Ask about the people you know in your own words, in any language, and get an answer — rather than searching and reading.
Asking
Open the AI tab, type your question, send.
The first time you open the AI tab, a short explainer shows how it works. Tap ⓘ at the top right to see it again.
Things that work well:
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"Who do I know in Bristol?"
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"Whose birthday is coming up?"
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"Who did I meet at the conference?"
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"Who's vegetarian?"
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"Which of my contacts work at Figma?"
Answers name people, and you can tap through to their page.
You don't have to match the words you wrote down. Ask for "someone who cooks" and a contact whose deet says "chef" can still come back — Deeta matches what you meant, not just how you spelled it.
What it knows
Your contacts and the deets you've written. It hasn't read your email or your messages, and it knows nothing about people you haven't recorded. So the more you write down, the more useful it gets.
It will also answer ordinary questions that aren't about anyone you know — "how tall is Mount Fuji", "a good Italian restaurant near me". When a question clearly isn't about your contacts, none of your contacts are sent with it.
One thing does go along: the details on your own card marked Always shared. That's so an answer can take you into account — your city, say, or that you don't eat meat. You choose what sits there, in My Deets.
Careful with wording, though. Questions that mention people still look at your contacts, and that's deliberate — anything asking who ("who won the match?"), "a restaurant for six people", "somewhere family-friendly", anything with my in it ("near my hotel"), or a city, region or country where one of your contacts lives is treated as a question about your world, not a general one.
Where your question gets answered
Deeta decides for each question, and you control the rules.
On your iPhone. Small, targeted questions — counting, birthdays, filtering by tag — are answered without anything leaving the device. These are free: they don't count against any limit.
By an AI provider you chose. Bigger questions need more capability than a phone has. You pick which company that is — Settings → AI → AI Provider — from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and Grok. Deeta never tells you which to pick.
Private Mode answers your questions on your iPhone. Nothing about your contacts leaves it. If your iPhone can run it, Private Mode is what you start with.
Every answer carries a small mark showing where it came from, so you can always tell.
What a cloud provider actually receives
Worth being plain about, because it's the choice you're making.
When a question goes to a provider, it goes with the contacts relevant to it, as they actually are — real names, real details. It isn't anonymised or replaced with placeholders first.
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Only what the question needs — up to a limit. A question about named people sends those people. A broad question, or one naming someone Deeta can't match, sends as much of your contacts as fits, which can be all of them. Narrow it with a chip, a group or a tag to send less.
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Deeta keeps nothing. The question, the answer and the contact details are discarded on our side once the answer comes back. Each provider processes your question under its own data-processing terms, and every provider Deeta uses is under terms that forbid training on what you send.
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In the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland, questions are answered on EU-based infrastructure.
If that trade isn't one you want, Private Mode keeps your contacts on the device and costs nothing on any plan, including Free. See Choosing how your questions are answered.
If you're in the EU, the EEA, the UK or Switzerland
Ask Deeta works, with one difference: your question is answered on EU-based infrastructure, and only two providers are set up for that — Anthropic (Claude) and Google (Gemini).
OpenAI and Grok have no in-region route, so they aren't offered there. If you'd chosen one before, or you're connecting from the region while your App Store account is elsewhere, questions won't be answered and you'll see AI isn't available in your region yet. Switch provider in Settings → AI → AI Provider.
Private Mode works everywhere, regardless of region, because your contacts don't leave the phone.
What it costs you
Every plan has two monthly meters, both in Settings → Usage:
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AI queries — how many questions you've asked
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AI capacity — a size limit, so a few enormous questions can't quietly use up a month
The free plan includes 10 AI queries a month. Paid plans include considerably more — see Plans and what's included.
Questions answered on your iPhone count toward neither. Only questions that go out to a provider are metered, which is why the Usage screen says Private Mode answers don't count toward these limits.
⚠️ General questions do count. A question about Mount Fuji is answered by your provider like any other, so on the free plan those ten go quickly if you explore.
Troubleshooting
"I don't have enough information." Deeta only knows what you've written. Add deets and ask again.
The answer is about the wrong person. Common with similar names. Try a fuller name, or ask from the person's page — see Asking about a specific person.
It says it only searched some of my contacts. When everything relevant won't fit, Deeta picks the most relevant contacts and tells you how many it searched. Narrow with a group or tag for a complete answer.
I'm out of questions. Check Settings → Usage — you may have run out of queries, or of capacity. The screen tells you which, and when the month resets.
I've hit the capacity limit but have queries left. That happens when your questions have been unusually large. It resets with the rest of the cycle, or you can upgrade.
I don't want my contacts' names reaching a provider. Switch to Settings → AI → AI Provider → Private Mode. Everything is then answered on the device.
"AI isn't available in your region yet." You're in, or connecting from, the EU, EEA, UK or Switzerland, and your provider has no route there. Switch to Anthropic or Google — see above.
A general answer is marked "unverified". Expected. Deeta can check an answer about your own contacts against what you wrote; it can't check a fact about the wider world, so it says so rather than pretending.
The answer named someone but I can't tap them. Tappable names aren't available on every answer yet. Search for them in the Contacts tab.
Questions
Does it learn about me? No. Each question is answered on its own and then forgotten.
Is my address book uploaded? Deeta never keeps it. But a broad question sent to your AI provider carries as much of your contacts as fits, which can be all of them. A general question carries none, and Private Mode sends none.
Can I stop anything leaving my phone at all? Turn on Private Mode — see Choosing how your questions are answered. Two things to know: on Plus and above, a question that needs current public information still sends a web search — your phone screens it first, so it carries no names, phone numbers, email addresses or sensitive topics. And if Private Mode ever can't answer, Deeta may offer to send that one question to a provider; nothing goes unless you tap.
Can I ask about someone who isn't in my contacts? Yes, but the wording decides what goes. "Tell me about Ada Lovelace" is answered as a general question, without your contacts. "Who is Ada Lovelace?" uses a people word, so Deeta looks for her among your contacts first and sends them to your provider — see Answers from the web.
Can I ask by voice? Yes — see Asking by voice.