Privacy Policy
In short
- Up works without an account. An anonymous identifier is created on your phone. If you want, you can link an email address to get your settings back on another device.
- Your Screen Time and the list of apps you block never leave your iPhone. We don’t know which apps you block or how long you use them.
- No ads, no selling your data, no advertising identifier.
- Hosted in the European Union for the database (Frankfurt) and usage analytics (EU data residency).
- You can delete everything from the app: Profile › Account › Delete account erases your profile and your synced data.
1. Data controller
The Up app and the startwithup.com website are published by the publisher identified in the legal notice (hereinafter “we”), who acts as data controller within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
For any question about your data: contact@startwithup.com.
2. Scope
This policy describes the data processed when you use the Up app on iPhone and when you visit the startwithup.com website.
The website is a static site: it sets no cookies and embeds no audience measurement tool or third-party script. Fonts are hosted on our own server. That server keeps technical logs (IP address, browser, requested page, timestamp) for security purposes, for a short period with automatic rotation; they are never cross-referenced with app data.
3. Data we process
Up is designed “anonymous first”: most data is tied to a random identifier, not to your identity.
| Category | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Installation identifier | A random identifier (UUID) generated at first launch and stored on your device. It serves as the key to your server-side data, usage analytics and subscription management. On its own, it cannot identify you. | Generated by the app |
| Account (optional) | Your email address, if you choose to link an account to get your settings back on another device. Sign-in uses a one-time code: no password is stored. | Entered by you |
| Profile and settings | First name (optional), language, notification preferences, date of last activity, install source, and the app settings synced so they can be restored: alarms, blocks (name, time windows, number of apps — not the list of apps), focus sessions, strict mode, answers to the onboarding questionnaire. | Entered by you / generated by the app |
| Activity history | Timestamped events that feed the Progress tab: alarms (kept, missed, confirmed), blocks kept and focus sessions (durations, statuses), early interruptions, and hourly counters of “shield hits” (the number of times a blocked app was opened). These events do not contain app names. | Generated by the app |
| Subscription | Up Pro subscription status, plan type, start, renewal and expiry dates, trial period, Apple transaction identifier. We never receive your payment details: payment is handled entirely by Apple. | Apple / RevenueCat |
| Usage data (analytics) | Usage events (screen viewed, alarm scheduled, permission requested, subscription started, etc.), app version, device model, iOS version, language. An approximate geographic area (country / city) is inferred from the IP address at the time of receipt; the IP address itself is not kept as profile data. | Generated by the app |
| Notifications | A push notification token, only if you accept notifications, to send you reminders about your alarms and blocks. | Apple / Expo |
| Support and suggestions | The message you send us from the app, your email if you provide it, the app version and the platform, so we can reply to you. | Entered by you |
| Technical diagnostics | Minimal consistency information (for example: whether the identifiers of the various services are properly aligned) to detect bugs, with no personal content. | Generated by the app |
4. What stays on your iPhone — and is never transmitted
- Screen Time and app usage. App blocking relies on Apple’s Screen Time (FamilyControls, ManagedSettings, DeviceActivity). By design, Apple gives Up opaque tokens for the apps you select: we know neither their name nor their developer. Usage measurements are computed by an extension that runs on your device and are never sent to our servers.
- Motion sensors. To validate the “get up and walk” anti-snooze quest, Up reads the accelerometer and pedometer while the alarm is ringing. These readings are processed live on the device, and are neither stored nor transmitted.
- Sounds and alarms. Alarms are scheduled locally, through the iOS alarm system (AlarmKit).
Up does not collect: your GPS location, your contacts, your photos, your microphone (the app plays sound but does not record any), your health data, or your device’s advertising identifier (IDFA). Up shows no ads and sells no data.
5. Purposes and legal bases
| Purpose | Data concerned | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Running the app: alarms, blocks, focus sessions, progress | Identifier, profile and settings, activity history | Performance of the contract (Terms of Use) |
| Backing up and restoring your settings on another device | Account (email), profile and settings, history | Performance of the contract |
| Managing your Up Pro subscription (access, restoration, renewal) | Identifier, subscription data | Performance of the contract |
| Sending you reminders (alarms, blocks) | Notification token | Consent (iOS permission, revocable at any time) |
| Blocking apps and validating wake-up through movement | Processed only on the device | Consent (Screen Time and Motion permissions) |
| Understanding how the app is used and improving it | Usage data | Legitimate interest (product improvement), with no advertising profiling |
| Responding to your support requests | Support and suggestions | Legitimate interest / performance of the contract |
| Detecting and fixing bugs, preventing abuse | Technical diagnostics, server logs | Legitimate interest (security) |
6. Recipients and processors
Your data is accessible only to the publisher and to the technical providers below, who process it on our behalf and under contract:
| Provider | Role | Data location |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database and authentication (profile, settings, history, subscription mirror) | European Union — Frankfurt, Germany |
| Mixpanel | Usage analytics | European Union (EU data residency) |
| RevenueCat | Subscription management and Apple receipt verification | United States |
| Apple | Distribution through the App Store, subscription payments, notification delivery (APNs) | Under Apple’s terms |
| Expo (Expo Application Services) | Push notification routing and app updates | United States |
We do not sell, rent or share your data with any third party for commercial or advertising purposes. We may be required to disclose data where the law obliges us to.
7. Transfers outside the European Union
Some providers (RevenueCat, Expo, Apple) process data in the United States. These transfers are governed by the standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission and, where applicable, by the provider’s certification under the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework. The data concerned is limited to what the service requires (anonymous identifier, subscription status, notification token).
8. Retention periods
| Data | Period |
|---|---|
| Account, profile, settings, activity history | For as long as your account exists. Deleting the account from the app immediately erases the profile and all data attached to it. |
| Anonymous profile (no linked account) | For as long as the app is in use, then deleted after 24 months without activity, or on simple request. |
| Subscription data | For the duration of the subscription, then for the duration of legal and accounting obligations (up to 10 years for supporting documents, held by Apple). |
| Usage data (analytics) | 3 years maximum from collection. |
| Support messages | 3 years after the last exchange. |
| Server technical logs | Short period, automatic rotation. |
9. Security
All communications between the app, the website and our servers are encrypted (TLS). Database access is protected by security rules applied to each individual row (row-level security): the app can only read the data of the signed-in account, and anonymous writes go through controlled functions. One-time-code sign-in avoids storing any password. Administrator access is limited to the publisher.
10. Your rights
Under the GDPR and the French Data Protection Act (loi Informatique et Libertés), you have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and portability over your data, as well as the right to withdraw your consent at any time (for example by turning off notifications or the Screen Time permission in iOS Settings).
- Delete your data yourself: in the app, Profile › Account › Delete account. Your profile, synced settings and history are permanently erased. Uninstalling the app without a linked account leaves an anonymous profile that we can no longer link to you; you can ask us to delete it by giving us the identifier shown in the app.
- Exercise another right: write to us at contact@startwithup.com. We reply within one month.
- Complaints: you can lodge a complaint with the CNIL (French data protection authority), www.cnil.fr — or the supervisory authority of your country of residence.
11. Minors
Up is intended for adults. The app is not intended for children under 15; if you are under 15, you need the consent of a parent or legal guardian to use it. We do not knowingly collect data about children; if you believe a minor has sent us data, contact us so we can delete it.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy to reflect changes to the app or to regulations. The date of the last update appears at the top of the page; in the event of a significant change, we will let you know in the app.
13. Contact
contact@startwithup.com — or by post to the publisher’s address given in the legal notice.
See also the Terms of Use and the Support page.