Privacy Policy
OwnMetrics Joint Tracker
Effective date: 4 November 2026
Last updated: 4 November 2026
Applies to: OwnMetrics Joint Tracker version 2.0.0 and later
1. Summary
OwnMetrics is a symptom diary for people living with joint conditions. It
stores everything you record on your device only.
In plain terms:
- We never receive your health data. It is not uploaded, synced or backed
up to us. There is no server to send it to. - There is no account. No sign-up, no email address, no password.
- There is no tracking or advertising. The app contains no analytics,
advertising or third-party SDKs. Your subscription is handled entirely by
Apple (the App Store); we never receive your payment or purchase details.
See section 6. - Your health data never leaves your device. The app makes no network
requests of its own; subscription checks are carried out on your device by
Apple's StoreKit. No health data is ever
included in them. - You can delete everything at any time from Settings, or by deleting the
app.
The remainder of this policy sets this out formally, as required by the General
Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 ("GDPR").
2. Who we are (Data Controller)
Geoffrey Harte
Waterville, Carrickbrack Road, Sutton, Dublin 13, Ireland
Contact for privacy matters: support@ownmetrics.app
Supervisory authority. If you are in Ireland, you may lodge a complaint
with the Data Protection Commission (www.dataprotection.ie). If you are
elsewhere in the EU/EEA, you may complain to your local supervisory authority.
3. What data the app handles
3.1 Health data you enter
The app records what you choose to log:
- A daily joint pain rating (0–100)
- Whether you experienced joint swelling (yes/no)
- How long morning stiffness lasted
- Treatment changes: medication name, the change made (started, stopped, dose
increased, and so on), and optionally dose, route, frequency and free-text notes - Free-text reflections you write in monthly reports
- The date and time of each entry
Under Article 9 GDPR this is special category data concerning health, and
receives the highest level of protection under the Regulation.
3.2 Your settings
Reminder times, notification preferences, sound and haptics settings, display
preferences, and the fact and date of your consent.
3.3 Report details (temporary)
When you export or share a report, the app asks for a patient name and date of
birth so the report is identifiable to a clinician. These are held in memory
only for as long as that screen is open. They are never written to storage,
and are discarded when you leave the screen.
3.4 Subscription data
The app requires a subscription to use. Subscriptions are bought, billed and
managed entirely by Apple through the App Store, under your Apple ID.
To decide whether to unlock the app, OwnMetrics asks Apple's StoreKit
framework, on your device, whether you hold an active subscription. The
answer comes from a transaction that Apple has digitally signed and that your
device verifies locally. We run no subscription server and use no third-party
subscription service, so we never receive your Apple ID, payment details,
purchase history or subscription status. Apple's handling of your purchase
is governed by Apple's own privacy policy.
None of this involves your health data. See section 6.
3.5 What the app does NOT handle
- No email address, postal address or telephone number
- No location data of any kind
- No advertising identifiers, ever
- No contacts, photos, camera, microphone or biometric data
- No Apple Health / HealthKit data — the app does not integrate with HealthKit
- No usage analytics, crash reports or behavioural data
4. Where your data is stored
On your device, and nowhere else.
Data is written to your device's local application storage. It is protected by
the operating system's built-in encryption, which on iOS is tied to your device
passcode.
There is no OwnMetrics server. We do not operate a database containing your
information, because your information never reaches us.
Device backups. If you have iCloud Backup or encrypted local backups
enabled, your device may include OwnMetrics data in those backups. That
backup is governed by your agreement with Apple, not by this policy. You can
exclude the app from backups in your device settings.
5. Legal basis for processing
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Storing the health data you enter | Explicit consent — Art. 9(2)(a), together with Art. 6(1)(a). You give this on first launch, and can withdraw it at any time. |
| Storing your app settings | Legitimate interests — Art. 6(1)(f): making the app work the way you configured it. |
| Local reminder notifications | Consent — Art. 6(1)(a), given both in-app and through the iOS permission prompt. |
| Verifying your subscription | Performance of a contract — Art. 6(1)(b): necessary to provide the subscription you've purchased. |
Because processing of your health data relies on consent, you can withdraw
that consent at any time — see section 8.
