Privacy Policy

This policy explains how Family Chore Chart Pro (the "app") handles information. The app is made by Dr. Shankar Dutt, an independent developer based in Australia ("we", "us"). It applies to the app on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, its widgets and Siri shortcuts, and this website.

What you put in the app

Family Chore Chart Pro stores what your family enters so the app can work:

• family and member names, roles and profile colours;
• chores, schedules, values, notes and completion history;
• balances, bonuses, penalties, payouts and savings goals;
• optional photos: profile photos, savings-goal photos and photos taken as proof that a chore is done;
• the parent PIN and your app settings (currency, week start, reminders and similar).

You choose what to enter. Names can be nicknames, and every photo is optional. The app asks for camera access only when someone takes a proof photo, and it uses the system photo picker, so it never gets access to your whole photo library. If you save the weekly report image to Photos, iOS asks you to let the app add that one image; it still can't see your library.

Where it's stored

Your family's data is stored on your devices using Apple's app storage. Widgets read a small summary that the app saves in a shared area on the same device, and Apple Watch receives its data from the paired iPhone.

If you're signed in to iCloud, the app also syncs your data through Apple's CloudKit. Data you create is kept in your private iCloud database; a family you've shared lives in the family organizer's iCloud and counts toward the organizer's iCloud storage. Apple handles this data under the iCloud terms and Apple's privacy policy. We don't operate a server and never receive a copy of your family's data. If you're signed out of iCloud, the app keeps working with the data on the device.

The app also saves the date your free trial started in the keychain (synced by iCloud Keychain if you use it), so a trial can't start over after a reset or a reinstall. That item holds only the date, no family data, and Reset All Data and deleting the app don't remove it. A few settings stay on each device and aren't synced, such as whether Parent Mode asks for the PIN on that device. A count of recent wrong PIN attempts is kept in that device's keychain, so reinstalling the app doesn't clear a PIN lockout.

Family Sharing (iCloud sharing)

From Settings › Family Sharing in Parent Mode, the family organizer can invite other people who have their own Apple Accounts. Invitations and shared data are handled by Apple's iCloud sharing, not by us.

Who can be invited

• Co-parents. A co-parent can see and change everything in the family: members, chores, approvals, balances, notes, goals and photos.
• A child's own device. When you invite a child's iPhone or iPad, that device receives the shared family data and the app shows it only that child's chores, balance and goals, with no access to Parent Mode. This limit is applied by the app, not by iCloud: the device holds the same shared family data a co-parent's device does.

What invited people and Apple can see

• When you send an invitation, Apple shows you and the people in the share each other's name and the email address or phone number used for the invitation.
• The app may use the name Apple provides as the co-parent's display name in your family, which other family members can see. If Apple provides only an email address or phone number, the app doesn't use it as a name: the co-parent appears as "Co-parent" until you rename them in Settings › Family Sharing. The organizer's list of pending invitations shows the email address or phone number an invitation was sent to, on the organizer's device only.
• To link each device to the right family member, the app stores Apple's anonymous iCloud identifiers for the organizer and for each person who joins. These identifiers aren't names or contact details.
• So that invited members get access, the organizer's device stores on the shared family whether the organizer's plan or free trial is active and when it ends. It doesn't include payment details.

How to stop sharing

• The organizer can remove a co-parent or a kid's device, or cancel a pending invitation, in Settings › Family Sharing.
• A co-parent can tap Leave Family in Settings › Family Sharing to remove the shared family from their device.
• A child's own device can't open Parent Mode, so it can't leave by itself. The organizer removes it under Kids' devices in Settings › Family Sharing.
• When sharing stops, that person's devices stop receiving updates. Data they copied elsewhere (for example a CSV export or a screenshot) isn't affected.

Purchases

Subscriptions and the Lifetime purchase are processed by Apple through the App Store. The app checks your purchase status with Apple's StoreKit so it can unlock access. We don't receive your name, payment card or Apple Account details. Apple may share aggregated sales reports with us, as it does with every developer.

Children's privacy

Family Chore Chart Pro is designed to be set up and managed by a parent or guardian. Parents decide which children to add, what to call them and whether to use photos. Children's information stays in the family's own devices and iCloud, and is shared only with the people the organizer invites.

We don't knowingly collect personal information from children, and there are no ads, analytics, chat, public profiles or links to other people outside your family. A child who uses their own device needs their own Apple Account, which a parent can set up through Apple's Family Sharing.

Apple services we use

The app uses Apple services only: App Store distribution, StoreKit purchases, iCloud and CloudKit sync and sharing, widgets, Apple Watch connectivity, local notifications for reminders and approvals, and Siri and Shortcuts. When you use Siri, Apple processes your request under its own privacy policy. We don't use advertising networks, analytics providers, crash-reporting SDKs or data brokers, and the app doesn't track you across other apps or websites or access the advertising identifier.

This website is a static site hosted on GitHub Pages and loads fonts from Google Fonts. It has no cookies, analytics or tracking of our own; GitHub and Google may log standard technical information such as IP addresses when serving files.

Exporting and deleting your data

• Export. In Parent Mode, choose Settings › Data & Privacy › Export Data (CSV) to save a spreadsheet of your family's data.
• Deleting the app removes only that device's copy. If you use iCloud, your family's data stays in iCloud and comes back when you reinstall or sign in on another device.
• Delete it everywhere. On the family organizer's device, open Parent Mode and choose Settings › Data & Privacy › Reset All Data. This deletes the family from iCloud and from every device that syncs it, including the devices of anyone you've shared it with.
• From iCloud settings. You can also delete the app's iCloud data on iPhone or iPad in Settings › [your name] › iCloud, then Manage Storage (called Manage Account Storage on some versions), then Family Chore Chart Pro.
• If you're an invited co-parent, tap Leave Family to remove the shared family from your device. The organizer's data isn't deleted. A child's own device is removed by the organizer instead.

None of these remove the two keychain items described in Where it's stored (the trial start date and the wrong-PIN count); neither contains family data. Because we don't run a server, we hold no copy of your family's data to delete.

Security and the parent PIN

Apple encrypts iCloud data in transit and at rest. The parent PIN keeps Parent Mode away from little fingers on a shared device; it isn't encryption. The PIN is stored with your family's data and syncs to your family's devices, so reinstalling the app doesn't reset it. A parent who forgets it can set a new one on the PIN screen of the family organizer's own devices after confirming with Face ID or Touch ID, so don't add a child's face or fingerprint to a device you use for Parent Mode. The device passcode is accepted only on a device where Kid Mode has never been used, so a child who knows a shared iPad's passcode can't use it to change the PIN. You're responsible for protecting access to your devices and Apple Account.

Your rights and choices

• You can choose whether to add names, notes and photos, and you can decline camera access.
• You can view, correct, export and delete your family's data yourself in the app, and in iCloud settings.
• You can manage or cancel subscriptions in your Apple Account settings.
• Depending on where you live, privacy laws (such as the Australian Privacy Act, the GDPR or US state laws) may give you rights over personal information. Because we don't hold your family's data, most requests can be completed directly in the app; if you have a question, contact us.

Changes to this policy

If the app starts handling data differently, we'll update this policy before the change ships, and post the new version here with a new date.

Contact

Dr. Shankar Dutt, Australia
Email: shankarduttsgd@gmail.com