Privacy Policy

On-device app data. Descreened has no accounts and no cloud sync on iPhone. The apps and sites you choose to block, your schedules and daily limits, and your on-device usage statistics are stored only on the device you set them on. They are never transmitted to Descreened, and we cannot see them.

Subscription and payment. Descreened is a paid subscription sold through the Apple App Store, starting with a 3-day free trial. Apple processes the trial and the payment through your Apple Account: the trial requires a payment method and auto-renews into a paid monthly subscription unless you cancel before it ends (you can manage or cancel any time in your Apple Account subscription settings). Descreened never receives your card details — only the resulting App Store receipt and entitlement. We use RevenueCat, Inc. to validate and manage that subscription state. Because there is no account, RevenueCat identifies your subscription by an anonymous, app-generated identifier — not by your name or email.

Health data. If you enable a health-based unlock method or the health insights view, Descreened reads health records from Apple HealthKit on your device only: workouts, exercise minutes, mindful minutes, steps, walking and running distance, active and resting energy, sleep, heart rate, resting heart rate, and heart-rate variability. Each record type is requested through the system permission UI and you can grant, deny, or revoke it at any time in iOS Settings. The data is read on your device, used only to compute the on-screen number or chart, and is never transmitted to Descreened servers or any third party. Descreened does not write any records to Apple Health.

App diagnostics and analytics. In the app we use TelemetryDeck for anonymous usage analytics (aggregate counts of which features are used; no personal identifiers) and Sentry for crash and error reporting. Neither includes your blocklists, browsing history, or personal identifiers beyond what is needed to describe a crash. Analytics can be turned off in the app's settings; crash and error reporting stays on so we can fix bugs, and it is just as anonymous — no account, no identifiers, just the crash details and your iOS version.

Support chat and website. Descreened's support chat — both in the app and on the website (descreened.com) — is provided by Crisp; any messages and contact details you send through it are processed by Crisp. The website also uses Vercel Web Analytics for aggregate, cookieless page-view and referrer counts with no personal identifiers, and runs no third-party advertising trackers.

We do not collect or transmit your browsing history, the contents of pages you visit, the content of your messages, your contacts, or your photos. Per-domain time-spent stats collected by the Safari extension stay on your device and never reach our servers. Because Descreened has no account on your iPhone, we do not collect an email address, password, or profile for the app.

Your blocklist is never shared either. When you add a site, the app fetches that site's icon directly from the site itself — deliberately not through any third-party icon service — so the only party that learns you looked up an icon is the site you chose to block, which sees an ordinary icon request from your device.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not run ads or share your information with advertising networks.

On iPhone, Descreened relies on a small set of sensitive system APIs to enforce the focus and blocking features you turn on. Each one is gated behind an explicit grant in system Settings and can be revoked at any time. None of these permissions cause any data to be sent to Descreened or any third party — all the processing they enable runs on your device.

• Screen Time / Family Controls — Descreened uses Apple's Screen Time APIs (Family Controls, Managed Settings, and Device Activity) to block the apps you choose and to show your usage. The apps you select are represented by opaque tokens provided by iOS — Descreened cannot read their names or icons directly — and your selections and usage stay on your device. You grant this in the app and can revoke it in iOS Settings → Screen Time.
• Website blocking (Family Controls web content filter) — To block the websites you choose, Descreened uses Apple's on-device Family Controls web content filter. Your restricted domains are filtered on your device across browsers; Descreened does not run a VPN, does not intercept or proxy your DNS or web traffic, and nothing about the sites you visit is sent to Descreened or any third party. You can turn website blocking off in the app at any time.
• Camera — Used only when you choose a camera-based unlock: scanning a QR-code tag, or counting exercise reps (push-ups, squats). Frames are processed on your device in real time and are never recorded or transmitted. Rep counting runs on Google's on-device ML Kit; your camera frames never leave your device, though the ML Kit software itself sends anonymous performance diagnostics (such as device model, app version, and processing speed) to Google.
• NFC — Used only when you tap a registered NFC tag to unlock. Descreened reads the tag's identifier on your device to verify it; the tag id stays on your device and is never transmitted.
• Motion & fitness (step counting) — If you choose the step-count unlock, Descreened reads your live step count from your device's motion sensor (Apple's CoreMotion) to check progress toward your goal. It's read on your device, used only for the on-screen count, and never transmitted.
• Health (HealthKit) — Covered in “Information we collect → Health data” above. Read-only; never transmitted off the device.

We use the little information we collect to:

• run the app's focus and blocking features on your device;
• manage your App Store subscription and free trial, and answer questions about it;
• diagnose crashes and improve reliability;
• improve the app based on aggregate, anonymous usage patterns;
• comply with legal obligations and prevent abuse of the service.

If you're in the EU, EEA, or UK, we process the limited personal data described above on the following bases:

• Contract — to provide the app you subscribed to.
• Legitimate interest — to keep the app working, debug crashes, and prevent abuse.
• Consent — for optional analytics where you have opted in.
• Legal obligation — Apple retains billing records as required by tax and consumer law.

We use a small set of trusted vendors as sub-processors to operate the app and website:

• Apple — App Store in-app purchase processing; the subscription receipt is validated through RevenueCat.
• RevenueCat — validates and manages your subscription and free-trial state, identified by an anonymous app-generated identifier (no account).
• TelemetryDeck — anonymous usage analytics in the app (aggregate counts; no personal identifiers).
• Sentry — crash and error reporting in the app.
• Crisp — support chat in the app and on the website. If you type into the chat, those messages (and any contact details you provide) are processed by Crisp.
• Vercel — website hosting and privacy-respecting web analytics (page views, referrer; cookieless, no personal identifiers).

Each of these companies receives only the information it needs to do its job and is bound by its own privacy obligations.

The Descreened app stores its data locally on your device. On the website, we use a small number of cookies and similar storage: a session cookie set by Crisp for the support-chat widget if you open it, and minimal local storage for your preferences. Vercel Web Analytics is cookieless. We do not use third-party advertising or tracking cookies.

Because Descreened has no account on your iPhone, there is no server-side profile for us to delete. Your blocklists, settings, and usage data live on your device and are removed when you delete the app or clear its data. Apple retains payment records for your subscription as required by tax and consumer law; we don't control those. Anonymous diagnostics are retained for up to 90 days.

Because nearly all Descreened data stays on your device, you control it directly on your iPhone. For any questions about your data — or to exercise a right you have under your local law — email support@descreened.com. We respond within 30 days.

EU/EEA/UK residents may complain to their local data protection authority. California residents have additional rights under the CCPA/CPRA, including no retaliation for exercising them.

Descreened is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

We use industry-standard practices to protect the limited data we handle, including encryption in transit (TLS), scoped access, and the principle of least privilege. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach occurs, we will notify affected users and the appropriate authorities as required by law.

Descreened is operated from the United States. If you use the service from outside the United States, the limited information described above will be processed in the United States. We rely on the data-protection safeguards each sub-processor provides under their own data processing agreements (which typically include standard contractual clauses where required by EU/UK law).

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Material changes take effect when posted unless a different effective date is stated. Your continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Policy.

Descreened is a product of Hayden Rhodea LLC, a limited liability company organized in the United States. For privacy questions, email support@descreened.com.