The short version: Slipstream Runner has no accounts, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Everything you record stays on your own devices: your phone, and your watch if you use the Wear OS app. We (the developer) don’t collect, receive or sell any of your personal data, including heart rate.
This policy explains how the Slipstream Runner app for Android, Wear OS and iPhone (“the app”, including the Wear OS watch app) handles information. The app is made by Mark Karas, publishing as Polymorphic Lightning (“we,” “us”). If you have questions, email support@PolymorphicLightning.com.
What the app uses, and why
To measure your runs, the app asks for permission to use location, motion and fitness activity, and (in the Wear OS watch app only) heart rate. You can refuse or withdraw any permission in your phone’s or watch’s settings, though the app can’t track a session outdoors without location.
Location (GPS)
The app uses your precise location while a session is running to measure speed and distance. To keep measuring when your screen is off or the phone is in your pocket, the app runs a tracking service with a visible notification during a session. Location is processed on your phone to calculate your stats. The app keeps the speed and distance results, not a record of where you went, and location is never sent to us.
Motion and fitness activity
The app reads your phone’s motion sensors to count steps and calculate cadence (steps per minute). On a watch, it uses the watch’s step counter for cadence and, in Indoor mode, to estimate speed and distance from your steps. This data is processed on your device and is not sent to us.
Heart rate (Wear OS watch app)
With Pro, the watch app reads your heart rate from the watch’s heart-rate sensor, through the watch’s built-in Health Services. It reads heart rate only during a run you start, and stops when you end the run. It never reads heart rate in the background or outside a run.
Your current and maximum heart rate are shown on the watch. The run’s heart-rate readings are saved with that run and sent to the app on your phone (see Your watch and your phone), where they appear as a heart-rate graph and maximum in History and in your CSV export. Heart-rate data is never sent to us, used for advertising, or shared with anyone. You can turn off heart-rate access at any time in your watch’s settings; the app keeps working without it.
Voice output
Spoken callouts and coaching are produced by your phone’s or watch’s built-in text-to-speech engine.
Your watch and your phone
When you record a run on the watch, the watch sends it (stats, speed graph and heart-rate readings) to the Slipstream Runner app on your phone. Your coaching settings are kept in step between the two, so a change made on either one carries over to the other. While the phone app is open nearby, the watch can also send the text of its spoken coaching, such as “6.2,” to your phone, so it plays through the headphones connected to your phone.
This uses Wear OS’s built-in data sync, provided by Google Play services. It normally goes directly between your watch and phone over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. When the two aren’t directly connected, Google Play services may relay it through Google’s servers, under Google’s privacy policy. We don’t receive any of it. Once your phone has received a run, it is removed from the watch’s sync queue.
What is stored, and where
- Your sessions and history, including stats, graphs and heart-rate readings, and your settings are saved only in the app’s private storage on your phone.
- On the watch, the app keeps a run only until it reaches your phone, plus its own settings.
- If your phone’s own backup is turned on (Google backup on Android, iCloud on iPhone), your phone may include this app data in that backup. That backup is controlled by your device settings and by Google or Apple, not by us.
- We operate no servers for the app and have no copy of your data.
Sharing and export
When you choose to share a session or export your history to CSV, the app creates the file on your phone and hands it to the app you pick, such as email or a messaging app. Nothing is shared unless you do this yourself.
Purchases
The pro one-time purchase is handled entirely by Google Play or the Apple App Store. We never see your payment details. The app only checks with the store whether Pro is active on your account. The store’s own privacy policy covers your purchase information.
Store services
On Android, the app may use Google Play services to check for app updates and to show the standard Google Play prompt to rate the app. These features are provided by Google under Google’s privacy policy.
What we don’t do
- No account or sign-up is needed, and we don’t ask for your name or email in the app.
- No advertising, and no advertising identifiers.
- No analytics, crash-reporting or tracking tools.
- We don’t sell, rent or share personal data with anyone.
Deleting your data
You’re in control. Delete individual sessions in the app’s History screen, or remove everything by uninstalling the app, which deletes its data from your phone. Uninstalling the watch app deletes its data from your watch. Because we hold no copy of your data, there is nothing for us to delete on our side. If you emailed us, you can ask us to delete that email.
Children
The app is not directed at children under 13, and it does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone.
If you email us
If you contact support, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to include. We use it only to reply to you and don’t add you to any mailing list.
Changes to this policy
If the way the app handles data changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top.
Contact
Mark Karas (Polymorphic Lightning)
support@PolymorphicLightning.com