Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Cove is operated by Sebastian Teets LLC ("Cove," "we," "us," or "our"), a company based in the United States. Our service is a VPN application for iPhone designed to protect your location and privacy while using dating apps and public WiFi.

If you have any questions about this policy, contact us at privacy@coveprivacy.com.

2. Information We Collect

Account information: When you create an account, we collect your email address and a hashed (never plaintext) password. If you sign in with Apple, we receive only the information Apple provides: your Apple ID, name (optional), and email (which Apple may relay through a private address).

Subscription and billing: Payments are processed entirely by Apple through In-App Purchase. We do not see or store your credit card number or payment details. We receive from Apple only a confirmation that a subscription is active or has expired.

Session metadata: When you connect to Cove, we log:

• The date and time your session started and ended
• The total duration of your session
• Your account identifier (so we can link the session to your account)

We log this to prevent abuse of the service and to provide customer support. We do not log your IP address, your destination IP addresses, the websites you visit, your DNS queries, or any content of your traffic.

Device information: We may collect basic, non-identifying device information such as your iOS version and device model. This is used only for diagnosing technical issues.

Crash reports: If the app crashes, iOS may send us an anonymized crash report. These contain no personal information or browsing data.

3. Information We Do Not Collect

To be absolutely explicit:

• We do not log the websites, apps, or services you access while connected to Cove.
• We do not log your originating IP address.
• We do not log the destination IP addresses of your traffic.
• We do not log your DNS queries.
• We do not log any content, message, or data that passes through the VPN tunnel.
• We do not track your location.
• We do not build profiles of your behavior.
• We do not use advertising SDKs or trackers in our app.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use your information only for the following purposes:

• To provide the service: Authenticating your account and maintaining your VPN connection.
• To manage your subscription: Verifying that your subscription is active through Apple's systems.
• To prevent abuse: Session timestamps allow us to identify and terminate accounts that are being used in violation of our Terms of Service (e.g., automated attacks).
• To provide support: If you contact us, we use your account information to help resolve your issue.
• To improve the app: Anonymized crash reports help us fix bugs.

We do not use your data for advertising, and we do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with any third party for commercial purposes.

5. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We share data only in the following limited circumstances:

• Apple: Apple processes your payments and subscription status through their App Store infrastructure. Apple's own privacy policy governs their handling of this data.
• Infrastructure providers: We use cloud hosting providers to operate our VPN servers and API. These providers have access to server hardware but cannot see the content of encrypted VPN traffic.
• Legal requirements: We will disclose data only if required by a valid legal order — and only to the extent legally required. Because we do not log browsing activity, we have nothing to produce in response to such requests beyond basic account information.

6. Data Retention

We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. Session metadata (timestamps only) is retained for 90 days and then automatically deleted.

If you delete your account through the app, all account information and associated session metadata is permanently deleted within 30 days.

7. Your Rights

Regardless of where you are located, you have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Deletion: Delete your account at any time directly in the app under Settings → Delete Account. This permanently removes all your data.
• Portability: Request a machine-readable export of your data.

California residents have additional rights under the CCPA, including the right to know what personal information we have collected, the right to deletion, and the right to opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information.

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@coveprivacy.com.

8. Security

We take security seriously. Passwords are stored using bcrypt hashing — we cannot recover your password. All data in transit between your device and our servers is encrypted using TLS. VPN traffic is encrypted using WireGuard, a modern, audited protocol.

No system is perfectly secure, but we apply industry-standard practices and keep dependencies up to date.

9. Children's Privacy

Cove is not directed at children under 13 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child under 13, contact us immediately at privacy@coveprivacy.com and we will delete it.

10. International Users

Cove is operated from the United States. If you are accessing Cove from outside the US, be aware that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States. By using Cove, you consent to this transfer.

The service is currently designed for and marketed to users in the United States.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you through the app or by email before the changes take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

Continued use of Cove after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.