Draft, published before our legal review. If something here is unclear or you have a question, write to support@runningbuddy.app.

Running Buddy Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 19, 2026
Last updated: October 19, 2026

Running Buddy ("Buddy", "the app", "we", "us", "our") is a running companion app for iPhone and Apple Watch, provided by Dmitrii Tsybin ("we"). This Privacy Policy explains what information the app uses, why, where it goes, how long it is kept and the choices and rights you have. It applies to the Running Buddy app for iPhone, its widgets and its Apple Watch app, and to our website runningbuddy.app.

If you have a question about this policy or your information, write to support@runningbuddy.app.

The short version

• Your runs, routes and health data stay on your iPhone (and in Apple Health, if you allow it). We do not upload them to our servers.
• We never sell your information, never show ads, and never track you across other companies' apps or websites.
• Buddy's cloud AI is optional. Only if you turn it on do short facts worked out on your iPhone (never your raw health data or routes) and your chat messages leave your phone, and only to write Buddy's answer. We keep no copy of what was said.
• App analytics counts screens and taps, never your health, runs or messages. In the EU, UK and Switzerland we ask first; everywhere you can turn it off at any time in Profile → Settings.
• You can delete everything we keep on our server from inside the app, whether or not you signed in.

1. Who is responsible for your information

Dmitrii Tsybin, postal address available on request (write to support@runningbuddy.app), is the controller of the personal information described in this policy (the party that decides why and how it is used).

2. Information that stays on your iPhone

Most of what Buddy knows lives only on your device and is never sent to us:

• Your profile: the first name you enter, your level, goal, run days, plan and its progress, the avatar you pick (an illustration, never a photo), theme and Buddy's look.
• "About you" answers (optional): for example how active you are, injuries, heart-rate medicine, pregnancy or a recent birth, and symptoms you tick. They shape your plan and Buddy's advice on your iPhone.
• Your runs: date, time, duration, distance, splits, heart rate and, for GPS runs, the route. While a run is in progress, a temporary copy (including the route) is kept so nothing is lost if the app closes; it is deleted once the run is saved or discarded.
• Check-ins: how you feel today, how a run felt, whether anything hurt, and the water you log.
• Your shoes and the runs worn in them.
• Your chats with Buddy, Buddy's notes and run debriefs, so you can read them again or carry on. You can delete one chat or all of them on the Buddy tab.
• What Buddy remembers: only the messages you choose with "Remember this?" (at most 30). You can see and forget them on the Buddy tab (Buddy's AI → Buddy remembers).
• Your settings, such as reminder times, units and language.

The Home Screen widgets and the Apple Watch app receive a small summary from the app (for example your name, run days, the next session, recent distances, today's readiness and water). That transfer happens between your own devices through Apple's frameworks and does not pass through our servers.

Backup to a file. In Profile → Backup you can save a copy of the information above as a file and restore it later. The file is made on your iPhone and goes only where you save it (for example Files or iCloud Drive); it is never sent to us. Because it holds health answers and chats, keep it private. It does not include your account, runner number, Buddy Plus or your consents.

This information is removed when you delete the app. Your iPhone's own backups (iCloud or a computer) may include it, under Apple's terms.

3. Apple Health and other sensors

Buddy works with Apple Health only with your permission, which iOS asks for and which you can change at any time in the Health app or in Settings → Health → Data Access & Devices.

What Buddy reads, if you allow it:

• workouts and workout routes, walking and running distance, active energy and heart rate;
• resting heart rate, heart rate variability, breathing rate, sleeping wrist temperature, cardio fitness (VO2 max), steps and sleep;
• your date of birth, height and weight, if you allow it in "About you", to make the first weeks of the plan gentler where that helps and to suggest a daily amount of water;
• if you allow it from Today's "Help Buddy understand you": water logged by other apps, alcoholic drinks logged the evening before (named as a likely reason when your resting heart rate is up), your mood from the Health app's State of Mind, the effort you rated on Apple Watch after a run, how far your heart rate fell in the first minute after a run, and your other workouts (such as cycling or strength);
• the running form Apple Watch records on runs (stride length, vertical oscillation, ground contact time and running power), if you allow it from Today's card or Trends;
• your latest blood pressure reading from the last 30 days, only if you switch it on in Run settings, to show it on the live run's Heart page.

