Privacy Policy
Your journal, your choices. Entries are stored primarily on your devices. iCloud sync and health access are optional. Production releases use Firebase for usage analytics and crash diagnostics; the scope and deletion options are explained below.
1. Scope and app provider
This policy covers Moodvale: Mood Tracker & Diary on iPhone and iPad, its Apple Watch companion, and its widgets. “We” means the Moodvale app provider identified on the App Store product page. Our privacy contact is moodcheckapplication@gmail.com.
You can keep a mood journal without creating a separate Moodvale account. Your Apple Account is used for iCloud or App Store services you choose to use; we do not receive its password. Mood, journal, and health information can be sensitive. This policy distinguishes information handled on your devices, by Apple services, and by analytics services.
2. Journal, photos, audio, and local settings
To save and display your entries, calculate statistics, and personalize the app, Moodvale processes the information you provide on your device: moods and custom names, entry times, titles and notes, activities, emotions and body sensations, context tags, self-rated values, goals, important dates, templates, favorites, and drafts. Photo and voice attachments are stored in the app’s local files. Profile information you have entered, such as a name or gender preference, and display and language preferences are also stored on the device.
- Photos: the system photo picker provides the photos you select without requiring access to your entire library. Camera permission is requested when you choose to take a photo. The app saves a journal copy that may be resized and compressed.
- Audio: microphone permission is requested when you start recording. Voice notes are recorded and played locally. This version does not send audio to a cloud speech-recognition or AI analysis service.
- Reminders: with notification permission, recording reminders are scheduled on the device. You can turn them off in the app or system notification settings.
Declining camera, microphone, notification, or health access does not prevent basic text and mood journaling. Revoking a permission does not automatically delete attachments already saved. Journal statistics and health comparisons are calculated on the device. Optional iCloud sync, sharing, and usage analytics are described below.
3. Apple Health and HealthKit
Optional reading: when you choose to use health features, the app presents Apple’s permission screen so you can choose which data to make available. The current comparison feature reads sleep analysis, step count, and Apple exercise time, summarizes them by date, and compares them with your mood entries. This request does not ask to write those data types.
Previously enabled mood writing: if you enabled saving moods to Health in an earlier version and retain that setting and system authorization, saving a mood on a supported system may continue to write a State of Mind sample to Apple Health. It contains the date, mood value, and label, not journal text, photos, or audio. This writing setting is separate from the current health-reading connection.
Sleep, step, and exercise information read from HealthKit is used on the device for display and comparison. It is not sent to Firebase or uploaded as journal attachments to the app’s iCloud sync database. We do not sell HealthKit data or use it for advertising, marketing, or data mining unrelated to personal health features. If you choose to share an image containing health statistics, your selected recipient receives the information visible in it.
You can revoke read or write access in the Health app or system health-permission settings. “Disconnect Health” in Moodvale stops the current reading connection and clears its in-memory summaries. It does not revoke system permissions or disable separately authorized mood writing retained from an earlier version. Deleting a journal entry does not delete an existing Apple Health sample; manage those records in the Health app.
4. Optional iCloud sync and system backups
In-app iCloud sync is off by default. If enabled, it uses your Apple Account’s private CloudKit database to sync journal entries, activities, photo and voice attachments, and selected profile information and preferences, including custom moods, activity groups, templates, self-rating definitions, goals, important dates, and appearance choices. Apple provides this cloud service. We do not operate a separate developer server that stores your complete journal.
The app’s iCloud sync does not include PIN credentials, health-permission status, or health samples read from HealthKit. Apple handles information in its services under the Apple Privacy Policy and applicable iCloud terms.
Turning sync off does not delete local entries or copies already uploaded to iCloud. Edits and deletions propagate to other connected devices when sync is enabled and completes successfully. Offline devices, pending changes, and backups may still hold copies. You can manage the app’s cloud data through your Apple Account’s iCloud storage controls.
System iCloud device backups and computer backups are separate from in-app sync. Even with in-app sync off, your local app data may be included in backups according to your system settings. Manage those copies in the relevant backup service.
5. Apple Watch and widgets
Apple Watch: when you use the companion app, paired devices exchange mood options, quick activities, language and display preferences, and the mood, date, time, and activity information needed for today’s entries through Apple’s device communication services. The phone does not send journal body text, photos, or audio attachments over this companion connection. The watch keeps its own display cache, drafts, and pending entries; offline entries continue syncing when connectivity returns.
In Moodvale’s Apple Watch settings, you can hide watch history and control whether watch-face complications show mood details. Hiding history does not erase all local watch caches or pending entries. Use the watch’s system lock settings as well.
Widgets: the app shares mood summaries, dates, streak counts, and display preferences with its own widgets for system surfaces such as the Home Screen and Lock Screen. People who can see your screen may see this information. The app PIN does not automatically hide widgets. Use system widget and Lock Screen settings to change or remove them.
