Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 24, 2026

Introduction

Ascend ("we", "our", or "us") is a stair-stepper workout app for tracking climbs, workouts, leaderboards, achievements, and progress. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, how we share it, and the choices you have.

Information We Collect

Depending on how you use Ascend, we may collect the following information:

• Account information: Your email address, authentication provider, user ID, display name, profile photo, joined date, and account settings.
• Profile and onboarding information: Display name, declared age, gender or division, body height, body weight, city, region, country, stair-stepper experience, exercise baseline, goals, motivation, notification preference, and first-climb recommendation.
• Workout and fitness data: Steps, floors, duration, cadence, heart rate, calories, workout dates, Live Climb attempt state, climb completion state, personal records, leaderboard entries, achievements, and related workout metrics.
• Apple Health data: With your permission, Ascend reads supported workout and health data from Apple HealthKit, such as workouts, steps, heart rate, and active energy, to import or enrich your workout history.
• Photos, videos, notes, and feedback: Media and notes you attach to workouts, profile photos you upload, and feedback or support messages you send us.
• Purchase and subscription information: Trial, subscription, entitlement, restore-purchase, paywall interaction, and purchase-status information processed through Apple, RevenueCat, and Superwall.
• Product usage analytics: Screen views, onboarding funnel events, feature interactions, paywall events, and other first-party product analytics collected through Firebase Analytics and Mixpanel in non-debug builds.
• Notification data: Notification preferences, iOS notification permission state, and APNs/FCM push registration tokens used to send opted-in app notifications such as climb-drop alerts.
• Diagnostics: Crash reports, performance data, non-fatal error logs, app version, operating system version, device model, and related debugging context collected through Firebase Crashlytics, Sentry, and app telemetry.
• City search and map context: Searches and selected city-level location information used to help you pick profile and leaderboard context. If you choose current location during onboarding, Ascend uses it once to find your city, then saves only city, region, and country. Ascend does not collect continuous background location or gym-level location for leaderboards.

How We Use Information

We use information to operate and improve Ascend, including to:

• Create and authenticate your account.
• Track, store, sync, import, and display stair-stepper workouts.
• Calculate climb progress, records, achievements, trends, and recommendations.
• Operate leaderboards, public profile surfaces, First Ascent status, and community climb context.
• Personalize onboarding, first-climb recommendations, app settings, and notifications.
• Process subscriptions, trials, entitlements, paywalls, and restore-purchase flows.
• Analyze onboarding conversion, product usage, app quality, and crash trends.
• Respond to support requests and investigate bugs or abuse.
• Comply with legal, security, and App Store obligations.

Public and Shared Surfaces

Ascend is built around competitive stair-stepper context. Some information may be visible to other users on profiles, leaderboards, climb history, and achievement surfaces. This may include your display name, profile photo, public profile statistics, city-level profile location, joined date, achievements, climb completions, leaderboard rankings, and public workout summaries. Your email address, authentication provider details, private account fields, and private workout backups are not meant for public display.

Apple HealthKit

Ascend uses Apple HealthKit only with your permission. HealthKit data is used to provide workout import, workout enrichment, and related app functionality.

• We do not use HealthKit data for advertising, marketing, or cross-app tracking.
• We do not sell HealthKit data.
• We do not share HealthKit data with advertisers, data brokers, or ad networks.
• We do not write data back to Apple Health unless a future feature clearly asks for permission and explains why.
• You can revoke HealthKit access at any time in iOS Settings or in the Health app.

Analytics, Tracking, and Advertising

Ascend uses first-party analytics to understand whether onboarding, subscriptions, workouts, leaderboards, and core features are working. We use Firebase Analytics and Mixpanel for product analytics, Firebase Crashlytics and Sentry for crash reporting and diagnostics, and Superwall and RevenueCat for subscription and paywall analytics.

Ascend does not sell personal information, does not use advertising networks, does not use the iOS advertising identifier (IDFA), and does not track you across other companies' apps or websites for targeted advertising. Because we do not perform App Tracking Transparency-style tracking, Ascend does not show the ATT prompt.

Third-Party Services

Ascend uses service providers to run the app. These providers process information only for the services they provide to Ascend, subject to their own terms and privacy commitments.

• Apple: App Store, StoreKit, Sign in with Apple, Apple HealthKit, Apple Health, and Apple MapKit.
• Google Firebase: Authentication, Firestore, Storage, Cloud Functions, Analytics, Crashlytics, and Hosting.
• Google Sign-In: Optional account authentication.
• RevenueCat: Subscription status, entitlements, purchase history, and restore-purchase support.
• Superwall: Paywall presentation, paywall analytics, campaign logic, and subscription conversion measurement.
• Mixpanel: First-party product analytics and onboarding funnel measurement.
• Sentry: Crash reporting, non-fatal error diagnostics, performance diagnostics, breadcrumbs, and release health investigation.

Data Storage and Security

Ascend stores workout data locally on your device and uses Firebase/Google Cloud for backup, sync, authentication, media storage, and server-owned app functionality. We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards, including encryption in transit and cloud-provider security controls. No system is perfectly secure, so you should use a strong account credential and keep your device protected.

Data Retention

We keep account and workout information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide Ascend. If you delete your account, we delete or de-identify associated account data from active systems within a reasonable period, generally within 30 days, except where we need to retain limited records for security, fraud prevention, legal compliance, backup integrity, or transaction records.

Your Choices

• Account data: You can update profile information in the app where supported.
• Account deletion: You can delete your account in the app. You may also contact us if you need help.
• HealthKit: You can grant or revoke HealthKit permissions in iOS Settings or the Health app.
• Notifications: You can enable or disable notification categories in Ascend where supported, and you can turn all notifications off in iOS Settings.
• Photos: You can control Photos access in iOS Settings.
• Subscriptions: You can manage App Store subscriptions through your Apple account subscription settings.
• Support requests: You can contact us to request access, correction, deletion, or export of personal information, subject to identity verification and applicable law.

Children's Privacy

Ascend is not intended for children under 13, and the onboarding age range starts at 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we collected information from a child under 13, we will delete it as required by law.

International Users

Ascend is operated from the United States. If you use Ascend from outside the United States, your information may be processed in the United States and other countries where our service providers operate. Privacy laws may differ from those in your location.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as Ascend changes. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date above. If a change materially affects your rights or how we use your information, we will provide additional notice when appropriate.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your data, contact us at pavayt@gmail.com.

Built by Tyler Pavay · ascendstepper.com · Terms of Service