Returner
Privacy policy & support
Privacy Policy
The short version: Returner does not collect your data. There is no account, no sign-up, no analytics, and no tracking. Everything you do in Returner stays on your phone.
What Returner stores, and where
Returner keeps your recovery profile (what you're quitting and since when), your daily check-ins, quest and milestone history, notes, savings tally, and settings in a local database inside the app's private storage on your device. This data never leaves your device unless you export it yourself.
We cannot see it, and neither can anyone else with access to our systems — because it is never on our systems. What you're working to change is nobody's business but yours; the app is built so it can't become anyone else's.
What Returner does not do
- No account or registration; we never learn your name or email.
- No analytics or telemetry SDKs; we do not know you installed the app.
- No advertising, no ad identifiers, no tracking across apps or websites.
- No selling or sharing of personal data — there is nothing to sell.
- No cloud sync or server backups of your data.
- No network calls at all in normal use.
Export — data you choose to move
Settings lets you export your history as a file and share it using your device's share sheet. Where that file goes is entirely your choice; once exported, it is outside the app's protection. The matching import restores a previous export.
Notifications
Reminders are optional and scheduled locally on your device — no push servers are involved. Their wording never includes what you're quitting.
The ally message
If you choose to tell an accountability ally about a milestone, Returner only pre-fills a message and hands it to your device's share sheet. You pick the app and the recipient; nothing is sent by Returner itself.
Crisis line
The SAMHSA Helpline link opens your phone's dialer. That's all it does — no data is attached, and Returner never knows whether you called.
App lock and biometrics
The optional App Lock uses your device's Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode check via the operating system. The biometric data itself is handled entirely by your device; Returner only receives the OS's yes/no answer and never sees, stores, or transmits biometric information. App Lock is free — privacy is not a premium feature.
Purchases (if Returner Plus is available in your version)
Purchases are processed by Apple's App Store or Google Play. We receive no payment details, no card numbers, and no billing identity — only the store's anonymous confirmation that the purchase is valid, which is checked on-device.
Health information
Your substance choice, check-ins, Body Check answers, and notes are sensitive health-adjacent information — which is exactly why the app is built local-first. They receive the same treatment as everything else: stored only on your device, never transmitted. Returner is a motivational tool providing general wellness information; it is not medical advice, medical treatment, or a medical device.
Children
Returner is intended for adults and is not directed at children.
Data deletion
Deleting your track, or uninstalling the app, erases the data permanently on-device. There is nothing to delete anywhere else.
Changes
If a future version of Returner ever changes what happens with your data (for example, an optional encrypted backup), this policy will be updated before that version ships, with the change stated plainly at the top.
Support
Questions, problems, or feedback about Returner: email contact@returnerlabs.com and a human will read it.
If you are in crisis, the SAMHSA National Helpline is 1-800-662-4357, free and confidential, 24/7.