Privacy Policy

The short version

• Your trips stay on your iPhone. A trip you choose to share is kept in your own iCloud account and seen only by the people you invite.
• There are no accounts, no ads and no analytics or tracking.
• I don't run servers that hold your trips, and I don't collect, sell or share your personal information.
• A few features send the minimum needed to a service so it can answer a request. They're listed below.

What the app stores, and where

Everything you enter is kept on your iPhone, in the app's own storage, protected by iOS. That includes trips, flights, hotels, rental cars, plans, packing lists, budgets and expenses, receipt photos and PDFs, and the names of people you add to split costs.

I never receive a copy. If you delete the app, its data is deleted with it, apart from trips you've shared, which stay in iCloud until you stop sharing or delete them. Your data may be included in your own iCloud or computer backup of your iPhone, under your control.

Sharing a trip with iCloud

When you choose Share with iCloud, that trip (its details, bookings, plans, packing list, expenses, receipts and cost split) is stored in your iCloud account using Apple's CloudKit, and Apple's sharing screen lets you invite people. Everyone you invite, and nobody else, can see it; you choose whether they can make changes. They can't see any of your other trips.

Apple shows the people you invite your name as the person who shared the trip, and shows you their names. You can remove people or stop sharing at any time, and anyone can leave. Deleting a shared trip you own removes it for everyone. I can't see shared trips; they're handled entirely by Apple under Apple's privacy policy.

What leaves your iPhone, and why

Only these features send anything, and only when you use them:

• Fill In Flight Details sends the flight number and departure date you entered to my flight lookup relay (hosted on Cloudflare), which asks AeroDataBox, a flight data service, for the airline, airports, times and terminal.
• Weather sends the trip destination's map coordinates and the trip dates to Apple Weather (WeatherKit) to show the forecast for each day.
• Destination search, hotel search, Things to Do, Places to Eat and maps send what you type, or the area being shown, to Apple Maps to find places and show maps.

Nothing else about you or your trip (names, notes, bookings, expenses, receipts) is sent with these requests. I don't add identifiers to them and don't keep them. The relay caches flight answers for up to 6 hours to save lookups, and keeps the requesting IP address in memory for about a minute to limit abuse; it isn't stored or logged. Cloudflare, AeroDataBox and Apple handle requests under their own privacy policies: Cloudflare, AeroDataBox / RapidAPI and Apple.

Sending a copy and exporting expenses

When you choose Send a Copy, Share Summary or Export Expenses, the app creates a file or text and hands it to the iOS share sheet. Where it goes next, such as AirDrop, Messages, Mail or Files, is your choice; the app doesn't send it anywhere on its own. Trip files include the trip's details and cost split; receipts are included only if you choose "with Receipts". A sent copy doesn't stay in sync.

When you open a trip file someone sent you, the app adds a copy to your trips.

Camera, photos and files

The camera is used only when you choose to scan a receipt. Photos and files are read only when you pick one to attach. Neither is uploaded anywhere. You can change these permissions at any time in your iPhone's Settings.

Location

The app doesn't ask for or use your location.

Children

Swell isn't directed at children under 13 and doesn't knowingly collect information from anyone.

Changes to this policy

If the way the app handles data changes, I'll update this page and the effective date at the top.

Questions