Privacy
Your pact stays with you.
Sworn is a private pact for a stretch of work with a deadline. What you write in it stays on your phone, apart from a few lines read once while you set it up. This page says exactly what the app keeps, the little it sends, and who handles it.
Last updated 16 October 2026
The short version
- There is no account. Your name, your pact and the work you name are stored only on your phone. Your vow is too, and a copy goes with our anonymous analytics.
- While you set up your pact, the few lines you type are sent to OpenAI to be read and turned into suggestions for it. Neither we nor OpenAI use them to train AI, and we never keep them.
- If you write to us with Message the developer, your messages are kept so we can reply, until you erase them.
- The only words of yours in our analytics are the vow you seal (such as “I will pass Organic Chemistry.”), kept under a random ID, never with your name.
- We count anonymous events, such as “the paywall was shown” or “a sitting began”, under a random ID that is not your name, email or Apple ID.
- Apple takes payment. We never see your card or Apple Account details.
- No ads, no tracking across other apps or websites, and we never sell or share your data for advertising.
Who we are
Sworn is made by Max Palmer, United Kingdom, which is responsible for your data under UK and EU data protection law. Write to max@sitesbymax.co.uk with any question about this page or your data.
What stays on your phone
Everything you write or record in Sworn is stored on your device. Apart from the setup lines described below, none of it is sent to us:
- the name and initials the pact uses
- your pact: its deadline, the least you will do, your days, rest and grace
- your vow, and your subjects or parts with their dates
- the work you name, your sittings and their times, your answers and your record
- your settings, such as the hour Sworn reminds you
Reminders are scheduled by your phone itself; no server sends them. If your phone is backed up to iCloud or a computer, this data is included in that backup under Apple’s terms. Deleting the app deletes it, and Settings → Erase everything removes it without deleting the app.
What the app sends
Anonymous usage events
To learn which parts of Sworn help people start, and whether the price is fair, the app sends short records of what happened in it. Each carries a random ID created when you install Sworn. It is not linked to your name, email, phone number or Apple ID, and a new one is made if you reinstall or erase everything.
| What | For example |
|---|---|
| App and setup | The app opened; which setup screen was shown and the option chosen from a list (never text you typed); the pact you made: its length, pace and nights, and the vow you sealed, with the one Sworn suggested if you changed it; how you found Sworn, if you tell us |
| Subscription | The paywall was shown; a plan was chosen; a purchase started, finished, failed or was restored |
| Using the app | A sitting began or ended, and how long it lasted; a day was answered “kept” or “not yet”. Never what the work was |
| Screenshots | That a screenshot was taken, and on which screen. Never the image |
| Device | App version, iOS version, device model, language and region |
What you type while setting up your pact
While you set up your pact, Sworn reads what you type so it can suggest the pact back to you: what it is for, what done looks like, and what gets in your way, with the answers you tap beside them, such as where you study, how many nights you worked last week and your deadline. These are sent over an encrypted connection, through our server, to OpenAI, which reads them and returns suggestions: your vow, a pace and a short read of what gets in your way. Your name is never sent.
Our server passes your words on and back without storing them or writing them to its logs. We ask OpenAI not to store them, and OpenAI does not use them to train its models; it may keep them for up to 30 days only to detect abuse, then deletes them. If the connection fails, Sworn makes its own suggestions on your phone and nothing is sent. When you seal your pact, the vow you swear to (which may include words you typed) is sent with our anonymous usage events, so we can see which vows lead people to keep going; it is stored with them under your random install ID for 18 months, and never with your name.
Messages you send us
If you use Message the developer in the app, what you write and our replies are stored on our server (hosted by Cloudflare) with your random install ID, so the conversation can come back to your phone. Only the developer reads them. They are never sent to OpenAI, never part of our analytics, and never used for anything but answering you. Settings → Erase everything deletes the conversation; otherwise each message is deleted 18 months after it was sent. Nothing is sent unless you write.
Purchases
Apple processes every payment. We receive the purchase record Apple provides: the plan, price and currency, when it began and renews, and any cancellation or refund. The random install ID is attached so we can tell which setup led to a purchase. We never receive card details, your Apple ID or your billing address.
Why, and on what basis
- To provide your subscription, checking what you have bought and restoring it: this is needed to give you what you paid for (contract).
- To answer you when you write to us with Message the developer: our legitimate interest in replying to you, and only that.
- To suggest your pact from what you type while setting it up: this is the service you asked for (contract), and it is used for nothing else.
- To improve Sworn and set a fair price, from anonymous usage events: our legitimate interest in making an app people keep using, balanced by collecting as little as possible: of your words, only the vow you seal.
- To meet tax and accounting duties for purchase records: legal obligation.
Who handles it
We use a small number of providers who process data only on our instructions:
- Apple, for the App Store, payments and subscriptions.
- RevenueCat (United States), which reads purchase records to report subscription revenue.
- Cloudflare (United States, with servers worldwide), which hosts our server and the database that stores the anonymous usage events and any messages you send us.
- OpenAI (United States), which reads what you type while setting up your pact and returns suggestions for it, as described above.
We do not use advertising networks or data brokers, we do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for targeted advertising. Sworn does not track you across other companies’ apps or websites, which is why it never asks for permission to track.
Where these providers process data outside the UK or EU, they do so under the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses in their data processing terms.
How long we keep it
- What you type while setting up: not kept by us; OpenAI may keep it for up to 30 days to detect abuse.
- Messages with Max: until you erase everything, and never more than 18 months each.
- Anonymous usage events: 18 months, then deleted.
- Purchase records: as long as tax and accounting law requires, usually six years.
- What is on your phone: until you erase it or delete the app.
Your rights
Under UK and EU law you can ask to see, correct or delete personal data we hold about you, to object to its use, or to restrict it. Because our analytics are not linked to who you are, we can only find yours by its install ID, which is shown in Settings → Privacy. Send it to max@sitesbymax.co.uk and we will reply within a month.
If you are in California, we do not sell or share your personal information as those terms are defined in California law.
You can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk) in the UK, or to the data protection authority where you live.
Younger users
Sworn is not meant for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them. Sworn never asks your age or your birthday. It has no profiles, no messaging and nothing public, and it collects the same small amount of data from every user whatever their age.
Security
Events, setup lines and purchase records travel over encrypted connections and are stored with access limited to us. What stays on your phone is protected by your phone’s own encryption and passcode.
Changes
If we change what Sworn collects, we will update this page and its date before the change reaches the app, and say so in the app’s release notes when the change matters.