Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-08-29

How "Zen - Habits", the on-device habit tracker made by Donado Labs, treats your data. This is the Privacy half of the combined Terms & Privacy document; the terms of use live there.

Zen is local by default. Habits, activity statuses, daily notes, reminders, your profile, preferences, and activity log are stored in the app's local database. There are no Zen accounts and no app sign-in.

• Personal iCloud sync (optional). Sync with iCloud is off by default. If you enable it in Settings, Zen exchanges private snapshots through your personal iCloud Drive. These snapshots include habits, activity statuses, daily notes, reminders, your profile, preferences, and habit-strength milestone settings. The local activity log and all Challenge data are excluded. Donado Labs cannot read these snapshots; Apple's iCloud terms govern them.
• Challenges (optional). Creating or joining a Challenge enables Apple CloudKit sharing for that feature. Shared records can include the Challenge name, icon, color, goal, dates, and owner name; participant identifiers, display names, roles, and membership dates; and dated status or membership events with generated activity messages. Personal notes, reminders, and unrelated habits are not shared. Challenge data lives in participants' private and shared iCloud databases. Donado Labs operates no Challenge server and cannot read this data. If you never create or join a Challenge, Zen does not initialize CloudKit for Challenges.
• Export (optional). You can export everything you have recorded as a JSONL file, and you choose where that file goes. If you turn on the iCloud Drive copy in Settings, Zen keeps that same file updated in your own iCloud Drive, where any app you allow can read it. The export covers the habits, days and reminders held on that device; Challenges are not included. It is written by your device only; there is no Donado Labs server and Donado Labs cannot read it.
• Widgets and Apple Watch. To power widgets, Zen copies relevant habit titles, schedules, statuses, streaks, and recent completion history into an Apple App Group on your device. The same snapshot can be transferred to your paired Apple Watch. This data is not sent to Donado Labs.
• No tracking. The app contains no analytics, advertising, or third-party tracking SDKs. The only third-party service Zen ever contacts is the push notification service described under Challenge notifications, and only if you join a Challenge.
• No email identity. Zen never asks for an email address or password. Contacting support by email is optional and uses your chosen mail service.
• Notifications. Habit reminders and habit-strength milestone notices are generated locally on your device and never leave it.
• Challenge notifications (optional). So that Challenge participants hear about each other's progress even when the app is closed, Zen sends those notifications through Expo's push notification service (expo.dev), operated by 650 Industries. This applies only if you create or join a Challenge and allow notifications. Your device obtains a push token from Expo and publishes it to the other participants through the same private CloudKit share as the rest of the Challenge. When you complete a Challenge day, your device sends the notification directly to those participants; there is no Donado Labs server, and Donado Labs holds no push tokens and no notification content. What reaches Expo is limited to the recipients' push tokens, the Challenge name, and a short message naming you, for example "Juan showed up today". Expo stores push tokens in order to deliver notifications and states that notification content is not stored beyond delivery; its privacy terms govern that transfer. Habits, notes, statuses, and all other Challenge data are never sent there. If you never join a Challenge, or decline notifications, no push token is ever created.
• External services. Opening an external website or research citation, contacting support, or using Apple's App Store features connects to the service you choose and is governed by that service's privacy terms.

Deleting Zen removes its local database, but it may not remove personal iCloud snapshots, shared Challenge records, a push token held by the notification service, cached widget data, or data already transferred to a paired Apple Watch. Personal and shared iCloud data follows your iCloud settings and Apple's retention rules. Leaving a Challenge removes your membership and shared access; ending a Challenge preserves its history. In both cases, the linked personal habit remains local unless you remove it separately.

Questions about any of this go to support@donado.co. See also Terms of use and Exporting your data.