Privacy policy

Effective 28 September 2026 · Last updated 1 October 2026: sharing a job

Thereish is a personal work diary for iPhone, made by an independent developer in New Zealand ("we", "us"). It's built so your information stays yours: your diary lives on your device and in your own iCloud, not on our servers.

This policy explains what Thereish stores, what (little) reaches us, who else is involved, how long things are kept, and how to delete them. It covers the Thereish app (including TestFlight beta builds), the optional Live Activity Service, and thereish.work.

Summary

• Your diary (places, visits, travel, notes, products, photos) stays on your iPhone and, if you use iCloud, in your private iCloud database. We can't see it.
• We don't sell or share your data, show ads, use analytics or tracking tools, or track you across apps and websites.
• The only data that reaches a server we run is from the optional Live Activity Service: the current job's site name, timer and product count, plus technical identifiers and, if you connect with a subscription, your subscription's App Store reference. Never your location, notes or descriptions.
• If you share a job with photos in the link, the photos are stored encrypted for 7 days, and only people with the link can open them.

What Thereish stores on your device

Thereish creates and keeps this information on your iPhone:

• Places. The job sites you save (name, address, map position and detection radius), and places where you worked during work hours that you haven't saved yet. These start a job like a saved site, and you can save or ignore them.
• Visits and jobs. When you arrived at and left a site during the work hours you set (or later, when leaving ends a running job), jobs you add yourself, timers, and whether a job is done.
• Travel (optional). If you turn on Record Travel Distance: the kilometres driven between jobs, and — only if you turn on Keep Route Maps — a simplified route. Thereish only records travel that involves a job site, and never keeps an all-day location trail.
• Your content. Notes, descriptions and products you add to a job.
• Photos. Links to photos you choose from your Photos library. A copy is kept only if you attach it, and photos are added to a "Thereish" album only if you turn that on.
• Settings. Your work hours, days off and preferences.
• Detection log (optional, for testing). If you turn on Share Detection Log, a short on-device log of detection events (times, distances and site names, never coordinates). It's only sent if you share it yourself, for example by email.

How Thereish collects it

• Location (Always, if you allow it) is used to notice when you arrive at and leave a site during your work hours. It relies on low-power arrival and departure alerts from iOS; after an arrival it briefly uses precise location to confirm the visit (about half an hour at most with the standard settings), and uses GPS while driving only if Record Travel Distance is on. Outside your work hours, Thereish doesn't look for new jobs. If a job is still running, it keeps watching for you leaving that site so the job can stop (and, with Record Travel Distance on, records the trip from it). After your workday, it may notice when you arrive Home, only to time one reminder about jobs waiting in your Inbox.
• Motion & Fitness (only with Record Travel Distance) helps tell driving from walking.
• Photos access is used for the photos you pick, to show photos taken around a visit when you tap Find Photos from This Visit, to add to the Thereish album if you ask, and to remove photos from your library after you've attached them, if you ask. Photos are never read in the background. Attached copies sync with your diary through your private iCloud, and photos aren't sent anywhere else.
• Notifications show reminders and the Inbox badge. They're created on your device.

You can turn any of these off in the Settings app at any time. Manual entries keep working without them.

Where it's stored

• On your iPhone. Everything above is stored on your device.
• In your own iCloud (optional). If iCloud is on for Thereish, your diary syncs through your private iCloud database so it's on your other Apple devices. Apple stores it in your iCloud account under Apple's privacy policy. We, the developer, can't see or access it.

The optional Live Activity Service

If you connect an iPhone (Settings › Live Activity Service), Thereish can start and update your job's Live Activity on the Lock Screen while the app is closed. To do that, the app sends our push service:

• the current job's site name, start and elapsed time, paused state and product count;
• a random installation ID, a device public key (used to sign requests), and random IDs for the job, none of which are linked to your name, Apple Account or email;
• the Live Activity push tokens Apple issues for your device.

If you subscribe, Thereish connects this iPhone to the service automatically. To confirm the subscription, the app sends Apple's signed record of your subscription purchase. Our service checks it with Apple and keeps, for each connected device, your subscription's original transaction ID (a number Apple assigns to the subscription, not your name, Apple Account or email), the product (monthly or annual), its expiry date and whether it's a real or test purchase. Apple also tells our service when the subscription renews, expires, is refunded or is revoked. When it ends, the device is disconnected and this information is deleted. Up to three devices can connect with one subscription.

It never sends your location, notes, descriptions or photos. We use this data only to deliver your Live Activity, not for anything else. The service runs on a server we operate in New Zealand, and sends notifications through Apple's Push Notification service.