What Buddy writes, if you allow it: the runs you record (workout, route, distance, active energy and heart rate; a treadmill run as an indoor workout without a route) and the water you log. If you delete a run and choose "Delete from Buddy and Apple Health", Buddy removes that workout and the samples it saved with it; it can't remove what other apps saved.

Background updates. With your permission, iOS may wake Buddy briefly when a new running workout reaches Apple Health (for example from Apple Watch), so it doesn't remind you to run on a day you already ran. This happens on your iPhone.

Motion. If you tap "Show cadence" on a live run and allow Motion & Fitness, Buddy reads your step rate from the iPhone's motion sensor during the run. It stays on your iPhone.

How Health data is used. Health data is used only to show your runs and readings, to compare your recovery with your own normal, to adjust your plan and to give advice. It is processed on your iPhone. It is never used for advertising or marketing, never sold, never given to data brokers and never used to decide anything about you outside the app (such as insurance, credit or employment). Mood, drinks, blood pressure, running form and your "About you" answers never leave your iPhone. The only time facts derived from Health data leave your iPhone is when you turn on cloud AI (section 6), and then only as short words such as "slept less than usual", never the readings themselves.

4. Location

Buddy uses your location only while you are recording a run outdoors ("While Using the App"), to measure distance and pace and to draw your route. If Precise Location is off, iOS may ask to use it temporarily for the run. Tracking continues while your screen is locked during the run. Your route is stored on your iPhone and, if you allow it, in Apple Health. It is never sent to us. Route maps are drawn with Apple Maps, so Apple receives the map area being displayed, under Apple's privacy policy.

Weather. While the app is open, Buddy reads an approximate location (about a kilometre) to show the weather for your run. It is sent only to Apple's weather service (Apple Weather), never to us. A rounded copy is kept on your iPhone with the last forecast, and each run keeps the weather it had (temperature, humidity, wind, sky; never the place). Buddy never asks for location just for the weather: with Location off, the weather card simply doesn't appear.

5. Your Buddy account and what our server keeps

A private account in the background. After your first run recorded in Buddy, the app creates an anonymous account on our server, so you can receive your runner number (for example "Runner #42") and so the community counter knows how many runners there are. It has a random identifier and no name or email. With it we keep:

• your runner number and when it was given, with the length and start time of the run that earned it (a run of 5 minutes or more; never its route, distance or pace);
• for two days after a runner number is given, a scrambled code made from your network's IP address (a salted one-way hash, not the address), so one network can't take many numbers at once. It is deleted automatically after two days;
• if you use cloud AI, a record of each answer: the type of answer, whether it worked, the model used, the number of words processed ("tokens"), how long it took and what it cost, and whether it came back in the right language and used only the numbers the app sent. Never the text. For answers on the free tier the record also holds the same kind of scrambled network code, so one network can't use up the free answers of many accounts; the code is deleted automatically after two days;
• if you have Buddy Plus and use cloud AI, the original transaction number Apple gave your subscription and when we last saw it, so one subscription can't unlock Plus for an unlimited number of accounts;
• your ratings of Buddy's answers (thumbs up or down; section 6);
• messages you send us from Help & ideas (below).

