Privacy policy

Effective date: DATE TO BE SET when the policy is published · Covers the Westie Writes app for iPhone, iPad and Mac, and this website.

For Kev to review before publishing: every sentence below was checked against the app’s code on 2026-10-09 (the checks are listed in Website/README.md), but this is not legal advice. Items marked in yellow need your decision: the effective date, the seller identity, the contact address, and whether you want a lawyer to look at the GDPR and children sections. Delete this box and the yellow marks when done.

The short version

Your writing stays in files in your own iCloud Drive or in a folder you choose. We never receive it.
There is no account. You don’t sign in to anything.
The app has no analytics, no advertising and no tracking, and it does not send information about you or your writing to us or to anyone else.
Westie Writes is free. There are no in-app purchases, and nothing is sold.
We collect no data. In Apple’s terms, the App Store privacy label is “Data Not Collected”.

Who we are

Westie Writes is made by Kev O’Callaghan, an individual developer. KEV TO CONFIRM: how you want to be named here as the person responsible for the app, and a postal or trader address if your country’s law requires one. This may need advice from an accountant or lawyer.

Where your writing lives

Westie Writes stores each sheet as a plain Markdown (.md) file. Where those files live is your choice:

Your iCloud Drive, in the app’s own folder. You can see it in the Files app and in Finder.
A folder you pick on your device or in another storage service that appears in Files or Finder.

We run no server for your writing and cannot read it. The app opens and saves those files directly on your device.

What the app keeps on your device

Apart from your files, the app keeps a small amount of information on each device. None of it is sent to us.

A search index. A local database on each device holding sheet text, tags and word counts, so search is quick. It is a cache, kept in the app’s own storage and excluded from device backups, never inside your library. Deleting it (Settings ▸ Library ▸ Search index ▸ Rebuild) just makes the app build it again from your files.
Your preferences. Things like theme, font, text size, reminder settings, whether you have seen the welcome screens, a short list of sheets that have already been offered a rename suggestion, and, if you chose your own folder, the system’s permission bookmark to reach that folder again.
Shared settings for the Share extension. A small area shared between the app and its Share extension on the same device (an App Group) records which library is open, so a shared item can be saved to the right place.

Reminders and notifications

If you give a sheet a due date, the app can remind you. Reminders are local notifications: they are scheduled on your device with the system and fire from there, with no server involved. A reminder shows the sheet’s name and when it is due. The app asks for permission to send notifications only when that is needed, and you can turn reminders off in the app’s Settings or in your device’s notification settings. Reminders are marked Time-Sensitive so they can appear during a Focus, which you can change in your system settings.

The Share extension lets you send a web page link, or selected text, to Westie Writes from Safari or another app. It reads only what you chose to share, shows it to you, and when you press Save writes it into your library as a new sheet (in your Inbox folder). If it cannot reach your library at that moment, it puts the item in a holding folder shared with the app on the same device, and the app saves it into your library the next time it runs. The extension does not use the network.

Network access and PDF export

The app itself makes no network requests: it contains no analytics, advertising or tracking code, no accounts, and no connection to any server of ours. It contains only local code libraries (for the database, Markdown and file-format handling), none of which phone home.

Exporting a sheet as a PDF is done by rendering the sheet as a web page on your device with Apple’s built-in web engine (WebKit), then printing that page to a PDF file. On the Mac, the app’s sandbox settings include “outgoing network connections” because Apple’s web engine will not run in a sandboxed Mac app without it. We use it for nothing else, and the page is built from your sheet on the device with no address of its own, so exporting does not send your writing anywhere.

When you export a sheet to PDF, Westie Writes does not load pictures or any other content from the internet, and it runs no scripts. If a sheet contains a picture that points to an online address (for example ![](https://example.com/photo.png)), the PDF shows a note with the picture’s description instead of loading it. Pictures stored in your library are embedded from your files. Exporting to HTML is different: a saved HTML file keeps such web addresses exactly as you wrote them, so a browser that opens that file may load those pictures from their websites, and those websites could then see your device’s internet address.

If you tap a link inside a sheet, your device opens it in your browser or the right app, and that site’s own privacy policy applies.

iCloud and Apple

If you keep your library in iCloud Drive, syncing between your devices is done by Apple, under Apple’s terms and privacy policy. We do not receive your files or any information from iCloud. If you use a different folder or storage service, that provider’s terms apply to the files you put there.

Apple’s own services around the app work as they do for any app: the App Store and TestFlight tell us how many people have downloaded the app, and, if you have chosen to share analytics and crash data with app developers in your device’s settings, Apple may give us anonymous crash reports. The app has no crash reporting or analytics of its own. If you give feedback through TestFlight, Apple passes it to us along with what you write. KEV TO CHECK: this paragraph describes Apple’s services, not the app’s code. Read it against what App Store Connect really gives you.

This website

This website is plain pages and one small stylesheet. It uses no cookies, no analytics, no tracking, no embedded content and no fonts or scripts from other sites. Like every website, the host receives the technical details of each request (such as your internet address) in order to deliver the page. KEV TO CHECK once hosting is chosen: if the site is on GitHub Pages, GitHub is that host, handles those details under its own privacy statement, and may keep ordinary server logs. Name the host here.

Email you send us

If you email us for support, we will see your email address and what you write, and we use them only to reply and to help you. We will not add you to a mailing list or share your details. We keep support emails for as long as is needed to deal with your question and any follow-up, and you can ask us to delete them. KEV TO CONFIRM how long you will keep them.

Deleting the app

Deleting Westie Writes removes the app and the things it keeps on that device: preferences, the search index and any queued shared items. It does not delete your sheets. Your .md files stay where you put them, in iCloud Drive or in your chosen folder, and you can open them in any other app. To delete the files themselves, delete them in the Files app or Finder. (Items in the app’s Trash are in the library’s hidden .westie folder until you empty the Trash.)

On a device, iOS and macOS may keep the app’s iCloud Drive folder after the app is deleted, so that your files are still there if you reinstall. If you want it gone, delete it from iCloud Drive in Files or Finder.

Children

Westie Writes is a general writing tool and is not directed at children. It collects no personal information from anyone, children included. KEV TO CONFIRM the age rating you choose in App Store Connect, and whether a lawyer should review this section.

Your rights

Because we collect no personal data through the app, there is nothing in the app’s own data for us to access, correct or delete. If you email us, you can ask what we hold from that exchange and ask us to delete it. KEV TO CHECK with a lawyer: any statement about legal rights (for example under UK or EU GDPR) and who the “controller” is. Kept minimal here on purpose rather than invented.

Changes to this policy

If the app ever changes what it does with data, for example by adding a feature that connects to a service, this policy will change first and the effective date above will move. The latest version is always at this address.

Contact

Questions about privacy: support@westiewrites.com PLACEHOLDER until Kev creates and confirms this address