Your runs stay yours.

The short version

No ads, no tracking across other apps, and nothing is ever sold. Spud counts how the app is used (which screens and buttons) to make it better, and you can switch that off. Without an account, everything stays on your iPhone and in your own iCloud. With an account, the data below is stored so it can be backed up and restored, and you can delete it any time.

Your account (optional)

You can sign in with Apple, or with a code sent to your email when that option is available. Signing in stores:

• Your email address. With Sign in with Apple you can hide your real address; Apple then gives us a private relay address.
• An account ID.
• Your profile: your goal, race date, whether you have Spud Pro, the app version, how many runs you have verified, your streak and the date of your last run.
• A backup of the app's saved state: your plan, runs, check-ins and settings.

This is used only to back up and restore your plan, and, if you switch it on, to send the occasional training email. Training emails are off unless you turn them on, and you can turn them off at any time.

Where account data lives

Account data is stored with Supabase, our database provider, on servers in Canada, over encrypted connections. Each account's data can only be read by that account. We don't share it with anyone else.

Deleting your account

Profile › Account › Delete account removes your account, your profile and your backed-up plan from our servers straight away. Your plan and runs stay on your iPhone unless you delete them too. Signing out keeps everything on the phone and stops the backup.

What stays on your iPhone

Your plan, runs, streak, badges, settings and promise signature are stored on your device and, if iCloud is on, in your own iCloud so a reinstall can restore them. Deleting the app, or Profile › Reset Spud, erases them from the phone.

Usage data

Spud uses PostHog, an analytics service, to learn which screens and buttons people use, where they get stuck in setup, and whether they subscribe. It records events such as "finished a run" or "opened the paywall", your app version, your phone's model, iOS version and region setting, a random ID for this install and, if you sign in, your account ID. When a run doesn't count, it records which rule it missed and roughly how far it got (to the nearest 10%), never the distance, time or pace. It never records your name, email, location, routes, distances, paces, heart rate, sleep or how you feel.

Spud also records sessions: a replay of the screens you move through and where you tap, so we can see where the app confuses people. Every piece of text and every image is hidden in the recording, so your runs, paces, towns and anything you type never leave your phone that way. The paywall and the "what held you back" question, which show nothing personal, may be recorded with their words visible.

Usage data is not used for advertising and is not shared with anyone else. Turn it all off any time in Profile › Data › Share usage data.

Crashes and errors

If Spud crashes, or something fails behind the scenes (a sign-in, an Apple Health read, loading prices, a backup, the app lock), Spud sends a report with the app version, the phone model and the error's code, so we can fix it. Reports never include error messages, your data or your health information. They stop when you turn off Share usage data.

Where you heard about Spud

During setup Spud asks where you heard about it, and remembers your answer with your usage data. If you installed Spud from an Apple Search Ads ad, Apple's AdServices tells Spud which campaign and keyword it came from. This uses no advertising identifier and needs no tracking permission, and it is never used to follow you across other apps.

Help and feedback

The help button lets you report a bug, suggest a feature or tell us how to do better. What you write, the topic you pick, your app version and phone model are sent with your usage data so we can read it alongside the screens that led to it. If Share usage data is off, Spud opens an email instead and nothing is sent unless you send it. If you close the paywall without subscribing, Spud may ask what held you back, at most once a week and three times in all; answering is optional. Emails to support are kept only to answer you.

Location

While you record a run outside, Spud uses GPS to measure distance and pace. Location is only used during a run you started, and the route never leaves your phone. Where a run outside starts, rounded to about a kilometre, is kept on your iPhone to name your town for distance trips ("you ran Brampton to Mississauga"); it is never sent anywhere. Treadmill runs use no location at all.

Apple Health

If you connect Apple Health, Spud reads running workouts to verify your training, reads resting heart rate, heart rate variability and sleep to suggest how hard to go each day, and writes the runs you record in the app. Heart rate, heart rate variability and sleep readings are never stored by Spud or sent anywhere. Runs that count toward your plan are part of your plan, so they are included in your account backup if you sign in. If you import your running history, the runs from before your plan stay in a file on your iPhone only: they are not in your iCloud backup or your account, and Apple Health keeps the originals. Health data is never used for advertising and never shared with third parties. You control access in Settings › Health.

Coaching

On iPhones with Apple Intelligence, Spud's coaching lines are written by Apple's on-device model. Nothing you share with it leaves your phone.

Screen Time

Apple's Screen Time framework pauses the apps you pick. Apple keeps that selection private: Spud never learns which apps they are.

Game Center

If you sign in to Game Center, your Game Center nickname and scores from verified runs appear on leaderboards your friends can see. Apple operates Game Center under its own privacy policy.

Strava and Fitbit

If you connect either service, Spud downloads your runs directly from it to your phone over an encrypted connection and keeps the sign-in in the iPhone keychain. Disconnecting removes it.

Purchases

Spud Pro is sold through the App Store. Apple handles payment; Spud never sees your payment details. Manage or cancel in Settings › Apple ID › Subscriptions.

Children

Spud is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect their data.

Contact

Questions about privacy, or a request to see or delete your data: send us a request. If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date.