Privacy Policy

Effective October 24, 2026

This policy covers the Life Joule apps for iPhone and Mac (“Life Joule”, “we”, “us”) and this website. Life Joule is made by Ray V, an independent developer, who is responsible for your data under this policy. Questions are welcome at lifewpurpose@gmail.com.

1. Data that stays on your devices

Life Joule is built to work on your device. The following is processed only on your iPhone or Mac and is never sent to us or to anyone else, except when you link your devices (section 2) or choose to send something yourself (section 4):

• Apple Health. With your permission, Life Joule reads sleep, steps, workouts and mindful minutes to estimate your energy. It never writes to Apple Health. It is used only to estimate your energy, never for advertising or marketing. Life Joule never copies it to our servers or to iCloud; if you back up your iPhone, Apple includes the app’s data in that backup.
• Screen Time. If you turn it on, Life Joule uses Apple’s Screen Time features to show how phone use affects your energy, to remind you to take breaks and, if you choose, to limit apps you pick. This information never leaves your iPhone: it is left out of the export and the diagnostics file, and is used for nothing else.
• Motion, phone use and bedtime signals. If you turn on sleep detection, Life Joule uses your iPhone’s motion sensors and when the phone is in use to estimate when you slept on nights Apple Health has no record of, and you can correct these times. If you set up its “Record a sleep signal” shortcut, Siri phrase or Sleep Focus filter, it keeps only the kind of event and its time.
• What you enter. Check-ins, sleep entries, activities, reflections and settings are stored in the app on your device.
• The coach. Answers are worked out on your device, using Apple’s on-device models where available. Conversations are not stored after you close the coach.
• Your Mac. The Mac app notes which app is in front and for how long, and whether you’re at the Mac (time since your last keyboard, mouse or controller input, whether the screen is locked or asleep, and whether a video or call is keeping it awake), to show your screen time, suggest breaks and keep any time budgets you set. It never reads window titles, page contents or what you type, and it keeps this for 14 days.

2. Linking your Mac and iPhone

Linking arrives in a coming update. If you link a Mac to your iPhone, the Mac sends your iPhone its screen time (which apps were in front, their categories, how you marked them, and when), when it was in use, any time budgets you set on it, and the Mac’s name, so both can be counted together. Linking first sends the last 14 days. Your iPhone sends the Mac only its own name and what is needed to link. These messages are end-to-end encrypted with a key only your own devices hold, so nobody else, including us, can read them.

You don’t need an account to link: your iPhone’s camera scans a code the Mac shows (nothing is recorded), or you paste its link, or, on the same Apple ID, they link through iCloud.

• Through our relay. Encrypted messages wait on our server until the device they’re for collects them, and are deleted then; any not collected are deleted after 14 days. Our server can see when messages arrive and roughly how large they are, but not what they say. To prevent abuse, the relay counts requests each hour under a hashed form of your network address that changes every day, and deletes each hour’s count within three hours.
• Through iCloud, where available, on the same Apple ID. The Mac keeps the last 14 days in your own private iCloud, end-to-end encrypted, under Apple’s privacy policy. Turning off “Send through iCloud” on the Mac deletes them (after deleting the app, you can remove them in your iCloud storage settings).

You can unlink a device at any time. This deletes its waiting messages as soon as it can connect, leaving only a short encrypted notice that tells the other device, under the same 14-day rule. What your iPhone already received stays until you delete it there.

3. Optional account

Accounts arrive in a coming update; this section explains how they will work. You can use Life Joule without an account. If you choose to sign in with Apple or with Google, the only purpose is to link your devices more easily. We then keep:

• what Apple or Google sends when you sign in: your account identifier, your email address if they share it (Sign in with Apple lets you hide it) and, from Google, your name and profile photo link, which Life Joule doesn’t use;
• when you created your account and last signed in, and for each signed-in device a sign-in session with its network address and device type, used only to keep sign-in secure;
• for each linked device: its name (the one set on the device, such as your Mac’s name), its type (iPhone, Mac or Windows), a public encryption key, and when it was added, approved, removed or last seen;
• encrypted linking codes that your iPhone creates for your other devices. They are sealed so that only the receiving device can open them; our server cannot.

