Privacy policy

Who we are

Hivetime is an iPhone app and web service operated by Orb Apps LLC ("Hivetime", "we", "us"). This policy covers the Hivetime app, booking pages at hivetime.app/b/, and this website. Hivetime is offered only to people in the United States.

What we collect

Information you give us

• Account details: your email address, a password (stored only as a secure hash by our sign-in provider, never readable by us), and your display name. If you use Sign in with Apple, Apple may give us a private relay email address instead of your real one, and your first name if you choose to share it. We keep the Apple account ID that links your Apple sign-in to Hivetime, and an encrypted token from Apple that we use only to end Sign in with Apple for Hivetime when you delete your account.
• Family profiles: the names, roles (parent, adult, teen or child), birth month and year, and color of the people you add to your family. We use birth month and year only to apply the age rules you set, such as when a child takes over their own calendar.
• Calendar and planning content: events, locations you type in, notes, reminders, tasks, lists and booking links you create, and scheduled messages you write to family members who use Hivetime.
• Feedback: bug reports and feature requests you send from the app, including any screenshot you attach and, unless you turn it off, the app version, device model, iOS version, and language and region settings.
• Messages to support: what you write when you email us.
• Referral code: if a parent enters a referral code from one of our partners (such as a creator who posts about Hivetime) when starting your family or on the plans screen, we keep it with your family and the date it was added. It can't be changed or removed in the app. Email us and we'll remove it and its payment record, or it's deleted with your family, apart from the record described under how long we keep it. If you open a referral link, the app keeps the code on your iPhone to fill it in for you, and doesn't send it to us until a parent adds it.

Information from services you connect

• Google and Microsoft Outlook calendars: in this version of the app, these come in through Apple Calendar (below), once you add the account in your iPhone's Settings app. If you later connect one to Hivetime directly, we get read-only access to its events so we can show them in Hivetime. We store the access tokens encrypted and never write to those calendars.
• Apple Calendar: if you allow it, each time you connect Apple Calendar or save which of its calendars to bring in, the app copies the next two weeks of events (up to 200) from the calendars on your iPhone you chose, which can include Google or Outlook accounts added there, to Hivetime, with their titles, times and locations. (Earlier versions of the app copied every calendar on your iPhone.) Turning a calendar off removes its events from Hivetime. Your choice of calendars stays on your iPhone. It doesn't read your calendars in the background.
• Subscribed calendar links: if you add a school or team calendar link, we download that calendar on a schedule.
• Your location, only if you turn it on: with Share my location on, the app sends your precise location while it's open, and with "Always" allowed, when you've moved about 500 meters. We keep only your latest spot, show it only to your family, and stop showing it after 12 hours (it's removed from our database within a few days, and from backups within 35 days), or right away when you turn sharing off, leave the family or delete your account. It's never sent to the AI helpers. Sharing stops by itself after about a week without a spot from your iPhone. Each person turns it on for themselves; nobody can turn it on for someone else, and it's never available to kids under 13. Drive times for "may be late" are worked out on each viewer's iPhone with Apple Maps, which gets the event's place and the person's latest spot.
• App Store purchases: Apple tells us whether your family's subscription is active, with transaction identifiers and dates. We never see your payment card. If your family used a referral code, then the first time your family pays with its own subscription (not one shared through Apple Family Sharing, and not one already counted for a code), we keep the date and the App Store's id for that subscription with the code, and whether Apple refunds it. If Apple refunds it and your family later pays from a different Apple Account, that payment replaces it. For test purchases, such as in beta versions of the app or during Apple's app review, we keep only the first one's date and id, and tests never count toward a partner's payment.

For each school or team calendar link you choose what your family sees: the details, just "Busy", or nothing. You choose the same for Apple Calendar in Settings, then Connected calendars; it starts as just "Busy".

