Privacy policy

The short version

Pearl is an iPhone app for people going no contact after a breakup. It counts your days, with a companion character called Pearl alongside you.

Pearl works without an account or sign-in. What you enter in the app stays on your iPhone, apart from where you heard about Pearl, which goes into the anonymous analytics. We collect anonymous analytics to see how the app is used, and we measure whether our TikTok adverts lead to installs and purchases. The app talks to services to download Pearl's daily lines and quests and check your subscription.

Pearl is operated by Matthew Hughes, an individual developer in the UK, who is responsible for its handling of your personal information. You can contact him at 12hughesm@gmail.com.

Information the app handles

• What you enter: your name if you choose to give one, your onboarding answers, your last-contact date and the history of earlier ones, your reasons, the unsent messages you write in the app, the quests you've done and when, your check-in time and your notification choice. These are saved in a file on your iPhone, in a storage area shared only with Pearl's own widget. They stay on your device, except your answer to where you heard about Pearl, which is also sent with the analytics below.
• Backups: that file is part of your iPhone's iCloud or computer backups, depending on your own Apple settings.
• Notifications: check-in reminders and a morning quest notification at 10:00 are scheduled by the app and delivered on your iPhone.
• Anonymous analytics: a random ID created for this install of Pearl, events from the app, your current day count, where you heard about Pearl, and device and app details. The analytics section below has the detail.
• Advert measurement, only if you allow tracking: events that tell TikTok when Pearl is installed or opened, a free trial starts, or you subscribe or buy Pearl for life (with its price and currency), with your device's advertising identifier. The analytics section below has the detail.
• Daily lines and quests request: the app asks our server for Pearl's current lines, daily quests and replies in your device's language. The request carries no personal data. Like any web request, it reveals your device's IP address to the server.
• Subscription information: an anonymous app user ID, plus your Apple purchase receipt and subscription status. Apple processes App Store payments, and Pearl never sees your payment details.
• Support information: anything you choose to include when you email us.

Analytics

Pearl sends an event when you reach each onboarding step and when you finish onboarding. It also sends an event when the app is installed or updated, opened, or moved to the background. Each event carries your current day count and the random ID for this install.

PostHog's software adds device and app details to each event, such as the iPhone model, iOS version, app version, language and time zone. Like any web request, sending events reveals your device's IP address to PostHog, which uses it to work out an approximate location (country, region and city) for each event. Pearl doesn't use precise location.

Beyond those details, events hold only onboarding step names and numbers, and your answer to where you heard about Pearl (or that you skipped it). If you choose an answer, PostHog also keeps it against the random ID, so it stays attached to later events from this install. Your name, your other answers and anything you write stay on your iPhone. Session replay and automatic capture of taps and screens are switched off.

Analytics is always on in the App Store version of Pearl. Delete everything in Settings resets the random ID, so activity after that starts fresh and can't be linked to what came before.

We use PostHog analytics only to understand and improve Pearl. We don't sell it.

Separately, Pearl measures whether its TikTok adverts lead to installs and purchases. If you allow tracking, the TikTok Business SDK in the app sends TikTok an event when Pearl is installed, when it's opened, when a free trial starts, when you subscribe, and when you buy Pearl for life, with its price and currency. Like any web request, sending these reveals your device's IP address to TikTok.

After you start a free trial or buy, Pearl shows Apple's tracking prompt once. If you allow tracking, TikTok also receives your device's advertising identifier, which can link these events to your activity in other companies' apps and websites. If you don't, nothing is sent to TikTok. You can change your answer at any time in iPhone Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking.

Pearl also uses Apple's SKAdNetwork install reports (installed, then trial started, then paid). Apple sends these to TikTok without identifying you.

Delete everything in Settings resets the TikTok identity as well.

Why the information is used

We use this information to show Pearl's daily lines and quests, send the check-ins and morning quest notifications you ask for, check your subscription, understand how people use the app, measure whether our TikTok adverts work and answer your emails.

The legal basis depends on the purpose. Fetching lines and quests and checking your subscription are part of providing the service you've asked for. Anonymous analytics relies on our legitimate interest in understanding and improving Pearl, which we weigh against your rights. Advert measurement relies on your permission through Apple's tracking prompt.

Services that receive information

PostHog: app analytics

Receives the anonymous analytics described above, in its US region. PostHog privacy policy.

Supabase: Pearl's daily lines and quests

Hosts the lines, quests and replies the app downloads, in the EU (Ireland). The app downloads them at most once a day. The request asks for active lines and quests in your device's language. Supabase privacy policy.

RevenueCat: subscriptions

Receives an anonymous app user ID and your Apple purchase receipt and status, so the app can check whether you have access. RevenueCat may also pass purchase events to PostHog against the same anonymous ID. RevenueCat privacy policy.

TikTok: advert measurement

Receives, only if you allow tracking, the events and the advertising identifier described above, so we can see whether our TikTok adverts lead to installs and purchases. TikTok privacy policy.

Apple: purchases and backups

Processes App Store payments and subscriptions, and holds your iCloud backups if you use them. Apple privacy policy.

Information may also be disclosed where the law requires it or to protect users and the service. Provider privacy notices add to this page; they don't replace Pearl's responsibility for its own use of your information.

Storage and deletion

Apart from that one answer, what you enter stays on your iPhone until you delete it. In Settings, Export everything saves a copy as a file you can keep. Delete everything erases it from the app and resets the analytics ID and the TikTok identity. Deleting the app also removes its data from your iPhone. Earlier iCloud or computer backups keep their copy until your backup settings replace them.

Analytics events already sent, and the answer kept against the old random ID, stay with PostHog, linked only to that ID. Contact us if you have a question about them.

Deleting your data or the app doesn't cancel an App Store subscription. Manage or cancel it in your Apple account's subscription settings.

Where information is processed

PostHog processes analytics in the United States. Supabase serves Pearl's lines from the EU (Ireland). RevenueCat, TikTok and Apple may also process information outside the UK. Contact us for details of the safeguards that apply to these transfers.

Who Pearl is for

Pearl is intended for people aged 16 and over. It isn't directed at younger people, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you're a parent or guardian with a concern, contact us.

Pearl and your wellbeing

Pearl isn't a medical or crisis service. If you're in crisis or at risk, contact your local emergency services or a crisis line. Find support near you in Pearl's Settings opens a directory of helplines.

Your choices and rights

You can export or delete your data in Settings at any time, and turn Pearl's notifications on or off in your iPhone's settings. Depending on the circumstances and the law, you can ask to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of personal information we hold, or object to how it's used. These rights are subject to legal conditions and exceptions.

Email 12hughesm@gmail.com to make a request. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office or the relevant regulator where you live.

This website

This site uses plain pages with no analytics, cookies, forms or third-party fonts. It's hosted on GitHub Pages, and GitHub may process technical connection data, such as an IP address, to operate and secure the service. See the GitHub privacy statement.

Contact and updates

Matthew Hughes
12hughesm@gmail.com

Changes will be published on this page with a new date. We'll also let users know about material changes where appropriate.