Privacy Policy

About this policy

Screen Snitch is operated by Almond Development LLC ("we", "our", "us"), trading as Screen Snitch. This policy explains what personal data we collect when you use the Screen Snitch iOS app, how we use it, what we share about you with your friends inside the app, and what rights you have over your data. Data controller contact: support@screensnitch.com

Data we collect

• Account information — Your username when you sign up, and optionally your email address. Email is never shown to other users.
• Sign in with Apple or Google — If you sign in with Apple or Google, that provider shares your email address and a unique account identifier with us. If you choose Apple's Hide My Email, we only receive a private relay address. We never receive your Apple or Google password.
• Confession and snitch data — When you exceed an app limit and choose to snitch on yourself, we store: the excuse text you submitted, which app you went over on, and the timestamp. This is the data your friends see.
• Friend connections — Who you have added as friends and accepted requests from. Connections are mutual opt-in and are never visible to non-friends.
• Streak data — How many consecutive days you stayed under your limit for each tracked app.
• Your goal and usage estimate — During setup we ask what you want your time back for (for example sleep or the gym, or a few words you type yourself if you pick "Something else") and roughly how long you spend on the apps you picked each day. We use these to suggest your limits and personalize the app. Anything you type is also sent to our analytics provider so we can see which goals to add. Friends do not see them.
• Group data — If you create or join a group, we store the group name, its invite code, who is in it, the apps you put in the shared pot, the number of minutes you contribute each day, every unlock session you start (which app, how long, when), and the reason you type when you take time. Reasons are shown to the whole group.
• Phone number (optional) — If you choose to find friends from your contacts, we ask for your phone number and verify it with a text message code. See "Phone number and contacts" below.
• Contact hashes (optional) — If you allow contacts access, your phone turns each contact number into a scrambled code (a one-way hash) and sends only those codes. Names and raw numbers are never uploaded. See "Phone number and contacts" below.
• Push notification tokens — Your device token so we can notify your friends when you snitch on yourself.
• Pseudonymous usage analytics — Which screens you visit and which features you use, tracked via PostHog using a random identifier — not your name or email. Used only to improve the app.
• Feedback answers (optional) — Now and then the app asks a quick question, for example what is missing or why you are deleting your account. Answering is optional. Your answers go to PostHog with the same random identifier as the usage analytics, and we use them only to improve the app.
• Crash and error reports — If the app crashes, Sentry captures a report including device model, OS version, stack trace, and your user ID so we can reproduce and fix the bug. These reports are linked to your account.

What stays on your device

• App usage minutes — The minute-by-minute counts of how long you have used each app are processed locally. We only find out you exceeded a limit when you actively submit a confession.
• Raw Screen Time data — We use Apple's FamilyControls and DeviceActivity APIs, which are privacy-preserving by design — app identifiers are opaque tokens and Apple's usage data never leaves the device.

We do not read your messages, browsing history, location, camera, microphone, or any data from other apps. If you choose to find friends from your contacts, the app reads your contacts on your device only to do the matching described under "Phone number and contacts". Contact names and raw numbers stay on your phone.

Phone number and contacts

Finding friends from your contacts is optional. You can skip it and add friends by username instead.

• Your phone number — We verify it by sending a one-time code by text message. The text is sent through our messaging provider, Twilio. The number is stored with your account and is used only to match you with friends. It is never shown to other users and never shown on your profile.
• Your contacts — With your permission, the app reads your contacts on your device and turns each phone number into a one-way hash before anything leaves your phone. Only the hashes are uploaded, to check which of them belong to Screen Snitch users. We never store your contact names or raw contact numbers.
• Invites you send — When you tap Invite on a contact, your phone opens Messages with a prefilled text that you send yourself. We store the hash of that contact's number so that, if they join and verify the same number, you are added as friends automatically. The hash is kept until the invite is claimed or you delete your account.
• What a match reveals — If one of your contacts uses Screen Snitch, you see their username next to their name in your contacts. Someone who has your number in their contacts and has verified their own number can likewise see that you are on Screen Snitch.
• Removal — You can revoke contacts access at any time in iOS Settings. Your verified number and invite hashes are deleted when you delete your account (Profile → Settings → Delete Account).