Information collected automatically

• Device and notification data: a push notification token, the app version and the type of build, so we can send the alerts you turned on.
• Service logs: technical records of requests to our servers, such as the time, the feature used, whether it worked and how long it took. We use them to keep Hivetime running and secure.
• Crash reports: if the app crashes or freezes, iOS gives it a technical report showing where in the app it went wrong, never your family's calendar. The app sends it to us with the app version, device model, iOS version, and language and region settings, linked to your account, so we can fix the problem. Turn this off in Settings, then Help and feedback, with Send crash reports.

Apart from location sharing you turn on yourself, we don't collect your precise location. We don't collect your contacts, browsing history or advertising identifiers, and the app contains no advertising or third-party analytics code.

Information from booking guests

When someone books a time through a family's booking link, we collect the name, email or phone number, and note they enter, and share them with that family so they can confirm the booking.

What stays on your iPhone

Some things you add are kept only on the iPhone you add them on. The app doesn't upload them to Hivetime (unless they show in a screenshot you attach to feedback):

• Profile photos, themes and their background photos.
• Full birthdays (Hivetime's servers keep only the birth month and year), your family's home address, and how early you chose to be reminded before events.
• Memories: photos you add to past events, plus that event's title, date, place and people, so a memory stays after the event leaves the calendar. Memories you add aren't shared with your family, shown on booking pages or sent to AI. Deleting an event doesn't remove its memory; remove it from Memories.

iCloud backup: so a new iPhone gets these back, the app keeps a copy of them in a hidden Hivetime folder in your own iCloud Drive, one for each family and person. Apple stores it in your iCloud account, and Hivetime's servers never receive it. The backup belongs to the Apple Account signed in on that iPhone. Apple encrypts iCloud Drive, and it's end-to-end encrypted only if you turn on Apple's Advanced Data Protection. It's on by default. Turn it off in Settings, then Privacy and data, with Back up to iCloud. When you turn it off, delete your account in the app, or leave or are removed from the family, the app also deletes the copy from iCloud. When you sign out, you choose whether to keep it in iCloud for next time or remove it. To delete any copy yourself, open the Settings app, tap your name, then iCloud, then Manage Storage (on some versions, Storage), then Hivetime. Like everything on your iPhone, these may also be in your iPhone's own iCloud Backup if you use it; Apple manages those backups.

Text reminders: you can also schedule a text to anyone you pick from Contacts. The app keeps their name, number or email and your message on your iPhone. When it's time, it reminds you with a notification showing their name and your message, and a tap opens Messages with the text ready for you to send. If Messages isn't available, the text is copied instead, so it's on your clipboard. Hivetime never sends a text for you. Text reminders aren't in the Hivetime iCloud backup (like everything on your iPhone, they may be in your iPhone's own iCloud Backup). Each one stays until you send it or delete it, sign out, delete your account, or leave or are removed from the family.

How we use it

• To provide Hivetime: show and sync your family's calendar, send reminders and notifications, run booking links, and keep your subscription active.
• To run the AI helpers you or your family turn on.
• To answer support requests and fix bugs you report.
• To protect Hivetime and our users, for example by limiting abuse and investigating security problems.
• To follow the law and enforce our terms.
• To count referral-code sign-ups: we measure which partner's referral code sent a family that pays, so we can pay that partner. Apple's App Store reports can also show us totals for each partner's link, such as downloads and sales. Partners see counts only (see who we share it with), and none of this is used for ads or shared with advertisers.

We don't use your information for advertising, and we don't build profiles of you for anyone else.

AI helpers

Hivetime's AI helpers (find dates in a photo or a message, recipe to grocery list, plan with AI and suggestions) use Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic, running on Amazon Bedrock inside our Amazon Web Services account. Quick add reads what you type on your iPhone and doesn't send it anywhere.

