Privacy policy

Effective October 9, 2026

This policy explains how FocusFlow handles information when you use the FocusFlow iPhone app, the web app at getfocusflow.app/app, and the website at getfocusflow.app. FocusFlow is run by Spencer Lay, an individual based in Ohio, USA (“FocusFlow”, “we”, “us”). FocusFlow is offered only in the United States. Questions: support@getfocusflow.app.

What we collect

Your account

• Phone number, if you sign in with one: we text it a one-time code to sign you in. We don't use it for marketing and don't share it except to send that text.
• Name, which your friends see on your leaderboard, and email address if your account was made with one, to sign you in and contact you about your account.
• Password, stored only as a one-way hash. We can't see it.
• Settings such as your time zone, reward rules, daily limits and app theme.
• What best describes you, if you choose to answer when setting up (for example, college student or parent), and your major if you're a college student and choose to share it. Both are optional, and we only look at the answers added up across everyone.
• Student verification, if you ask for student pricing: we email a one-time code to your account's .edu address and keep only a scrambled (hashed) copy of it, briefly, plus the date you confirmed it. That's how we know the address is yours.

Tasks and proof

• Tasks you create: titles, notes, due dates, and whether they're done.
• Proof photos you take to complete a task, and the result of checking them (whether it passed, and the AI's short explanation).

Screen Time

FocusFlow uses Apple's Screen Time frameworks to block the apps you pick and to count your time in them. Apple does not give us the list of apps on your phone or your browsing. For the apps you choose, we receive:

• The app's name (for example “Instagram”) and a random FocusFlow code for it. Apple's own identifier for the app stays on your phone.
• How many minutes you've used those apps and roughly when, so your reward time and daily limits stay accurate.
• Emergency overrides you use, including the reason you type.

We use this only to run FocusFlow's blocking, rewards and limits for you. It isn't shared with anyone beyond the hosting provider that stores it (it is never sent to our AI provider), and is never used for advertising or advertising measurement or given to data brokers.

Error reports

• When something goes wrong in the app, we record what the error said, which screen it happened on, your app version and platform, and your account ID if you're signed in. We use this only to find and fix faults. We don't use analytics services and we don't track what you do in the app.

Reminders and Calendar (only if you turn them on)

• Reminders: the title, notes and due date of reminders in the lists you import, turned into tasks.
• Calendar: the title, start and end time, and calendar ID of timed events for today and the next six days, so apps can stay locked during them. We also read the title and date of all-day and due-date events (like assignments your school syncs to your calendar) over the same days, to add them to your tasks. We don't read attendees, locations, event notes or any further ahead.

You can turn these off at any time in Settings on your iPhone.

Device and technical information

• A random identifier for your installation of the app, the app version, and whether Screen Time permission was granted, so your phone and account stay in sync.
• A sign-in cookie that keeps you logged in. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies.
• Your IP address, which every internet request includes. We use it briefly to limit abuse (like repeated waitlist signups) and our hosting provider may record it in routine server logs.

Payments

• FocusFlow is free and takes no payments, so we hold no payment or purchase information about you.

Waitlist

• If you join the waitlist on our website: your email address, how you heard about FocusFlow (if you tell us), and which link brought you there. We use this only to tell you when FocusFlow launches.

What we don't collect

No advertising identifiers, no third-party analytics or tracking tools, no location, no contacts, and nothing from apps you haven't chosen.

How we use it

• To run FocusFlow: lock and unlock apps, check proof, count reward minutes, enforce limits, and show your progress.
• To keep your account secure and fix problems.
• To understand, in aggregate, how FocusFlow is used, so we can improve it.
• To answer you when you contact us, and to email waitlist members at launch.

We don't sell your information and don't use it for advertising.

Who we share it with

Only the services FocusFlow runs on, and only what each needs:

• Anthropic (AI model provider): each proof photo with the task's title, description and category, to check whether the task was done; and the titles of reminders and calendar events you import, with the list of things you asked us to leave out, to filter them. Under Anthropic's commercial terms this data isn't used to train its models, and Anthropic keeps it only for a limited time, mainly for safety and abuse monitoring.
• Twilio (text messages): your phone number, to send your sign-in code. Twilio creates and checks the code; we never see or store it.
• Resend (email delivery): your email address and the message we're sending you, such as a student verification code or, if you joined the waitlist, the launch email.
• Railway (hosting): runs our servers and database in the United States, where your data is stored.
• Apple: Screen Time, Reminders and Calendar are provided by iOS on your device.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the safety of users or the service.

How long we keep it

• Account data, tasks, photos and history are kept until you delete them or your account.
• You can delete any proof photo from a task's history.
• Waitlist emails are kept until launch, or until you ask us to remove yours.

Deleting your data

In the app, go to Settings → Delete account. This permanently erases your account, tasks, proof photos and history. It can't be undone. To remove a waitlist signup, or if you can't sign in, email support@getfocusflow.app from the address in question.

Your choices and rights

• Turn off Screen Time, Reminders or Calendar access at any time in iPhone Settings. The features that need them will stop working.
• Ask us for a copy of your data, or to correct or delete it, at support@getfocusflow.app. Some US states give residents specific privacy rights, such as California's CCPA. We honor these requests for everyone, wherever you live in the US, and we won't treat you differently for making one.

Security

Connections are encrypted with HTTPS, passwords are hashed, sign-in codes are never stored by us, and your photos are only served to your own signed-in account. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.

Children

FocusFlow is for people 13 and older. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, email us and we'll delete it.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date above, and tell you in the app or by email if the change is significant.

Contact

support@getfocusflow.app