RiskHound Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-10-25
Contact: info@loewinger.ai
Publisher: Loewinger Ventures, LLC

The short version

RiskHound keeps almost everything on your device. There is no account, no advertising and no analytics, and we don't sell or share your information.

The one exception is optional guardian alerts. If you (or a parent) link a second phone so it is told when a blocked attempt happens, a small amount of information goes through our server to make that work. It is described in full below. If you never link a guardian, RiskHound sends nothing to us.

What the app does

RiskHound helps people stop gambling. It blocks apps and websites you or a parent choose, using Apple's Screen Time technology, includes a private coach for difficult moments, and can optionally alert a parent or accountability partner when a blocked attempt happens.

What stays on your device

• Your choices. The apps and websites you choose to block are saved on your device as opaque tokens that Apple provides. RiskHound can't read the names of the apps behind them, and they never leave your device.
• Blocked attempts. When something blocked is opened, RiskHound records that an attempt happened on your device, so it can show you a count. These records leave the device only if you have linked a guardian (see below).
• PINs. An accountability-partner or parent PIN is stored only as a salted, one-way hash in your device's Keychain. We never see it.
• Coach. If you use the coach, your answers (for example, when you last gambled and what you typically spend) and your history are stored on your device. The coach runs on your device with Apple Intelligence. Nothing is sent to us or to a server.
• Settings and commitments. Your chosen settings, and the end date of any commitment, are stored on your device.

Guardian alerts (optional)

Guardian alerts are off until someone sets them up. They involve two phones: the protected phone (yours, or your child's) and the guardian phone (a parent or accountability partner). The protected phone shows a six-digit code, valid for ten minutes and usable once, and the guardian enters it on their phone.

What our server receives and keeps (until deleted, see below):

• From the protected phone: the name that was typed in for it (for example a first name), and a random pairing ID and secret key that identify the link. The name is chosen by the person setting it up; we suggest a first name or nickname, not a full name.
• From the guardian phone: the guardian's Apple push notification token (it lets Apple deliver notifications to that phone), the name of that phone as set in iPhone Settings (for example "Lisa's iPhone"), and a random secret key.

What passes through our server but is not kept: for each blocked attempt, the protected phone sends the kind of attempt (an app or a website) and the time and time zone. We turn that into a short message such as "Martin tried to open a blocked gambling app at 3:42 PM", hand it to Apple's push notification service for delivery to the guardian phone, and do not store it. We do not receive which app or website was blocked, any web address, your browsing history, or message content. We have not turned on request logging for our server; the only things logged are errors.

Who else handles it: Apple's Push Notification service delivers the alert to the guardian's phone, and Amazon Web Services hosts our server in the United States. AWS, like any host, handles the network address of each request while it is processed; we don't store it. We don't sell this information, use it for advertising or analytics, or share it for any other purpose.

How long it is kept: the pairing information above is kept until it is removed (see "Your control and your data"), or until Apple tells us a guardian phone can no longer receive notifications, in which case that phone is removed. Pairing codes and the short-lived counters we use to block guessing expire on their own within minutes.

Alerts can be late. iOS decides when an app may send in the background, so an alert may arrive after the attempt. Attempts more than a day old are not sent.

What we don't collect

We don't collect your email, location, contacts, browsing history, message content, purchases or advertising identifiers. We don't use analytics or advertising, and we don't track you across other companies' apps or websites. Apart from the optional guardian alerts above, RiskHound sends nothing to our server. It asks for notification permission in two places: at the end of setup, so it can tell the phone's owner on that phone when it stops an attempt (this notification is created on the phone and goes nowhere else), and on a guardian phone, to receive alerts. Blocking works if you say no. (Like every app that can receive notifications, it registers with Apple's push service; that registration goes to Apple, not to us, and the token is shared with us only on a guardian phone that has been linked.)

Screen Time permission

RiskHound asks for Apple's Screen Time permission (Family Controls) so it can block apps and websites. You approve it with Face ID, or, on a child's device, a parent in your Family Sharing group approves it. Screen Time information is used only to do the blocking. You can remove the permission at any time in iPhone Settings. If you set a commitment period or an accountability-partner PIN, RiskHound also locks the phone's automatic date and time, Apple Account and passcode settings while it is in force, so they can't be used to get around your choice. Those locks end when the commitment ends or the PIN is removed.

Children

A parent or guardian sets up RiskHound on a child's device. RiskHound doesn't ask a child for any information and has no child accounts. The parent approves the Screen Time permission and controls settings with a parent PIN. If the parent turns on guardian alerts, the parent types in the name used for the child's phone, and that phone sends the kind and time of blocked attempts to the parent's phone as described above. We use this only to deliver the alert. We recommend explaining to your child why you are using RiskHound and what the alerts tell you.

Your control and your data

Everything RiskHound stores on your device is removed when you delete RiskHound. You can remove RiskHound's Screen Time permission in iPhone Settings at any time. Inside the app, protection can be turned off unless you have chosen a commitment period (which runs until the end date you picked) or an accountability-partner PIN (which only your partner can use to turn protection off or remove the PIN). These are optional choices you make.

If you have used guardian alerts, you can remove what our server holds yourself, in the app:

• On the guardian phone, Unlink This Device stops alerts to that phone and deletes its push token, name and key from our server.
• On the protected phone, Remove Guardian Link (under Guardian Alerts) deletes the whole pairing: the name entered for the phone and every linked guardian's token, name and key. Where an accountability-partner PIN is set, the partner's PIN is needed to remove the link.

Both only work while the phone is online; if it isn't, the app says nothing was changed and you can try again. If you can't use the app (for example you no longer have the phone), email info@loewinger.ai with the name that was entered for the protected phone and we will delete the pairing.

Help

RiskHound is a support tool, not medical care. If you or someone you know needs help: National Problem Gambling Helpline (US) 1-800-522-4700, call or text, 24/7. If you're in crisis, call or text 988. In an emergency call 911. Outside the US, search for your country's problem gambling helpline.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we'll update the date above and, if the change affects what we collect, tell you in the app.

Contact

Questions: info@loewinger.ai