Messages you send us. When you report a problem, suggest an idea or write to us from Profile → Help & ideas, we keep your message with your account, plus what you chose to add: a screenshot, an email address for our reply, and the details the form lists line by line before you send (you can switch them all off). With each message we also keep the same kind of scrambled network code as above, so one network can't flood us with messages from many accounts; the code is deleted automatically after two days. Those details are: the app (version, language, theme, units, which AI Buddy uses), the device (iPhone model, iOS version, region, time zone, Wi-Fi or cellular, Low Power Mode, text size, which accessibility settings are on), which permissions Buddy has (only whether they are on, never any data from them), your account (how you signed in, your runner number, your Plus plan and whether it is a free trial, days since you started) and a rough picture of your running (your plan week, how many runs you have, days since the last one). We never add routes, distances, paces, health readings or chats. To help us answer, our team's copy also shows what our server already knows about your account (when it was created, how many messages you sent before, how many cloud AI answers you got in the last week). A copy goes to our team's private Telegram chat so we can read it quickly.

Website waitlist. On runningbuddy.app you can leave your email to hear when Running Buddy launches and, if you tick them, about other topics (Android, community runs, Buddy in your outfit, strength, cycling, walking). We keep your email, the topics you picked, the language of the page you used, which button on the page you signed up from (for example the top of the page or the closing form) and, if you arrived from another website or a link with a campaign tag, only that website's domain or the tag (for example "instagram.com"), never the full address of the page. For two days we also keep the same kind of scrambled network code as above so one network can't flood the list. We use it only to write to you about what you picked, never for anything else, and never share or sell it. To be removed, reply to any of our emails or write to us.

Website statistics. The website uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to count visits: which pages are viewed, the website you came from, your country and the kind of browser and device, and how fast pages load. It sets no cookies, doesn't use your browser's storage, doesn't build a profile of you or follow you to other websites, and we only see totals. The website sets no cookies at all. Your browser remembers on your device (local storage) the language you pick in the website's menu, so the site opens in it next time, and that you closed its suggestion to switch language, so the suggestion doesn't come back; nothing is sent to us.

Signing in is optional. You can sign in with Apple or Google to keep your runner number on another iPhone. Our sign-in service then receives what Apple or Google share: an identifier for your Apple or Google account, your email address (with Apple, possibly a private relay address) and your name. Nothing else in the app requires signing in.

Deleting it. If you are signed in: Profile → Account → Delete account. If you never signed in: Profile → Account → "Delete what Buddy keeps on its server". Either way this deletes your account, runner number, AI usage records, Plus subscription link, ratings and Help & ideas messages (with their screenshots) from our server at once, and, for Sign in with Apple, revokes Buddy's access. Your runs and settings stay on your iPhone and in Apple Health, because they were never on our server. If you signed in with Google, Buddy keeps no Google token to revoke, so the app tells you where to remove Buddy in your Google Account. A runner number is never given to anyone else, even after deletion. You can also ask us by email to delete it.

6. Buddy's AI

On your iPhone. On iPhones with Apple Intelligence, Buddy's notes, run debriefs and chat are written by Apple's on-device model, and nothing leaves your phone.

In the cloud (optional). If your iPhone can't run the on-device model, Buddy offers cloud AI and asks for your consent first. With Buddy Plus you can also pick a style of cloud AI ("Buddy's brain"), which asks for your consent too if you haven't given it. Nothing is sent unless you agree, and you can withdraw your consent at any time on the Buddy tab; Buddy then works with pre-written tips. A consent given only for a picked style ends when you go back to Buddy's usual AI.

When cloud AI is on, a request contains only what that answer needs:

• about you: your first name, level, goal, plan week and runs a week, your time zone, units and the app's language;
• for a run debrief, daily note or weekly review: short facts worked out on your iPhone, such as "longest run so far", "a step up from your longest run this month", how runs felt if you said, today's readiness in words and the main reason for it (for example that you slept less than usual or said you feel tired);
• for chat: your messages and Buddy's replies in the current conversation (up to the last 12), the same daily facts and what the chat is about: for example recent runs (date, distance or time, how they felt), your records and milestones, your plan and this week, a run you ask about (splits, bests, its place on the same route; heart readings only as words, never beats per minute), how sleep and recovery compare with your normal (in words), the shoes in use, today's weather, up to five things you asked Buddy to remember (except notes about your health) and, with Plus, a longer view of past months. The Buddy tab lists it all under Buddy's AI → What Buddy knows.

