Privacy Policy

The short version

In four lines

• There is no account. Nothing to register, nothing to log into, no password, no profile, no email address collected.
• There is no tracking. No analytics, no advertising, no crash reporting to anyone else, and no outside code doing any of it. Nothing is ever sold or shared for advertising.
• Your settings and history stay on your device. They are never uploaded, and deleting the app deletes them.
• What does leave the phone is about music or about the app. Searches go to Apple Music, ID codes for recordings go to a tempo lookup, and at launch the app asks whether a newer version of its own code exists. None of it carries your name, your account or your device’s identity. The update check carries one random installation ID, and Every request RowBeats makes says exactly what that is.

What is collected

What RowBeats stores, how it gets it, and why

All of this lives in the app’s own storage on your device. None of it is uploaded, and all of it is removed when you delete the app.

Your standing preferences

RowBeats keeps the choices you make on the build, playlist and Settings screens, so a setting you chose once is still there next time: whether to hide explicit recordings, which workout shape to open a new playlist in, whether the app wears its dark or light look or follows your phone’s, whether you asked it to remember your selections, whether a connected ERG may offer to swap a song while you row, and how long a song you have heard stays out of new playlists.

Your last workout, only if you ask

While Remember my selections is on in Settings, RowBeats writes down the genres, eras, stroke-rate range, length, continuous or interval, and rest you built your last playlist with on Genre row, so Genre row can open filled in the way you left it. The switch is off until you turn it on: by default these choices are not remembered, so Genre row always shows you what it is actually offering. Turning the switch off deletes the stored workout there and then.

Your last playlist

When you tap Start workout, RowBeats keeps that playlist on your device: the songs in their order (each one’s ID codes, title, artist, album, length, artwork and preview links, Apple’s genre labels, and the tempo RowBeats matched it to) and the settings it was built with (genres, eras, stroke-rate range, length, shape, continuous or interval, and rest). For an album or an artist’s songs, the genres are the ones its songs belong to; for an artist’s songs, it also keeps the artist’s name and the link to their photo on Apple Music, and for an album, the album’s name, its artist, its Apple Music ID and the link to its cover. The home screen’s Your last playlist and More like your last are drawn from it. It is one playlist with no date: the next workout you start replaces it. It is never uploaded.

Whether you have opened RowBeats before

A single yes, written the first time the app starts, so the home screen can say Welcome to RowBeats the first time and Welcome back to RowBeats after that. No date and no count: it cannot say when you opened the app or how often. Never uploaded.

The genres you have rowed to

The names of the genres you have rowed to, most recent first, so A genre to try can suggest one you have not rowed to yet, or the one you rowed to longest ago; and how many workouts you have started in each, so An album to row can pick from the genre you row most. Names, their order and a number for each only: no dates, and nothing about how a workout went. The numbers are never shown; they only choose the card’s album. Never uploaded.

A play history

When a track is confirmed as played, RowBeats records on your device the recording’s ID code, its title and artist, and the time it played. The title and artist are the ones Apple Music already sent for your playlist; nothing is looked up to get them. The history is kept so the same songs do not come back in your next playlist, so you can see which songs those are under Recently played in Settings, and so RowBeats can tell from the times alone whether you have rowed with it before: it waits until your third finished workout before asking iOS to show Apple’s rating request, and it keeps no count of workouts to know that. It is never uploaded, and it is kept for up to three months, whatever you choose in Settings.

Songs you swapped away while rowing

When you use the swap on the player, RowBeats records on your device the recording’s ID code, its title and artist, and the time you did, so a song whose beat did not work for you on the machine never comes back in a later playlist, and so you can see which songs those are under Refused songs in Settings. It is never uploaded. Unlike the play history it does not expire on its own; you can let one song back by tapping it on the Refused songs list, and Clear list under Refused songs in Settings empties it.

The ERG you last connected to

When you choose a Concept2 PM5, RowBeats reads its advertised name and serial number over Bluetooth and keeps them, so it can recognize your machine next time instead of making you identify it from a list of strangers.

That Apple Music access was granted

A single yes-or-no flag, set after iOS tells the app the permission prompt was answered, so the app knows it has already been through the prompt. The permission itself belongs to iOS, not to RowBeats.

Leaving the phone

Every request RowBeats makes

There are ten.

