Last updated 14 August 2026. This page covers the EXCAR Mobile iPhone application, which is a different product from the EXCAR One device and handles data differently. The policy for the device and for this website is on the main privacy page. EXCAR Mobile is in a limited pilot. Questions: privacy@excar.ai.

The short version

EXCAR Mobile is a voice assistant for your car with no box in it. The only hardware is a Bluetooth adapter in the diagnostic port; your phone does everything else. Because there is no device to keep your data on, the part of a request that needs a language model happens on our server, and this page is explicit about that rather than borrowing the device product's promise.

What has not changed: EXCAR listens only while you hold a button, it keeps no recordings, it can only read from your car, and one button deletes everything.

1. In plain words

  • You hold a button to talk. When you let go, EXCAR stops listening. There is no moment in the app where the microphone is open and you did not open it.
  • Your iPhone shows an orange dot at the top of the screen whenever any app is using the microphone. iOS draws it, not us, and we cannot hide it.
  • What you say is turned into text so the car can answer. Depending on how the app is set up, that happens on your phone or on our server, and the app states which one on its Settings screen. That sentence is generated from what the app is actually doing rather than written by hand, so it cannot describe a version of the app that no longer exists.
  • We do not keep recordings. The audio is used to work out what you said and is then gone.
  • EXCAR can only read from your car. It cannot clear a fault code, change a setting, or operate anything. This is enforced by the software, not promised.
  • Anyone else in the car should be told. If you are giving somebody a lift, tell them the car has a voice assistant that listens when the button is pressed. In California this is the law, not politeness. See section 5.
  • You can delete everything, at any time, with one button, in Settings. It is not a request that goes into a queue.

2. What is collected

Your voice, while you hold the button. Turned into text either on your phone or on the EXCAR server, depending on the setting shown in the app. The audio itself is not stored: it is discarded once it has been transcribed.

The text of what you said, and EXCAR's reply. Kept on the EXCAR server until you delete it, so that EXCAR remembers the conversation you are having.

Readings from your car. Speed, engine speed, fuel level, coolant and air temperature, throttle position, battery voltage, stored fault codes and the vehicle identification number. Sent to the server alongside the question they relate to, so that an answer about your car is about your car. Kept until you delete it.

Your location, while the app is open. Sent alongside the question, so that questions about nearby places can be answered. EXCAR does not request background or always-on location.

A record of your finished drives. Duration, distance, the highest speed and temperature seen, fuel used, any fault codes read, and the transcript. This one stays on your phone and is not uploaded. The last twenty drives are kept, until you delete them.

3. What is not collected

EXCAR Mobile does not use advertising identifiers, does not track you across other apps or websites, does not sell or share personal information, and does not build an advertising profile. There is no third-party analytics or advertising software development kit in the application.

4. Permissions the app asks for

Microphone. Required, and asked for once during setup rather than in the middle of a drive. Without it EXCAR cannot hear you.

Location, while the app is in use. Optional. Refusing it leaves everything else working; questions about where you are will not be answerable.

Bluetooth. Required to talk to the adapter in your car's diagnostic port, and used for that adapter and nothing else.

5. Recording in California, and other two-party consent states

California Penal Code section 632 requires the consent of every party to a confidential communication before it may be recorded. A car with a passenger in it can be such a communication, and the driver's agreement to these terms is not the passenger's agreement.

The design is built around that. The microphone opens only while the driver holds the button and closes when they let go; iOS shows its own recording indicator throughout; and no audio is retained after it has been transcribed. The app also asks the driver, during setup, to tell anyone else in the car. If you drive with passengers, please do.

6. Deleting your data

Settings contains a Delete everything button. It removes your conversation history from the EXCAR server, and your access key, settings, agreement and drive history from the phone.

The server is asked first, so that the key identifying your data is still present when the deletion is requested; wiping the phone first would leave the server copy undeletable by you and by us. If the server cannot be reached, the app says plainly that the phone was cleared and the server copy was not, so that you can try again rather than being told a comforting version of events.

You may also request deletion by writing to the address in section 9.

7. How long data is kept

Audio: not kept. Conversation text and the car readings attached to it: until you delete them. Drive history: on your phone only, the last twenty drives, until you delete them or remove the app.

8. Children

EXCAR Mobile is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

9. Contact

Questions about this policy, or a request to access or delete your data? Email privacy@excar.ai. We read every message.

10. Changes to this policy

If what the app does with your data changes, this page changes with it, and the app asks you to agree again rather than carrying an old agreement forward. In particular, the app records which promise you agreed to: if the place where your voice is understood ever moves, your previous agreement stops counting and you are asked again, with the reason stated. The date at the top is the date of the current version.