Frequently Asked Questions

Please do not hesitate to reach out to captain@managingastarship.com. I am a real person and will answer whatever questions you have. You might even get a cat picture with the answer!

Why is a dude developing this?

The reason I created this app was to help people feel safe with the data they are tracking during one of the most difficult times in their lives. I am good at keeping an offline-experience working, keeping the experience tight, and tracking data. That's why the app is starting with that. Community engagement will drive all future features. Better to ask folks what they need rather than make assumptions!

How is HelenaCat offline-first?

HelenaCat is intentionally written to keep your data offline. The only database holding your information is on your phone. It is not backed up in the cloud or on a server. You want to delete all of it? Export it? Go for it!

Nothing is completely offline. What is tracked?

This is correct. I cannot block all forms of tracking. Some of it is even me! Our phones are a little bit nosy and I like fixing crashes, so there are things tracked. Here is a short list of what is tracked: App Store data, Crashlytics reports of crashes, Firebase app usage data. This is explained in detail below this FAQ

What makes it different from other apps?

It being offline-first means you never have to worry about what we might do with your data. It's always in your control.

The local notifications that keep the data accurate also seem to be unique to this app. I have not seen another platform that handles tracking by checking in.

For other cool reasons, check out the What is HelenaCat? page.

Will there be a web app for HelenaCat?

Probably not. It is possible to build something that only works client side. That would require a lot of work on the user's end. Because there is no central place that holds your user data there is no data syncing. You would have to import, edit, then export again each time you used it. Not the best experience.

More about what might be tracked

App Store data: The fact that you downloaded it (I don't see this, but Google and Apple do), any crashes that occur, information about your device, rough location data. It is all anonymous info, but it is tracked.

Crashlytics: I use Crashlytics on both platforms for better crash reports. I get a stack trace of what steps the app was taking, at what lines in the code, with the names of the app's files it was using. It's about the same as what the App Stores track, but it allows me to add breadcrumbs to give context to a crash. No user data, just information about where you were in the journey when the crash happened.

Firebase: Firebase is what is currently housing Crashlytics so it also has a bunch of things that it tracks. None of this is specific user data. It would be better to call it usage data. Which screen are users on the most? How often are people using the app? What is the app's retention? I don't think there is a way to trace this data back to a user, but if there is, it won't be turned on. I don't need this data. I just need to know if the app works for you.

There might be A/B testing in the future, but my hope is that a large enough of a community grows from this that I can query on features. In any case, it will always be random testing. No demographic data.

Apologies in advance for this being only a, "Trust me. I totally am not stealing and selling your data." I will do everything I can to ensure I am transparent on any questions or concerns people have regarding data.