6. Usage analytics and crash diagnostics
Production releases initialize Google’s Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics to understand feature usage, investigate crashes, and improve reliability. These services may process app-instance or installation identifiers, the device’s identifier for vendor (IDFV), device model, operating-system and app versions, language, sessions, screen and feature events, and diagnostics such as crash stack traces. Analytics may also use network-connection information to produce approximate regional statistics. The app does not request GPS location access.
With this update, mood-saving events record usage actions such as saving an entry or saving the first entry, without including the mood category or whether a note was entered. The app does not intentionally place journal text, photos, audio, custom activity content, or HealthKit readings in these events. Event times and installation identifiers can still indicate app usage patterns, so these statistics are not completely anonymous.
Earlier versions included a mood category and a note-present flag in mood-saving events. This update removes those fields but does not automatically delete previously transmitted analytics. Contact us below about requests concerning historical data.
This version does not offer a separate in-app switch for analytics or crash reporting. Turning off health permissions, iCloud sync, or the system’s “Share iPhone/iPad Analytics” setting does not turn off Firebase. See Firebase Privacy and Security and the Google Privacy Policy for service details.
7. App Store, sharing, and support email
Purchase entitlements: this version does not enable Pro feature restrictions. The app may still query Apple through StoreKit for product information and existing entitlements, and process product identifiers, transaction-verification results, and entitlement status on the device. Where you have a purchase or restoration history, Apple handles payments and refunds. We do not receive payment-card numbers or payment-account passwords.
Export and sharing: you can choose to export CSV or JSON files, or share statistics and report images. These may contain journal text, dates, moods, self-rated values, or health information visible in a shared chart. The system share sheet passes selected content to an app or recipient you choose; that recipient controls subsequent handling. Exported files are not protected by the app PIN. CSV/JSON exports are not complete backups of all photo and audio files.
Support: if you choose to send us an email, we receive your email address, message, and any attachments you include to answer questions, investigate issues, or handle privacy requests. Send only information needed for your request. The app does not automatically attach your complete journal to support emails.
9. Retention and deletion
- Local entries and attachments: these generally remain until you delete the relevant content in the app or remove the app’s data. Deleting a journal photo copy does not delete its original from your photo library. Uninstalling generally removes that device’s app container, but is not a way to erase every copy everywhere.
- iCloud, backups, and other devices: manage these separately. Deletions propagate only when sync is enabled and completes. Disabling sync, uninstalling the phone app, or hiding watch history does not automatically erase all cloud, backup, or watch data. Enabling sync again or restoring a backup may bring back content that still exists there.
- Health records: Apple Health stores and manages these separately. Revoking access or deleting a Moodvale entry does not automatically delete samples already written to Health.
- Analytics and diagnostics: usage analytics follows the analytics project’s retention configuration and service rules, independently of individual journal deletions. Firebase states that Crashlytics retains crash traces and associated installation identifiers for 90 days before beginning removal from live and backup systems. Deleting historical service data may take additional time.
- Support email: retained to resolve and follow up on your request and address necessary disputes, then deleted when no longer needed for those purposes, except where retention is required by law. You may contact us to request deletion.
- Exports and PIN: shared copies are managed by you or their recipients. PIN credentials are stored in the system Keychain; disabling the PIN or uninstalling does not guarantee immediate removal of Keychain items.
10. Your choices, rights, and security
You can view, edit, delete, and export entries, manage sync and reminders, and change camera, microphone, notification, and health permissions in system settings. There is no separate Moodvale account to close. Revoking access affects future access, not copies already shared or synced.
Depending on applicable law, you may also have rights to access, correct, delete, obtain a copy of, restrict, or object to processing, and to withdraw consent where processing relies on consent. Contact our email address to make a request. We request only reasonably necessary verification information. We do not hold a complete journal copy on a developer server or maintain an account linking your email to analytics installation identifiers, so some requests require action on your device or through the relevant service. We will explain if we cannot locate information or must retain it by law. You may also complain to a competent privacy regulator.
The app uses protections such as the system sandbox, system data protection, and Keychain. The PIN is stored as a salted hash in this device’s Keychain. It is an app access lock, not a separate encryption password for your journal, exports, or iCloud content, and does not replace a device passcode. Protect your devices and Apple Account. No storage or transmission method guarantees absolute security.
11. Children and younger users
Moodvale is not directed to children under 13 and must not be used to bypass local age requirements for processing children’s information. If you are below the age at which you can independently consent to relevant processing or enter an agreement where you live, a parent or guardian should help decide whether to use the app. The app does not currently have a separate age-verification system. Contact us if you believe we received children’s information through analytics or support that should not have been collected. Journals held only on a device must be managed by its user or guardian.
12. Policy changes and contact
We will update this page and its date when features or information practices change. Material changes will be highlighted through release notes or another appropriate notice. Updating this policy does not replace separate consent where required by law. Reading this policy does not itself grant health, camera, microphone, or other system permissions.
Privacy questions and requests: moodcheckapplication@gmail.com.