PoolHelp Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 12, 2026

PoolHelp is built to be private by default. This policy explains, in plain English, what data the app handles and what it does not.

The short version

• PoolHelp does not require an account. You can create one, but it is optional and used only for backup and sync.
• By default, all of your pool data stays on your device. We do not collect it, sync it to a cloud, or keep copies of it unless you create an account and sign in; see "Optional account and sync" below.
• We do not use analytics, tracking, advertising, or third-party marketing SDKs. The one technical exception: anonymous crash reports, so the app can be fixed when it breaks; see "Crash reports" below.
• Beyond optional sync and weather (next bullet), the only data that leaves your device is the content of a request when you use an optional AI feature: your question and a summary of your pool, and/or the photo you selected. That content is sent to PoolHelp's AI server, which passes it to Anthropic to generate the response. Neither stores your pool data; see "The optional AI features" below.
• If you give a pool a location, the app fetches a weather forecast for it by sending the pool's approximate coordinates, and nothing else, to a public weather service; and while you type a location, the text you have typed goes through our server to a place-search service so it can suggest matching cities. Neither request carries an account or device identifier; see "Weather and location suggestions" below.

What data the app stores on your device

When you use PoolHelp, the app saves information locally on your phone or tablet so it can work offline. This is stored using your device's standard app storage (AsyncStorage) and includes:

• Pools you create (name, size in gallons, surface/type, a location and its coordinates if you added one, and similar details you enter)
• Water test logs (readings you record such as pH, chlorine, alkalinity, and dates)
• Chemical/dosing logs (products and amounts you record adding)
• Reminders you set
• Chat history and any diagnoses generated in the app
• Your app settings (such as theme preference)
• A cached weather forecast for each pool that has a location — deleted, like everything else here, by Reset all data and by uninstalling

Unless you create an account and sign in, this data lives only on your device. It is not uploaded to us in the background, and we keep no copy of it. If you do sign in, some of it syncs as described in the next section.

Optional account and sync

You can create an optional PoolHelp account to back up your pool data and sync it across devices — with an email address and password, or with Sign in with Apple. Apple's option lets you hide your real email address; the private relay address Apple creates is then the address we receive. The app is fully functional without one, and in builds where no sync backend is configured, accounts are not available at all.

While you are signed in, the app syncs four kinds of data to our database (a Supabase Postgres project operated by us): your pools, water test logs, chemical/dosing logs, and reminders. Chat history and diagnosis history are never synced; they stay on your device.

• Synced records are tied to your account id, and row-level security in the database isolates each account's records from every other account's.
• Sync traffic is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Your email address is held by the authentication system to operate your account.
• Signing out stops syncing and keeps your local data on your device.
• Reset all data in Settings, used while signed in, also removes the synced content: deletions propagate to the database (as deletion markers) and to your other signed-in devices.
• Delete account on the Account screen permanently removes your account and every synced record from our servers. Data on your device stays until you reset the app. You can also ask us at support@poolhelp.app and we will remove them for you.

The optional AI features

PoolHelp's core features (test logging, dosing math, reminders, charts) run entirely on your device and send nothing off it.

The AI features are optional: the chat assistant, photo diagnosis, and test-strip scanning. When you use one, the app sends only the content needed to answer that request, over an encrypted connection (HTTPS), to PoolHelp's AI server:

• For chat questions, that is your question plus a summary of your pool: the profile details you entered (which can include the pool's name and a location if you added one), recent test readings, recent chemical additions, and, if the pool has a location, a one-line summary of its current weather.
• For photo features, that is the photo you take or select, plus the same kind of pool summary where relevant.

The AI server is a small relay we operate (a Cloudflare Worker). It forwards your request to Anthropic's API and returns the response to the app. It is a pass-through: it does not store the content of requests or responses. Anthropic processes the content to generate the response under its commercial API terms; by default, Anthropic does not use API inputs or outputs to train its models. Anthropic's handling of the data is governed by its own terms and privacy policy.

If the AI service is not configured or cannot be reached, the app runs these features in an on-device demo mode and nothing leaves your device.