Never sent to the cloud: your raw Health readings, routes or locations, your "About you" answers, mood, drinks, blood pressure, running form, your age, height or weight, and messages answered with Buddy's fixed safety reply (for example about pain, chest pain or self-harm). Where your health is the reason for advice, the cloud receives only the advice, not the reason.

Where it goes. Requests go to our server (Supabase), which forwards them to an AI model through OpenRouter, a routing service, and on to the cloud company that runs the model (for example Google, Amazon or Microsoft). We choose and change models ourselves and use only providers that commit not to keep or train on the content ("zero data retention"). We keep no copy of your messages or of Buddy's answers; only the usage record in section 5.

Rating answers. You can tap thumbs up or down under an AI answer. We keep only that verdict with your account, the kind of answer, where it was written and, for cloud answers, which model wrote it, never the answer or your question. Tap again to take it back.

Not medical advice. Buddy's notes, plan changes and readiness are automatic suggestions to help you run. They are not medical advice, have no legal or similarly significant effect on you, and you can always ignore them. For pain or symptoms, talk to a doctor.

7. App analytics and crash reports

In the European Union and the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Buddy asks you once, when you first open it, whether to share app analytics and crash reports, and nothing is sent unless you say yes. Elsewhere, Profile → Settings → "Share app analytics" is on by default. Either way you can change it at any time in Profile → Settings. While it's on, the app sends Google Firebase Analytics information about how the app is used: that the app was opened, screens viewed and buttons tapped, onboarding steps, settings switched on or off, whether a permission prompt was allowed, that a run was started, saved or discarded and whether it followed the plan, that a chat message or a feedback note was sent (never its text), that a card was shared or a drink logged (never the amount), which kind of notification was opened, paywall views and purchase outcomes (for example "yearly plan, completed"), with Firebase's standard technical information about the app and device and an app installation identifier. It never includes health data, run figures, routes, your name, email, account identifier, chat text or anything you type. Google's advertising features are switched off, and the data is not linked to your Buddy account.

The same switch covers crash reports (Google Firebase Crashlytics): if the app crashes, it sends a technical report (where in the code, app version, iPhone model, iOS version, free memory and disk) with the last screens and buttons from the list above. Turning the switch off stops analytics and crash reports and deletes unsent reports on your device.

The app also uses Firebase Remote Config to receive small settings from us (for example which wording a screen uses, or a notice about maintenance). It works whether or not analytics is on; Google receives an app installation identifier to deliver it, and no personal information about you.

8. Purchases

Buddy Plus is sold through the App Store. Apple handles payment; we never see your card, payment details or Apple ID. The app checks with Apple on your device whether your subscription is active. When cloud AI is on and you have Plus, a request also carries the subscription record Apple signed, so our server can lift the free limits; it checks Apple's signature and keeps only the subscription's original transaction number (section 5).

9. Notifications and sharing

• Notifications (run-day reminders, check-ins, the weekly review, the end of a free trial) are scheduled on your iPhone. They may include your first name. We don't send push notifications from a server.
• Sharing: share cards are made on your iPhone. Nothing is shared unless you choose to share it, and then it goes wherever you send it.

10. Who processes information for us

We use these service providers, each only for the purpose shown and bound by its own terms and data protection commitments:

We do not sell personal information, do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and do not use it for targeted advertising. We may disclose information if the law requires it, to protect the rights and safety of our users or others, or as part of a transfer of the app to a new owner, who would then be bound by this policy.

