Even we can't see your photos
Meanwhile has no account and no feed. Photos, video clips, voice memos, notes and chat messages you send are locked on your phone so only the people you share them with can open them. Photos, clips and voice memos of your hours pass through our servers for at most 2 days, and then are deleted. Your history and your chats live on your phones. In plain English, below.
1. Introduction
Meanwhile is an app by Tappect for sharing a photo each hour with the people closest to you and turning your days into short reels. You can pair with a partner, a friend or a family member, or share with a group of up to 20 people. This policy explains what Meanwhile does and does not do with your information.
Meanwhile is available on iOS and Android and is for people 13 and over (section 12). This policy applies to everyone who uses it.
2. No Account
Meanwhile never asks for your email, phone number or a password. When you open the app, your phone is given a random, anonymous identifier (through Google Firebase Authentication) and its own encryption keys. That identifier is how your paired phones find each other. It is not linked to your real name.
The name you enter ("What should they call you?") is sent only to the people you pair with, inside the same encryption as your photos.
3. Your Photos, Clips, Voice Memos, Notes and Chats
When you send a photo, short video clip, voice memo, caption or note to someone you are paired with or to a group:
- It is compressed and end-to-end encrypted on your phone before it leaves. Only the phones of the people you send it to hold the key to open it. Tappect cannot open it.
- The encrypted file (a photo, video clip or voice memo) is held on our servers (Cloudflare and Google Firebase) for at most 2 days so it can reach everyone it was sent to. Then it is deleted, whether or not it was downloaded. Neither Tappect nor Cloudflare can open it.
- Your full history (photos, notes, reels) is stored on your phone, and a copy of your shared days is stored on the phone of the person you shared them with.
Safety check on your phone. Before a photo is encrypted and sent, Meanwhile checks it on your phone for explicit nudity (for a clip, frames of it). This check happens entirely on your device; the photo is never sent to us or anyone else to be checked. Photos that fail the check are not sent.
Chat
- Chat is private. Messages, photos, videos and voice messages you send in a chat are end-to-end encrypted on your phone, for each phone that receives them. We cannot read or hear them. Your chat history lives only on your phones. We do not keep it.
- How it travels. Our servers relay a message to the phones it is for and delete it once every one of those phones has it. A message that cannot be delivered, for example because a phone is off, waits up to 30 days and is then deleted; a chat photo, video or voice message waits up to 2 days.
- Alerts. A chat alert can show the words of a message when you turn on "Show message text". The words are opened on your phone; they are never readable by us.
- Reporting a message. If you report a message, that message's words and its photo, video or voice message are sent to us, unencrypted, only with your consent, so we can review it. In a group's own chat the report goes to the group's owner first, and to us at once for serious reasons or after 24 hours if the owner has not acted. We keep reports as described under Reporting.
- A new phone. Move to a new phone carries your chat with it, straight from your old phone. Your cloud backup never includes chat.
- Deleting. You can delete a message for everyone for 48 hours after you send it, and delete a chat from your own phone at any time.
Reporting. If you report a photo, video clip or voice memo, your phone asks you first. Only if you agree does it send us that one item, unlocked, so we can review it. For a photo in a group, your phone may instead send the key to that one photo, which opens the locked copy still on our servers. Nothing else anyone has sent can reach us. A reported item is kept for the review and, as evidence, for up to one year after the report, or longer only when the law requires it (for example, a report to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children).
4. Cloud Backup (Optional)
Cloud backup is off by default. If you turn it on (part of Meanwhile Pro), your history is encrypted on your phone and stored on our servers so you can restore it on a new phone. The key that unlocks it is kept in your iCloud Keychain or Google account, or in a recovery code you save. Tappect cannot read your backup. Backups are stored with Backblaze. Chats are never part of the backup.
Turning backup off deletes the server copy. Ending a pairing deletes anything we hold for that pairing.
5. Analytics, Crash Reports and Screen Recordings
To find bugs and see where the app is confusing, Meanwhile uses Firebase Crashlytics (Google) and PostHog. What is collected:
- A random install identifier. It is not your name and not your account identifier.
