Permissions Deeta asks for

Deeta asks for a small number of permissions, and only when it actually needs them. Here's what each one is for, when you'll be asked, and what happens if you say no.

What Deeta asks for, and when

Deeta never asks for Calendar access, and never asks for Photos access. (When you add a contact photo, iPhone shows you a picker that hands over just the one image — Deeta never sees the rest of your library.)

Two things worth knowing

Deeta explains before iOS asks. For Contacts and Notifications you see Deeta's own explanation first, and your iPhone's prompt only appears when you choose to go ahead — Continue on the contacts screen, Turn on reminders on the reminders offer. If you tap Skip or Not now instead, your iPhone's prompt is never used up, so you can still say yes later.

Your deets stay out of your phone's Contacts app. Deeta syncs the standard fields — name, phone, email, address, birthday, photo — with your iPhone's Contacts app. The rich details you add in Deeta, plus your tags and groups, are only ever stored in Deeta. They're never written into your phone's contacts.

What happens if you say no

Contacts. Deeta still works — you can add contacts by hand, and receive cards people share with you. To bring your contacts in later, open the Contacts tab and tap Allow Access — or, if you told your iPhone no, turn Contacts on for Deeta in your iPhone's Settings. A banner at the top of Deeta's Settings takes you there.

Sharing only some contacts. On iOS 18 and later, your iPhone lets you hand over a selection rather than all of them. Deeta works with that, but if you edit one of your Deeta contacts that isn't in the selection, the change can't reach your phone's Contacts app. Deeta shows a banner when that happens, with a shortcut to grant full access, and Settings → Import from Contacts lets you add more people to the selection. On iOS 17 and earlier there's no partial option — the prompt is simply allow or don't.

Notifications. Everything works except reminders. Any reminders you set are still saved — they'll simply arrive once you allow notifications.

Microphone or speech. Voice input is unavailable; typing works normally.

Location. "Near me" questions can't be answered; everything else is unaffected.

Troubleshooting

I said no and now there's no way to be asked again. iPhone only shows each prompt once. Open Settings → Deeta on your iPhone and turn the permission on there. Deeta's own screens link you straight to it.

I skipped importing contacts during setup and can't find where to do it. Open the Contacts tab — its empty screen has an Allow Access button. If you'd already told your iPhone no, it offers Open Settings instead.

Deeta's Settings says it doesn't have full access to sync my contacts. That banner appears whenever Deeta has anything less than full access. Tap it to grant access — when you come back, Deeta pushes any waiting changes through automatically.

Questions

Why does Deeta want location? Two reasons, both narrow. To answer "who lives near me", and to give "a good restaurant near me" somewhere to start. Deeta asks for approximate location — a town, not an address — uses it for the answer, and discards it. It's never stored.

Does my voice get sent anywhere? Your speech is turned into text on your iPhone — the audio never leaves the device. The resulting text is sent to answer a question you asked, or to turn what you said into deets unless your iPhone can do that on-device, and is then discarded.

What about the notes on my contacts? Deeta can't read or write that one field yet — it needs a separate permission from Apple that's still pending. Every other standard field syncs normally.

Can I change my mind later? Any time, in Settings → Deeta on your iPhone.