Privacy policy

Last updated 11/10/2026

Habit Builder is made by Alex Thompson, an independent developer on the Gold Coast, Australia, who publishes apps as The Cosy People. “I” below means me.

What stays with you

Everything you put into Habit Builder is stored on your phone. With iCloud sync on (Settings in the app, “iCloud sync”), it's also kept in your private iCloud database through Apple's CloudKit, so your other devices signed in to the same Apple Account show the same habits and journal. That database belongs to your Apple Account and I have no access to it. Apple's privacy policy covers how Apple looks after iCloud data.

You can switch iCloud sync off in the app at any time. To remove your data, delete your habits and journal entries in the app, or delete the app and then remove Habit Builder's data from your iCloud storage in iOS Settings.

What the app sends me

Usage events

Firebase Analytics, a Google service, records a handful of moments so I can tell whether the app is working for people: creating a habit (and how many habits you now have), the choices you make on the welcome screens (picked from fixed lists, never anything you typed), whether you allowed reminders, logging your first habit, and opening or sending a share card (and which app you sent it to, from a short fixed list).

Firebase also records standard details: your device model, iOS version, app version, roughly where you are (country, region and city, worked out from your internet connection), how often you open the app, and an identifier created for this install of the app. None of it includes your habit names, logs, journal entries or photos.

The app doesn't use your device's advertising identifier or its vendor identifier.

Crash reports

If the app crashes, Firebase Crashlytics, also from Google, sends a report: where in the code it crashed, the device model and iOS version, the device's state at the time (such as free memory and storage), and an identifier for this install. I use crash reports only to fix crashes.

Google handles this information under its own privacy terms. Usage events are kept for two months and crash reports for 90 days, then deleted.

Things that only happen when you choose

Reminders are scheduled on your phone. Nothing goes through a server.

Photos. When you add a photo to a journal entry, you choose it with Apple's photo picker and the app receives only that photo. Saving a share card to Photos asks for permission to add to your library; the app can't see what's already there.

Share cards are made on your phone from your own numbers, and they go only where you send them. If you post one to Instagram Stories, Instagram receives the image under Meta's own policies.

Apple Health. If you turn on “Save moods to Apple Health” in Settings, the mood you pick each evening is saved to the Health app on your phone as a State of Mind: rough, okay or good, for that day. Habit Builder only writes this one kind of data. It never asks to read anything from Health, and nothing from Health is sent to me, shared with anyone, or used for advertising. You can turn it off in Settings at any time and delete what was saved from the Health app.

Siri, Shortcuts, widgets and the Lock Screen check-in read the same data on your phone and send nothing anywhere.

Import and export. Files you export are made on your phone and go wherever you save or send them. CSV files you import are read on your phone.

Email. If you write to support, I receive your email address, what you write, and the app and iOS versions the app adds to the bottom of the message. I use them only to reply.

Children

Habit Builder isn't made for children under 13, and I don't knowingly collect personal information from them. The app has no accounts, so the only personal details I ever receive are the ones in an email someone chooses to send.

Changes

If what the app collects changes, I'll update this page, and the date at the top, before that version of the app is released.

Contact

Questions about any of this: hello@thecosypeople.com.au