- Device model, operating system version, app version and language
- How the app is used, such as which screens you open, the steps of setup, buttons like sharing your invite, errors shown on screen, and when a free trial or purchase happens
- Which hour of the day you take photos and how late in the hour (never the photos), when you open Meanwhile from a notification or a widget, which notification switches you change, how many notifications reached your phone, how many hours of your day were filled, and a few settings (language, the time zone as a whole-hour offset, your plan, which widgets you placed, whether notifications are on)
- Crash and error diagnostics
- Screen recordings of how the app is used, with every photo, note, caption, name and pairing code hidden on your phone before anything leaves it. Recordings are kept for 30 days. There are no screen recordings for anyone under 18.
All of this is tied only to the random install identifier, never to your name or account.
Totals from our servers. We count totals, such as how many people use Meanwhile, how many photos were sent and in which hours, from the delivery information our relay already needs to deliver a photo. The totals contain no names, photos, notes or anything about one person, and they do not depend on your usage switch.
On your phone only. Meanwhile keeps a short record on your phone of when you open notifications, to suit reminders to you. It never leaves your phone.
Never collected: your photos, clips, voice memos, captions, notes, chat messages, reels, your name or anyone else's name, pairing codes, or your birth year.
Your choice: usage sharing is on when you start (off for anyone under 18). You can turn it off any time in Settings, Privacy, "Help improve Meanwhile". It also stops these settings and counts from being shared. This switch does not control ad measurement; see section 10 for that.
6. Age Check
Meanwhile is for people 13 and over. The app asks for your birth year on first launch and may use the age signals Apple and Google provide. We keep only whether you are 13 to 17 or confirmed 18 or over, never your birth year. If you are under 13, nothing is stored and the app cannot be used.
7. Purchases (RevenueCat)
Meanwhile uses RevenueCat to confirm subscriptions with the App Store or Google Play. RevenueCat receives your purchase receipt and your anonymous identifier. When a subscription covers the people you are paired with, our server records which pairings it covers, using anonymous identifiers only. RevenueCat never receives your photos, notes or names.
8. Feedback and Support
If you choose to send feedback or report a bug from inside Meanwhile, the app sends your message, the feedback type, your email only if you enter one, the app version, platform and language to tappect.com. If you email support@tappect.com, we receive what you send us. We use this only to reply and improve the app.
9. Permissions
Camera
To take your hourly photo. Photos are only captured when you press the shutter.
Photos (Optional)
Only to save a reel to your photo library when you ask.
Notifications (Optional)
To tell you when someone's photo, voice memo or chat message arrives, when you get a nudge, or when a surprise is ready. You choose which in Settings.
Microphone (Optional)
Meanwhile uses the microphone only while you hold to record a voice message, a voice memo or a video. Recordings are end-to-end encrypted on your phone like photos; we cannot listen to them. Only the people you send them to can hear them.
Local network (Optional)
Only while you move Meanwhile to a new phone, to transfer your history and your chats directly between your two phones.
Tracking on iPhone (Optional)
Only so Meta and TikTok can measure our ads (section 10). Meanwhile asks once, the first time you open it. If you say no, Meta and TikTok measurement is turned off completely. Nothing else in the app changes.
Meanwhile does not access your contacts, location or health data.
10. Ad Measurement with Meta and TikTok
We advertise Meanwhile on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. To learn which of our ads bring people to the app, Meanwhile includes the Meta (Facebook) SDK and the TikTok Business SDK. They do not show any ads inside Meanwhile, and they never run for anyone under 18.
These SDKs only run when your phone allows it (see "Your choices" below). When they run, they receive:
- that Meanwhile was installed and opened, with device information such as model, operating system version, language, time zone and IP address;
- identifiers for your device: identifiers these SDKs create for this install, and your device's advertising identifier (Apple's IDFA, only if you tap Allow when iPhone asks; or Google's advertising ID on Android);
- five moments in the app: you connected with someone, you started a free trial, you subscribed (with the price and currency), you previewed your first reel, and you shared your invite.
They never receive your photos, captions, notes, reels, your name or anyone else's, pairing codes, or any account or pairing identifier, and we do not send your email or phone number (Meanwhile never has them). We turn off Meta's and TikTok's automatic event collection and do not use "advanced matching".
