Privacy policy

Who we are

BirdRunner is an app from Thriving Bird, our studio brand. Thriving Bird isn't a separate company yet: for now, BirdRunner is published by its independent developer (we, in this policy). Questions about privacy? Email support@thrivingbird.com.

The short version

BirdRunner keeps your training on your device. There is no BirdRunner account, no server that stores your data, no analytics, and no advertising. We don't sell or share your information, and we don't track you across apps or websites. Optional Apple Watch plan sync sends upcoming sessions through Apple's WorkoutKit. Weather sends a rounded location for the forecast only if you turn it on.

What stays on your device

Your profile (the name you enter, goal, units, activity days, weekly distance or session time, preferred location, race day, and any recent race result), your training plan, your activity journal (activity types, indoor or outdoor location, dates, distances when recorded, times, effort, notes, shoes, GPS routes, splits, photos you add, and workout measurements imported from Health), and your appearance, page layout, coach, voice, reminder, weather, and step goal settings, plus any cues you record in your own voice. It also holds the birds you've earned and a few counters behind them: cards shared, guided runs with the voice coach, taps on the bird, and accent colors tried.

This lives in BirdRunner's private storage on your iPhone, protected by iOS data protection. A run in progress is saved to a separate file so it survives the app closing. That file is deleted when you save or discard the run.

Apple Health

Health import is optional and starts only when you allow it, from the setup screen or from Apple Health or Garmin watch in You. BirdRunner asks to read walking and running workouts and walking and running distance. It reads workouts from the past year: activity type, indoor or outdoor setting, date, duration, distance when available, and the name of the app or device that recorded them. After that, it checks for new workouts when you open it and when Apple Health reports a new one, for example from Garmin Connect, and links each to the planned session it matches. Turn this off in You → Garmin watch.

Daily steps are optional too, and start only when you turn them on. BirdRunner then reads your daily step counts from Apple Health (the past week for Today, and up to the past year for the steps chart in Progress), and today's step count from your iPhone's Motion & Fitness data, to show them, check your step goal, and send step notifications you turn on. Steps typed into the Health app by hand aren't counted. Step counts aren't saved in your journal. Your goal, today's latest count, and when you were last notified are saved on your device.

Connect Watch data in You → Apple Watch asks to read workout routes, heart rate, active calories, running power, and steps. Available measurements, including elevation and weather recorded with a workout, stay in your journal. Some devices or apps provide fewer readings. BirdRunner does not ask for sleep or medical records. Health data is never used for advertising or marketing, sent to us, or stored in iCloud by BirdRunner. You can turn off access at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Health.

Apple Watch and saving to Health

Save to Apple Health in an activity's details asks to write workouts and walking and running distance. It saves a one-time copy of that activity's type, date, duration, and distance. It does not export routes, calories, photos, or notes. Later edits or deletion in BirdRunner do not change that copy. Apple's Health and iCloud settings control what happens to Health data after it is saved.

Send planned sessions to Watch is optional. With your permission, BirdRunner uses Apple's WorkoutKit to schedule up to seven days of sessions in the Workout app on your paired Apple Watch, including interval targets and supported pace alerts. Changes to the plan update that schedule. Turning it off removes BirdRunner's scheduled sessions. A completed workout's plan identifier helps match it back to your journal. None of this is sent to us.

Activity files

You can import GPX or TCX files, such as runs exported from Garmin Connect. BirdRunner reads only the files you pick, on your device. It keeps the start time, distance, moving time, route, and the device name, and ignores everything else in the file, such as heart rate. Nothing from the file is uploaded.

Location

BirdRunner uses your precise location only while you record an outdoor walk or run with GPS turned on, and your approximate location for the weather if you turn it on, both only with While Using the App permission. Recording continues with the screen locked, and iOS shows that location is in use. Routes are saved in your journal on this device and are never uploaded. Treadmill sessions do not use GPS. To record time only outdoors, turn off GPS in You → Run coach, voice, and paces.

Weather

Weather is optional and off until you turn it on, on Today or in You → Look and text size. BirdRunner then finds your approximate location, with While Using the App permission, and asks Open-Meteo (open-meteo.com), a free weather service, for the forecast there. Only that area, rounded to about 5 km (3 miles), is sent: no name, account, device ID, or anything from your journal. Like any website, Open-Meteo also sees your device's IP address, under its own terms.

The latest forecast and its rounded area are saved on your device so Today and the weather widget can show them. Turn weather off in You → Look and text size to stop this and delete the saved forecast. Weather data is from Open-Meteo.com, under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Maps, voice, and reminders

Route maps use Apple Maps. To draw a map, your device downloads map images from Apple for the area shown, under Apple's privacy policy. BirdRunner doesn't send your route anywhere.

