skein privacy
EFFECTIVE 18 AUGUST 2026 · PLAIN ENGLISHSkein helps you keep the limits you set for the apps you choose — a shield, a companion you raise, and a forgiving streak. It has no account and no server of ours: everything runs on your iPhone, and Skein can't even see which apps you use.
What is collected
Nothing that identifies you, and no account is required. You don't sign up, sign in, or give us your name or email. Skein runs on your iPhone; we operate no server that receives your data, and we don't sell, share, or track. The one part that involves a third party is your subscription, which Apple handles — see below.
How Skein uses Screen Time
Skein shields the apps you choose using Apple's Screen Time frameworks (Family Controls, Device Activity and Managed Settings), which you turn on when you set your first limit. Apple hands Skein anonymous tokens for the apps you pick — never their names, icons, or contents — so Skein can shield them and count usage against your limits without ever learning, or telling us, which apps you use. All of this runs on your device and is never transmitted to us.
What Skein keeps on your device
Only what it needs, stored locally in the app: the apps, categories, limits and schedules you set (as the anonymous tokens above); your streaks, grace days and pauses; your companion's state and the cosmetics you've earned; and your preferences. Deleting the app removes all of it from your iPhone.
Subscriptions and purchases
Skein is a paid app — an auto-renewing subscription (annual, or a discounted student rate) or a one-time Lifetime purchase — sold through Apple's In-App Purchase. Apple processes the transaction; we never see your card or payment details, only aggregate, anonymized sales figures through App Store Connect that can't identify you. Manage or cancel a subscription anytime in your Apple ID settings.
Notifications
Skein may send local notifications — a nudge back from a block screen, or a gentle reminder about your commitment. They are generated on your device, their content is not sent to us, and you can turn them off in iOS Settings.
Analytics and ads
There are none. No advertising SDKs, no third-party analytics, no tracking identifiers, no profiles built about you. Nothing in the app is measured for anyone else's benefit.
Third parties
Apple only — for the App Store, in-app purchases, and iCloud if you use it — under Apple's own privacy policy. There are no advertising networks and no analytics providers.
Data security
Because your Skein data stays on your device, it is protected by your iPhone's own security — your passcode or Face ID and Apple's on-device encryption. Keeping a device passcode enabled is the best protection.
Deleting your data
Delete the app and everything it stored goes with it. There is no online account to delete, because there never was one.
Your rights
Skein is built so there is very little for privacy laws to reach: we hold none of your personal information on any server. We don't sell it, share it for advertising, or build profiles about you. Since we generally hold nothing about you, there is little to access, correct, port, or delete — if you email us, we keep only that message so we can reply, and you can ask us to delete it.
Children
Skein is a general-audience app and is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age of digital consent where you are). We don't knowingly collect personal information from children — in truth, we collect none from anyone through the app.
Changes
If this policy changes, the effective date above changes with it and the previous version stays available on request. Material changes will also be noted in the app's release notes.
Contact
Questions go to privacy@playbones.app and reach me directly. PLAYBONES LLC is the data controller for the purposes of GDPR; there is no data protection officer because there is one person and no dataset.