Meta and TikTok use this information to measure and improve our ad campaigns, and may combine it with information they hold about you under their own policies: Meta Privacy Policy, TikTok Privacy Policy and TikTok for Business Privacy Policy. Apple calls this "tracking", and some US state laws may treat it as "sharing" for advertising. We see only campaign totals, never a list of people. We do not sell, rent or trade your information for money.
Your choices
Meanwhile follows the tracking choice you make on your phone. The "Help improve Meanwhile" switch in Settings does not change this.
- iPhone: Meanwhile asks once, the first time you open it, right after the opening animation. Only if you tap "Allow" do the Meta and TikTok SDKs run. If you tap "Ask App Not to Track", they do not run at all and nothing is sent to Meta or TikTok. You can change your choice any time in the iPhone Settings app, Privacy & Security, Tracking. Meanwhile follows your new choice the next time you open it.
- Android: there is no pop-up. The SDKs run unless you have deleted your advertising ID or turned on "opt out of ads personalization" in your phone's Settings (Privacy, Ads, or Google, Ads). If you have, they do not run at all and nothing is sent to Meta or TikTok. Meanwhile checks this each time you open it.
11. Your Rights and Deleting Your Data
- End a pairing or leave a group: deletes anything we hold for it. You can also remove the photos you sent from the other phones.
- Delete your account: Settings, Where your photos live, Delete my account. This deletes everything on your phone and everything we hold for you, and ends all pairings. Reports kept as evidence (section 3) stay for their set time.
- From the web: see tappect.com/delete-account/meanwhile.
Photos you already sent are stored on the other person's phone, chat history stays on the phones of the people you chatted with, and reels already shared outside the app, or screenshots, cannot be recalled by us.
12. People Under 18
Meanwhile is for people 13 and older. If you tell us you are younger than 13, we stop and keep nothing.
If you are 13 to 17, a few things are different for you, and they are on from the start:
- Your city stays hidden until you add one. You can change this in Settings, Set up for you.
- Your sleep hours start at 10 PM to 7 AM. You can change them there too.
- We never start advertising or ad measurement tools (Meta, TikTok) for you.
- We never record your screen.
- Sharing how you use the app starts off. You can turn it on.
- Photos are checked on your phone before you send one, and before you see one that someone sent you. Anything that looks explicit is held back: it is not sent, or it stays covered on your phone.
- In a group, only people you are paired with can reply to you privately or poke you.
- If you start a group, new people need your yes before they join.
Your photos, clips, voice memos, notes and chats are end-to-end encrypted. We cannot see them. We only ever see one if you choose to report it and say yes to sending it to us. We act on reports about people under 18 first.
Buying a plan goes through your Apple or Google account and the family controls on it. If a parent or guardian uses Ask to Buy or Family Link, they decide on the purchase.
You can delete your account and everything we hold from Settings at any time. Any child sexual abuse material is reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as required by law. Questions: support@tappect.com.
13. Where Data Is Processed
These companies run parts of Meanwhile for us:
- Google Firebase: your anonymous identifier, delivery details, encrypted notes, captions and chat messages on their way, notifications, crash reports, and reported items you choose to send us.
- Cloudflare: encrypted photos, video clips, voice memos and chat photos, videos and voice messages on their way to the people you share with, deleted within 2 days. Cloudflare cannot open them.
- Backblaze: encrypted backups, only if you turn backup on.
- PostHog: usage analytics and screen recordings (section 5).
- RevenueCat: subscriptions (section 7).
- Supabase: feedback you send from the app (section 8).
- Meta and TikTok: ad measurement (section 10), under their own policies.
These companies are mostly in the United States, and data may be handled there and in other countries. When information from the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland is handled outside it, we rely on these companies' data processing terms, including the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.
14. Changes to This Policy
If we change what Meanwhile collects, we will update this policy and the "Last updated" date above, and tell you in the app for any significant change.
15. Contact Us
Email: support@tappect.com
Subject Line: Meanwhile Privacy Inquiry
Developer: Tappect
App Identifier: com.tappect.meanwhile
We will respond to your inquiry within 30 days.