Kicked Yet? — Privacy Policy

Effective 5 July 2026 · Last updated 16 August 2026

In one line: almost everything you do in this app stays on your phone. Only what you choose to say to the ancient tree goes to the cloud, and we keep that anonymously to make the app better. No accounts, no ads, no third-party trackers, and we never sell your content.

1. What we don't do

No registration; we don't collect your name, phone number, or email (subscriptions go through Apple, so we never see your card number).
No third-party advertising or tracking SDKs; no IDFA.
We never sell your content and never share it with advertisers; anonymous conversations are never used to profile you for ads.

2. What stays on your phone (never uploaded)

The line you claim and the starter phrases.
The notes you leave with the tree — the text and the date (no browsable archive; the roots only show a running count).
Your boss's appearance, volume, kick feel, tutorial preferences.
When your trial started (the time you first spoke to the tree — never uploaded).

Deleting the app deletes all of the above, with one exception: the trial start time is stored in your device's keychain, so it survives deleting and reinstalling. That's deliberate — it keeps the 3-day trial from restarting on every reinstall. It's nothing but a timestamp: no content, not linked to your identity. Your subscription is managed by your Apple account; after a reinstall you can use "Restore purchases".

3. Voice and motion

Input: you use the system keyboard to speak to the tree (including system dictation, if you turn it on). We no longer run any speech recognition of our own.
Motion: the shake-to-kick gesture is processed live on your device and is never uploaded or stored.

4. Meeting the ancient tree (goes to the cloud, kept anonymously)

Only after you choose to speak to the tree does what you write go to the cloud (there is also an anonymous usage report containing no content at all — see section 5):

Your text is sent over HTTPS to our relay, then passed to a third-party large language model service: DeepSeek normally, falling back to Alibaba Cloud DashScope International (Qwen) when DeepSeek is unavailable. Both receive only the text you wrote.
Conversations are kept anonymously (not linked to your name, account, or device) on Cloudflare servers outside mainland China, to make the tree's replies land better; never sold, never used for ads.
You can use only the kicking, breathing, writing, and leaving notes with the tree — none of those depend on the tree conversation.

5. Usage statistics (anonymous, no content)

So we can tell how many people finish a full round versus just coming to sit with the tree, the app reports usage statistics that contain no content at all:

A random install ID: a random string kept on your phone. Not the IDFA, not a device identifier, and it does not carry across installs — delete the app and reinstall, and it becomes a brand-new ID we cannot connect to the old one.
Only event names: a round started, which scene it reached, entering the tree (from the flow or directly), how the tree part ended (talked / skipped / care screen shown / left early), a note going into the soil, a note handed back, a round completed.
Attached to each event: a random event ID, a timestamp, that install ID, the app version, and the interface language.
Never included: the line you claimed, the text of your notes, or anything you said to the tree. That line is absolute.
How it's sent: batched on your device, then sent over HTTPS to our own metrics endpoint; if it fails, it's dropped quietly — no retry storms, and it never blocks anything you're doing.

This data is not used for advertising and is not shared with any third-party analytics service — the app includes no third-party analytics or advertising SDK.

6. Subscription and trial

Free: kicking, making your boss, breathing, and leaving notes with the tree are free forever.
Paid: the cloud tree conversation; bought and managed through the App Store / your Apple ID (monthly or yearly).
Trial: 3 calendar days from the first time you actually speak to the tree; just opening it without saying anything doesn't start the clock. After that, continuing requires a subscription.

7. Care and safety

If what you write touches on self-harm or similar signals, the app intercepts it locally, does not send it to the AI, and shows a care screen with crisis helplines. Text intercepted this way may also be kept anonymously (not linked to your identity, never sent to the AI), only to check whether the interception is accurate.

8. Children

Not directed at children under 13; we do not knowingly collect any information from children.

9. Changes to this policy

We'll update the "Last updated" date on this page; significant changes will also be surfaced inside the app.

10. Contact us

Privacy questions: [email protected] · Support

Kicked Yet? is a small tool for letting off steam and setting things down. It is not a medical or psychological treatment product. If you are going through something difficult, please seek professional help or contact a local crisis line.