HotlinePrivacy Policy
Hotline collects no data. There's no account, no server, no analytics and no advertising. Nothing you do in Hotline is sent to us or to anyone else.
What stays on your iPhone
Hotline stores the following on your device only:
- Your channels: their names, rules (apps, people, words), colors and alarm settings.
- History: the last 2,000 notifications your automation sent to Hotline, or more if you choose to keep more with Hotline Pro. Each records the app, sender, title, subtitle, body and time, and what Hotline did. It's also used to preview your rules.
- Sounds you import for your alarms, converted and kept in Hotline's storage on your iPhone. Backups you export include the ones your channels use.
- Your free-alarm count and Pro status, so Hotline knows whether it can ring.
You can clear History at any time from the History tab. Deleting the app removes everything.
Notifications
Hotline can't read your notifications. It only receives notifications from the apps you select in a Shortcuts automation you create, with the details you pass to it. They're used to decide whether to ring, to show the alarm, and for History on your device. They're never transmitted.
Alarms and Live Activities
Hotline uses Apple's AlarmKit and Live Activities to ring alarms and show countdowns. These system features run on your device.
Purchases
The Hotline Pro unlock is sold through the App Store. Apple processes the payment. Hotline only learns whether Pro is unlocked, and never receives your payment details or Apple ID.
Support emails
If you choose Email Support or Share Diagnostics in Settings, Hotline prepares a report for you to send. It includes the app and iOS versions, your permissions, whether Pro is unlocked, the shape of your channels' rules, recent outcomes, and any crash or hang reports iOS gave Hotline (technical details such as where in the code a crash happened). It doesn't include channel names, people, keywords or notification text. Nothing is sent unless you send it.
Backups
If you use iCloud Backup or a computer backup, your iPhone's backup may include Hotline's on-device data, under Apple's privacy terms. Hotline doesn't sync data anywhere itself.
If you use Export Backup in Settings, Hotline saves your channels, History and free-alarm count to a file where you choose, such as On My iPhone or iCloud Drive. It's yours to keep, share or delete.
Children
Hotline doesn't collect personal information from anyone, including children.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update this page and its effective date. If Hotline ever starts collecting data, the app will ask you before it does.
Contact
Questions about privacy? See the support page.