We use this only to show you your devices and let them link. We never use it for ads or marketing, and the account never holds your health, sleep or screen time data. When you sign in with Google, Life Joule asks only for your basic profile (name and profile photo) and email, and uses only your account identifier and email, to link your devices. Life Joule’s use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Deleting your account. You can delete your account in the app’s settings (Settings › Account). This removes your account, your devices and any linking codes from our server right away; records of past sign-ins in our hosting provider’s logs are deleted within 7 days. Deleting the app alone doesn’t delete your account. If you no longer have the app, email us from your account’s email address and we’ll delete it. You can also remove Life Joule in the Sign in with Apple or Google settings of your account.

4. What you choose to send us

• Reporting a question. If the coach can’t answer something, you can report the question. You see exactly what will be sent (the question, which you can edit, the app version, system version and language), and you send it yourself from your Mail app, or copy it into any email app. We see the email address you send it from.
• Diagnostics. Settings can create a diagnostics file to help find problems. It holds the last three weeks of nights (times, hours asleep and which device or app recorded them), daily steps, workouts and mindful sessions, check-in counts, the estimate and what the analysis found, bedtime signals, when the phone was in use at night, your time zone and the app version. It has no notes, reflections or Screen Time information. It goes nowhere unless you share it yourself, and if you send it to us we use it only to look into the problem.
• Emails. If you write to us, we use your message only to reply and to improve Life Joule, and delete it when you ask.

5. Who handles data for us

• Supabase hosts the account service and the relay. Their data is stored in Sydney, Australia; requests may pass through Supabase servers nearer to you on the way. Supabase’s own logs record the time, path, network address and device type of each request (and, for signed-in requests, your account identifier) and are kept for up to 7 days for security.
• Apple and Google handle sign-in if you choose it. Apple handles iCloud and app distribution and, if you allow it in your device’s settings, shares crash reports and usage statistics with us. Emails you send us are kept in Gmail (Google).
• Netlify hosts this website and may log visits (time, page, network address) for security.

Supabase and Netlify handle data only to run these services for us, and must protect it at least as well as this policy does. Apple and Google act under their own privacy policies. These companies may handle data outside your country, including in the United States; where the law requires it, they protect it with standard contractual clauses or similar safeguards.

We have no advertising partners, data brokers or analytics services. We don’t sell, rent or trade personal information, and we don’t use it to train AI models.

6. Keeping and deleting data

• On iPhone, data stays until you delete it, except working data the app clears by itself (for example insight history after 90 days, which you can change, and bedtime signals after 45 days). “Delete all Life Joule data” in Settings removes everything Life Joule stored on that iPhone; your Apple Health data isn’t changed. “Export my data (JSON)” gives you a copy of your check-ins, sleep entries and estimates, activities, reflections, insights, laptop time and profile. Deleting the app removes its data too, apart from small linking keys that iOS keeps; “Delete all Life Joule data” removes those first.
• On Mac, recorded app time is deleted after 14 days, and “Forget data on this Mac” deletes it sooner. Deleting the Mac app doesn’t remove its data, so unlink and forget first.
• On our server, relay messages are kept until they’re collected or 14 days have passed, hourly abuse counts for under three hours, linking codes until they’re used and never more than 30 days, removed devices for up to 30 days, and the rest of your account until you delete it.

7. Your rights

We use your data only with your permission (Apple Health, motion and Screen Time), to give you what you asked for (linking and the optional account), or to keep the service safe (short-lived logs and abuse limits). Wherever you live, you can ask to see, correct, export or delete the personal data we hold about you, or object to or limit how we use it, and we’ll answer within 30 days. You can withdraw a permission at any time in the app or in your device’s settings: Apple Health in the Health app, motion and Screen Time in Settings, and Sign in with Apple or Google in your Apple or Google account. Most of this you can do yourself in the app; for anything else, email lifewpurpose@gmail.com. You may also contact your local data protection authority.

8. Security

Data sent between your devices is end-to-end encrypted, connections use HTTPS, and the account service only lets each signed-in person reach their own rows. No system is perfectly secure, so we keep as little as possible, and if a breach ever affects your data, we will tell you as the law requires.

9. Children

Life Joule is not directed at children under 13, or under the minimum age where you live, and we don’t knowingly collect their personal data. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Health information

Life Joule offers wellness estimates, not medical advice. It is not a medical device and does not diagnose or treat any condition.

11. Changes

If this policy changes, we will update the date above and, for important changes, let you know in the app before they apply.

12. Contact

Life Joule, Ray V · lifewpurpose@gmail.com