March 31, 2026
Privacy ipsum, anyone?
Dot – A Siri Replacement learns skills through Apple Shortcuts
Promises private, do‑it‑all help — but users spot blank policies
TLDR: Dot pitches a private, on‑phone Siri alternative that learns tasks via Apple Shortcuts. But a commenter spotted its terms and privacy pages still using placeholder text, sparking trust worries, jokes about “privacy ipsum,” and debate over Shortcuts and subscriptions as people weigh excitement against unfinished paperwork.
Dot wants to replace Siri with a privacy‑first helper that lives on your iPhone, learns your routines by building Apple Shortcuts, and does the chores: lock the door, set reminders, send messages, play music, take notes, and even invent new “skills” on demand. Selling point: no cloud account, your data stays on your device, and you can choose the brain powering it (Claude, Kimi, or Apple’s local models). Then the record scratched — commenter cr3ative flagged that the terms and privacy policy pages are “literal placeholders,” apparently still dummy text. Cue the trust alarms: how “privacy‑first” is it if the paperwork isn’t even finished?
From there, sentiment split. Skeptics called it a glaring red flag; optimists argued the on‑phone approach is exactly what they’ve been asking for. Fresh debate flared over Shortcuts: genius because it’s transparent, or brittle because Shortcuts can be finicky. The jokes practically wrote themselves — “privacy ipsum,” “Siri with side quests,” and nervous laughs about smart locks governed by TBD terms. Another eyebrow‑raiser: a premium subscription with auto‑renew and trial forfeits in the fine print. The emerging verdict: the concept is exciting, but the crowd wants completed policies and rock‑solid reliability before trusting Dot with calendars, messages, and especially their front door.
Key Points
- •Dot is a personal AI assistant app for iPhone that operates on-device and integrates with Apple Shortcuts.
- •It creates custom skills by generating Shortcuts to perform tasks across apps, including smart home control, reminders, messaging, music, and notes.
- •Privacy-first design stores conversations and data locally; no accounts or cloud services are required.
- •Users can choose among AI providers: Claude, Kimi, or on-device Apple Foundation Models, with fully offline options available.
- •Premium subscription is billed via iTunes with auto-renewal and management through iTunes Subscriptions; legal and privacy links are provided.