How long it's kept: a job's details are cleared within 24 hours of the job stopping; a meaningless internal ID for each stopped job is kept for 180 days to stop old updates being replayed; push tokens are kept only while a Live Activity is running; your installation ID and public key are kept until your device is disconnected. Subscription details are kept until the device is disconnected. Apple's notifications are kept only as a random ID for 30 days, to avoid handling one twice. Encrypted backups of the service roll over on a regular schedule. To disconnect and delete this data, email support@thereish.work — we'll remove your device from the service.

Sharing a job

When you share a job, you choose what to include: description, notes, times and travel, address, products and photos.

• The job details go in the link itself. They're shown by a web page (share.thereish.work) in the other person's browser. The part of the link that holds them is never sent to any server, so Thereish doesn't store them. Anyone with the link can read them, and they can't be taken back once sent.
• Photos in the link (subscription). Each photo is resized, stripped of its location and other details, and encrypted on your iPhone before upload. It's then kept on Cloudflare's storage (R2) for 7 days and deleted automatically. The key to open the photos is only in the link, so neither Thereish nor Cloudflare can see them. Stop Sharing Photos deletes them sooner. To allow uploads, your device asks our push service for a short-lived upload permission; the service stores nothing about the share.
• Photos as attachments (free). Without a subscription, or if an upload isn't possible, the resized photos are attached to your message or email instead, and nothing is uploaded.
• Your job and your Photos library don't change.

Beta testing through TestFlight

If you test Thereish through Apple's TestFlight, Apple shares some information with us under Apple's terms: your name and email (as invited), the app version and device you're testing on, crash reports, and any feedback and screenshots you choose to send. We use this only to run the beta and fix problems, and delete it when it's no longer needed.

Other companies involved

We don't sell or share your personal information. These providers process data to make Thereish work, each under its own privacy policy and with protections at least as strong as those described here:

• Apple: iCloud sync (your private database), push notifications for Live Activities, address search and maps (the address you search for, with the rough area you're in so nearby addresses come first, and the map position of places you stop at so Thereish can suggest their address, are sent to Apple Maps), Siri and Shortcuts if you use them, and TestFlight. Apple Intelligence descriptions are generated on your device. Apple processes your subscription purchase and tells our service about it, as described above. We never see your payment details.
• Cloudflare: delivers and protects thereish.work and our push service, stores encrypted shared photos for 7 days (it can't open them), and processes standard connection data such as IP addresses to do that.

Some of these providers may process data outside New Zealand.

What we don't do

• No advertising, analytics or tracking SDKs, and no tracking across apps or websites.
• No selling, renting or sharing of your data.
• No accounts: you don't sign up for Thereish.
• No servers for your diary. The only exceptions are the optional Live Activity Service and photos you choose to share in a link, both described above.

This website and email

thereish.work doesn't use cookies, analytics, trackers, scripts or content from other companies. The site is served through Cloudflare, which processes standard connection data (such as IP addresses) to deliver and protect it. Our own server keeps short, rotated logs (such as the pages requested) to keep the site secure and working. If you email us, we use your email address and message only to reply to you, and delete them once they're no longer needed.

Keeping your data safe

Your diary is protected by your iPhone's security and, if you use it, iCloud. Our push service accepts only signed requests from connected devices, stores only the minimum above, never logs your job details or tokens, and can only connect out to Apple. Access to our servers is restricted to us.

Deleting your data and changing your mind

• Delete an entry: swipe left, or use Delete in the entry. It moves to Recently Deleted (in the ••• menu) and is erased after 30 days, or straight away with Delete Now.
• Delete everything on your iPhone: delete the Thereish app.
• Delete your iCloud copy: Settings app › [your name] › iCloud › Manage Account Storage (or Manage Storage) › Thereish › Delete Data.
• Stop location, motion, photos or notifications: turn them off in the Settings app › Thereish. You can turn off Record Travel Distance and the detection log in Thereish's own Settings.
• Leave the Live Activity Service: email support@thereish.work and we'll disconnect your device and delete its data.

Children

Thereish is a work tool and isn't directed at children under 16. We don't knowingly collect information from children.

Your rights

We handle personal information in line with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020. You can ask us to access, correct or delete personal information we hold about you — in practice only Live Activity Service data, TestFlight feedback and emails you've sent us — by emailing support@thereish.work. We'll reply within 20 working days. If you're not happy with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (privacy.org.nz).

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we'll update this page and the "Last updated" date, and tell testers in the TestFlight notes when a change matters.

Contact

Questions about privacy: support@thereish.work.