The short version
Sift the app reads your calendar locally on your iPhone. It has no account system, no servers, and no in-app analytics — we can't see your calendar data because we built no way to receive it. The marketing site you're reading uses Vercel Web Analytics for cookieless, aggregate page-view stats; we explain exactly what that does and doesn't include below.
Who we are
Sift is built by so & so, an indie app studio. You can reach us anytime at feedback@madebysoandso.com.
What this policy covers
This policy applies to the Sift iOS app and the widgets and Apple Watch app distributed with it. It also covers your use of the marketing site at madebysoandso.com/apps/sift. The website uses cookieless, aggregate analytics through Vercel — described in "Website analytics" below — and runs no other third-party scripts.
What the app collects
Inside the Sift app, almost nothing. Specifically:
- No account or sign-up. No name, email, password, or phone number.
- No analytics or tracking SDKs. No Firebase, no Mixpanel, no Segment, no advertising identifiers, no device fingerprinting.
- No third-party services beyond Apple's platform services described below.
- No crash reporting sent to any third party.
We operate no backend for the app. There is no server receiving information from Sift on your phone. We are technically incapable of seeing your calendar data.
Calendar access (EventKit)
Sift asks for calendar access on first launch using Apple's standard EventKit prompt (NSCalendarsFullAccessUsageDescription). All filtering and matching happens on your device. Calendar contents never leave it — we don't run a server, so there is nowhere to send them.
You can revoke calendar access at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Calendars.
What Sift stores on your device
- Your views — names, keywords, colours, icons, date ranges, and rules.
- App preferences — settings like the past-events window, hidden events, and widget configuration.
- Optional JSON backups — exported by you to the Files app or another destination of your choice.
If iCloud Backup is enabled in iOS, this data may be included in your iPhone's iCloud backup as part of standard iOS behavior. That's controlled by you in iOS Settings, not by Sift.
iCloud Sync (Sift Plus, opt-in)
If you turn on iCloud Sync from Settings → Data Management, Sift uses Apple's SwiftData and CloudKit to sync your views and settings across your devices through a private CloudKit container in your own iCloud account.
This data is encrypted by Apple. so & so has no access to it. You can delete this synced data at any time in iOS Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage Storage → Sift.
Spotlight indexing
Sift adds the names and keyword lists of your saved views to Apple's CSSearchableIndex so you can find them through iOS Spotlight. The contents of your calendar events are never indexed. The index is local to your device and is removed when you uninstall the app.
View sharing
When you share a view as a link or QR code, the payload contains the view's name, colour, icon, keywords, date range, and rules. It deliberately excludes calendar identifiers, so the recipient cannot see which calendars you've connected. The recipient picks their own calendars when they open the view on their device.
Sharing happens device-to-device through the iOS share sheet. so & so is never an intermediary.
Notifications
If you enable a notification digest on a view (Sift Plus), Sift schedules it locally through Apple's UNUserNotificationCenter, and iOS delivers it. Nothing transits a server.
Subscriptions and payments
Sift Plus is sold by Apple through StoreKit 2 as an auto-renewable subscription. Apple handles payment, billing, refunds, and Family Sharing. so & so never sees payment cards, billing addresses, or your name.
Subscription receipts are validated on your device against Apple's StoreKit framework. We receive nothing identifying you as part of this process.
Apple Intelligence features
Future releases of Sift may include optional features powered by Apple Intelligence on supported devices — for example, keyword suggestions inferred from patterns in your calendar. When introduced, these features will run entirely on-device using Apple's FoundationModels framework. No calendar data will be sent to Apple or any other party for these features.
These features are not currently active in Sift.
Third-party services
The Sift iOS app uses no third-party SDKs, analytics libraries, advertising networks, or crash reporting services. The only external parties involved with the app are Apple (which handles distribution through the App Store, payment through StoreKit, and — if you opt in — sync through CloudKit) and, for the marketing site only, Vercel (which hosts the site and provides the aggregate page-view stats described in "Website analytics" below). Apple's privacy practices are governed by their own policy at apple.com/privacy; Vercel's by vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy.
Website analytics
We use Vercel Web Analytics on the marketing site to see which pages are getting read and where visitors arrive from. It is deliberately minimal:
- No cookies. Nothing is written to your browser by Sift.
- No personal data. Vercel does not store your IP address, name, email, or any identifier we could trace back to you.
- Aggregate only. We see counts — page views, top pages, top referrers, country-level location.
- Daily-rotated hashes. Unique-visit deduplication uses a hash derived from your IP and user-agent, rotated daily and not persisted across days.
- One third party. Vercel — and only for the marketing site. No other analytics, advertising, or tracking scripts run on the site, and none run inside the Sift app.
This data never touches the Sift app or your calendar contents. If you'd rather not be counted at all, browsers like Safari and Firefox, and most ad-blocker or privacy extensions, will block the script on request.
Data retention and deletion
All Sift data lives on your device, and — if you've enabled iCloud Sync — in your own Apple iCloud account. You can:
- Delete individual views inside the app.
- Tap Delete All Views in Settings → Data Management to reset.
- Delete the app to remove all local data on that device.
- Delete synced data from iOS Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage Storage → Sift.
Because we operate no servers and store nothing on our end, there is no server-side deletion to request.
Children's privacy
Sift is not directed at children under 13. The app collects no personal data from anyone, so it does not knowingly collect anything from children either. The App Store age rating reflects this.
International users
Sift is available worldwide. Because all calendar data is processed on your device — and, if iCloud Sync is on, in your own Apple iCloud account — it stays within your jurisdiction. We operate no servers and transfer no data internationally.
Where laws such as the GDPR (EU), UK GDPR, or CCPA (California) grant you rights over personal data, those rights apply to whatever personal data exists. In Sift's case, that's nothing held by us.
Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, surface a notice in-app. We will not change how we handle your data in a way that makes it less private.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Email us at feedback@madebysoandso.com. We read every message.
so & so is operated by Djibril Olu as a Slovak s.r.o. This policy is written in plain English and is intended to be read and understood, not used as legal cover.