Privacy policy

The short version. Everything you put into Holdfast stays on your phone. There is no account and no server. Holdfast has no analytics and no tracking, and nothing about you is sold. Its only ads are short videos you choose to watch in return for something, and the advertising service does not start unless you ask for one. Nothing you log is ever given to it. The developer never sees what you log.

• your plan: what you are stopping, the date you stopped, your usual weekly spend and currency, what tends to set you off, and your reasons;
• the urges you log (when, how strong, what set them off, how they ended, and any note you add), your evening check-ins and your pledges;
• your savings goal, if you set one;
• your steps through the Passage and anything you write in them;
• the name and phone number of your person, if you add one;
• your settings: theme, sound, reminders.

None of it is sent to the developer or to anyone else.

What leaves your phone, and only when you choose

• Calls, texts and links. When you tap to call your person or a helpline, or open a self-exclusion scheme or another link, Holdfast hands that to your phone's own dialer, messages app or browser. What happens next is between you and that service.
• Sharing. If you share your weekly card, it goes wherever you send it through your phone's share sheet. Holdfast does not send it anywhere itself.
• Purchases. Holdfast Pro is bought through Google Play or the App Store. They handle the payment under their own privacy policies; the developer receives no payment details. The app asks the store which purchases are current, so that Pro starts and ends with your subscription.
• Reviews. Now and then, after a milestone, Holdfast may ask the store to show its own rating sheet. Anything you write there goes to the store, not to Holdfast.

Videos you choose to watch

Without Holdfast Pro, a short video can open a day's step of the Passage, a night's hour by the sea, or a day of your patterns. A video plays only when you tap "Watch a short video", one at a time, and you can always close it.

• Nothing starts until you ask. Holdfast does not start Google's advertising service (the Google Mobile Ads SDK, also called AdMob) until the first time you tap to watch a video. If you never do, it never runs.
• Consent first, where the law asks. In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, Google's consent form appears before any video, and You → Ad privacy choices lets you change your answer.
• Never personalised, and no advertising ID. Holdfast asks for non-personalised ads only, so Google does not use a profile of you to choose them, and the app removes the permission that would let the SDK read your phone's advertising ID.
• What the SDK still collects. To show a video, count it and prevent fraud, Google's SDK collects your IP address (from which a rough location can be worked out), how you interact with the video, diagnostic information about the app and the SDK, and an app-set identifier. Google handles this under its own policy: how Google uses information from apps that use its services.
• Never what you log. Your plan, urges, check-ins, notes, money, person and steps are never given to the SDK or to Google.
• Gambling ads are switched off. Holdfast's ad settings block gambling and betting, social casino games, get-rich-quick offers and loans.
• Holdfast Pro has no videos at all.

The sky, and the graphics

To draw the sky as it really is where you are, Holdfast uses your phone's clock and time zone and the country in your plan to work out where the sun is. It never asks for or reads your location. To choose how detailed its pictures should be, it reads how much memory your phone has, how many processor cores and which version of Android, and whether Android counts it as a low-memory phone. All of this is used on the phone, and none of it is stored or sent anywhere.

Backups

Your phone may include Holdfast's data in its own backup (Android's backup to your Google account, or an iPhone's iCloud or computer backup) if you have backups switched on. That backup belongs to your account, is made and encrypted by Google or Apple, and the developer cannot see it. It means your clean days can come with you to a new phone. If you would rather they did not, switch app backups off in your phone's settings.

The home-screen widget

If you add Holdfast's widget to your home screen (Android), the app writes down for it when your current run started, the money kept and its pace, and your currency, in storage on your phone that your launcher reads to draw the widget. Nothing is sent anywhere. The widget shows only the day and the money, under the word "Holding".

Notifications

The evening check-in and the high-risk-time nudge are scheduled on your phone. No server sends them, and you can switch either off in the app. If you start a free trial of Holdfast Pro, the app also schedules, on your phone, one reminder before the trial becomes a paid plan; you can turn it off on the screen where the trial starts.

Deleting everything

In the app, go to You → Delete everything. That removes your plan, every urge, check-in and pledge, your savings goal, your steps through the Passage and what the widget shows, from the phone at once. Uninstalling Holdfast removes all of it too.

Who Holdfast is for

Holdfast is for adults, 18 and over. It is not directed at children and does not knowingly hold anything about anyone under 18.

Not medical advice

Holdfast offers self-help tools and points to real services. It is not a treatment and does not replace professional help. If you are in crisis, call your local helpline or emergency number.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date. Questions: vaisin213@gmail.com.