memory Recall turn off attachments and Memories.
Model access limits which models members can pick, and Agent access decides who may use Full access.

Settings reference — every pane and control
Projects — project passwords and sharing
Run Bearly for an organization — admin controls
Privacy and security in Bearly and Delete your Bearly account
Privacy Policy