Furlough collects nothing. Not anonymously, not in aggregate, not for analytics. There is no account to make and no server to sign in to, because Furlough does not have a server.
There is no server
Furlough has no server of its own, no third-party SDKs, and no analytics or crash-reporting library. Nothing it knows is sent to anyone.
Things leave your device only if you link it to another, from Settings > Devices, and only to your own iCloud key-value store — which belongs to your Apple Account and is kept by Apple; Furlough has no server that could read it. What goes there: the Anchor's state — whether it is down, since when, and until when — so that Furlough on your Mac and on your iPhone lock and unlock together; one small entry per linked device, carrying the name you gave it and what kind of device it is; and, if you turn it on, the names of the things you add — "YouTube", "youtube.com" — with their first rule, so your other devices can block the same things. No Screen Time token, no tag identifier and no list is ever written there, and a device that has not been linked writes nothing at all. If your devices are not signed in to iCloud, the Anchor simply stays per device.
What stays on your iPhone
Everything else Furlough knows lives in its own storage container on your device:
- The apps, categories and websites you chose to limit, and the windows and daily budgets you set for them.
- Pending changes waiting out their delay, and a short activity log of Furlough's own enforcement, which you can read in Settings.
- The identifiers of the NFC tags you paired, and the Anchor's list and schedule, if you use the Anchor.
Deleting Furlough deletes all of it.
Screen Time data
Furlough uses Apple's Screen Time APIs (Family Controls, Managed Settings and Device Activity), with your permission, to apply the limits you set for yourself. The apps and sites you pick are represented by opaque tokens: Furlough is never told which ones they are, and a token cannot be turned back into an app name. While your rules are running, Screen Time tells Furlough only that a budget has been reached, never what you did.
Reading your usage history
One screen is an exception, and it is worth being exact about. Where your time went reviews the last fourteen days of your Screen Time history and suggests a rule for whatever is taking the most of it. That screen reads real per-app usage. Which part of Furlough reads it depends on your iPhone:
- Usually, only Furlough's report extension ever sees a number. Apple runs it in a sandbox isolated from the rest of the app, and nothing can be passed back out of it: not the hours, not which app they belong to, not even that you tapped a button.
- Where Apple makes that history available to apps directly, and only if you approve it when iOS asks, Furlough reads the fourteen days itself and draws the cards without the extension.
Either way the reading happens on your iPhone, is used only to draw that screen, and is not kept afterwards or sent anywhere. Nothing in Furlough writes anywhere but your device and, for the link between your own devices, your own iCloud.
Children
Furlough is a tool for restricting your own device and asks for individual Screen Time authorization, which iOS grants only to an adult account. It is not a parental-control product and does not monitor anyone else.
Changes
If this policy ever changes, the updated version will be posted at this address with a new date above.
Questions: support@furloughapp.com