Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Unhook is an app that helps people quit hookah (also called shisha or waterpipe). It is published by [Publisher name] (“we”, “us”), who is responsible for the information described here.

This policy covers the Unhook app for iPhone and this website, unhookah.com. If anything here is unclear, write to support@unhookah.com or use the contact form.

2. Information that stays on your phone

You can use every core feature of Unhook without an account. When you do, everything you enter is kept in the app's storage on your phone, protected by your iPhone's built-in encryption, and we cannot see any of it. That includes your setup answers, cravings, breathing sessions and tests, relapses, journal entries, achievements and settings.

Reminders are scheduled on your phone too. We don't run a notification server and don't collect a device token.

Deleting the app deletes this information. If you have no account, it can't be recovered.

3. Information we collect if you create an account

An account is optional. It backs up your progress so you can restore it on another phone, and it's needed to join the community or create an accountability link. If you create one, we store:

Some of this — symptoms, cravings, relapses and breathing scores — relates to your health. We treat it as sensitive: it's used only to show you your own progress, and it's never used for advertising or shared to make decisions about you.

4. Microphone and the breathing test

Unhook asks for microphone access only for guided breathing and the breathing test. The sound of your breath is measured on your phone, moment by moment, to work out how long and how steadily you breathe out. The audio is never recorded, stored or sent anywhere — only the resulting numbers are kept.

You can turn microphone access off at any time in your iPhone's Settings. Everything else in the app keeps working.

5. The community

The community is optional and needs an account. When you join, you choose a community name — it doesn't have to be your real name. Other signed-in members can see your community name, your posts and replies, and how many days you'd been hookah-free when you posted. Nothing else from your account is shown, and the community isn't visible on the open web.

To keep it safe:

• Posts are checked automatically for blocked words, links and contact details before they appear.
• Members can report posts and mute people. Muting is private — the person isn't told.
• We review reported posts, normally within 24 hours, and remove posts and accounts that break the Community Guidelines.
• When a post is reported, we keep a copy of its text and the reason with the report so it can be reviewed, even if the post is later deleted.

6. Accountability links

If you create an accountability link, anyone who has the link can open a page showing:

• your first name and quit date;
• your current and best hookah-free run;
• the dates of recent relapses (not your notes);
• how many cravings you've logged and beaten, and how many breathing sessions you did this week;
• an estimate of sessions avoided and money saved; and
• when you last used the app.

It never shows your email, journal, reasons, symptoms, notes or anything else. The page is hidden from search engines, and the private part of the link sits after the “#” sign, so it isn't sent to this website's server — it's only used to look up the report in our database. We count how many times the link is opened and when it was last opened.

You can stop or replace the link at any time in More → Accountability. The old link stops working immediately.

7. When you contact us

When you use the contact form or email us, we receive your email address, the name you give (if any), the topic and your message. We use them only to reply to you and to keep a record of the conversation.

This website sets no cookies and uses no analytics.

8. How we use information

• To run the app's features: your streak, savings, recovery timeline and reminders.
• To back up your progress and restore it on another phone, if you have an account.
• To run the community and keep it safe.
• To show your progress page to the people you've shared your link with.
• To answer your messages and send account emails, such as password resets.
• To keep Unhook secure, prevent abuse and fix problems.

If you're in the UK or European Economic Area

We use your information to provide the service you've asked for (performance of a contract); for health-related information you choose to back up, on the basis of your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time by deleting it or your account; and for our legitimate interests in keeping Unhook secure and free of abuse.

9. What we never do

• Show ads, or include advertising tools in the app.
• Include third-party analytics or tracking tools in the app.
• Track you across other companies' apps or websites.
• Sell or rent your information, or share it for targeted advertising.
• Access your location, contacts, photos or the Health app.

10. Service providers and where data is stored

We use a small number of providers who handle information only on our instructions:

• Supabase — our database, accounts and sign-in, and account emails such as password resets. Account data is stored on servers in the United States.
• Our website host — serves the pages of this website.
• Apple — distributes the app through the App Store. Apple's own privacy policy covers your Apple account and anything you buy.

If you live outside the United States, information in your account is transferred to and stored in the US. We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect someone's safety, or as part of a sale or reorganisation of Unhook — in which case this policy would continue to protect it.

11. How long we keep information

• On your phone: until you delete it in the app, reset your progress, or delete the app.
• In your account: for as long as you have an account.
• When you delete your account: your sign-in details (email and password), community name, posts, mutes and accountability link are deleted immediately, and the app clears the data on your phone. A copy of the progress records you had backed up — setup answers, logs, journal entries, achievements and settings — is moved to a restricted archive that holds no email address or password, isn't connected to any sign-in, and can't be reached from the app or by other people.
• Reports: for as long as needed to review them and to deal with repeated abuse.
• Messages to us: for up to two years after the conversation ends.
• Server logs: kept by our providers for a short period for security, then deleted.

12. Your choices and rights

• Use Unhook without an account and nothing leaves your phone.
• See and correct what you've entered directly in the app.
• Get a copy of the information in your account by writing to us from the email address you signed up with.
• Delete your account in Settings at any time — see Delete your account.
• Stop sharing by switching off your accountability link, or delete any of your community posts.
• Turn off microphone access and notifications in your iPhone's Settings.

Depending on where you live — for example in the UK, the European Economic Area or California — you may have legal rights to access, correct, delete or move your information, and to object to or restrict how it's used. To use any of them, contact us; we'll respond within the time the law allows, usually one month. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

We don't sell or share personal information as those terms are defined under California law.

13. Security

Information travels between the app, this website and our database over encrypted connections. Database rules ensure each account can only ever read its own records, and on your phone the app's storage is protected by your iPhone's data protection. Access to the database is limited to the publisher.

No system is perfectly secure, so we can't promise absolute security — but if a breach ever affects your information, we'll tell you as the law requires.

14. Children

Unhook is for adults aged 18 and over and isn't directed to children. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we'll delete it.

15. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll post the new version here and update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll also tell you in the app before it takes effect.

16. Contact us

[Publisher name]
Email: support@unhookah.com
Or use the contact form.