• Nothing you give an AI helper goes to the AI model until you allow it. The first time you open an AI helper, Hivetime asks whether to use Hive AI in the cloud. If you choose Only on this iPhone, nothing is sent from the helpers you use on that iPhone (see below for what others run). You can change this at any time in Settings, then Hive AI.
• When you use a helper, we send what you gave it (a few words, a link or a photo) to the model. A school calendar photo goes only when AI and that helper are on for everyone it's for (everyone in the family if nobody is picked); otherwise it's read on your iPhone and never sent. To find dates in a message (one you share to Hivetime, paste, type, take a screenshot of, or send with Siri or Shortcuts), the words of a screenshot are first read on your iPhone. The words go to the model only under the same rule as a photo, and only if they don't mention a child, or anyone with AI or this helper off, by the first name saved in Hivetime (a nickname isn't caught). When they don't go, they're read on your iPhone. A message you share to Hivetime or send with Siri or Shortcuts waits on your iPhone until Hivetime opens it and reads it right away (it keeps the 5 most recent). One switch, Find dates in photos and messages, covers photos and messages. When a helper needs to know who's who, it also gets the first name, family role (parent, adult, teen or child), age group and, for teens and kids, age of family members who have that helper turned on. The result comes back to you to review before anything is saved.
• Suggestions also get the coming week's events and the open tasks you can see (any due date, or none), but only ones where whoever added them and everyone on them have suggestions turned on (titles, times, places, travel time, due dates and who's on each). That includes tasks not assigned to anyone. An event or task added by, or with, anyone who has AI or suggestions off is left out. Private events you're not on are sent only as "Busy" with their start and end times. Titles are sent as typed, so a title can mention someone even if their AI is off.
• Only on this iPhone covers the helpers used on that iPhone. Plans and suggestions another family member runs in the cloud still include you while AI is on for you; a parent can turn it off for you in the Family tab.
• Amazon Bedrock doesn't use your inputs or results to train models and doesn't share them with Anthropic. We don't train models on your data either.
• School calendar photos are deleted as soon as the AI has read them, and our storage automatically removes any leftover copy within two days.
• When you share a recipe link with the cloud on, our server downloads that web page to read the ingredients, and the recipe website sees our server (it identifies itself as HivetimeBot), not your phone. With Only on this iPhone, or if the cloud request fails, your iPhone opens the page itself.
• Bug reports and feature requests you type are sorted by the same AI model, whatever you chose for Hive AI, after we automatically remove common personal details (such as your family's names, email addresses and phone numbers). Please leave other private details out of what you write. Crash reports aren't sent to it.
• Parents can turn AI off for the whole family, or single helpers off for themselves, in Settings, then Hive AI, and turn AI off for any person in the Family tab. AI is off for children under 13 unless a parent turns it on. Turning AI off for a person keeps their profile, and every event and task they're on, out of it.

AI can make mistakes. Check dates and details before you rely on them.

Who in your family sees what

Hivetime is built for sharing within a family, so people in your Hivetime family can see much of what you add. You control the rest:

• Events marked private show to others only as "Busy". Teens can keep private events once they reach the age a parent sets.
• Individual tasks and lists are visible only to the person they're for and whoever added them. Parents can also see those of a child they manage.
• Parents can see and manage the information of children under the age they set (13 by default).
• Memories, profile photos and themes stay on the iPhone they were added on, so other family members don't see them on their own iPhones.
• A scheduled message goes, with your first name, to the people you pick who have scheduled-message notifications on. In the app, only you see the ones you're waiting to send, and you can cancel them.
• Connected calendars share only the level of detail their owner chooses (details, just "Busy", or nothing); a parent chooses for anyone in the family without a login. Apple Calendar starts as "Busy".

Booking pages

A booking link lets anyone who has it see open times and request a booking. A family-only link also needs its family code, which is included when you share it, so anyone you or your family pass both to can use it. Booking pages show the link's title, description, length and location, and open times. Links without a code also show the first names of the adults being booked. Booking pages never show children's photos, never name a child as a person being booked, and never show the details of your other events. The title, description and location are whatever you type, so leave out anything you don't want visitors to see. Visitors to a family-only link who don't have the code see only the title, description, length, location, time zone and whether a parent must approve, not your open times. You can turn a link off at any time.

