Yoink — Privacy Policy

Effective date: 18 July 2026

Yoink is a digital business card app ("Yoink", "we", "us", "the developer"). This policy explains, in plain language, what information Yoink handles, where it goes, and the choices you have. The short version: your information stays yours — it lives on your device and in your own private iCloud, we operate no server of our own, we do not track you, and we never sell your data. The single narrow exception — a temporary photo preview while your Connect code is on screen — is described below under "How we share your information."

What Yoink is

Yoink lets you build one digital business card and swap it with people you meet in person, phone to phone. Cards you receive are saved as your private network of contacts, with the date and (optionally) the place you met.

Information we collect and handle

Your card. The details you choose to add — your name, headline, bio, city and country, education, awards, social/website/email/phone links, a photo, and a card color. Stored on your device and synced through your own private iCloud (see "Where your information is stored").

Your contacts. The cards other people share with you in person, plus the date you met and — only if you allow location access — the approximate place you met, used for your private map. This is captured at coarse accuracy (roughly 100 metres), only once at the moment an exchange completes, and only while you are using the app. Stored on your device and synced through your own private iCloud. It is never shared with us or anyone else.

Sign in with Apple. To keep your card tied to you, Yoink uses Sign in with Apple. Apple gives the app an identifier and, if you allow it, your name and email. This information is stored only on your device. It is not uploaded, not synced to iCloud, and never shared.

Purchases (optional tips). If you choose to leave an optional tip ("Buy Me a Coffee"), the purchase is handled entirely by Apple's App Store. Tips are purely optional, unlock nothing, and Apple does not share your payment details or identity with us. We receive no personal information from a tip.

App settings. Your theme, sound, and haptic preferences — stored on your device only.

Yoink does not collect analytics, does not track you across apps or websites, contains no advertising, uses no advertising or attribution identifiers (no IDFA), and integrates no third-party SDKs.

Where your information is stored

On your device. Your card, contacts, sign-in identity, and settings are stored locally on your iPhone. The app works fully offline.

In your own private iCloud (Apple CloudKit). So your card and contacts follow you to a new iPhone, Yoink syncs them through your private iCloud account using Apple's CloudKit. This data lives in Apple's iCloud under your Apple ID, in your private database, with its contents encrypted. The developer cannot see, access, or retrieve this data — there is no server that we operate, and nothing is sent to us or to any third party. If you are not signed into iCloud, the app simply works on that one device. Your Sign in with Apple identity and app settings are not synced — they stay on the device.

Apple's handling of iCloud data is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy.

How we use your information

We use the information above only to make the app work for you: to display and let you edit your card, to save and show the contacts you exchange and where/when you met them on your private map, to sync your own data between your devices through your iCloud, and to keep your card tied to your sign-in. We do not use your information for advertising, profiling, or analytics, and we do not combine it with data from other sources.

How we share your information

Sharing only happens when you choose it.

In-person exchange (direct, device-to-device). When you swap cards in person, the two phones connect directly to each other over a short-range, encrypted link (Apple's MultipeerConnectivity — like AirDrop). Both people must explicitly agree before any card is revealed. The exchange never passes through a server, and no internet connection is required for it.

One exception, for the link preview. While your Connect code is on screen, Yoink may temporarily upload your profile photo (and nothing else) to Apple's CloudKit servers. This exists so that someone who scans your code without having Yoink installed sees your photo on the download page instead of a generic icon. The photo is stored under a random, one-time session code, is not linked to your name or identity, and is deleted as soon as you close the Connect screen (and swept on the next app launch if the app was force-quit while a code was showing). This is the only piece of your information ever stored where the developer could technically access it, and the only reason it is disclosed on the App Store privacy label. If you have no profile photo, or no internet connection, nothing is uploaded and everything still works.

No sale, no third parties. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers, data brokers, analytics providers, or any third-party SDK — because the app contains none.

We may disclose information only if required by law (for example, a valid legal request). In practice we hold almost none of your data to disclose: your card and contacts are in your own private iCloud, which we cannot access.

