Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 17, 2026

PracticeMode (“PracticeMode,” “we,” “us”) is built to help musicians start quickly, practice without distractions, and understand their progress. This policy describes the iPhone and iPad app’s actual data handling.

The short version

PracticeMode has no advertising, tracking, third-party analytics, or public profiles. You do not create a PracticeMode account. Most information stays on your device. Completed practice history, including written reflections, is sent to your private iCloud database only after you explicitly choose private iCloud history sync. Your devices can also pass short Focus-session messages to each other so one device can block distractions while you practice on another, but only on devices where you turn following on. Screen Time selections and recording media never sync.

Information stored on your device

The app can store selected instruments, an optional display name, routines, goals, active-session state, completed history, reflections, tool settings, instructor report preferences, local reminders, recordings, and Apple’s opaque Screen Time selection tokens. This information remains on your device unless a specific feature below says otherwise or you explicitly share/export it.

Microphone, camera, photos, and recordings

The tuner and analysis tools process microphone input on device. PracticeMode does not keep a listening history or send microphone buffers to us. The app uses the camera only when you choose to make a video recording and uses photo library add access only when you ask to save media. Recordings remain local unless you choose an export destination through Apple’s system interface.

Private iCloud sync

PracticeMode uses Apple’s CloudKit for two separate app functions:

A fresh install starts with the iCloud connection and follower-device Focus blocking off. Choosing private-iCloud history sync turns on the iCloud connection; Focus following on that device remains off until you enable it in Settings. An interim version of PracticeMode cleared the follower setting on every device, so a device that followed sessions before that version follows nothing until you turn the setting on again.

1. Practice history. No completed history or reflection is uploaded until you choose Sync Practice History with Private iCloud. If you choose Only on This Device, PracticeMode stops future history and reflection transfers. Copies synchronized before you turn this off remain in private iCloud or on your other devices until you delete them. You can change the choice later in Settings.
2. Cross-device Focus sessions. When Cross-Device Sync is enabled, your devices can exchange random installation and session identifiers, device name/type, app version, session/routine name, session timing/phase and revision, shield-request and following state, protected-session identifiers, and readiness so a follower device can activate or clear Focus Shield.

Every Focus command carries an expiry. PracticeMode schedules cleanup through Apple’s Device Activity so protection can be cleared without the app running or receiving an end message. Cleanup depends on the system delivering its scheduled callback; exact wall-clock unblocking is not guaranteed, including while a device is locked or idle. The expiry governs the protection request, not how long the record is stored.

When you share a practice session from one of your devices (“Share Focus from This Device”), that device writes a short announcement to your private iCloud database when the session starts, each time it moves to a new block, and when it ends. Your other devices where Cross-Device Sync and “Follow Focus Sessions on This Device” are both on ask Apple to show each announcement as a notification. A start or end announcement names the device and the routine, for example “Practice started on iPad: Flute & Picc”; a block announcement names the block, its length, its place in the session and the device, for example “Scales / Technique” and “8 minutes · Block 2 of 5 · on iPad”. Because Apple’s servers compose the notification from these words, they are stored as ordinary fields of the announcement rather than in its encrypted fields, and they pass through Apple’s push notification service. The notification also carries the session identifier, the sending device’s random installation identifier, and whether it is a start, block or end announcement. Announcements never include Screen Time selections, practice history, reflections or block guidance. The sending device deletes its earlier announcements once it announces a newer session. Delivery and presentation depend on Apple and your notification settings; you can silence these notifications for PracticeMode in iOS Settings.

Earlier beta builds created Focus-session and device-status records in the same private CloudKit database, and this version reads and updates those record types again. An old record can therefore reappear briefly in your device list. It cannot start blocking anything: a command must be un-expired, must not be marked ended, and must reach a device where you turned following on.

Private-iCloud history can include session dates and duration, instrument, routine and block names, a session-time copy of each block’s free-form guidance and configuration, completion results, distraction-free status, ratings, and written reflections or notes. This information is stored in your private iCloud database for app functionality. We do not use it for ads, marketing, analytics, or tracking.

Screen Time app/category/website tokens, raw recordings, local tool settings, goals, and instructor contact preferences are not sent through iCloud by the current app.

Changing the Apple Account used for iCloud pauses private-history transfer. PracticeMode does not automatically copy the previous account’s synchronized history into the new account; you must explicitly confirm private iCloud again. If you purge PracticeMode data in iCloud Settings or reset encrypted iCloud data, PracticeMode does not silently recreate or repopulate that deleted cloud data. Your separate on-device practice library remains local unless you delete it.

Focus Shield and Screen Time

Focus Shield uses Apple’s Family Controls and Device Activity frameworks. Apple provides opaque tokens instead of revealing your app list to PracticeMode. Those tokens stay on the device where you made the selection. Cross-device coordination can communicate the device, session, routine, timing, phase, request, and readiness fields listed above; it does not communicate which apps, categories, or websites you selected. Each follower device needs its own Screen Time permission and its own selection, and you can end following for a session on that device at any time.

