🔒 RestBud — Privacy Policy

Effective: August 2, 2026 · Last updated: November 5, 2026 (usage history now covers every app, daily and weekly, and deletion protection can be lifted for 10 minutes, in 1.1.20261104; added requests for more time and device protections in 1.1.20261012; website allow list since 1.1.20261009; today's usage view, daily limits and the status log since 1.1.20261005)
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Contact: [email protected]

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RestBud collects no personal data. There are no servers operated by us, no analytics, no tracking, no advertising, and no account or login. Everything the app needs — your rules, your voice recording, and the screen-time state it manages — stays on your device. Its App Store privacy label is "Data Not Collected."

What the app stores, and where

• Your rules (lock schedules and unlock windows, rest rules, daily limits, which apps are managed) are stored in a shared App Group container on your device only, so the app and its management components can read the same state. They are never transmitted anywhere.
• Your voice recording — if you choose to record a reminder — is saved as an audio file in that same on-device container. It is played back locally at rest time. It is never uploaded, and it is not sent to any speech or transcription service.
• Allowed websites (since 1.1.20261009) — the website addresses you add to the allow list are stored on your device only, alongside your rules.
• Requests for more time (since 1.1.20261012) — when your child taps "Ask for more time" on the lock screen, the request (which app, and when) is recorded in the same on-device container and announced with a local notification on that device. Your answer and any extra time granted stay on the device too.
• Settings (language, and similar preferences) are stored on your device only.
• Status & history — the record of when rules switched, and of any time Screen Time access was switched off — is kept on your device only, for you to read in parent settings, and can be cleared there.
• Schedule export — if you choose to export a text summary of your schedule, the file goes only where you send it; nothing is sent automatically.

Screen Time data (Family Controls)

RestBud uses Apple's Screen Time API — Family Controls, DeviceActivity and ManagedSettings — to apply limits. This is Apple's privacy-preserving framework: the app receives opaque tokens representing your selected apps, not a readable list of what your child uses, and it operates in .individual mode entirely on the device. Usage information obtained through Screen Time never leaves the device and is never sent to us.

Usage history (today's usage since 1.1.20261005; daily and weekly usage of every app since 1.1.20261104) is drawn by iOS inside a separate Device Activity Report extension that runs in its own sandbox. iOS hands the usage figures to that extension only to draw the view; RestBud itself cannot read, store or send those numbers, and the extension has no network access to send them anywhere. From 1.1.20261104 the view lists every app used on the device, not only the apps you manage, and it appears only in the parent area behind the parental gate.

The website allow list (since 1.1.20261009) is enforced by iOS itself through ManagedSettings' web content filter: RestBud hands iOS the list of allowed sites, and iOS blocks everything else. RestBud does not see which websites your child visits or tries to visit, and keeps no browsing history. When your child taps a site under "Websites you can open", it opens in the browser like any normal visit, and that website receives the usual request data under its own privacy policy.

Device protections (since 1.1.20261012) — no deleting or installing apps, no in-app purchases, date and time locked to automatic, and blocking adult websites — are iOS's own ManagedSettings restrictions that RestBud switches on or off at your request. They involve no data leaving the device; iOS enforces them, and removes them if Screen Time access is revoked. From 1.1.20261104 a parent can lift deletion protection for 10 minutes; RestBud restores it with an on-device schedule, and nothing leaves the device.

Screen Time authorization is granted by a parent and can be revoked at any time in iOS Settings.

Permissions the app may request

• Screen Time (Family Controls) — required, so the app can apply and lift limits.
• Microphone — optional, and only if you choose to record a voice reminder. Audio is recorded and stored locally; it is never uploaded or analyzed.
• Notifications — optional, used to deliver the rest and warning reminders (this is also how the voice reminder is played). Declining only affects reminders; the screen still locks on schedule.

What we do NOT collect

• No name, email address, or any personal identifier
• No location data
• No browsing history and no readable record of which apps your child uses
• No usage analytics or crash reporting sent to us
• No advertising identifiers (IDFA); we do not use App Tracking Transparency (ATT)
• No third-party SDKs that collect data

Children's privacy

RestBud is a tool for parents — it is configured by an adult and its settings sit behind a parental gate. Because the app collects no data at all, no information about any family member, adult or child, is ever collected, stored outside the device, or shared. This satisfies COPPA (US) and GDPR-K (EU) by design.

Purchases (optional tip jar)

The app is free and every feature works without paying. The only in-app purchases are three optional consumable "tip jar" donations. They sit inside the parent settings behind the parental gate (an adult-level multiplication question), unlock nothing, and are unreachable by children. Payment is handled entirely by Apple's StoreKit; connecting to Apple for these products is the app's only network activity, and no user data is sent to us.

Third-party services

RestBud uses no third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking services. Apart from Apple's StoreKit (the optional tip jar), the app makes no network connections.

Ad-Free Experience

This app is 100% ad-free. We do not display any third-party advertisements or use any ad-tracking mechanisms.

Data deletion

All app data is stored locally on your device. Deleting a voice recording in the app removes that file; uninstalling RestBud removes all rules, recordings and settings. Removing the app also ends its Screen Time management.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we will update the last-updated date above. Significant changes will be noted in the App Store release notes.

Contact

Questions? Email [email protected].