Overview
This Privacy Policy explains how HourBack (“HourBack”, “we”, “us”), operated by Germán Martínez, handles information in connection with the HourBack phone app and the website at hourback.app (together, the “Service”).
HourBack is built to need as little information about you as possible. There are no user accounts, we operate no servers that store your personal data, and the app contains no analytics, advertising or tracking software. Almost everything HourBack knows about you is stored only on your phone, and it is deleted when you delete the app.
Information stored on your device
The following is created by you as you use the app and is stored locally on your phone, in the app's own storage and in an app group container shared with HourBack's blocking extensions. It is not transmitted to us and we cannot see it:
- The name you enter during setup, used only to greet you in the app.
- Your limit plan: your starting daily limit, your goal, your weekly reduction and the date you started.
- Your rules: blocking schedules, per-app daily limits, Strict mode, and unlock exemptions you grant yourself.
- Your habit history: which habits you're building, which days you checked them off, your streaks, your level and your weekly reviews.
- App preferences, such as language and appearance.
Screen Time data
To show your usage and to block apps, HourBack asks for Screen Time access using Apple's Family Controls, Device Activity and Managed Settings frameworks. This is the most sensitive area of the app, so it is worth being precise about it:
- Your usage figures are measured by iOS and rendered inside a sandboxed Apple extension. Apple's design deliberately prevents the app, and therefore us, from reading those numbers out of the extension.
- The apps and categories you select for blocking are handed to us only as opaque tokens. We cannot turn those tokens back into app names, and we never learn which specific apps you chose.
- No usage data, app list or blocking activity is ever sent off your device, to us or to anyone else.
You can withdraw Screen Time access at any time in iOS Settings → Screen Time. Doing so stops HourBack from measuring usage or blocking apps.
Photos and camera
If you personalize the screen that appears when an app is blocked, the app asks for permission to access your photo library or camera so you can choose or take a picture. Any picture you select is copied into HourBack's private storage on your device and shown only on your own block screen.
These permissions are optional, are requested only at the moment you use the feature, and photos are never uploaded anywhere. You can revoke access at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security.
Purchases and subscriptions
HourBack Premium is sold as an in-app purchase through the Apple App Store. Apple processes the payment; we never receive or handle your payment card, billing address or Apple ID credentials.
To check whether your subscription is active across reinstalls and devices, the app uses RevenueCat, Inc. as a subscription-management processor. When you open a paid screen, purchase, or restore purchases, RevenueCat receives:
- a randomly generated, anonymous app user ID, we do not link it to your name or email;
- the App Store purchase receipt and its resulting entitlement and renewal status;
- basic technical information such as app version, device model, operating system version and country.
RevenueCat acts as our processor for this purpose. You can read their privacy policy at revenuecat.com/privacy, and Apple's at apple.com/legal/privacy. Apple may also share aggregate, anonymized sales and app analytics with us through App Store Connect; that information does not identify you.
When you contact us
If you email hello@hourback.app or use the in-app support link, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to put in the message. We use it only to answer you, and we keep the correspondence no longer than we need it for support and record-keeping.
This website
hourback.app is a static website. It sets no cookies, runs no analytics or advertising scripts, and loads no third-party fonts, embeds or trackers. Nothing you do here is profiled.
As with any website, our hosting provider processes the technical request data needed to deliver the pages, such as your IP address, the page requested, and your browser's user-agent string, and may keep it briefly in server logs for security and reliability. Links to the App Store take you to Apple, whose own privacy policy then applies.
What we never do
- We do not sell or rent your personal information. Ever.
- We do not share your information with advertisers or data brokers, and we do not use it for cross-app or cross-site tracking.
- We include no third-party analytics, attribution or advertising SDKs in the app.
- We do not ask for your email, phone number, contacts, location, health data or social accounts.
Why we may process information
Where the EU/UK GDPR applies, our lawful bases are: performing the contract with you (providing the app, and validating a purchase you made); your consent (the optional Screen Time, photo and camera permissions, each of which you can withdraw in iOS Settings); and our legitimate interests in keeping the Service secure, working and supported.
RevenueCat and our website host may process limited data outside your country. Where that happens, transfers rely on the safeguards those providers put in place, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.
Retention and deletion
Data stored on your device stays there until you delete it in the app or uninstall HourBack. Deleting the app removes your limit plan, rules, habit history, streaks and any block-screen photos from your phone. Because none of it is on a server, there is nothing left elsewhere to erase, and nothing to restore if you reinstall.
Purchase records held by Apple and RevenueCat are retained by them for as long as needed for billing, tax and fraud-prevention purposes. Email correspondence is kept only as long as it is useful for support.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, to data portability, and to withdraw consent. Under laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, you also have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising them.
In practice, most of your data is only on your phone, so you can exercise these rights directly: change it in the app, revoke a permission in iOS Settings, or delete the app. For anything held by our purchase processor, write to hello@hourback.app and we will help, you may also lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
Children
HourBack is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age of digital consent where you live), and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact hello@hourback.app and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
If we change how the Service handles information, we will update this page and revise the “last updated” date above. Significant changes will also be highlighted in the app. Continuing to use the Service after a change means you accept the updated policy.
Contact
Questions about privacy, or about this policy, go to hello@hourback.app. We are the controller of the limited personal data described above: Germán Martínez, Spain.