6. Who your data is shared with
Your health data: nobody, ever. We have no analytics providers and no
advertising partners, and your symptom data is never transmitted anywhere by
us.
Subscriptions: Apple. Your subscription is a contract between you and
Apple, processed by Apple under your Apple ID (section 3.4). We do not
receive, store or process that information, and we use no third-party
subscription or payment processor. Apple's own privacy policy applies to what
Apple collects.
International transfers. OwnMetrics itself transfers no personal data
anywhere: your health data never leaves your device, and we hold no other
personal data.
The only circumstance in which data leaves your device through the app is
when you choose to share it:
- Share Report produces a text summary and hands it to the iOS share sheet.
- Export Excel produces a spreadsheet and hands it to the iOS share sheet.
You then choose where it goes — email, a messaging app, Files, AirDrop, or
wherever else. Once you send it, that destination's own privacy terms apply.
The exported file is deleted from the app's temporary storage immediately
afterwards.
Note that these exports contain your health data and, if you entered them, the
patient name and date of birth. Please consider where you are sending them.
7. How long data is kept
Your entries stay on your device until you delete them.
The app retains a maximum of 730 daily entries (approximately two years).
Once that limit is reached, the oldest entry is automatically removed as each
new one is saved.
Uninstalling the app removes all of its data from your device.
8. Your rights
Because everything is stored locally on your device, most rights you exercise
directly within the app rather than by contacting us.
| Right | How to exercise it |
|---|---|
| Access (Art. 15) | Everything is visible in the app. Use Export Excel for a complete machine-readable copy. |
| Rectification (Art. 16) | Redo today's check-in, or edit your monthly reflections. |
| Erasure (Art. 17) | Settings → Delete All My Data. Or delete the app. |
| Restriction (Art. 18) | Stop entering data; disable notifications in Settings. |
| Portability (Art. 20) | Export Excel gives you your data in a standard spreadsheet format. |
| Object (Art. 21) | As above — stop use and/or erase. |
| Withdraw consent (Art. 7(3)) | Settings → Delete All My Data → Delete & Withdraw Consent. This erases your data and clears your consent, returning the app to its first-launch state. |
| Complain (Art. 77) | Contact your supervisory authority (see section 2). |
We cannot access, retrieve, correct or delete your data on your behalf — we
have no copy of it. This is a deliberate design choice, and it means these
controls are in your hands rather than ours.
To ask a question about this policy, contact support@ownmetrics.app.
9. Children
OwnMetrics is not intended for children. You must be at least 16 years
old to use it, in line with Article 8 GDPR as applied in Ireland.
We do not knowingly process data from anyone under 16. Because there is no
account and no data reaches us, we have no means of identifying a user's age.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child has been using the app,
deleting the app removes all associated data from the device.
10. Security
- Data is stored in your device's app-private storage, which other apps cannot read.
- The operating system encrypts it at rest, tied to your device passcode.
- Your health data specifically is never transmitted, which removes the
entire category of interception or server-breach risk for that data.
The app makes no network requests of its own; subscription checks run on
your device through Apple's StoreKit. - There is no account to compromise and no credentials to steal.
The most significant remaining risk is physical: someone with access to your
unlocked device can open the app. Please use a device passcode, and Face ID or
Touch ID.
No system is perfectly secure, but an app whose health data never leaves the
device has a substantially smaller attack surface for that data than one that
transmits it.
11. Not a medical device
OwnMetrics is a personal symptom diary. It is not a medical device. It
does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition, does not assess
disease activity, and does not provide medical advice.
Nothing the app displays should be relied upon in place of professional medical
judgement. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional about your
symptoms and treatment. In an emergency, call 112 or 999.
12. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the "last updated" date above and
publish the new version at this address. Where changes are significant, we will
surface a notice in the app.
13. Contact
Geoffrey Harte
Waterville, Carrickbrack Road, Sutton, Dublin 13, Ireland
support@ownmetrics.app
This policy is governed by the laws of Ireland and applicable European Union
law.