Your breath is yours.

Who we are

Herz – Resonance Breathing is published by TODO: publisher’s legal name. If you have a question about this policy or your data, write to TODO: support@[domain].

Heart-rate sensors

To show your heart responding to your breath, the app needs a heart-rate signal. You choose where it comes from.

• Bluetooth chest straps. When you choose a strap, iOS asks for your permission to use Bluetooth. The app then connects to a strap that uses the standard Bluetooth heart-rate service, such as a Polar H10. It reads heart rate, the interval between beats, skin contact and battery level. On a Polar H10 you can also turn on raw ECG streaming; it is off unless you enable it. The app remembers the identifier iOS assigns to the strap you chose so it can reconnect next time. “Forget this strap” removes it.
• Apple Watch. During a session the Watch app runs a mind-and-body workout so it can read your heart rate; this needs the Health permission described below. Readings are passed directly from your Watch to your iPhone over Apple’s Watch connection, together with the session’s start, pause and stop. The workout itself is discarded when the session ends and is not saved to Health. As with any workout, the heart-rate readings your Watch takes during it are kept in Health by watchOS.
• Demo mode. A simulated heart, for exploring the app. Nothing is measured from you.

Signals are processed on the device, as they arrive, to produce the figures you see.

Apple Health

Health access is optional and is requested only through Apple’s own permission screen, where you can allow or refuse each item. The iPhone app asks only when you turn on Save to Health in Settings, which is off until you do. You can change your choices at any time in the Health app or in iOS Settings.

• What the app writes. When “Save to Health” is on, each completed session is saved as a mindful-minutes entry: its start and end time, plus the session’s pace in breaths per minute, its average Rhythm figure and an identifier linking it to the session in the app. Nothing else is written.
• What the app reads. The iPhone app reads nothing from Health. The Watch app asks to read your heart rate, and to save workouts, because a live heart-rate reading on the Watch is delivered only through a workout session. That workout is discarded when the session ends. The heart-rate readings the Watch takes during it stay in Health, as they do for any workout; Herz writes nothing else from the Watch.

Data from Apple Health is never used for advertising or marketing, is never sold, and is never shared with anyone. It is not sent off your device by Herz. Apple stores and syncs Health data under its own privacy policy.

Location

Only if you choose the Auto appearance does Herz ask for your location, and then only your approximate location. It uses it on your iPhone to calculate the local times of sunrise and sunset, which decide when the app moves between its light and dark looks. Your location is not sent anywhere and is not used for anything else. Every other appearance choice works without location, and you can refuse or withdraw the permission at any time in iOS Settings.

What is stored on your iPhone

The app keeps its history in its own private storage on your iPhone:

• Sessions: date, length, pace and breath ratio, which sensor was used, and the figures measured: heart rate over the session, Rhythm, heart-rate swing, signal quality and, with a chest strap, heart-rate variability.
• Resting baselines: the readings you take sitting still, with the posture and length you chose.
• Assessments: the result at each pace, how much effort each pace took, and anything you reported feeling, such as lightheadedness.
• Settings: your pace, ratio, session length, guidance and sound choices, and the strap to reconnect to.

Like any app’s data, this is included in your iPhone’s backups if you back up to iCloud or a computer. While a session runs, the Watch holds only what it needs for that session.

Hardware validation captures are an optional, off-by-default tool for checking a sensor. When it is on, sessions with a Polar H10 are recorded in full detail, including raw ECG, to a file on your iPhone. That file leaves your iPhone only if you export it yourself from Settings.

Network, analytics and third parties

Herz contains no analytics, crash-reporting, advertising or social SDKs, and it makes no network requests. We do not collect, receive, sell or share any personal data, and we do not track you across apps or websites. The only data that leaves your devices is what you choose to send: entries saved to Apple Health under your control, and any file you export yourself.

If you contact us by email, we receive what you write and your email address, and use it only to reply.

Your choices and deleting your data

• Settings › Data › Delete all data permanently removes every session, resting baseline, assessment and validation capture from the app. Files you have already exported are not affected.
• Deleting the app removes everything it stored on your iPhone.
• Entries already saved to Apple Health can be reviewed and deleted in the Health app.
• Bluetooth, Health and location permissions can be changed at any time in iOS Settings.

Children

Herz is not directed at children, and because it collects no personal data, we hold none about anyone, including children.

Not a medical device

Herz is for training and general wellbeing. It does not diagnose, treat or monitor any condition. If you have a heart condition, or notice anything unusual, talk to a doctor.

Changes to this policy

If what the app does with data changes, this page will be updated before that version is released, and the effective date above will change with it.