Last updated: 1 October 2026
ELI5: Simple Explanations is made by Ankharis Ltd (United Kingdom).
ELI5 has no accounts and never asks for your name, email address or location. Your past explanations stay on your device. When you ask a question, the question is sent to our server and on to OpenAI to write the answer, with nothing that identifies you.
When you ask a question, ask a follow-up, tap a button such as Simpler, Go deeper or Give me an example, or use Explain this from another app's share sheet, ELI5 sends your question (or the text you shared), the conversation so far, your chosen reading level and your app language through our server (hosted by Cloudflare) to OpenAI, which writes the answer. Our server passes these requests on and does not keep the text of your questions or the answers. OpenAI does not use data sent through its API to train its models and may keep it for up to 30 days to detect abuse (see the OpenAI Privacy Policy).
Please don't type personal details, such as a name, address or phone number, into a question.
Your past explanations, saved answers, reading level, text size and language setting are stored only on your iPhone or iPad. Ankharis Ltd can't see them. Swipe to delete an explanation in the Library, or delete the app to remove everything.
To count your monthly questions, the app creates a random identifier when it is first installed and keeps it in your device's keychain. Our server stores that identifier with your plan, the number of questions you have left, the date your allowance renews, and how many follow-ups each conversation has used (follow-ups are free but capped to prevent abuse). We may also keep anonymous usage counts, such as how many questions were asked at each reading level and in each language. None of this includes your name, Apple ID or the text of your questions.
If you are signed in to iCloud, your plan and remaining questions may also be kept in your own private iCloud storage (iCloud key-value storage) so they follow you to your other devices. Only you can see this data.
Read aloud uses the voices built into iOS on your device. The answer text is not sent anywhere to be spoken.
Premium subscriptions are processed entirely by Apple through the App Store. Ankharis Ltd never receives your payment details. When you subscribe or restore a purchase, the app sends Apple's signed receipt for that subscription to our server so it can set your monthly allowance. You can manage or cancel your subscription in Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions.
There is no advertising in ELI5 and no third-party analytics. The app does not track you across other apps or websites, does not use the advertising identifier (IDFA), and does not show the App Tracking Transparency prompt.
ELI5 can explain things at a level suitable for young children, and families often use it together. It has no accounts, asks no one for personal information, shows no advertising and does no tracking. Because questions are sent to OpenAI to write the answer, a parent or guardian should help young children use it and make sure they don't type personal details. AI answers can be wrong; check anything important with a trusted source.
Because we don't hold data that identifies you, there is usually nothing for us to find, export or delete. If you have a question about your data under UK data protection law, contact us at the address below.
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this address with a new “last updated” date.
Questions about privacy in ELI5: ankharis.ltd@gmail.com