Nomen

In ancient Rome, a nomenclator was an enslaved attendant who walked with their master at public events and whispered the names and details of the people approaching. Nomen, Latin for “name,” does a similar job. It keeps track of the people you meet and what you talked about.

Why I built it

I wanted a personal memory tool that didn’t send my notes about my life to someone else’s servers. Nomen is a chat app where you tell it things and ask it things later. All of the processing happens on your device with Apple Intelligence.

How it works

You write to Nomen the way you’d text a friend. Mention that you had lunch with Sarah and she talked about her new project, or note an idea from your commute. For each message, the app:

• Decides whether it’s a memory to store, a question to answer, or a command to run.
• Pulls out people, places, and organizations with Apple’s NaturalLanguage framework.
• Indexes it so it can be found later.

Later you can ask “What did Sarah say about that project?” or “When did I last meet with the design team?” Nomen finds the relevant memories and writes an answer from them. Your data never leaves the device to do this.

Features

• A chat interface with threaded conversations.
• Automatic sorting of messages into memories, questions, and commands.
• Retrieval that combines keyword matching, recognized names, and how recent a memory is.
• A memories browser where you can search, edit, and delete what you’ve stored.
• Exports to iCloud Drive as daily journals or topic collections.

How it’s built

Nomen is written in Swift and SwiftUI.

• Apple Foundation Models handle message classification, question answering, and conversation threading.
• Core Data stores everything, and CloudKit syncs it across your devices through iCloud.
• On devices without Apple Intelligence, the app falls back to rule-based logic.
• Exports are Markdown files in iCloud Drive, so you can read your memories as plain text.

Privacy

Your data stays with you and Apple:

• Memories are stored in the app’s sandbox on your device.
• Sync goes through CloudKit to your private iCloud account.
• The app uses no third-party APIs, analytics, or tracking.
• Exports go straight to your iCloud Drive.

---

Support

Contact support

For problems, feedback, or feature requests, email gregmcinnescontact@gmail.com.

It helps to include:

• Your device model, such as iPhone 15 Pro
• Your iOS version, from Settings > General > About
• A description of the problem
• Screenshots, if you have them

I usually reply within one or two business days.

---

Privacy policy

Last updated: December 2025

Overview

Nomen is a personal memory assistant. The developer does not collect, access, or share your memories.

Information we collect

We do not collect any personal information.

Nomen runs on your device and within your personal iCloud account. The developer has no access to your data.

Data storage

On your device. Your memories, messages, and the profiles of people and places the app builds are stored on your device with Apple’s Core Data framework. They stay in the app’s private sandbox, where other apps and the developer can’t reach them.

iCloud sync. If iCloud is turned on, your data may sync to your personal iCloud account through Apple’s CloudKit, using your private CloudKit database. That means:

• Only you can access this data.
• The developer cannot access your iCloud data.
• Apple encrypts the data in transit and at rest.

iCloud Drive exports. Exported memories are saved to a folder called “Nomen” in your personal iCloud Drive. Only you can access them. The developer cannot.

Data processing

On-device AI. Nomen uses Apple’s on-device Foundation Models (Apple Intelligence) to:

• Classify your messages
• Answer questions about your memories
• Extract people, places, and organizations from text

This processing happens entirely on your device. Your data is never sent to an external AI service, and the developer never sees any prompts, responses, or results.

Text analysis. The app also uses Apple’s NaturalLanguage framework, which runs entirely on your device.

Data we do not collect

• Personal identification information
• Email addresses or contact information
• Location data
• Usage analytics or telemetry
• Crash reports, unless you opt in through Apple
• Advertising identifiers
• Anything you store in the app

Third-party services

Nomen does not use third-party services. It does not integrate with:

• Analytics platforms
• Advertising networks
• External AI or machine learning services
• Social media platforms
• Any other external APIs

The only outside service it talks to is Apple’s iCloud and CloudKit, which fall under Apple’s privacy policy.

Data sharing

We do not share your data with anyone. We don’t collect any, so there is nothing to share.

Data retention

Your data stays on your device and in your iCloud account for as long as you keep it. You control it:

• Edit any memory at any time.
• Delete individual memories or whole conversations.
• Export your memories as files.
• Uninstalling the app deletes all local data.

You can manage data synced to iCloud in your device’s iCloud settings.

Security

• iOS sandboxing protects the app’s data on your device.
• iCloud data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
• AI processing happens on your device.
• Your memories are never sent to external servers.

Your rights

Because your data lives on your device and in your own iCloud account, you have full control over it:

• Access: view all your data in the app.
• Correction: edit any memory at any time.
• Deletion: delete some or all of your data from the Memories or Chat tabs.
• Portability: export your memories as Markdown files.

Children’s privacy

Nomen does not knowingly collect information from children under 13. It does not collect information from any user.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updates will appear on this page with a new “Last updated” date.

Contact

Questions about this policy can go to gregmcinnescontact@gmail.com.