Privacy Policy

Effective date: 22 October 2026

stōw is a focus timer made by Tappnology (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what information the app and our website handles. It covers the stōw apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and the site at stow.tappnology.com.

Contact: support@tappnology.com

The short version

stōw does not ask you to create an account with us. The goals, tasks, notes, tags, and session history you write are stored on your device. If iCloud is available, that same information syncs through your private iCloud database so it can appear on your other devices. We do not run our own database of that content, and we do not sell personal information.

We do collect product analytics and crash reports so we can see whether the timer, goals, and settings are working. Those reports are built to leave out the words you type into a goal or a task.

Information you put into stōw

When you use the app, it stores:

Goals, including a title, description, due date, and tags
Tasks, including a title, due date, estimate, order, and whether a task is done
Focus and break sessions, including when they started, how long they were, and whether they finished
Streaks, the theme you picked, timer lengths, completion sound, and whether you have finished onboarding

This stays on the device. stōw also saves it in your private iCloud container (iCloud.com.tappnology.pomodoro) when iCloud is signed in and reachable. Apple hosts that database as part of your iCloud account. We cannot sign in to it. If iCloud cannot be opened, stōw keeps a copy on the device instead.

Home Screen widgets, the Mac menu-bar timer, and Live Activities read this information on the device so they can show the current session and upcoming tasks. They are not a separate copy sent to us.

Focus Shield

On iPhone and iPad, Focus Shield can quiet apps, categories, and websites you choose for the length of a focus session. That choice is stored on your device and applied through Apple’s Screen Time and Family Controls system. We do not receive a readable list of the apps you block, and we do not upload that selection.

You can turn Focus Shield off, or pause it, in the app. Focus Shield is not available on the Mac.

Notifications

If you allow notifications, stōw schedules them on the device. A session-end alert tells you a focus session or break has finished. A goal reminder can include the goal’s title so you know what to come back to. Live Activities can show the running session on the Lock Screen and, when a session ends, play a sound through that activity.

These are local alerts delivered by Apple’s system on your device. stōw does not operate a messaging service that reads your notifications. You can turn notifications off in stōw or in system Settings.

Purchases

stōw is free to start. stōw Pro is optional and is sold by Apple as an auto-renewable monthly subscription, an auto-renewable yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Apple processes the payment. We do not receive your card number, billing address, or full Apple Account details. Apple tells the app whether the purchase is active so it can unlock Pro features.

The prices you see are the prices Apple shows in your storefront at the time you buy.

Analytics and crash reports

stōw sends product usage and diagnostic data to two processors:

Google Firebase (Firebase Analytics, Firebase Crashlytics, and Firebase Performance Monitoring), for usage events, crash reports, and app performance data such as start-up time and network timing. Google’s privacy policy is at policies.google.com/privacy. Firebase’s privacy information is at firebase.google.com/support/privacy.
Amplitude, for product analytics, including app opens, session timing, screens, and interactions. Amplitude’s privacy policy is at amplitude.com/privacy.

Firebase Analytics includes Google’s on-device conversion measurement component (Google Ads On-Device Conversion), which is part of the Google SDK.

A typical event says that something happened, not what you wrote. Examples include that a session started or finished, how long it was planned to last, whether it was attached to a goal, which screen you opened, which theme or sound you selected, and that a goal was created with a certain number of tasks. A search in Goals sends the length of the query and how many results came back. It does not send the words you searched for.

Crash reports can include the device model, operating system version, app version, and a technical log from the moment of the failure. They are not designed to include goal or task text. A failure message could still contain technical detail from that moment.

We use this information to operate, secure, and improve stōw. We do not use it to advertise to you on other companies’ apps, and we do not sell it.

stōw does not ask for App Tracking Transparency permission and does not use Apple’s advertising identifier.

Support and the website

If you email support@tappnology.com, or use the in-app mail composer, we receive the address you send from, the message, and any attachment you include. We use that only to answer you and to keep a record of the request.

The websites may record ordinary server logs, such as an IP address, browser type, and the page requested. Those logs are kept by the site host so the site can run and be protected. The sites do not ask you to make an account.

Links you open, including the App Store page and Apple’s subscription management, are handled by those other services under their own policies. Apple’s privacy policy is at apple.com/legal/privacy.

What we do not collect

We do not collect your precise location, contacts, photos, microphone audio, or health data. We do not ask for a stōw username or password. Sharing the app uses the system share sheet. We do not learn where you sent the share.

How long information is kept

Information stored on the device remains until you delete it in the app, delete the app, or erase the device. Information in your private iCloud database remains until you delete it there, including from another device signed into the same iCloud account. Deleting the app does not always remove the iCloud copy.

Analytics and crash data are kept by Firebase and Amplitude under their own retention schedules, for as long as we need it to understand reliability and how the product is used.

Support emails are kept long enough to resolve the request and to keep a record of what we told you.

Your choices

Edit or delete goals, tasks, and history in the app.
Turn off iCloud for stōw in system Settings, or sign out of iCloud. Sync then stops. A local copy can remain on the device.
Turn notifications, Live Activities, and Focus Shield off in the app or in system Settings.
Manage or cancel a subscription, or request a refund, through your Apple Account. We cannot see or change your card.
Email support@tappnology.com if you want help with information we hold, such as a support thread. We do not have a stōw account to delete. Where a request reaches data held by a processor and we can identify it, we will pass the request on.

If you live in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or a similar jurisdiction, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict personal information, and to complain to a supervisory authority. Those rights apply to the information we actually hold. Your iCloud content is held by Apple in your account.

We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Children

stōw is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, email support@tappnology.com and we will delete it.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will post the new version at this address and change the effective date. If a change is material, we will also take a reasonable step to point to it from the app or the website.