Privacy Policy
Halftime Buddy manages routines, not messages or browsing history. Here is exactly what the app collects and why.
Last updated: October 4, 2026
Halftime Buddy (“Halftime Buddy,” “we,” “us”) is made by Kyle Ramsey. This policy explains what the Halftime Buddy app for iPhone and iPad collects, why, and the choices you have. The short version: Halftime Buddy manages routines. It does not read messages, photos, passwords, or browsing history, it does not show ads, and we don't sell personal information.
Who uses Halftime Buddy
A parent or guardian sets up a family account on their own device and pairs a child's iPhone or iPad. The child's device does not need its own account. Halftime Buddy is designed for parents to manage; children use the break, bedtime, and learning screens on the paired device.
Information we collect
| What | Why | Where it's stored |
|---|---|---|
| Parent account: first name, email address, sign-in and verification codes | Account access, email verification, recovery, family invitations, and service emails | Our account backend (Supabase); emails are sent through our email provider (Resend) |
| Family and guardians: family membership, roles, guardian and caregiver invitations (including invitee email), caregiver access expiry | Shared care: letting the people you invite help manage routines | Our account backend |
| Paired devices: device identifiers and names, parental-control settings, routines, break tasks, learning settings, optional profile pictures | Keeping the parent and child devices in sync | Our backend; older configurations may also store family device records in Apple iCloud (CloudKit) |
| Device status and activity events: last contact time, battery level and charging state, mode (free time, break, bedtime), command acknowledgements, completed breaks and scheduled break minutes, learning completed | Showing status and “How today went” on the parent dashboard; confirming commands were applied | Our backend |
| Push notification tokens | Delivering commands and alerts through Apple Push Notification service | Our backend and Apple |
| Optional location (only if a parent turns on Location Sharing and the child's device grants permission): last known coordinate, accuracy, and time captured | Letting authorized family members see the child device's last known location. This is not continuous tracking. | Our backend |
| Optional parent reflections: short notes a parent chooses to write about routines | Your own notes about what's working | Our backend, with your family's routine |
| Subscription records: verified App Store transaction and product identifiers, renewal and expiration dates, and a random identifier that links the purchase to your account | Unlocking your family membership and preventing purchase fraud | Our billing service. Apple processes payment; we never receive your card number. |
Permissions the app may ask for
- Screen Time (Family Controls): to pause the apps you select during breaks and bedtime. Apple represents your app and category choices as private tokens, so Halftime Buddy cannot see which apps they are or what happens inside them.
- Notifications: for break and bedtime heads-ups on the child device and status updates for parents.
- Camera: only to scan the one-time pairing QR code. No photos or video are saved.
- Face ID / passcode: to lock parent controls. This is handled by iOS; Halftime Buddy never receives biometric data.
- Microphone and speech recognition: so a child can talk to Halftime, the robot buddy, on the break and unlock screens. Speech is recognized on the device whenever possible, and audio recordings are not uploaded or stored by Halftime Buddy.
- Location (while using the app): to show local weather on the child's home screen and, only if Location Sharing is turned on, to share the last known location with the family. To get the forecast, the device sends its coordinates to Open-Meteo, a third-party weather service.
- Local network: to sync settings with nearby paired family devices when internet service isn't available.
Optional robot chat
By default, Halftime speaks built-in, on-device sayings. A parent can turn on an optional chat feature for a specific device. When it's on, the text of what the child says to Halftime (after on-device speech recognition) and the recent conversation are sent to our server and then to OpenAI to generate a short, age-appropriate reply. The chat is instructed not to ask for personal details. Break Learning works fully with chat turned off.
What we don't do
- We don't collect messages, photos, passwords, browsing history, or the contents of other apps.
- We don't show third-party ads.
- We don't sell or rent personal information.
- We don't track you or your child across other companies' apps or websites.
- The app does not include third-party analytics SDKs. Basic app events (for example, “break started” or “purchase completed”) are logged only on the device for troubleshooting and never include child names, selected apps, pairing codes, or activity details.
Service providers
We use a small number of providers to run Halftime Buddy: Supabase (accounts and family data), Railway (our app server and billing service), Resend (account emails), Apple (push notifications, iCloud/CloudKit for older configurations, and App Store payments), Open-Meteo (weather), and OpenAI (only for optional robot chat). They process data on our behalf to provide the service.
Children's privacy
Halftime Buddy is set up and managed by parents and guardians. We don't ask children to create accounts or provide contact details. If you believe a child has given us personal information without a parent's involvement, contact us at support@halftimebuddy.app and we'll delete it.
Your choices and deletion
- Location sharing and robot chat are optional and controlled by the parent.
- You can remove guardians, permanently remove devices, or delete your account in the app's account settings.
- Unpairing alone may keep saved settings so pairing can be repaired. Remove the device to delete them.
- Deleting your account removes the families you own and their cloud access. Routines already on a child device keep working locally until you remove the app. Billing records are detached from the deleted account; verified transaction identifiers are kept to prevent purchase replay and for billing records.
- Deleting Halftime Buddy or your account does not cancel an Apple subscription. Manage or cancel your subscription with Apple.
Security
Data is sent over encrypted connections. Parent controls are protected by Face ID, the device passcode, or a parent PIN, and lock again when the app goes to the background.
Changes
If we make meaningful changes, we'll update this page and the date above, and tell you in the app when appropriate.
Contact
Questions or requests: support@halftimebuddy.app.