Weather and location suggestions

PoolHelp never reads your device's location and never asks for location permission. A pool's location is simply the city you typed when you set it up.

• Place suggestions. While you type a location for a pool, the app sends the text you have typed so far to PoolHelp's server, which forwards it to a place-search service — Geoapify (geoapify.com), or Photon (photon.komoot.io, run by komoot) when Geoapify is unavailable — and returns matching cities for you to pick from. Only the typed text is sent: no account identifier and no other pool data. Our server keeps no record of it beyond a short-lived in-memory cache of recent searches (the typed text and the matching cities, with no identifier attached) so repeated lookups do not hit the service again; it is cleared automatically within a day.
• Weather. If you picked a suggested location for a pool, the app fetches a forecast for it so it can show weather-based advice (freeze risk, heavy rain, high UV) and add a one-line weather summary to AI requests. To do that, the app sends the pool's approximate coordinates — rounded to two decimal places, roughly one kilometer — directly from your device to MET Norway, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (api.met.no). Nothing else is sent: no account identifier, no pool data, and nothing about you. The forecast is cached on your device.
• Where the coordinates live. Picking a suggestion saves the city name and its coordinates with the pool's other details on your device. If you have created an account and are signed in, they back up and sync with the rest of the pool profile, as described in "Optional account and sync".
• Stopping it. Leave the location field blank and none of this happens (the sample pool offered on the welcome screen comes with a location — remove it to stop its forecasts). Clear a pool's location and weather lookups for that pool stop; a pool without a location never triggers one.

These are plain web requests, not SDKs: neither service runs code inside the app, and neither receives anything that identifies you or your account. Each service's handling of the requests it receives is governed by its own privacy policy.

Subscriptions and purchases

The AI features are unlocked by an optional subscription ("PoolHelp AI"). Payment itself is handled entirely by Apple through your App Store account — we never see or store your name, card details, or billing address.

To know whether your subscription is active, the app uses RevenueCat, a subscription-infrastructure service. RevenueCat receives purchase receipt information from Apple together with a random identifier for your app installation (and, if you created an optional PoolHelp account, your account id so the subscription can follow you across devices). RevenueCat does not receive your pool data, photos, questions, or anything else about how you use the app. When the app talks to our AI server, it includes that same random identifier so the server can confirm the subscription is active; the server checks it against RevenueCat and does not build any usage profile. RevenueCat's handling of this data is governed by its own privacy policy at revenuecat.com/privacy.

You can manage or cancel the subscription any time in your App Store settings. Cancelling stops future charges; nothing about your pool data changes.

Camera and photo library

PoolHelp requests camera and photo-library access only so you can pick or take an image for the AI photo features. Images are used to build that single request as described above and are not otherwise collected or stored by us. The app does not browse or upload your photo library in the background.

Crash reports

If the app crashes or hits an unexpected error, a technical report is sent to Sentry, a crash-reporting service, so we can find and fix the bug. The report contains technical details only: the error and where in the code it happened, your device model, OS version, and app version. It does not include your pool data, photos, questions, chat history, or account identity, and it is not used for advertising or tracking. Sentry's handling of this data is governed by its own privacy policy at sentry.io/privacy.

Reminders and notifications

Reminders use local notifications scheduled on your device. No notification data is sent anywhere.

Children's privacy

PoolHelp is a general-audience app for pool owners. It is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect data from children.

Your control over your data

• By default, all app data is stored locally, so you hold it.
• You can remove everything at any time using Reset all data in Settings. If you are signed in, this also removes your synced data.
• Uninstalling PoolHelp deletes all of its local data from your device. Uninstalling does not delete data you have synced to an account; use Reset all data first while signed in, or contact support.
• AI features send data only when you use them, and weather lookups happen only for pools you have given a location. If you never use an AI feature, never sign in, and leave the location field blank (the sample pool comes with one — remove it to stop forecasts), nothing leaves your device.

Changes to this policy

If we change how the app handles data, we will update this policy and its "Last updated" date, and update the copy shown inside the app to match.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Contact us at support@poolhelp.app.