Helios UV — Privacy Policy
Summary
Helios UV is a UV index tracking app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. To deliver the UV forecast, Helios processes the categories of data listed below. The short version of what's different about Helios:
- Kludge Ltd does not operate a server. Data processed by Helios stays on your device or goes directly to Apple frameworks (WeatherKit, iCloud, StoreKit). No Kludge-operated server receives data from your device. Apple may make aggregated crash, performance, and signpost diagnostics available to Kludge Ltd through App Store Connect, and you may choose to share individual diagnostics with us via TestFlight or system-level diagnostics sharing — those Apple-mediated channels are described in the "Crash data & performance data" section below.
- No third-party SDKs. Helios contains no advertising, analytics, attribution, or crash-reporting SDKs.
- No tracking. Helios does not link your activity to you across other apps or websites and does not present an App Tracking Transparency prompt.
The categories below align with the disclosures in
App Store → Helios UV → App Privacy
and with Helios's bundled
PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy manifest.
Who we are
Helios UV is published by Kludge Ltd ("we", "us"). This policy describes how Helios handles information on your Apple devices and what Helios sends to Apple's frameworks on your behalf. It applies to all platforms the app runs on: iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
Data Helios processes for app functionality
The categories below cover the data Helios processes on your device.
For transparency we list both (a) data that Apple's privacy framework
treats as "collected" — disclosed in
App Store → Helios UV → App Privacy
and Helios's bundled PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy manifest
because it leaves the device or links to your Apple ID — and (b)
local-only data that never leaves your device but is worth describing
so you understand what Helios processes. Each subsection notes which
bucket it belongs to. All of it is used solely for app functionality,
none of it is used for tracking, and none of it is transmitted to a
server operated by Kludge Ltd.
Precise & coarse location
| What |
When you grant Location Services to Helios, your latitude and
longitude from Apple's CoreLocation framework, plus a place name
optionally produced by CoreLocation's reverse geocoder. When you
opt out of automatic location, Helios uses the latitude and
longitude of an Apple Maps search result you selected via
MKLocalSearch together with that result's display
name.
|
|---|---|
| Why | To request the UV index forecast for your location and to display the location name in the app. The forecast cannot be retrieved without coordinates. |
| Where it goes |
|
| Linked to you? | Yes (in App Store nutrition-label terms). Linked because a location change can correlate with the Apple ID-tied subscription status. The data still does not leave Apple's ecosystem. |
| How to revoke | Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Helios UV → Never. Helios will then use only the location name you've entered manually (or none, if you haven't). |
Search input
| What | Text you type into Helios's location-search field. |
|---|---|
| Why | To find a place matching your query so you can set it as your manual location. |
| Where it goes |
Your query is passed to Apple's MKLocalSearch
framework, which performs the lookup using Apple Maps. The query
and any selected result appear in Helios's local diagnostic logs
as redacted private fields. Neither the query nor the result is
transmitted to Kludge Ltd.
|
App settings
| What | Your preferences inside Helios: skin type, target UV index, color palette, icon mode, display mode, notification preferences, recent searches, app theme. |
|---|---|
| Why | To remember your choices between launches. |
| Where it goes |
Stored locally on each device in a property list under
~/Library/Application Support/. A narrow subset —
skin type and target UV index —
is mirrored to your
Apple iCloud Key-Value Store via
NSUbiquitousKeyValueStore so the same two preferences
appear on your other Apple devices signed in to the same Apple ID.
