Donkey Hee-Haw — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 13 May 2026

Donkey Hee-Haw ("the app") is a personal communication app published by Jim Kinsman. This page explains what data the app collects, how it's used, and where it lives. Short version: the app does not collect personally identifying information for marketing or analytics. The data needed to make the app function lives in your own iCloud, plus a small amount of phone-number metadata used only for one-time identity verification.

1. Data the app stores in your iCloud

• Your display name and phone number, after you confirm them in the app. This is written to the public CloudKit container iCloud.com.jameskinsman.Donkey so other users of the app can find you by phone.
• Friend requests, friend confirmations, and friend removals between you and people you explicitly add.
• Hee-Haws and messages you send to or receive from those friends, including the optional message text and a sent-at timestamp.
• Mute records indicating when you've muted someone (used so the other side can see "DND" instead of getting through).

All of the above is stored in your iCloud account by Apple's CloudKit service. Jim Kinsman has no access to it beyond the limited schema indexing visible in CloudKit Dashboard for the app developer.

2. Data the app stores on your device

• Your Hee-Haw friend list (name + phone number + accepted/pending status).
• Your local Hee-Haw event history.
• Your preferences (sound, notifications, haptic feedback).

This is held in iOS's standard storage on your device and is removed when you delete the app.

3. SMS verification via Twilio

The first time you register a phone number in Donkey Hee-Haw, the app asks Twilio to send a one-time verification code to that number. Twilio receives the destination phone number for the duration of the verification call. Twilio's privacy policy governs that interaction; see https://www.twilio.com/legal/privacy. After successful verification, neither Jim Kinsman nor the app stores the verification code, and the phone number is not transmitted to Twilio again unless you re-verify.

4. Contacts access

If you tap "Add Friend from Contacts," the app uses Apple's standard system contact picker. The picker runs out-of-process and only returns the single contact you select to the app. The app does not read your full contacts database.

5. Multipeer (local-network) Hee-Haws

The app uses Apple's Multipeer Connectivity framework to discover and bray at other Donkey Hee-Haw users on the same local Wi-Fi network or via Bluetooth. This data does not leave your local network. Each transmission contains your device name and the word "HEEHAW" — no other personal information.

6. Push notifications

The app uses Apple's Push Notification service (APNs), routed via CloudKit subscriptions, to deliver Hee-Haws to your friends in near real-time. Apple delivers these notifications; the app never directly interacts with APNs servers.

7. Analytics, advertising, and tracking

The app does not include any analytics SDK, advertising SDK, or third-party tracking. There are no Facebook pixels, no Google Analytics, no crash-reporting service. Apple's own anonymized crash and energy diagnostics may surface in the App Store Connect dashboard if you have opted in to share them at the iOS-system level.

8. Data retention & deletion

To delete all of your data:

1. In the app, swipe-left → Delete on each friend in your Hee-Haw Friends list (this also tells their app to drop you).
2. Delete the app from your device.
3. To also remove your Profile record from CloudKit (so future Hee-Haws can't find your phone): from iOS Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Donkey Hee-Haw → Delete Data.

9. Children

The app is not directed at children under 13 and is not advertised as suitable for them.

10. Contact

Questions or data-deletion requests: software@kinsman.cc

This policy may be updated as the app evolves. Material changes will be reflected here with a new "last updated" date.