Who we share it with

We don't sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We share it only in these cases:

Our service providers may use your information only to provide their services to us. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect someone's safety, to protect our rights, or as part of a merger or sale of our business (in which case this policy keeps applying to your information).

How long we keep it

We may keep limited records longer when the law requires it, such as information about a legal claim.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Calendar access tokens and Sign in with Apple tokens are encrypted with a dedicated key. Passwords are handled by Amazon Cognito and are never visible to us. Access to production systems is limited to the people who run Hivetime. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong password and tell us right away at privacy@hivetime.app if you think your account has been compromised.

Your choices

• See and download your data: in the app, go to Settings, then Privacy and data, then Download my data. What stays on your iPhone isn't in the download, since it's already on your iPhone. The download includes your family's referral code and, for parents, its payment record.
• Correct it: edit your profile, events, tasks and lists in the app at any time.
• Delete it: delete anything you created, remove a child's profile, or delete your whole account in Settings, then Privacy and data. See how to delete your account.
• AI: turn helpers off for the whole family in Settings, then Hive AI, or for one person in the Family tab.
• Notifications: choose how early you're reminded before events, and whether you get time to leave alerts and scheduled messages, in Settings, then Notifications.
• Connected calendars: to remove your Apple Calendar or a school or team calendar link from Hivetime, swipe left on it in Settings, then Connected calendars. Parents can do the same for anyone in the family without a login. For anything else, email us. You can also turn off Hivetime's access to your calendars in the iPhone Settings app, under Privacy & Security, then Calendars.

You can also email privacy@hivetime.app to ask for any of these. We'll answer within 30 days and may need to confirm it's you first.

State privacy rights

Depending on where you live, such as California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and other states with privacy laws, you may have the right to know what personal information we hold about you, to get a copy, to correct it, to delete it, and to opt out of its sale, sharing for targeted advertising, or profiling. We offer these rights to everyone in the United States, whether or not your state requires it.

• We don't sell or "share" personal information as those laws define it, and we don't use it for targeted advertising or for profiling that has legal or similarly significant effects.
• We don't use sensitive personal information for purposes that would require offering a right to limit it.
• You can use an authorized agent. We'll ask the agent for proof that you gave them permission.
• We won't treat you differently for using your rights.
• If we deny your request, you can appeal by replying to our answer. If you're not satisfied with the appeal, you can contact your state attorney general.

To make a request, email privacy@hivetime.app from the email address on your account. Because anyone can fake the sender of an email, we confirm each request by writing to the email address on your account, and we only send copies of your data to that address. If you use Sign in with Apple with a hidden email, put that hidden address in your email (it ends in @privaterelay.appleid.com). We'll write to it, and Apple forwards our message to you. Booked a time through a family's link but don't have an account? Email us from the address you booked with, and we'll confirm by writing back to it.

Hivetime doesn't respond to Do Not Track signals because we don't track you across websites. We honor Global Privacy Control signals, though there is nothing for them to opt you out of.

Children

Children under 13 can't create their own Hivetime account. A parent can add a child to the family and manage the child's calendar. Before a parent adds a child under 13, we ask the parent to agree to our children's privacy notice, which explains what we collect about children, how it's used, and how a parent can review or delete it.

This website

hivetime.app doesn't use cookies, analytics or advertising tools. Like any website, our hosting provider (Amazon CloudFront) receives your IP address and browser details to deliver pages and protect against abuse; we don't use them to identify you. When you send a booking request or enter a booking link passcode here, or look up an invite code in the app, our servers also keep your IP address for a few days in counters that limit repeated tries, and then delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use information we already have, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect, and we'll ask again for a parent's consent where the law requires it.

Contact us