Privacy Policy

Throughline for iOS — Last updated: March 18, 2026

        Summary: Throughline does not collect, transmit, or share any of your data with third parties. Everything stays on your device or in your private iCloud account.
    

What Data We Collect

None. Throughline does not collect any personal data, usage analytics, or telemetry. There is no account system, no login, and no registration.

How Your Data Is Stored

All data created within Throughline is stored locally on your device using Apple's SwiftData framework. This includes:

Reading items (text you paste, import, or scan)
Reading session history (words read, duration, speed)
App settings and preferences
AI-generated summaries (key points and topics)

iCloud Sync (Optional)

Throughline supports optional iCloud sync using Apple's CloudKit framework. When iCloud is enabled on your device:

Reading items, sessions, summaries, and settings are synced to your private iCloud account
Data is stored in your personal CloudKit private database — only you can access it
No data is shared with Throughline's developers or any third party
You can exclude individual items from syncing
You can delete all cloud data at any time from Settings

If you are not signed into iCloud, all data stays on your device only. There is no server-side processing and no synchronization to external services.

Apple Intelligence (On-Device AI)

Throughline uses Apple's Foundation Models framework to generate reading summaries. This processing happens entirely on your device. No text is sent to any server — not to Apple, not to any third party. You can disable summary generation in Settings at any time.

Share Extension

The Throughline share extension allows you to share text and URLs from other apps. When you use the share extension:

Shared content is processed locally on your device
URLs are fetched to extract article text — this is a direct connection between your device and the website, with no intermediary
Reading sessions from the share extension are stored in a shared App Group container on your device and imported into the main app

Document Scanner

Throughline includes a document scanner that uses your device camera. Camera access is used solely to scan documents for text recognition (OCR). Images are processed on-device using Apple's Vision framework and are not stored or transmitted.

Safari Extension

The Throughline Safari extension allows you to save articles from Safari to your reading queue. When you use the extension:

The current page URL and text are extracted locally in the browser
Queued articles are stored in a shared App Group container on your device
No data is sent to any external server

Apple Watch Companion

Throughline includes an Apple Watch companion app. Reading items are transferred directly between your iPhone and Apple Watch using Apple's WatchConnectivity framework. No data passes through external servers.

Third-Party Services

Throughline does not use any third-party analytics, advertising, crash reporting, or tracking services.

Network Connections

Throughline makes network connections only for:

URL content fetching: When you share a URL or queue one from Safari, your device connects directly to the target website to extract article text
iCloud sync: When iCloud is enabled, data syncs through Apple's CloudKit infrastructure to your private iCloud account

No data is sent to Throughline's developers, advertising networks, or any other third party.

Children's Privacy

Throughline does not collect any information from anyone, including children under 13. The app contains no advertising and no data collection mechanisms. In-app purchases are processed entirely by Apple and do not involve any data collection by Throughline.

Changes to This Policy

If we add features that change how data is handled, we will update this privacy policy and notify users through the app's release notes.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, contact us at:
throughline.app@icloud.com