Apple's iCloud terms apply to that synchronization. Every other
preference is local-only on each device.
|
Purchase history
| What | Whether you hold an active "Helios UV Pro" subscription, and which tier (Monthly / Yearly / Family Yearly). |
|---|---|
| Why | To unlock Pro-tier features and to honor the 7-day free trial entitlement. |
| Where it goes | Subscription purchases are handled entirely by Apple StoreKit. Apple tells Helios whether you have an active entitlement; Apple handles payment, billing, renewal, and refunds. Helios does not see your payment details, your Apple ID, or any personally identifiable billing information. Apple's privacy policy applies to your purchase. |
Crash data & performance data
| What |
App responsiveness, energy use, disk-write counts, hang durations,
crash signatures — collected on-device by Apple's MetricKit
framework — plus event logs via the iOS unified logging system
(os.Logger),
os_signpost-emitted refresh-path / weather-error /
widget-timeline aggregates, and counters of how many times Helios
called Apple WeatherKit on this device.
|
|---|---|
| Why | To support Helios's stability on your device and let us diagnose regressions in shipped builds. These files are kept under Helios's application-support directory and are not surfaced in the production app's UI. |
| Where it goes |
The raw MetricKit JSON snapshots, OSLog event logs, signpost
events, and WeatherKit call counters are kept locally. Helios does
not transmit any of this data to a Kludge-operated server, and
there is no third-party analytics SDK, crash reporter, or
attribution SDK in any Helios target.
Apple-mediated aggregates (App Store Connect): when you've opted in to "Share With App Developers" under iOS / macOS Analytics & Improvements, Apple aggregates a subset of these signals (anonymized crash backtraces, hang reports, energy and performance metrics, and the signpost aggregates emitted by Helios) and exposes the aggregates to Kludge Ltd through App Store Connect. Apple performs the aggregation and anonymization; the data Kludge Ltd sees through this channel is not tied to your identity. TestFlight beta feedback: if you submit feedback from inside the TestFlight app, Apple may attach a screenshot and a diagnostic bundle and forward both to Kludge Ltd through App Store Connect. User-initiated support attachments: if you email a sysdiagnose, Helios log archive, or crash report directly to a Kludge Ltd support address, that submission goes to Kludge Ltd without Apple-side aggregation or anonymization — the contents may include device identifiers, redacted-private log fields, and other diagnostic detail Apple would normally filter. We use those attachments only to investigate the specific issue you reported. |
| Linked to you? | No. Helios's diagnostic data is collected per-installation and cannot be correlated with your identity by Helios. |
Notifications
| What | Local notifications scheduled by Helios when the UV index crosses your threshold or reaches dangerous levels. |
|---|---|
| Why | To alert you about UV conditions you've asked to be alerted about. |
| Where it goes | Scheduled and delivered locally by iOS / macOS / watchOS. Helios does not use Apple Push Notification service (APNs) and does not transmit any data when a local notification fires. |
| How to revoke | Settings → Notifications → Helios UV → Allow Notifications: off, or within Helios under the Notifications section. |
Third-party services
Helios uses the following Apple-provided services on your behalf. Each is a first-party Apple framework with its own privacy terms.
| Service | What's shared | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Apple WeatherKit — data sources | Your latitude and longitude | To fetch the UV index forecast for your location. |
| Apple Maps / MKLocalSearch | Your location search query (when used) | To resolve your typed query into a coordinate. |
| Apple iCloud Key-Value Store | Skin type and target UV index only | To synchronize those two settings across your Apple devices. |
| Apple StoreKit | Subscription purchase + entitlement state | To process and verify Pro-tier subscriptions. |
| Apple Watch Connectivity | Your location and current UV state, transferred directly between your own iPhone and Apple Watch | To keep the Watch in sync with the paired iPhone. |
Helios uses no third-party SDKs that collect or transmit data about you. There are no advertising networks, no analytics services, no third-party crash reporters, and no marketing trackers in any of the Helios apps.
What Helios does NOT do
- No tracking. Helios does not link your activity to you across other apps or websites. We do not request App Tracking Transparency permission because we do not track.
- No accounts. Helios has no user accounts, no sign-in, and no profile.
- No advertising. Helios shows no ads and does not integrate any advertising SDK.
- No third-party analytics. Helios includes no third-party analytics SDK (no Firebase Analytics, no Mixpanel, no Amplitude, no Segment, no Sentry, no Crashlytics, none).
- No data sales. Helios does not sell, rent, or share any data with third parties.
