Privacy policy
The short version
- Your heart rate is read live to set your lights. It's never stored and never leaves your iPhone.
- Your settings, your Hue Bridge pairing and your paired heart-rate monitor stay on your iPhone.
- There's no account. We don't sell data, show ads, or track you across other apps and websites.
- Anonymous usage analytics are on by default and one switch turns them off: Settings → Share anonymous usage. They count app opens and sessions, never your heart rate.
- If you contact support, we receive your email address, your message and basic setup details, so we can reply.
- This website sets no cookies and runs no analytics.
Who we are
Zonal is made by an independent developer ("we", "us"), who is the controller of the personal data described in this policy. You can reach us at support@zonal.fit.
This policy covers the Zonal iPhone app, including its lock screen Live Activity, and this website, zonal.fit.
Your heart rate
Zonal connects to your heart-rate monitor over Bluetooth and reads your heart rate live. It uses each reading on your iPhone to work out your training zone and set your lights, and shows it on screen, on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island.
Your heart rate is never stored, never sent to us or anyone else, and never included in analytics or support messages. Zonal keeps no workout history, and it doesn't read from or write to Apple Health.
What stays on your iPhone
To work, Zonal keeps a small amount of data on your iPhone. None of it is sent to us.
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your max heart rate, and threshold heart rate if you set one | To build your zones |
| Light style, max brightness and your analytics choice | Your preferences |
| Your Hue Bridge pairing: the bridge's ID and local address, the key Hue issued to Zonal, and the bridge's certificate | To talk to your bridge securely. The key is kept in the iPhone Keychain. |
| Which lights you chose | To light only those |
| Your paired heart-rate monitor's identifier and name | To reconnect it when you open the app |
| During a session, a snapshot of your lights' previous state | To put them back when you tap Stop, or after an interrupted session |
This data is included in your iPhone's own backups if you use them, under Apple's terms. Settings → Erase all data deletes all of it.
Your Hue Bridge and lights
Zonal talks to your Hue Bridge directly over your Wi-Fi, using an encrypted connection that only trusts your paired bridge. Light commands don't pass through our servers.
When Zonal looks for your bridge, during setup or if it needs to find the bridge again after its address changes, it also asks Philips Hue's public discovery service (discovery.meethue.com, run by Signify) which bridges are on your network. Zonal sends nothing in that request beyond the request itself, but like any web request it shows Signify your internet (IP) address. Signify's own privacy notice covers how it handles that.
Anonymous usage analytics
Zonal uses PostHog (PostHog, Inc., with data hosted in the United States) to count how the app is used, so we can tell whether people install it, finish setup, train with it and come back. It's on by default.
To turn it off: open Settings in Zonal and turn off Share anonymous usage. Zonal stops sending immediately and clears the analytics data held on your iPhone.
This is everything Zonal sends:
| Event | When | Details |
|---|---|---|
| App installed, updated, opened, backgrounded | Automatically | None beyond the standard details below |
onboarding_completed | You finish setup | Whether lights were set up; whether a monitor was paired |
ride_started | You tap Start | Whether lights are ready; light style (Wash or Zone meter) |
ride_ended | A session ends | Length in whole minutes; number of zone changes; whether lights were ready |
support_sent | A support message is sent | None |
Each event also carries a random ID created on your iPhone that isn't tied to your identity, plus standard details the PostHog software adds, such as the app version, iOS version, device model, screen size, language and time zone.
Never sent: your heart rate or any heart-rate value, your name, your email address, the names of your monitor or lights, anything you type, or your location. Zonal never tells PostHog who you are, so no profile is built around you. Session recording, screen tracking and tap tracking are all off. PostHog is configured to discard IP addresses, so analytics events are stored without them.
Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, our legal basis is our legitimate interest in understanding, in aggregate, whether Zonal works and gets used. You can object at any time with the switch above.
Contacting support
If you use Settings → Contact support in the app, Zonal sends:
- the email address you enter, so we can reply;
- your message;
- setup details: app version and build, iOS version, iPhone model identifier (such as "iPhone17,2"), whether a heart-rate monitor is paired and connected, whether lights are ready and how many, and your light style.
It never includes your heart rate, your Hue Bridge's ID or address, or the names of your lights.
The message goes over HTTPS to a small service we run on Cloudflare Workers (Cloudflare, Inc.), which emails it to our support inbox through Cloudflare's email service, with your address as the reply-to. That service stores nothing and doesn't log your address or message. If sending fails, the app shows our email address so you can write to us directly.
If you email support@zonal.fit, we receive whatever you send. We use support messages only to answer you and to fix problems. Our legal basis is responding to your request.
This website
zonal.fit sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and loads nothing from other sites: no fonts, scripts or trackers. It's hosted on Cloudflare, which processes each request, including your IP address and browser details, to deliver and protect the site. Cloudflare's privacy policy describes how it handles that.
Who else handles data
- PostHog, Inc. stores the anonymous analytics described above.
- Cloudflare, Inc. relays support messages and hosts this website.
- Our email provider hosts the support inbox.
- Signify runs the Hue discovery service Zonal asks when looking for your bridge.
- Apple distributes Zonal through the App Store under its own privacy policy. If you've chosen to share analytics with app developers in your iPhone's settings, Apple may give us crash reports and aggregated usage figures.
We don't sell or rent personal data, and we don't use it for advertising.
International transfers
We and these providers may process data in the United States and other countries. Where data protection law requires safeguards for those transfers, we rely on the providers' standard data protection terms, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.
How long we keep it
- Heart rate: not kept at all.
- Data on your iPhone: until you use Settings → Erase all data. Deleting the app removes its files, but iOS can keep Keychain items such as the Hue key after an app is deleted, so use Erase all data first if you want everything gone.
- Analytics: kept in PostHog for as long as they help us see trends over time. They aren't linked to you, so we can't pick out one person's events.
- Support messages: kept in our support inbox while we help you, and afterwards as a record of the conversation. Ask us and we'll delete them.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, for example under the GDPR in the EU, the UK GDPR, or US state laws such as California's, you may have the right to access, correct or delete your personal data, to get a copy of it, to object to or restrict how it's used, and to withdraw consent. Email support@zonal.fit and we'll answer within the time the law requires. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Most of what Zonal holds is on your iPhone and under your control: Erase all data removes it, and the Share anonymous usage switch stops analytics.
Children
Zonal isn't directed at children under 13, or the minimum age for this kind of service where you live, and we don't knowingly collect their personal data. If you think a child has sent us personal data through support, contact us and we'll delete it.
Security
The connection to your Hue Bridge is encrypted and pinned to your bridge's certificate, and the Hue key is stored in the iPhone Keychain. Support messages and analytics are sent over HTTPS. No system is perfectly secure, so we keep what we hold to a minimum.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update this page and its effective date. If a change significantly affects how your data is used, we'll say so on this page or in the app before it takes effect.
Contact
Zonal · support@zonal.fit