Privacy Policy

Effective October 22, 2026

• Summary: Routinely doesn't collect your data. There's no account to make, so Routinely never asks for your name, email, phone number or Apple Account. It has no ads, analytics or tracking, your information is never sold or shared, and the developer never receives anything that identifies you. Your routines stay on your device and in your private iCloud. Only two optional features use Routinely's server: sharing a routine, which only happens when you choose to, and the Live Activity, which can be turned off at any time. Finding a product searches DuckDuckGo and visits shop websites from your device, sending only the product's name. Other features, like Apple Intelligence, hand gestures and voice control, happen on your device.

How your data is stored

• Where it's kept: your data, like your routines and their product photos, is kept on your device, and in your private iCloud if iCloud Sync is on, which only you can access, not the developer.
• How to opt out: turn off iCloud Sync in Routinely's Settings, under General.

Sharing a routine

• When it happens: only when you tap Share on a routine. If you never share one, nothing is uploaded.
• Why it needs a server: for the person you send a link to, the routine and its photos need to be stored somewhere their device can download them from, whenever they open it. Only you can access your private iCloud, and your device may be off or offline when they tap the link, so neither one works for sharing.
• How it works: your device encrypts the routine and uploads it to Routinely's server. The encryption key is kept only in the link you send, so the developer can't read it. When they tap the link, their device downloads the routine and unlocks it with that encryption key. Like any server, Routinely's server sees the internet address of the device uploading or downloading, because that's how the data gets back to it, but it doesn't store it.
• How long it's kept: a shared routine stays on Routinely's server with no time limit, so the link keeps working. If the server's storage gets close to full, the oldest shared routines are permanently deleted first to make room, and their links stop working. Once a link is sent, it can't be deleted by you.
• How to opt out: do not share your routines. Your routines stay on your device and in your private iCloud.

The Live Activity

• When it happens: this feature only runs while a routine is playing and you've left the app, with "When You Close the App" set to Start a Live Activity.
• Why it needs a server: to save battery, iOS pauses apps while you're not using them, which means Routinely can't update the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island on its own when a sub-step ends. The only way Apple allows a Live Activity to be updated in that case is from a server through the Apple Push Notification service.
• How it works: when you leave the app mid-routine, your device sends Routinely's server the times your upcoming sub-steps start, and the Live Activity's push address, an anonymous address from Apple that only lets the server update that one Live Activity. This is sent over an encrypted connection. When each time arrives, the server sends a push notification to the Apple Push Notification service, which delivers it to your device and updates the Live Activity. The server deletes everything it received when the routine ends, and keeps no logs. The times are sent as a list of times and numbers. Your device keeps the names of your steps and sub-steps, and matches each number to its name when the update arrives.
• Without an internet connection: nothing is sent, and the Live Activity still works. At the end of each sub-step, you tap the forward button on the Live Activity to move on.
• How to opt out: in Routinely's Settings, go to General and set "When You Close the App" to Pause the Routine, or keep Routinely open while a routine plays. Either way, nothing is sent.

Done on your device

• Apple Intelligence: step names, sub-steps and their times are written by Apple's on-device foundation model. What you've typed and found is never sent to Apple or the developer, and Routinely never uses Private Cloud Compute. For how Apple handles Apple Intelligence on your device, see Apple's Apple Intelligence & Privacy page.
• Reading a label: when you attach a photo of a product, the words on its label are read by Apple's on-device Vision text recognition model.
• Removing a background: product photos are cut out from their background by Apple's on-device Vision subject segmentation model.
• Hand gestures: when Hand Gestures is on and a routine is playing, Routinely takes photos with the front camera at a low resolution, 24 per second. Each photo is analyzed by Apple's on-device Vision hand pose model, which tells Routinely where your fingers are, and Routinely works out which gesture you performed. The photo is then immediately deleted. Neither the photos nor the gestures you perform are ever saved to your device, added to your photo library, uploaded to iCloud or any other server, or accessible to Apple or the developer. The camera turns off when the routine ends.
• Voice control: when Voice Control is on and a routine is playing, Routinely uses your device's microphone. What you say is transcribed by Apple's on-device SpeechAnalyzer speech recognition model, and Routinely checks the transcript for commands like "next", "pause" and "stop music". The audio and the transcript are then immediately deleted. Nothing is recorded, saved to your device, uploaded to iCloud or any other server, or accessible to Apple or the developer. The model works in the language your device is set to, or the closest language Apple offers. If that language's model isn't already on your device, your device downloads it from Apple the first time you use voice control.
• Dictating a change: when you tap the microphone while describing a change to a routine, Routinely uses your device's microphone until you tap it again. What you say is transcribed by Apple's on-device SpeechAnalyzer speech recognition model into the text box, where you can see and edit it. The audio is immediately deleted. Nothing is recorded, uploaded to iCloud or any other server, or accessible to Apple or the developer.