What your friends see about you

When you snitch on yourself, the following is visible to all of your accepted friends inside the app and in a push notification:

• Your username
• The excuse text you submitted — This also appears in the body of the push notification sent to friends — meaning it may be visible on their lock screen.
• Which app you exceeded your limit on
• Streak milestones and streak breaks — Streak breaks are only shared if the streak was 7 or more days.
• That you started your 30 day plan, if you choose to tell them — Only when you turn on "Tell my friends I started" at the end of setup. Your goal and usage estimate are not shared.
• Group activity, if you are in a group — Everyone in your group sees when you join or leave, which apps you put in the pot and when you add or drop one, when you start an unlock session, which app, how long, the reason you typed, how much of the pot you have used, your group streak and in-group streak, and when you go past your own daily share. If you hide an app's name from friends, current versions of the app show it to your group as a hidden app. Group members can react to your group activity with an emoji, and everyone in the group sees who reacted with what. While you are on an unlocked app, a group member can send you a short message. It reaches you as a push notification and we do not keep the text. Your friends outside the group get a push notification and a feed entry when you go past your share, in the same form as a confession. While you are in a group your streaks are shown to friends as paused.

Friends cannot see your screen time numbers, your usage history, or confessions you have not submitted. Confessions and group activity are visible only to mutual friends and group members — they are not public and are not indexed by search engines. Anyone with your group's invite code can join it, so share the code only with people you want in the group.

How we use your data

We use your data only to operate Screen Snitch. Core features rely on contractual necessity — they are what you signed up for and cannot be opted out of while using the app.

• Authentication and account management — Creating and maintaining your account.
• Social features — Storing and displaying your confessions and streaks in your friends' feeds; sending push notifications when you snitch; running shared group pots, including notifying group members when someone starts a session, goes past their share, joins or leaves, reacts to their activity, or sends them a message while they are on an app.
• App improvement — Pseudonymous analytics and crash reports help us understand what is broken and what is working. This processing is based on our legitimate interest in providing a functioning product.

We do not use your data for advertising. We do not build profiles for sale. We do not share your data with any third party except the services listed below.

Third-party services

We use third-party services. We do not sell your data to any of them — they process it only to help us run the app. Each of these providers protects your data to the same or greater standard described in this policy, as of the time that this privacy policy is written.

How long we keep your data

We keep data only as long as needed to operate the app or as required by law.

• Account data (email, username) — Until you delete your account.
• Confession history — Until you delete your account. Confessions already delivered to friends' feeds are also removed at that time.
• Streak data — Until you delete your account.
• Friend connections — Until you delete your account or remove the friendship.
• Phone number and its hash — Until you delete your account.
• Invite hashes — Until the invited contact joins and the invite is claimed, or until you delete your account.
• Group data — Until you delete your account. Deleting your account removes you from any group first. Session history and group feed entries older than the current day are kept for the group's records until the group has no members.
• Push notification tokens — Until you delete your account.
• Feature Usage Analytics — Up to 12 months.
• Crash reports — 90 days.

Managing your privacy

You can withdraw access or delete your data at any time:

• Screen Time access — Revoke at any time in iOS Settings. The app will no longer show usage data if access is removed.
• Push notifications — Turn off at any time in iOS Settings.
• Contacts access — Revoke at any time in iOS Settings. Friend matching from contacts stops working, and everything else keeps working.
• Delete your account — Go to Profile → Settings → Delete Account inside the app. This immediately and permanently deletes your account and all associated data. If you signed in with Apple, we also revoke Screen Snitch's access to your Apple ID.

Your rights

If you are located in the European Economic Area or United Kingdom, you have the following rights under GDPR. To exercise any of them, email support@screensnitch.com — we will respond within 30 days.

• Access — Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification — Ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Erasure — Ask us to delete your data (you can also do this directly via the in-app deletion flow).
• Restriction — Ask us to stop processing your data in certain ways.
• Portability — Request your data in a machine-readable format.
• Objection — Object to processing based on legitimate interests (analytics, crash reporting).

If you believe we have handled your data unlawfully, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. If we decline a rights request and you are a US resident, you may appeal by emailing support@screensnitch.com with the subject line "Privacy Rights Appeal" — we will respond in writing within 30 days.

International data transfers

Screen Snitch is operated from the United States. If you use the app from the EU or EEA, your personal data is transferred to the US for storage and processing.

California residents (CCPA)

If you are a California resident: we do not sell your personal information to third parties. We do not share your personal information with third parties for cross-context behavioural advertising. You have the right to know what personal information we collect and to request its deletion — contact support@screensnitch.com.

Children

Screen Snitch is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact us at support@screensnitch.com and we will delete the account and all associated data promptly.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app evolves. If we make a material change — one that affects how we use your data in a meaningful way — we will notify you by push notification or in-app message at least 14 days before the change takes effect. The date at the top of this page always reflects the current version. Continued use of the app after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

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