Third-party links and feedback

Yoink includes a "Suggestion Box" in Settings that opens an external feedback website, Canny (markockidev.canny.io), in your browser. If you choose to post or vote there, your activity on that site is governed by Canny's own privacy policy, not this one. We do not send Canny any information about you from within the app; opening the link simply takes you to their website. Your card also contains links you add (for example to your social profiles); tapping one opens that third party's site under their own policy.

Tracking and advertising

Yoink does not track you. We do not use the Advertising Identifier (IDFA), do not integrate any advertising, attribution, or analytics networks, and do not build a profile of you. Because the app performs no tracking as Apple defines it, no App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt is shown — there is nothing to request permission for.

Device permissions

Yoink asks only for what a feature needs, and every permission is optional:

• Camera — to scan another person's QR code so you can receive their card. The camera is used only to read QR codes; no photos or video are captured or stored.
• Bluetooth & Local Network — to connect directly to a nearby phone during an in-person exchange.
• Photo library — only if you choose a photo for your card. Yoink uses the system photo picker, so it sees only the single image you select, not your library.
• Location — only when you complete an exchange, to remember approximately where you met someone on your private map. Location is captured at coarse accuracy, only while you use the app, and is never shared.

You can change any of these anytime in the iOS Settings app, and the app keeps working without them.

Data retention

Your data remains until you delete it (a contact, or your whole account) or delete the app. Deleting your account removes the data from your device and deletes the synced copy from your iCloud. Deleting the app removes the local copy from that device; any copy in your iCloud is removed when you delete your account or through your iCloud settings. The temporary Connect link-preview photo is deleted automatically when you close the Connect screen (and swept on the next launch if the app was force-quit while a code was showing).

Your rights and choices

You are in control of your information. From the app you can at any time:

• Edit or clear any information on your card.
• Delete individual contacts from your network.
• Log out, which keeps your card and contacts on your device and in your iCloud so you can sign back in later.
• Delete your account, which removes your card, contacts, and sign-in identity from your device and deletes the synced copy from your iCloud.
• Manage permissions (camera, location, Bluetooth/local network, photos) in the iOS Settings app.

Because your card and contacts live on your device and in your own private iCloud — not on any server we operate — you already have direct access to, and control over, your information at all times.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the UK, or Switzerland (GDPR/UK GDPR). You have the rights to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and port your personal data, and to object to processing. The information you enter is processed on the basis of your consent and to provide the app's core functionality (a contract with you); the temporary Connect photo preview is processed on the basis of your consent (shown only while you choose to display a Connect code) and our legitimate interest in making the shared link useful. You may exercise these rights directly in the app (edit, delete contacts, delete account) or by contacting us. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

If you are a California resident (CCPA/CPRA). In the past 12 months we have not sold or "shared" (for cross-context behavioral advertising) any personal information, and we do not do so — there is nothing to opt out of. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that would require an opt-out. You have the right to know what personal information is processed, to request deletion, and to not be discriminated against for exercising your rights. You can delete your information directly in the app, or contact us. We do not knowingly process the personal information of consumers under 16 for sale or sharing.

Children's privacy

Yoink is not directed at children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country) and does not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will address it.

International data transfers

We operate no server of our own. The data that leaves your device does so only through Apple's infrastructure — your private iCloud/CloudKit database (under your Apple ID) and, for the temporary link preview, Apple's public CloudKit servers. Apple may process and store this data on servers located in various countries; that processing is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy and Apple's own safeguards for international transfers. If you use the app from outside your home country, your information is handled by Apple accordingly.

Data security

We rely on strong, built-in protections:

• Your on-device data is protected by iOS's standard app data protection.
• In-person exchanges travel over an encrypted peer-to-peer link and are revealed only after both people consent.
• The contents of your card and contacts in your private iCloud database are encrypted, and only you (and your own devices) can read them — the developer cannot.
• The one temporary exception, the Connect link-preview photo, is stored under a random one-time code that is not tied to your identity, and is deleted when you close the Connect screen.

No method of storage or transmission is ever 100% secure, but because we hold no central database of user data, there is no developer-side store of your information to breach.

Changes to this policy

If we change how information is handled, we will update this policy and its effective date before the change ships, and post the updated version at the URL above.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Email markockidev@icloud.com.