11. Legal bases (EEA, UK and Switzerland)

Where the GDPR, the UK GDPR or Swiss law applies, we rely on:

• Performing our service to you (contract): your account, runner number, the community counter, Help & ideas messages, checking your Plus subscription.
• Your consent: the website waitlist (you sign up yourself and can leave at any time).
• Your explicit consent: health information used by the app (Apple Health access, "About you" answers and check-ins, processed on your iPhone) and cloud AI. Health information is a special category of data, and we process it only with your explicit consent, given through iOS's Health permission and the in-app choices. You can withdraw consent at any time (section 13); withdrawing doesn't affect what was done before.
• Our legitimate interests: keeping the service secure and working (server logs, abuse limits such as the network codes), counting website visits without cookies (Cloudflare Web Analytics) and which button and website a waitlist sign-up came from, improving the app through analytics and crash reports (which, in these countries, run only after you say yes, so their basis there is your consent), and delivering in-app settings and notices (Remote Config). We have weighed these interests against your rights and keep the data minimal.
• Legal obligations, where a law requires us to keep or disclose something.

12. How long we keep information

13. Your choices and rights

You can always, inside the app:

• turn cloud AI on or off (Buddy tab), and analytics and crash reports on or off (Profile → Settings);
• change or revoke Apple Health, Location, Motion and Notification permissions in iOS Settings;
• see what Buddy sends to its AI (Buddy tab → Buddy's AI → What Buddy knows) and what it remembers, and delete chats and memories;
• save a copy of what Buddy keeps on your iPhone (Profile → Backup);
• delete everything we keep on our server (Profile → Account).

Depending on where you live, you also have the right to access the personal information we hold about you, correct it, delete it, receive it in a portable format, restrict or object to its processing, and withdraw consent at any time. To use any of these rights, write to support@runningbuddy.app. We may ask you to confirm you control the account (for example by sending the request from the app's Help & ideas form) before acting. We reply within one month (45 days where California law applies), and we never treat you differently for using your rights. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

14. California residents

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA, as amended by the CPRA), in the past 12 months we collected these categories of personal information, for the business purposes described in this policy: identifiers (account identifier, app installation identifier, email if you sign in or ask for a reply), customer records (name and email when you sign in), commercial information (your subscription's transaction number), internet or other electronic activity (app usage analytics, crash reports, website visit counts and which website a waitlist sign-up came from), and sensitive personal information (health information, which stays on your iPhone except for the derived facts sent to cloud AI if you turn it on). We use sensitive personal information only to provide the app's features you ask for, and not to infer characteristics about you. We do not sell or share personal information and have not done so. You have the rights to know, delete, correct and opt out of sale or sharing (there is none), and not to be discriminated against for using them. Write to support@runningbuddy.app.

15. Children

Running Buddy is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. In countries where a higher age applies to consenting to online services (up to 16 in some countries of the European Union), people under that age may use the app's features that rely on consent, such as Apple Health access and cloud AI, only with a parent's or guardian's permission. If you believe a child has given us personal information without that permission, write to support@runningbuddy.app and we will delete it.

16. International transfers

Our server is in Singapore, and the providers in section 10 may process information in other countries, including the United States, which may not offer the same level of protection as where you live. Where the GDPR, the UK GDPR or Swiss law requires it, these transfers rely on appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and their UK and Swiss equivalents, included in our providers' data processing terms.

17. Security

Your server session is stored in the iOS Keychain on your device and is never synced to other devices. Files with your runs, chats and health answers are protected by iOS file encryption. All connections to our server use encryption (HTTPS). Access to our server is limited to the people who run Buddy. No method is perfectly secure, but we keep as little as we can on our server, so there is little to protect. If a breach affects your personal information, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

18. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the dates at the top. For significant changes, we will tell you in the app before they take effect and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent again.

19. Contact

Dmitrii Tsybin
postal address available on request (write to support@runningbuddy.app)
Email: support@runningbuddy.app
Website: https://runningbuddy.app/privacy/