Stepwise Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 6, 2026

Stepwise ("the app", "we") is built around a simple idea: your steps earn your screen time. This policy explains what information the app touches, where it lives, and what never leaves your phone.

The short version: your health and app-usage data stays on your device. We don't run analytics on it, we don't sell it, and we couldn't hand it to anyone because we never receive it.

Data we access, and where it stays

Steps and movement (HealthKit)

Stepwise reads one thing from Apple Health: your step count. That number becomes the screen-time minutes you've earned, your streaks and your activity history. Where the app shows a distance, it is estimated from your steps — no distance, route, location or workout data is ever read.

• This data is read on your device and stored only on your device.
• It is never uploaded to our servers or shared with third parties.
• HealthKit data is never used for advertising or marketing, and is handled in accordance with Apple's HealthKit guidelines.
• You can revoke access anytime in Settings → Privacy & Security → Health.

The apps you choose to manage (Screen Time / Family Controls)

Stepwise uses Apple's Screen Time (Family Controls) framework to let you pick apps and hold them behind your step goal.

• Apple's design keeps your selection opaque even to us: the app receives anonymous tokens, not app names. Which apps you pick is known to your device and to you — not to Stepwise's developer.
• Usage minutes for those apps are computed by Apple's Device Activity system on your device and stored in the app's private container on your device.
• Your selection is never sent to us, and we have no server to send it to.

One exception, so you have the whole picture. When the system doesn't give the app a name or icon for an app you've picked, Stepwise asks Apple's public App Store lookup service for them — the same public service a web search uses. That request contains the app's name or bundle identifier and nothing about you: no account, no identifier, no step data. The answer is stored on your device so the request isn't repeated. Nothing else in Stepwise makes a network request.

Your account (Sign in with Apple)

Signing in is optional and uses Sign in with Apple. Apple gives the app your name and email address — or a private relay address, if you choose Hide My Email.

• That name and email are stored in the Keychain on your device. There is no Stepwise server for them to be sent to.
• They are used to greet you and to keep your settings attached to your account on this device. Nothing else.
• Signing out removes them from the app.

Purchases (Apple App Store)

Subscriptions and purchases are processed entirely by Apple. We never see your payment details. Apple provides us anonymous transaction records so the app can verify your Pro access.

Notifications

If you allow notifications, Stepwise schedules them locally on your device (movement nudges, an alert before a manual unlock window ends). No push servers, no tokens sent anywhere.

What we don't do

• No advertising, and no advertising SDKs.
• No third-party analytics or tracking SDKs.
• No selling, renting or sharing of personal data. Ever.
• No reading of your browsing, messages, photos or anything beyond what's listed above.

Data storage and deletion

Everything Stepwise stores — settings, streaks, daily step history, per-app minute balances — lives in the app's private storage on your device. Deleting the app deletes all of it. Signing out removes your name and email from the app.

There is no account to delete on our side, because there is no server holding one. If you have a question about any of this, write to the address below.

Children

Stepwise is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this address with a new "last updated" date. Material changes will be highlighted in the app.

Who runs Stepwise

Stepwise is made by Vishal Bhardwaj, based in New Delhi, India.

Contact

Questions or requests: app.stepwise@gmail.com. We answer from a real inbox, usually within a few days.