1. Searching Apple Music

To find tracks, RowBeats searches Apple’s public catalog. What it sends: the genres and eras you picked, or the artist name you type into Artist row, and which country’s catalog to search, taken from your phone’s region setting. For Artist row it also asks for the artist’s Essentials playlist, and for a Race plan race on a course in a real place (Henley Reach, say), that country’s Top 100 playlist, and the city’s Top 25 where Apple Music charts one. Album row searches its own shelf of albums on your phone, so what you type there is not sent anywhere; it asks Apple for the shelf’s albums by their catalog codes, for their covers, and for the songs of the album you tap.

On your device these requests go through Apple’s own Apple Music software, which may let Apple see that they come from your Apple Music account, as a search in the Music app does. Where that software cannot be used, RowBeats sends them itself, with a key belonging to the app, not to you.

RowBeats never holds the keys to your Apple Music account. That is why it cannot save a playlist to your library, and why it has nothing of your account to keep. The music is played by Apple’s own player on your phone.

2. Loading artwork

The pictures RowBeats shows from Apple Music (song and album covers, and artists’ photos on Artist row) come from Apple’s image servers, one request per picture. Each request names the picture it wants and nothing else.

3. Asking how fast a song is

The RowBeats server answers tempo questions for the app. It is sent ID codes for recordings and nothing else: no device ID, no name, no playlist, no settings, no account. Nothing in the request identifies you. The server, in turn, asks ReccoBeats and FreqBlog about recordings it has not seen before; see Third parties.

4. ReccoBeats, if the RowBeats server cannot be reached

When the server does not answer at all, the app asks ReccoBeats, a free tempo service, directly, using the same ID codes and nothing else.

5. Checking your connection

When a request gets no answer at all, RowBeats loads a small page Apple hosts for the purpose. That is how it tells “your phone has no internet” apart from “Apple Music is having a problem”, so it can give you advice that fits. It carries no data about you, and happens at no other time.

6. Checking for an update

When the app launches, it asks Expo, the service that delivers updates to the app’s code, whether a newer version of that code exists, and downloads it if so. That is how a fix reaches you without a trip to the App Store. The request carries which platform and build of the app you have, and a random installation ID that the update library generates on first launch and keeps, so that an update can be rolled out to some installations before others.

That ID is the one identifier the app’s software sends anywhere. It is made up on your phone, not taken from your device, your Apple ID or anything about you, and it changes if you delete and reinstall the app. RowBeats never sees it, never stores it and never joins it to anything else.

7. Opening the Help pages

The FAQ, Support and Privacy rows on the Settings screen open pages of this website inside the app. That is an ordinary visit to this website, the same as opening it in Safari, and it happens only when you tap one of those rows. These pages load nothing from anyone else: the fonts are served from this site. The Feedback row hands a draft to your own email app; RowBeats itself sends nothing.

8. Playing a song preview

When you tap a song’s cover on the playlist screen (on an album’s playlist, the song itself), RowBeats plays Apple’s 30-second preview of it, fetched from Apple’s servers. Each request names the preview it wants and nothing else, and it happens only when you tap. The preview plays through your phone’s speaker or headphones; nothing is recorded.

9. Reporting a song that was hard to row to

This one happens only if you connect a RowERG and leave “Offer a swap when a song isn’t landing” switched on in Settings. When the app offers you that swap, because your stroke rate stayed well away from the song’s for most of 40 seconds, it tells the RowBeats server which recording it was: the same ID codes as in request 3, and nothing else. Not your stroke rate, not the readings that raised the offer, not whether you took the swap. Your rowing numbers stay on your phone, as What RowBeats stores says.

Why: a song’s tempo is one number that can be wrong, and a rower drifting off it is the only sign there is. The server counts how many times a recording has been reported, asks FreqBlog for a second tempo, and when the two disagree, keeps the song out of everyone’s playlists until a person has listened to it. What it keeps is a count per recording; there is no record of who reported it, because nothing in the request says.

10. Showing Apple’s subscription offer

If you have no Apple Music subscription and tap Get Apple Music, RowBeats shows Apple’s own offer, which Apple loads and runs. RowBeats adds nothing to it, and when it closes learns only whether you now subscribe, the same check it makes at launch. Where Apple’s offer cannot be shown, the button opens Apple Music’s own sign-up page instead.

Third parties

Who else is involved, and what they receive

RowBeats shares no personal data with anyone. There are no analytics providers, no ad networks and no data brokers. Here is every company involved in running RowBeats, and what each one receives.

Apple Inc.

