Who is responsible
RedThread is an independent project operated by Tom Jonathan Schlüter in Switzerland.
- Privacy contact
- support@red-thread.pro
Use that address to ask what information is held about you, request a correction or deletion, withdraw a consent, or raise any privacy concern.
The website
This website has no RedThread account, contact form, advertising tracker, or first-party audience analytics. RedThread does not set a marketing cookie or build a profile of the pages you read.
The public website is hosted by Hostinger on European infrastructure. Like any web host, Hostinger may temporarily process technical request information such as an IP address, request time, requested page, browser or device details, and security signals. This is used to deliver the page, keep the service reliable, prevent misuse, and diagnose faults.
RedThread does not receive a visitor list from this hosting data and does not combine it with an advertising profile. The public website does not set RedThread marketing or analytics cookies.
Your stories and files
RedThread for iPad and RedThread Pocket keep your story material on your device. The apps do not require a RedThread account, and core writing, worldbuilding, search, storage, import, and export do not depend on a RedThread cloud service.
Story text, character and place names, notes, search terms, images, story databases, exported archives, and the contents of a Pocket handoff are not sent to RedThread. Moving work between the two apps is an explicit file handoff that you begin.
Your device, operating-system backup, file provider, or any location you choose for an exported archive may process the files under its own terms. RedThread cannot see or control those services.
Optional RedThread beta diagnostics
Some RedThread iPad beta builds offer two separate choices: anonymous usage analytics and sanitized error reports. Both are off by default, can be changed in Settings, respect Do Not Track, and are not required for the app to work. The analytics code is not initialized unless at least one choice is switched on.
When enabled, the beta may send only:
- broad actions such as opening the app or viewing a fixed screen;
- a route with record identifiers removed, plus the app version, broad platform, and beta channel;
- a random installation identifier that is not tied to an account; and
- for error reports, a generic message and a shortened, cleaned technical trace.
These signals never include story text, titles, names, search terms, filenames, exported files, database contents, raw web addresses, location properties, screen recordings, clicks, or advertising identifiers. PostHog receives the source IP long enough to accept the network request, but the app disables location enrichment.
The beta sends these signals to a dedicated PostHog Cloud EU project through its European endpoint. PostHog acts as a service provider. Access is limited to maintainers who need it to understand beta reliability and broad feature use. Data is kept only while it remains useful for that purpose, then deleted or aggregated.
TestFlight
The public beta link opens Apple TestFlight. Apple automatically collects beta installation, usage, and crash information and may share it with the app provider. Feedback, comments, and screenshots are shared when you choose to send them. With a public TestFlight link, Apple says your name and email address are not shown to the app provider.
RedThread uses information received through TestFlight only to run the beta, respond to feedback, and improve stability. Apple processes TestFlight information under its own privacy terms and may process it outside Switzerland.
Email and support
If you request a Pocket invite or contact support, RedThread receives your email address and whatever you include in the message. It is used to answer you, manage the beta request, investigate the issue, and keep any records that are reasonably necessary for security or legal obligations.
Please do not email confidential manuscript material unless it is genuinely needed to explain a problem. Support messages are deleted when they are no longer needed for the conversation or a related issue.
Why information is processed
Under Swiss data-protection law, information is processed transparently and only for the purposes described above. Where the EU or UK GDPR applies, the corresponding grounds are providing the requested website, beta, or support service; RedThread’s legitimate interest in security and improving the beta; compliance with legal duties; and consent for optional in-app diagnostics.
You can withdraw diagnostic consent at any time in the app. That does not affect processing that already occurred while the choice was on.
Sharing and international processing
Information is not sold. It is disclosed only where needed to the services described here: Hostinger and its infrastructure providers for website hosting, Apple for TestFlight, PostHog for diagnostics you enable, and email or professional advisers where necessary.
Those providers may involve Switzerland, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries in which they operate. Where required, transfers are protected through an adequacy decision, contractual data-protection clauses, or another lawful safeguard. Each provider remains responsible for processing it performs for its own purposes.
Your choices and rights
Depending on the law that applies, you may ask for access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, or an objection to processing. You may also withdraw consent and complain to a data protection authority. In Switzerland, the supervisory authority is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.
A request may require enough information to confirm that it concerns you. RedThread will not ask for more proof than is reasonably needed.
Changes to this notice
This notice will be updated when the site, beta, or its data handling changes. The date at the top shows the latest version.