The short version. ShyBreak keeps your data on your device — iPhone or iPad. There is no account, no sign-in, and no server that stores what you write. We cannot read your reflections, your ratings, or your progress, because they never reach us. A few things do leave the device: anonymous usage counts, crash reports, a purchase record, a voice rehearsal, or a message you type into the feedback box along with an email address if you choose to give one. None of the rest carries your name, and each is described in full below.
What stays on your device
All of the following is stored locally on the iPhone or iPad you are using, and is never transmitted to us or to anyone else:
- Your first name, if you choose to enter one — it's optional
- Your goals, practice pace, reminder time, and who is around you day to day
- Your discomfort ratings for each social situation
- Every challenge you complete, how it felt, and any notes you write about what happened
- Your streaks, levels, and XP
The challenge library itself ships inside the app. It is not downloaded, not fetched, and not updated over the network — so the app behaves identically offline, and nothing about which level you are on or which challenges you get is ever requested from a server.
Because it is stored per device and not synced, the app on an iPad keeps its own separate record from the app on an iPhone. Deleting the app deletes all of it. There is no backup on our side and no way for us to recover it, because we never had it.
Your voice
You can speak a note after a challenge instead of typing it. When you do, your iPhone converts the audio to text on the device itself, using Apple's speech recognition. The audio is never saved to a file and never uploaded — it exists in memory for as long as you hold the button and is discarded the moment the words are transcribed. Only the text is kept, and the text stays on your phone like every other note.
The app asks for microphone and speech recognition permission the first time you use a voice feature. Declining is fine: everything falls back to the text field and nothing is withheld.
What leaves your device
Purchases
If you subscribe, the purchase is handled by Apple. We use RevenueCat to manage subscriptions, which receives:
- An anonymous identifier generated for your app install — not linked to your name, email, or Apple Account
- Purchase and renewal events from Apple
- Basic device and app information, such as your device model, operating system version, and country
Your card details go to Apple, never to us. We never see them.
The voice rehearsal
At Level 1 and again at Level 2, you get one practice run at saying a challenge's suggested line out loud before you go and say it for real. Two rehearsals in total, for the life of the app. This is the only feature that sends anything you said off your phone.
When you use it, the following is sent to a server we operate on Cloudflare and passed to Anthropic, which returns one sentence of feedback:
- The suggested line you were rehearsing — text we wrote, not you
- A transcript of what you said out loud during the rehearsal
- How many seconds you spoke for, and your app's language
The recording itself never leaves your phone; only the transcribed words do. Nothing identifies you: no name, no account, no device identifier, no advertising identifier. We do not store the transcript, and Anthropic does not use it to train models.
This does not apply to your reflection notes. What you write or say about how a challenge went stays on your device and is never sent anywhere.
Usage counts
The app reports anonymous counts of how it is used — which onboarding step you reached, which tab you opened, whether a challenge was completed or swapped — to PostHog, on servers in the European Union. Each event carries a random identifier generated for your app install, basic device and app information, and the name of the event. It never carries your name, your notes, your ratings, or the text of a challenge. Screen recording and tap capture are switched off.
Crash reports
If the app crashes or freezes, a report is sent to Sentry, on servers in the United States. It contains the technical trace of what went wrong, the screens you passed through just before, your device model, operating system and app version. It does not include your IP address, your device name, screenshots, or anything you typed.
The feedback box
Settings → Suggest a feature sends a message you write to a private channel that only the developer reads, through the same Cloudflare server as the voice rehearsal. Alongside the message it sends the kind of message you picked, your current level, how many challenges you have completed, your app's language and version, and whether you are on iPhone or iPad. Nothing else from the app goes with it — no notes, no ratings.
Below the message there is an optional email field. It is there for one reason: so the person who reads your message can reply to it. Leave it blank and the message still sends — nothing about it is required, and nothing is withheld if you skip it.
If you do fill it in, your address travels with the message and sits in the same private channel, which is hosted by Discord on servers in the United States. It is used to answer you and for nothing else: it is never added to a mailing list, never used for marketing, never linked to your app usage, and never passed to anyone. The Android waitlist on this website is a completely separate list, and an address given here is never added to it.
Our lawful basis for holding it is your consent, given when you typed it in and pressed Send. Messages and any address attached to them are kept only for as long as it takes to read and act on them, and deleted once the conversation is finished. You can withdraw consent at any time: email us and describe what you sent, and we will delete it along with your address.
Links you tap
The app links to external pages, such as the National Institute of Mental Health. Tapping one opens your browser and takes you to a site we don't control, with its own privacy policy.
What we don't do
- No tracking across other companies' apps or websites, and no screen recording
- No profile that identifies you — analytics, crash reports and purchases are never linked to your name, your email, or your Apple Account
- No advertising and no ad identifiers
- No selling or sharing of data with third parties
- No access to your contacts, photos, camera, or location
- No background microphone access — the microphone is only live while you are holding the record button, and only if you granted permission
- No accounts, no newsletters, and no email asked for anywhere in the app except the optional reply field described above
This website
Separate from the app. If you join the Android waitlist on this site, your email address is stored by Buttondown, who send the confirmation and any later message. You will get one email if an Android version ships, and one if something significant changes on iPhone. Nothing else. Every message carries an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing removes you from the list. This list is separate from the optional reply address in the app's feedback box: an address given there is never added to it, and joining here never puts you in touch with the feedback channel.
Notifications
Reminders are scheduled locally by your device. If you allow notifications, your iPhone or iPad shows them at the time you chose. No notification is sent from a server, so nothing about your reminders reaches us.
Health information
ShyBreak is a practice tool, not a medical service. It does not diagnose or treat any condition. Notes you write or speak about how a challenge went are personal and sensitive, which is exactly why they stay on your device and are never transmitted. The voice rehearsal described above is a separate thing: it is you reading a suggested line before a challenge, not you describing how it went. The feedback box is a third thing again: it is a message you chose to write to us about the app, plus an email address if you asked for a reply.
Children
ShyBreak is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.
Your rights
Because your data lives on your phone, you control it completely:
- See it: it's all visible inside the app
- Delete it: Settings → Start over, or delete the app
- Purchase records: to request deletion of the anonymous purchase record held by RevenueCat, email us
- A message you sent us: email us and describe it, and we'll delete it along with any reply address attached to it
- Waitlist: use the unsubscribe link in any email, or email us
Changes
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new date at the top.
Contact
Questions about privacy: shybreakapp@gmail.com
ShyBreak is not a medical device and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If social situations are seriously affecting your life, please speak to a qualified professional.