Sharing and instructor reports

Share cards contain an allow-listed summary such as practiced minutes, milestones or streak information, and whether the session was distraction free. They do not include reflection text, notes, recordings, or Screen Time selections.

Instructor reports are created on device. You decide whether to include reflections or notes, review the result, and choose a recipient with Apple’s mail or share interface. PracticeMode does not send reports automatically.

Diagnostics

PracticeMode uses Apple’s on-device Unified Logging with fixed, sanitized event codes. Separately, it keeps a local diagnostic event log for practice-session controls and Focus delivery. That log retains the most recent 800 events, including timestamps, session identifiers, session and delivery status, practice elapsed time, touch positions and control locations, and Focus Shield failure reasons and details. Failure details can include system-provided error text. The event log is stored in the app’s local Application Support folder.

Settings offers Export for this log. The exported file also includes the device name, model and hardware model identifier, app and system versions, and the sync device’s installation identifier and editable name. You choose the export destination through Apple’s share interface; PracticeMode does not automatically upload this log to an analytics or support service. Clear removes the app’s local event log; it does not remove files already exported or shared. The 800-event limit applies to the local event log, not exported files.

After a crash, hang or similar fault, Apple’s MetricKit can give PracticeMode a technical report (call stacks, exception type, app and system versions, device type and similar technical details Apple includes, which can contain a file path or system error text) on the next launch; PracticeMode keeps it on your device for 7 days, never uploads it, includes it in the exported file only when you tap Export, and removes it when you tap Clear in Settings or Clear Diagnostics in Privacy & Account.

Apple may separately provide crash or beta diagnostics under the choices and terms that apply to your device, the App Store, or TestFlight.

Notifications and Live Activities

PracticeMode shows these notifications, and no others:

• Block alerts on the device you are practising on. When a block ends, a notification names the next block, its length, its place in the session and its guidance line, or tells you the session is complete. They are scheduled on your device, never sent from a server, and withdrawn when you pause or end the session. They are marked time-sensitive, so they can reach you during a Focus such as Do Not Disturb if you allow time-sensitive notifications for PracticeMode in iOS Settings.
• Instructor report reminders, only if you turn them on, scheduled on your device.
• Practice announcements from your other devices, described under “Private iCloud sync” above.

PracticeMode also receives silent iCloud change notifications that let it update sync and Focus Shield state; these show nothing. Live Activities show the running session’s timer on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island; they are updated on your device, not by push. PracticeMode does not send advertising or marketing notifications.

Purchases

PracticeMode subscriptions are sold and billed by Apple through the App Store. Apple handles your payment method, billing, renewals, refunds and cancellation. On your device, the app reads the Apple-signed transaction and renewal information that StoreKit provides, such as which plan is active, whether a free trial is in use and when the subscription renews or ends, and uses it only to decide whether the app is unlocked. PracticeMode does not receive your payment details, billing address or Apple Account email address, and it does not send purchase information to any server of ours. You can manage or cancel a subscription in Settings › Apple Account › Subscriptions.

Support and website contact

If you email us, we receive the address and content you choose to send so we can respond. If you submit an address to the website update form, it is used for the requested PracticeMode updates. Do not include recordings, Screen Time details, or private reflection text in a support message unless you intend to share it with us.

Data retention and deletion

Local data remains until you delete it or remove the app. Private-iCloud data remains until an in-app deletion is synchronized or you remove PracticeMode’s data from iCloud. Turning sync off stops new history transfers but does not silently erase data already stored on another device or in your private iCloud database. Removing PracticeMode data through iCloud Settings prevents automatic re-upload until you make a new private-iCloud choice. Focus-session and device-status records stay in your private database until they are removed there; a Focus command’s expiry is used to schedule protection cleanup and is not a record-deletion deadline. The diagnostic event log has the separate 800-event bound and Clear action described above. User-created recovery safety copies remain local.

Children

PracticeMode is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13. The initial external beta is limited to adults. Any future testing involving minors will require the additional age, parent/guardian, research-consent, and disclosure review applicable to that program and jurisdiction.

Service providers and legal requests

The app relies on Apple platform services such as iCloud/CloudKit, Family Controls, notifications, Live Activities, TestFlight, and the App Store. Their handling is governed by Apple’s terms and the settings associated with your Apple Account and device. We may preserve or disclose information we actually possess when required by applicable law or to protect users and the service; we cannot disclose local-only content that we never receive.

Changes

If the app’s data handling changes, we will update this policy and its effective date before the new handling begins. A feature that introduces an account, analytics, advertising, social sharing, AI processing, or raw-media sync will receive a new privacy review and disclosure.

Contact

PracticeMode Labs LLC, Little Rock, Arkansas
Privacy and support: hello@practicemode.app