Photos and the camera

• Choosing a photo: Routinely uses Apple's photo picker, which runs separately from Routinely. You pick a photo there, and only that one photo is handed to Routinely. Routinely can't access your entire photo library and can't see any other photo in it.
• Taking a photo: Routinely asks for access to your camera the first time you take a photo of a product. The camera is only on while the camera screen is open, and the photo you take is never added to your photo library.
• What happens to your photo: a photo you choose or take is only used to read the words on the product's label, on your device. Your photo is then deleted from Routinely. A photo you chose stays in your photo library, untouched. The step's photo comes from the product's own website instead, once it's found.

Finding a product

• When it happens: when you look up a product, type a product's name, or attach a photo of one, in which case the words read from its label are used.
• How it works: Routinely opens a background browser inside the app, which you don't see. It searches DuckDuckGo for those words, then visits the shop and brand websites in the results to read the product's name and directions. Once the right product is found, your device downloads its photo from that website.
• What those websites see: these are ordinary visits from your device, the same as visiting those websites normally on the web. They see your device's internet address, which gives them your approximate location, and the words that were searched for. When Routinely reads their pages, it describes your device as a standard iPhone, not your exact model or iOS version, along with your preferred language, so the page shows correctly. When it downloads a product's photo, the request says it comes from Routinely. That's all, and it's handled under their own privacy policies.
• What Routinely never sends them: your name, email, Apple Account, or anything else that identifies you. No ID that could link one visit to another, and no advertising ID. Nothing about your routines, your other products or your photos. Only the words for the one product being looked up.
• Cookies: the background browser and Search the Web keep no cookies or website data between visits. When Routinely reads a page or downloads a photo directly, a website can save a cookie on your device, which is only ever sent back to that same website on its next visit. Routinely never reads these cookies or sends them anywhere else.

Your iPhone and Apple Watch

• How it works: during a routine, your iPhone and Apple Watch keep up with each other in two ways. Apple's Watch Connectivity framework sends updates directly between your iPhone and its paired Apple Watch, and Apple's iCloud key-value storage passes them through your private iCloud.
• What's sent: only which routine is playing, which step and sub-step you're on, whether it's paused, and when the sub-step ends. Nothing goes to Routinely's server.

In-app purchases

• How it works: purchases in Routinely are made through Apple's App Store, using Apple's StoreKit. The price shown is Apple's price for your country. When you tap to buy, Apple's own purchase sheet appears, and Apple handles the payment with the payment method on your Apple Account.
• What Routinely receives: only a signed confirmation from Apple, on your device, of what your Apple Account owns. Routinely checks it on your device to unlock what you bought. Nothing about the purchase is sent to Routinely's server.
• What the developer sees: Apple gives the developer sales totals, like how many purchases were made in each country. The developer never sees who bought it, or your name, email, Apple Account or payment details.
• Your other devices: a purchase unlocks on every device signed in to the same Apple Account. If it doesn't, tap Restore Purchases, which asks Apple again what your account owns.
• Refunds: refunds are handled by Apple, at reportaproblem.apple.com. If Apple refunds a purchase, you lose access to what was refunded on your devices.

Crash reports

• When it happens: only if Share With App Developers is turned on in your iPhone's settings.
• How it works: if Routinely crashes, Apple may send the developer a report of what went wrong in the app, with no personal information in it.
• How to opt out: in your iPhone's Settings app, go to Privacy & Security, then Analytics & Improvements, and turn off Share With App Developers.

Deleting your data

• Deleted routines: they stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days, then are deleted permanently, unless you choose to delete them from Recently Deleted sooner.
• Everything in your private iCloud: in Routinely's Settings, under General, turn off iCloud Sync. Routinely deletes its data from your private iCloud and turns off iCloud Sync on all your devices. Everything stays on each device.
• Everything on your device: deleting the app deletes everything it kept on your device.

Other things

• Children: Routinely doesn't knowingly collect data from children, or from anyone else.
• Changes: if this policy changes, the new version will be here, with a new date at the top. After the first update, a short summary of each change and every earlier version of this privacy policy, with its date, will be available below.
• Contact: questions about privacy: jordnrdrgz@gmail.com

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