Privacy Policy
Last updated: June 13, 2026
Tether is a macOS focus app. We believe in handling your data with care: we collect only what's needed to run the product, we keep most of what we observe on your device, and we never sell your data or share it for advertising.
What we collect
Account information
- Your email address (used to sign in).
- Your Apple user identifier (if you sign in with Apple).
- Optional profile fields you set, such as a display name or timezone.
Session data
Collected only while you are in an active focus session.
- The task you typed when starting the session.
- Session start and end times, total time, focused time, distracted time, and nudge count.
- A per-site breakdown of distractions: the domain or app identifier, label, time spent there, nudge count, and (where applicable) the AI's brief rationale.
Activity metadata
Only during active sessions — never in the background.
- The frontmost app's name and bundle identifier.
- For supported browsers (Safari, Chrome, Brave): the active tab's domain and page title. We read the URL but only persist the domain.
Settings
- Your custom allow/block rules and nudge-timing preference.
- Daily and monthly counters for AI usage, used solely for rate limiting.
What we don't collect
- No screenshots, OCR, or screen-content capture.
- No browsing history outside of active focus sessions.
- No keystrokes, file contents, contacts, calendar, location, camera, or microphone.
- No background monitoring — when you're not in a focus session, Tether is not observing anything.
How we use your data
- To run the focus loop: observe the frontmost activity, classify it, and gently nudge you when you've drifted.
- To save your session recap and show you analytics inside the app.
- To enforce the allow/block rules you've configured in Settings.
- To manage your subscription and billing.
Where it's stored, and who else sees it
Supabase (database and authentication) stores your account data, sessions, and settings. Row-level security ensures no other user can access your records.
OpenAI receives a small metadata payload for each AI classification: your task title, the current app's name and bundle identifier, the browser domain, and the page or window title. This payload flows through our own server-side proxy; the OpenAI API key never lives on your device. We do not send screenshots, page contents, full URLs, or anything else. Per OpenAI's API data policy, data sent to the OpenAI API is not used to train or improve OpenAI's models.
Stripe processes your billing. We do not see or store your full card number — Stripe handles that on its own hosted pages.
We use no analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs.
Your rights
You have the right to:
- Access the data we hold about you. Most of it is already visible in the in-app Stats view.
- Delete your account, which permanently removes all your sessions, distractions, rules, and account data. You can do this yourself anytime from Settings → Delete account.
- Export your data on request.
- Withdraw consent at any time.
Data retention
Your data is kept while your account is active. When you delete your account, your data is removed immediately and any active subscription is canceled. Rate-limit counters older than 90 days may be pruned automatically.
Security
We protect your data with industry-standard practices: HTTPS for all transmissions, JWT-based authentication with rotating refresh tokens, row-level security on the database, secrets stored only server-side, and a hardened-runtime, code-signed application binary.
Children's privacy
Tether is not intended for users under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the product evolves. The "Last updated" date at the top will always reflect the current version, and we'll flag material changes in the app the next time you open it.
Contact
For privacy questions, or to exercise any of the rights above, email support@tether-app.io.