Trades are stored in Kyra's local database and analyzed on-device.
If enabled, CloudKit sync uses your Apple ID rather than a Kyra account.
The same iCloud account can restore synced history on another iPhone.
Where most trading journals send your data
A cloud-first journal commonly requires an account, accepts broker or CSV trade data on its servers, and performs analysis there. That approach can enable web access and broker import, but it places a server in the trade-data path.
- You create an account with email and password
- You connect a broker via OAuth, or upload your trades via CSV to their server
- An LLM running on the journal's infrastructure analyzes your history
- A score, a chart, or a chat reply comes back
What Kyra does instead
Kyra stores trades on your device. Trades are written to a local database, indexed locally, and queried locally. When you turn on iCloud sync, the database replicates through CloudKit's .automatic mode — Apple's user-private storage. The data lives in your iCloud, not in a Kyra-operated service.
There is no Kyra backend. There is no Kyra server with a copy of your trades. There is no Kyra database an engineer could query, an attacker could breach, or an acquirer could repurpose. The reason is not engineering caution. The reason is that the data is not there.
What this excludes
- No web app. The journal is built for iOS. A browser-based version would require a different architecture.
- No live broker auto-sync. Broker OAuth means trades transit a server. Kyra does not route trade data through one.
- No cross-device login. Your sync identity is your iCloud account, which you already have. There is no Kyra account to create or remember.
How the math runs without a cloud
Kyra's pattern engine uses classical statistical inference suited to small personal histories. Those calculations run locally, so an observation can be computed without uploading trade entries to an analysis service. The methods are explained on The math behind Kyra.
The privacy nutrition label, side by side
Apple requires every app to disclose what data it collects. The labels surface in the App Store as standardized icons. Compare:
| Disclosure axis | Kyra | Typical cloud journal |
|---|---|---|
| Data used to track you | None | Often "Usage Data" — cross-app/web tracking |
| Data linked to your identity | None | Account info, trade history, billing |
| Data not linked to your identity | Device ID, Product Interaction (analytics only); Crash Data (functionality) | Plus the linked-to-identity data above |
| Trade content on the company's servers | None — on-device + CloudKit user-private only | Trade data, notes, chart screenshots, any chat history |
| Cross-app tracking SDK | None | Often present |
The Privacy Nutrition Label is a public, auditable record. It is what App Store reviewers check when assessing whether an app is what it claims to be. Kyra's nutrition label is structurally honest because the data the label asks about is not collected to begin with.
"But what if I lose my phone?"
The most common pushback on the on-device stance: what if you lose the device, or it breaks, or the app gets uninstalled by accident?
Turn on iCloud sync once, and that scenario is covered. CloudKit handles cross-device replication through your iCloud account. When you set up a new iPhone and restore from iCloud, Kyra restores too. The sync layer is end-to-end Apple infrastructure — not a Kyra service in the middle.
For traders who want the strongest possible isolation, leaving iCloud off means trades are on the device only. The trade-off is yours to make. The default behavior leans toward "your data is recoverable" because that is what most traders actually want.
"But what if I want a backup outside Apple?"
Two paths:
- CSV export. Kyra exports your full trade history to a CSV file. The file is yours to back up wherever you like — Dropbox, encrypted USB, printed copy. Kyra does not push the file anywhere on your behalf.
- Time Machine. If you sync to iCloud and use a Mac with Time Machine, iCloud Drive's local cache gets backed up like any other folder. Your trades end up in your normal backup rotation without any extra setup.
Both paths preserve the architectural commitment: Kyra never operates a backup service. Backups are yours.
What this lets us refuse
The architectural commitment is also a refusal commitment. Because there is no backend, several things are not just unbuilt — they are unbuildable without changing what Kyra is:
- No live broker auto-sync. Would require a server in the middle of the OAuth flow.
- No AI chatbot trained on your trades. Would require uploading trades to a model provider.
- No social feeds, leaderboards, or peer comparison. Would require a multi-tenant database.
- No "share your trade" social mechanics. Would require Kyra to hold the shared content.
- No data sales, no ad targeting, no behavioral analytics for third parties. Would require collecting the data first.
These refusals are not pending features. They are the shape of the commitment.
What you can verify
Trust shouldn't rest on a marketing page. Three things any user can check independently:
- Settings → Network access for Kyra. When you open the app and log a trade, no outbound network request fires. Use Little Snitch, Charles Proxy, or Apple's own network privacy report to confirm.
- The App Privacy nutrition label. Available on Kyra's App Store listing. Compare against any competitor's label.
- CloudKit's user-private posture. Apple's own documentation explains that CloudKit
.automaticdata lives in the user's iCloud, not the developer's account. Apple makes this verifiable.
If anything in the architecture stopped matching the description above, the App Privacy label would have to change, the network traffic would tell on Kyra, and CloudKit would refuse the storage class. The story is auditable on three independent surfaces.
The trading journal you pick is a long-term commitment. The data compounds over years; the choice of where it lives compounds with it. Kyra exists for traders who want the long-term version of that choice to be theirs, not someone else's.
If the on-device stance is the deciding factor for you, that is the right reason to install. Kyra is built for exactly that buyer.