Receives your searches, plays the music on your device and runs its own subscription offer. Apple’s handling of that is governed by Apple’s privacy policy, which provides protection of user data equal to or greater than this policy requires. Your relationship with Apple Music is your own; RowBeats is not a party to it and receives nothing about your account.

Expo

Delivers updates to the app’s code. When the app checks for one, Expo receives the platform and build you have and the random installation ID described under Every request RowBeats makes. That ID identifies an installation, not a person: Expo cannot tell who you are from it, and RowBeats never joins it to anything. Expo’s handling of it is governed by Expo’s privacy policy, which provides protection of user data equal to or greater than this policy requires.

ReccoBeats

Receives ID codes for recordings and returns how fast they are. It gets no personal data of any kind from RowBeats, so there is nothing about you for it to protect, store or misuse. See reccobeats.com for their own terms.

FreqBlog

When ReccoBeats has no entry for a recording, rates it as very quiet, gives it a tempo that the RowBeats check of the song’s preview clip disagrees with, or a recording has been reported as hard to row to (request 9), the RowBeats server asks FreqBlog, a second tempo service, using the same ID code and nothing else. Your phone never contacts FreqBlog; the server does, and it sends no personal data because it holds none. See freqblog.com for their own terms.

Hosting providers

This website, the RowBeats server and the RowBeats mailbox run on commercial hosting services. Like any web host, they may keep their own records of traffic in order to run and protect their systems. They are bound by their own published privacy terms, which provide protection of user data equal to or greater than this policy requires. RowBeats sends them no personal data of its own. This website loads nothing from anyone else: no fonts, scripts, images or embeds from a third party, so visiting it tells nobody but its host. Its App Store links carry a label naming this website, so that Apple can tell RowBeats how many downloads, in total, began here. Apple reports totals, never who, and only if you tap one of those links.

The RowBeats server

What the server knows about you

Nothing that identifies you. It answers questions about music, and holds no record of the people asking.

No accounts, no profiles

There is no user record on the server, and nothing it holds is linked to a person, a device or a phone. It cannot tell one rower from another, and it is not built to.

Server records

The server notes which page was asked for and whether it worked. It does not record IP addresses. These entries contain no personal data.

Rate limiting

Your IP address is held in memory for one minute, so that one caller cannot overwhelm the service, and is cleared from memory within a minute of that. It is never written to disk, never stored in a database, and never used for anything else.

Not collected

What RowBeats never asks for

RowBeats requests exactly two iOS permissions: Apple Music, and Bluetooth if you want to connect an ERG. It asks for nothing else, so there is nothing else to opt out of.

• No location. Never requested, never used.
• No photos, camera, microphone, contacts or calendars.
• No Apple Health data is read, and none is written.
• No name, email address, date of birth or payment details.
• No advertising ID and no tracking across apps. There are no ads in RowBeats and no ad networks in it, so it never has to ask permission to track you.
• No analytics of any kind. RowBeats does not count screens, sessions, taps or workouts.
• Bluetooth is for the ERG only. It is used to find and read a Concept2 PM5 and for nothing else. No beacons, no proximity, no other devices.

Retention

How long each thing is kept

Your preferences, on your device

Until you change them or delete the app. There is no copy anywhere else.

Your last workout, on your device

Only kept while Remember my selections is on. Replaced by the next workout you build, and deleted the moment you turn the switch off or delete the app.

Whether you have opened RowBeats before, on your device

Until you delete the app. Clear history leaves it, because it is not a history: it holds no dates and nothing you played.

Your last playlist and the genres you have rowed to (with how many workouts in each), on your device

Until you start another workout (which replaces the playlist and moves its genres to the front), tap Clear history in Settings, or delete the app.

Your play history, on your device

Up to three months. RowBeats deletes older entries, titles included, as it records new plays. The choice under Recently played in Settings (one week, two weeks, one month by default, or three months) only decides how far back RowBeats looks when it leaves songs out, so changing it deletes nothing. Clear history removes all of it.

Songs you swapped away, on your device

Until you let a song back, clear the list from Settings or delete the app. This one is deliberately kept rather than aged out: a song you refused on the machine stays refused until you say otherwise.

The remembered ERG, on your device

Until you connect a different monitor or delete the app.

The installation ID, on your device

Until you delete the app. Expo’s own records of it are kept under Expo’s policy, not this one.

Server records

Kept only as long as they are useful for running the service. No personal data.

Your IP address

Held in memory for a minute and cleared within another. Never written down.

Your control

Withdrawing permission and deleting your data

The rest

Children, changes and contact