What stays private, and what doesn't.
The boundary isn't a setting you can flip by accident. It's built into how Near stores things. Here is the whole of it, in plain language.
Your private journal
How you check in, the notes you write, the rhythms you keep, the comforts you save. These live on your device and sync only across your own Apple devices.
There is no toggle that shares them, and no version of them anyone else can open.
What you choose to share
A signal you send. An entry the two of you write together. A care plan you both can edit. These reach the person you invite, because you sent or co-authored them.
If your companion wants to add something, they write it where you can see it. Nothing is recorded about you that you can't read.
Consent goes both ways, and back.
Pairing is two separate yeses. Each person opens their own space to the other; neither is opened by the other's choice. Either side can close their share alone, without the other having to retreat.
No one is watching anyone.
Near has no monitoring, no scoring, no audit of how another person is doing. There are no roles labelled patient or caregiver. You see the other person by their name.
It can't judge safety, so it won't pretend to.
Near can't tell how urgent something is, only you can. It carries the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and the doctor you added, plainly, and points to them rather than guessing.
No backend. No accounts. No analytics.
There is no server to sign in to and no company account. Syncing and sharing use Apple's own iCloud primitives. No third-party SDKs, and nothing measuring your use.