- No Kludge Ltd server. We do not operate a backend that receives data from Helios. The data flows above are either on-device, between your own devices, or directly between your device and Apple.
Data retention & deletion
Helios prunes some of its on-device files automatically: MetricKit telemetry snapshots are removed after roughly 30 days, and the per-day WeatherKit call counter retains roughly 14 days of history. Other local data (settings, the cached UV state, recent searches, OSLog event logs retained by the operating system) stays on the device until Helios is removed.
To erase Helios's on-device data:
- iOS / iPadOS: long-press the Helios icon → Remove App → Delete App. This removes Helios's local plist, application- support directory, App Group container, and MetricKit snapshot files.
-
macOS: drag Helios from
/Applicationsto the Trash and empty it. macOS does not automatically remove files Helios wrote outside the app bundle. To remove those yourself, delete the following in Finder:~/Library/Application Support/Helios-
~/Library/Application Support/HeliosTelemetry -
~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.kludgeltd.helios(the App Group container shared with the Helios widget extension) -
~/Library/Preferences/com.kludgeltd.helios.plistand any~/Library/Preferences/com.kludgeltd.helios.*.plistfiles (system-managed defaults)
- watchOS: remove the Watch app via the iPhone's Watch app, or directly from the Watch home screen.
- tvOS: highlight the Helios icon → press and hold → Delete.
iCloud-synced settings
Helios stores skin type and
target UV index in Apple's iCloud Key-Value Store so
the values follow your Apple ID. Apple's
NSUbiquitousKeyValueStore
does not automatically delete keys when you uninstall Helios from
every device; the values persist in your iCloud account until you
either reinstall Helios and change them, sign out of iCloud, or erase
your iCloud data. You can sign out of iCloud (Settings → Apple ID →
iCloud) or manage Helios's iCloud access there to remove its access to
that storage.
Subscription
Subscriptions are managed entirely by Apple, not Helios. Cancel via Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions → Helios UV Pro on any of your devices.
Your controls
- Location: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Helios UV. You can switch to manual locations only, or disable location access entirely.
- Notifications: Settings → Notifications → Helios UV, or within the Helios Notifications section.
- Subscription: Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions → Helios UV Pro.
- iCloud sync of skin type / target UV: Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → manage Helios's access (or sign out of iCloud entirely).
Children's privacy
Helios is rated for general audiences and is not directed at children under 13. Helios does not knowingly create profiles, target ads, or share data about anyone, including children. The data Helios processes (location, search input, settings, subscription state, on-device diagnostics) is the same for all users and is used solely to deliver the UV forecast on your device. If a child has used Helios and you want their on-device data removed, follow the steps in "Data retention & deletion" above for the relevant platform — on iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS, removing the app clears Helios's local data, while on macOS some files Helios wrote outside the app bundle must be deleted manually (the exact paths are listed in that section). iCloud-stored skin type and target UV can be cleared by signing out of iCloud or following the "iCloud-synced settings" steps above.
Security
Because Kludge Ltd does not operate a server that receives data from Helios, there is no Kludge Ltd database that could be breached. The security of on-device data is determined by Apple's platform sandboxing, which is the standard protection model for App Store apps. The security of data Helios sends to Apple (WeatherKit requests, iCloud sync, MKLocalSearch queries) is determined by Apple's transport and storage practices, which we do not control.
International users & data transfers
Helios is available worldwide via the Apple App Store. When you use Helios, the WeatherKit request containing your latitude and longitude is processed by Apple at a location of Apple's choosing, which may be outside your country of residence. We do not control Apple's infrastructure routing. Apple's privacy terms describe how Apple handles your data when you use their services.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy if Helios's behavior changes — for example, if a future version introduces a new data flow. When we do, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top of this document and, if the change is material (a new category of data or a new third party), we'll surface the change in the app's release notes. Continued use of Helios after a policy update constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.
Contact
Questions about this policy or how Helios handles your data? Email support@kludgeltd.com.