Privacy policy

Who we are

Kinetic is an iPhone activity tracker made by Matthew Harrison ("we", "us"). This policy explains how Kinetic handles your information. It covers the Kinetic iOS app and this website, kinetic.site. For the purposes of laws like the GDPR, Matthew Harrison is the "controller" of the limited personal information described in this policy.

Our approach is simple: your day stays with you. Kinetic is built so that your activity, places and health data live on your iPhone, not on our computers. Where Kinetic does need to talk to the internet, this policy says so, and says what it never touches.

What stays on your iPhone

Kinetic creates and stores this information on your iPhone:

• Steps and movement: steps, and walks, drives and cycling detected by your iPhone's motion sensors.
• Places and trips: where you stopped, when, and for how long, plus any names or tags you add (like "Home" or "Gym").
• Workouts: including gym visits that become workouts, with calories and heart rate.
• Health data: sleep, heart rate and the other Apple Health data listed below, read from Apple Health with your permission.

We never see this data, and we don't run servers that collect or store it.

Your location: only Apple Maps receives it

Kinetic uses your iPhone's location to log places and trips. That happens on your iPhone.

• Kinetic never receives your location data. Not your current location, not your places, not your trips. The limited API described below will never receive location data either.
• Only Apple Maps receives location data. Kinetic uses Apple Maps to show maps and to look up readable place names, like the name of a café or a street. To do that, your iPhone sends location information directly to Apple. These requests go to Apple, not to us, and Apple handles them under Apple's privacy policy. You can read more in Apple Maps & Privacy.
• You're in control. You can turn off Kinetic's access to location at any time (see Permissions). Kinetic will then stop logging places and trips automatically.

Apple Health: read-only, and it stays on your iPhone

With your permission, Kinetic reads the following from Apple Health, on your iPhone, to show you your own day:

You choose which of these to allow on the Apple Health permission screen, and you can change your choice later.

• Read-only. Kinetic never writes to Apple Health.
• The Apple Watch app doesn't save anything either. To measure your heart rate continuously while you exercise, Kinetic's Apple Watch app runs a workout session. Apple requires workout permission for that, which is why you'll see it asked for. Kinetic throws the session away when it ends and never saves a workout to Apple Health. The Watch app doesn't store anything.
• Health data stays on your iPhone. Kinetic never sends health data to us, to the limited API, or to anyone else. It isn't included in Kinetic's iCloud backup or in your iPhone's device backups (see below).
• Never used for marketing or advertising. Health data, and your steps and motion data, are never sold, shared for advertising, used for marketing, or mined for any purpose other than showing you your own day.

You can stop Kinetic's access to Apple Health at any time (see Permissions).

Backup to your own iCloud

Kinetic backs up your steps, places and trips to your own iCloud Drive. You can see the backup in the Files app, in a folder called Kinetic in iCloud Drive. The backup is stored by Apple under your Apple Account and protected by your iCloud security settings. We can't access it.

Health data is left out. Anything Kinetic reads or works out from Apple Health, such as sleep, heart rate and workouts, isn't included in the iCloud backup, and it's also excluded from your iPhone's own device backups. It stays only on your iPhone.

To stop backing up, open Settings, tap your name, then tap iCloud and turn off iCloud Drive for Kinetic. [CHECK: exact menu path on iOS 18/26, and whether Kinetic also has its own backup switch in its Settings] To delete an existing backup, see Deleting your data.

The limited API

Kinetic may use an API (a small online service) for a few limited purposes: security, marketing or customization. We want to be upfront about this rather than claim the app will never connect to anything. Whatever it's used for, these rules apply:

• It will never receive location data of any kind.
• It will never receive health data of any kind, including anything read from Apple Health.
• It will never receive your activity history: your steps, places, trips or workouts.
• We will never sell what it receives, never combine it with health or location data, and never use it to show ads in Kinetic (there are no ads in Kinetic).
• Data sent to it will be encrypted in transit.
• No tracking without asking. If any use would involve tracking you across other companies' apps or websites, Kinetic will ask your permission first through Apple's tracking prompt.

Before the limited API goes live, we'll update this policy to list exactly what it receives, what each purpose is, who operates it, where the data is processed, and how long it's kept. If we later add a purpose or change what it receives, we'll update this policy before the change ships.

Service providers

We work with a small number of providers to run Kinetic and this website:

• Apple: iCloud backup, and Apple Maps maps and place names, under Apple's privacy policy.
• Cloudflare: hosts this website. Like any web host, it processes technical data such as IP addresses to deliver pages and protect against abuse, under its own privacy policy. This website doesn't use ads or analytics scripts, and we don't set cookies on it.

If we introduce the limited API, we'll name its provider here. Any provider that receives data through it may use that data only to provide its service to us, and must protect it at least as well as this policy does.

Permissions and how to turn them off

Kinetic asks for three permissions on your iPhone. They're all optional, and you can change any of them at any time in Settings.

If you've set Kinetic to use approximate location, it may ask for precise location for a short time so it can draw the real path of a route instead of guessing it. If you use the Apple Watch app, your Watch asks for Apple Health workout permission so it can run the workout session described above.

