Privacy policy

Parent Cab doesn't collect any personal data. There are no servers, accounts or analytics, so there's nothing about you or your family for us to see.

Last updated 28 September 2026. This policy covers the Parent Cab app for iPhone and iPad (version 2.0 onwards) and this website, parentcab.app.

Who we are

Parent Cab is made by Zac Tolley, an independent developer in the United Kingdom. In this policy "we" and "us" means Zac. For the little personal data we do handle (emails you send us, and the technical data needed to run this website) Zac is the data controller under UK data protection law. Questions about privacy: hello@parentcab.app.

What the app keeps, and where

Everything you put into Parent Cab is stored on your device:

• Passengers: a first name and an emoji for each child, and whether they pay in money or chores. Nothing else: no photos, surnames, birthdays or contact details.
• Trips: when each trip started and ended, the distance, the driving and waiting time, the fare and how it was worked out, the town names where it started and finished, any name you give the trip, who was on board, and who has paid (in cash, chores or hugs) or been let off.
• Settings: your rates and surcharges, chore price list, units, currency, receipt options and appearance.

If you're signed in to iCloud, this is synced between your own devices through your private iCloud database, which Apple stores for you under your Apple Account. Only you can read it; we have no access to it and no way to get it. If you don't use iCloud, it stays on the device.

Location

• Parent Cab uses your location only while the meter is running, to measure the distance and time of the trip. It asks for permission (While Using the App) the first time you start a trip, never at other times.
• So the meter keeps going when your phone's locked, location carries on in the background until you end the trip. Your phone shows the usual location indicator while it does. As soon as the trip ends, location stops.
• While a trip runs, the route is kept in a file on the phone so the trip can carry on if the app is closed. That file is deleted when the trip ends.
• The route is saved with the trip (and so in your iCloud) only if you switch on Show the route map in Settings. With it off, which is how the app starts, the route is thrown away when the trip ends.
• If you'd rather not share location at all, the meter can still charge for time.

Apple services the app uses

Parent Cab uses a few services built into iPhone and iPad. They're provided by Apple and covered by Apple's privacy policy, not by us, and nothing passes through us.

• Town names: when a trip ends, Parent Cab asks Apple's map service for the names of the towns where it started and finished (for example Newbury and Thatcham). It sends only those two positions, rounded to about a kilometre, and keeps only the town name that comes back. Nothing is looked up during a drive.
• Maps: the map on the meter, the trip summary and receipts with a map is drawn by Apple Maps, which loads map images for the area shown from Apple.
• iCloud: syncs your data between your devices, as described above.
• Notifications and the Lock Screen: the running fare on your Lock Screen and the reminder below are created on your device.

Things you choose to share

• Receipts are pictures you send wherever you like through the share sheet (for example Messages or WhatsApp). They show the passengers' first names and emojis, the town names (unless you switch off Show place names), the fare and, only if you switch it on, a map of the route. Receipts show town names, never street addresses.
• Exports (Settings → Your data) are files made on your phone containing your trips, passengers and payments. They go wherever you send them.

We don't see anything you share. Once it's sent, it's handled by whichever app or person you sent it to.

Notifications

After a trip, Parent Cab may offer to nudge you if you ever leave the meter running while you've been parked for 10 minutes. If you say yes, iOS asks for permission to show notifications. The reminder is created and shown on your device; nothing is sent to us. You can turn it off in your device's Settings → Notifications → Parent Cab.

What we don't do

• No accounts or sign-in.
• No analytics, advertising, tracking or crash-reporting code, and no third-party code that collects data.
• We don't sell or share your data, and we don't receive it in the first place.

If you've chosen in your device's settings to share analytics with app developers, Apple may send us anonymous, combined crash and usage statistics that don't identify you. You can change this in Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements.

Children

Parent Cab is for parents and carers, not for children to use themselves. The only information about a child is the first name and emoji a parent or carer types in, and it stays on their own devices and in their own iCloud. Please don't add anything more identifying to trip names.

How long things are kept

That's up to you. Trips and passengers stay until you delete them.

• Export: Settings → Your data → Export gives you every trip as a spreadsheet (CSV) or data file (JSON).
• Delete a trip: from the Trips screen. Removing a passenger takes them off the meter but keeps their name on past trips and tabs; Delete all data removes them completely.
• Delete everything: Settings → Your data → Delete all data removes every trip, passenger and setting from your device and your iCloud, and so from your other devices when they next sync.
• Deleting the app removes what's on that device, but not what's in your iCloud. To remove that too, use Delete all data first, or manage your iCloud storage in your device's Settings.

Copies in your own device backups follow your backup settings.

This website

parentcab.app uses no cookies, no analytics and no third-party fonts or scripts, and doesn't ask for any information. It's hosted by Cloudflare, which processes the technical information any website receives (such as your IP address, browser type and the page requested) to deliver pages and protect the site against abuse. We rely on our legitimate interest in running a secure website for this. Cloudflare's handling is covered by Cloudflare's privacy policy.

If you email us

If you email hello@parentcab.app, we'll have your email address and whatever you choose to tell us. We use it only to reply and help, relying on our legitimate interest in answering you. We keep it only as long as needed for that, and delete it on request. Please don't send more than you need to, and never send anything about your children beyond a first name.

Where data goes

We don't transfer any data from the app, because we never receive it. Apple and Cloudflare run services around the world, so data handled by them (your iCloud data, the town-name lookups, website requests) may be processed outside the UK under their own safeguards.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to ask for a copy of personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or restrict how it's used, and to take it with you. For your Parent Cab data, you already hold all of it: use Export and Delete all data in the app. For anything else, email hello@parentcab.app and we'll reply within one month.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk.

Changes

If Parent Cab changes what it does with data, we'll update this policy before the change reaches the app and change the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll say so in the app's release notes.

See also our terms of use.