Voice cues are spoken by your device's built-in speech, in the voice you choose. That can be your own Personal Voice, only if you allow BirdRunner to use it. Run day reminders and step notifications are local notifications that iOS shows from your device. They are off until you turn them on.

If you record your own cues, BirdRunner uses the microphone only while you record. The recordings are saved in BirdRunner's private storage on this iPhone and play only on your device during your runs. They're never shared or uploaded. Delete them any time in You → Run coach, voice, and paces → Your own cues.

Widgets and the Lock Screen

If you add BirdRunner widgets, the app saves a short summary for them on your device: your next sessions, this week's progress, your streak, today's steps, the days to race day, and the weather forecast if weather is on. It's kept in a keychain item that only BirdRunner and its widgets can read, and it never leaves your iPhone. The weather widget asks Open-Meteo for a fresh forecast about once an hour, sending only the rounded area described under Weather.

While a session runs, BirdRunner shows its time, distance, pace, and current step on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. On iOS 18 and watchOS 11 or later, Apple can also show this Live Activity in your paired Watch's Smart Stack. You can turn it off in Settings → BirdRunner → Live Activities. Starting a session from Siri, Shortcuts, a widget, or Control Center opens BirdRunner on your iPhone. Nothing about it is sent to us.

Sharing and exporting

Share cards and exports are created only when you ask. They go where you choose to send or save them, and that app or service then handles them under its own terms.

A share card shows your route's shape without a map and leaves out its first and last 250 meters, which are often near home. CSV exports don't include routes.

To add a photo to an activity or a share card, you pick one in Apple's photo picker or take one with the camera. BirdRunner sees only the photos you pick. A photo you add to an activity is kept as a smaller copy in BirdRunner's private storage on this iPhone, without its location or other details from the original file, and is never uploaded. Remove photos from an activity, or all of them in You → Your data. A share card is a new image, so a photo's location isn't part of it either. Your note appears on a card only if you turn on Show my note.

Save to Photos adds a card or photo to your photo library only when you tap it. BirdRunner asks for add-only access, which can't see your library. Export everything makes one .zip of your journal (including routes), photos, voice recordings, and your step and notification settings on your device, for you to save or send where you choose. BirdRunner never saves an export anywhere by itself, including iCloud Drive.

Crash reports and backups

BirdRunner has no crash reporting or analytics tools. If you turn on Share with App Developers in iOS Settings, Apple may send us anonymous crash and usage reports.

Your device's own backups (iCloud Backup or a computer) may include BirdRunner data, depending on your backup settings.

Restore from export, in You → Your data or on the first screen of a new install, reads only the export file or folder you pick, on your device. It checks it, adds what it holds to BirdRunner without removing anything already there, and deletes its working copy when it's done. Photos come in without location details. Nothing is uploaded.

Deleting your data

Erase everything BirdRunner stores in You → Your data → Erase everything, or delete the app. This doesn't change Apple Health, Garmin, or files you exported. Erasing in the app also requests removal of scheduled BirdRunner sessions from WorkoutKit. Copies saved to Health stay there; remove them in Health.

Deleting the app removes its files and settings. iOS can keep the small widget summary described above in the keychain after an app is deleted. BirdRunner clears it the next time it's installed, and Erase everything clears it right away.

Children

BirdRunner isn't directed at children under 13, and you need to be at least 13 to use it. The app doesn't collect personal information from anyone, children included. If a child under 13 has emailed us, a parent or guardian can ask us to delete the message, and we will.

Email, business inquiries, and this website

If you ask about a project, we use your contact details, business information, and any brief you send to discuss the work and prepare a proposal. Please do not email passwords, payment details, or other sensitive information. Project work may have a separate agreement covering the data needed for that work.

If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you include, and use them only to reply. We keep messages only as long as they help us support you, and delete them sooner if you ask. Feedback from the app opens an email in the email app you choose with what you wrote and, if you leave them on, app and device details (BirdRunner version, iPhone model, iOS version, plan type, and how many activities and sessions you have). Nothing is sent until you press Send.

This website is hosted by Cloudflare, which processes technical data such as your IP address to deliver pages and protect against abuse. The site has no cookies, analytics, or third-party scripts.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, or delete your personal information, or to complain to a data protection authority. App data never reaches us, so you control it directly in BirdRunner. For anything you've emailed us, contact us below.

We don't sell or share personal information, as laws like California's define those words, and we don't use it for targeted advertising, so there's nothing to opt out of. Some US states, such as Washington and Nevada, have laws about consumer health data. BirdRunner's health and fitness data stays on your device and never reaches us. Our consumer health data privacy policy is at thrivingbird.com/health-data.

Changes

If this policy changes, we'll update this page and the date above. If BirdRunner moves to a company we form, that company takes over this policy and its promises. If BirdRunner ever adds accounts or sync, we'll explain what is stored and ask before any of your data leaves your device.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email support@thrivingbird.com.