If you turn a permission off, Kinetic can't log the related information automatically. Menu names can differ slightly between iOS versions.

No account, no ads

There's no sign-up. Kinetic doesn't ask for your name, email address or phone number to use the app, and there are no ads in Kinetic.

Purchases are handled by Apple

Kinetic is a subscription sold through the App Store: your first year is free, then it's $19.99 a year. Apple processes all payments, and we never receive your payment card details. You can cancel anytime in your Apple ID settings: open Settings, tap your name, then tap Subscriptions. Our terms of service explain the subscription in full.

Children

Kinetic isn't directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, email us at kinetic.health.app@gmail.com and we'll delete it.

Deleting your data

• Everything, from inside the app: open Kinetic's Settings and choose Delete everything [CHECK: exact name and location of the option]. Kinetic stops recording, then erases the data it stores on your iPhone, your Kinetic backup in iCloud, and the app's preferences. It needs to reach iCloud to remove the backup. If it can't, it tells you, and recording stays stopped until you try again.
• Deleting the app: this removes the data Kinetic stores on your iPhone, but not your iCloud backup. To remove that too, use the in-app option first, or delete the backup yourself (next point).
• Your iCloud backup on its own: open the Files app, go to iCloud Drive, and delete the Kinetic folder. (Menu names can differ slightly between iOS versions.)
• Apple Health: Kinetic never writes to Apple Health, so there's nothing of ours to remove there. Your existing Health data isn't affected.
• Anything we hold about you: email kinetic.health.app@gmail.com and we'll delete it. If we introduce the limited API, this policy will say how long its data is kept.

Consumer health data

Some U.S. state laws, such as Washington's My Health My Data Act and Nevada's consumer health data law, give you specific rights over "consumer health data". Kinetic's health data stays on your iPhone and we never receive it, but we publish a separate consumer health data privacy policy that explains this in the format those laws require.

Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights over your personal information. For example, residents of California (under the CCPA/CPRA), Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas, Oregon and other U.S. states have privacy rights under state law, and people in the EU and UK have rights under the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). These can include the right to:

• know what personal information we hold and get a copy of it, in a portable format
• correct or delete it
• opt out of the sale of personal information, or its "sharing" for targeted advertising (we don't sell personal information, and if we ever share it for targeted advertising, we'll say so here first and give you a way to opt out, including by honoring Global Privacy Control signals)
• limit the use of sensitive personal information (we don't collect sensitive personal information such as precise location or health data)
• object to or restrict certain processing, and withdraw consent at any time
• appeal if we decline your request
• not be treated differently for using these rights

Because your activity, location and health data never reach us, we expect to hold little or nothing about you. To make a request, email kinetic.health.app@gmail.com. We may need to ask for information to confirm the request relates to you, and you can use an authorized agent. We'll respond within the time the law requires (for example, 45 days under California law). If we decline your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision, and if you're still not satisfied you can contact your state attorney general.

California notice at collection

This table describes the personal information Kinetic handles, as California law requires.

If we introduce the limited API, we'll add what it receives, why, whether it's shared (it will never be sold) and how long it's kept to this table before it goes live.

If you're in the EU or UK

• Your rights. You can access, correct, delete, restrict or port your personal data, object to processing based on legitimate interests, and object at any time to processing for direct marketing. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
• Legal basis and transfers. Kinetic is run from the United States. Before the limited API goes live, we'll list the legal basis for each of its purposes, and any safeguards for transferring data outside the EU or UK, in this policy. Where the law requires consent, for example for marketing, we'll ask first.
• Complaints. You can complain to your local data protection authority, or in the UK to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Kinetic doesn't make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.

Security

Data on your iPhone is protected by iOS security features such as your passcode and Face ID or Touch ID. Your backup is protected by your iCloud account. If a security incident affects your information, we'll notify you, and regulators where required, as the law requires.

How you can verify this

You don't have to take our word for it. You can check Kinetic's behavior yourself:

1. App Privacy Report. Turn it on in Settings > Privacy & Security > App Privacy Report. After a few days, it lists the internet domains each app contacted in the past 7 days, including Kinetic, so you can compare what Kinetic contacts with this policy. If we introduce the limited API, we'll list its domain here before it goes live.
2. The App Store privacy label. Kinetic's App Store listing has an App Privacy section. Labels are self-reported by developers, so compare ours with this policy and with your App Privacy Report.
3. Network inspection. If you're technical, you can route your iPhone's traffic through an inspection proxy to see every connection Kinetic makes and what it sends. You won't find health data or location data in any request Kinetic sends to us.
4. Ask us. Email kinetic.health.app@gmail.com with any question about how Kinetic handles data.

Want a walkthrough for any app? See our guide to checking what data your apps collect.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the effective date at the top. For material changes, we'll give you notice before they take effect, for example in the app or on this website. We won't start using information we already have in a materially different way without asking you first.

Contact

• Name: Matthew Harrison
• Email: kinetic.health.app@gmail.com