YarnSpace

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 4, 2026

Who is responsible

Julian Lau
Weidengarten 1
53129 Bonn
Germany
Email: jlauapps@gmail.com

In short

YarnSpace needs no account, shows no ads and doesn't track you. There are only anonymous usage statistics, which you can turn off. Your projects, patterns, yarn stash and photos stay on your device and, if you turn it on, in your own iCloud. I, the developer, have no access to them.

Data only leaves your device for the features described below. This website uses no cookies and no analytics, and loads nothing from other servers (not even fonts).

This website

This website is hosted on GitHub Pages, a service of GitHub, Inc. (USA). When you visit it, GitHub processes technically necessary data such as your IP address, date and time, the page you open and your browser, to deliver the page and protect it from abuse (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, our legitimate interest in a secure, working website). See GitHub's privacy statement for details.

iCloud Sync

With iCloud Sync on, the app keeps your projects, counters, reminders, patterns with their files, photos, yarn stash and wishlist in the private iCloud database of your Apple Account, run by Apple. It's there to keep your devices in sync and your data backed up (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

You can turn iCloud Sync off in Settings; your data then stays on this device.

Live Updates Nearby

With this on, counts, timers and project changes go straight to your own devices nearby over the local network or Bluetooth, with no server in between. iOS asks for local network access for this. You can turn it off in Settings.

Apple Watch

Projects in progress, with their counters and timers, go directly between your iPhone and your paired Apple Watch.

Ravelry

When you discover or search patterns and yarns, the app sends your search terms and filters and the IDs of the patterns and yarns you look at to a server of the developer at Cloudflare, Inc. (USA), which passes them on to the interface of Ravelry LLC (USA). Pictures load directly from Ravelry. Your IP address is transmitted as part of this.

This shows you patterns and yarns (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). You don't need a Ravelry account, and the app doesn't access any Ravelry accounts.

The server keeps Ravelry's answers (patterns, yarns, search results) for up to 24 hours, not linked to you, so Ravelry isn't asked again for every view. After that they're discarded.

When you save a pattern from Ravelry to My Patterns, the app keeps its name, designer, link, Ravelry ID and cover photo with you (on your device and, if turned on, in your iCloud). Everything else, including the other photos, loads fresh from Ravelry when you open it. A free pattern file you download is kept with it. Deleting the pattern removes all of this.

YarnSpace is not made by, affiliated with or endorsed by Ravelry.

Transfers to the USA: [add the basis, e.g. EU-US Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses].

Availability in shops

When you open a yarn, or a pattern's yarn, the app asks online shops whether they have the yarn in stock, sending its name (brand and yarn) to:

The request goes through the developer's server at Cloudflare, Inc. (see Ravelry), which asks the shops and keeps their answers for a few hours, so the shops don't see your IP address. It's there to show you where the yarn is available (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

Links to shops and search engines

Find Shops opens shops and search engines (such as LoveCrafts, Wollplatz, Hobbii, Amazon, eBay and Google) with the yarn's name — only when you tap, in Safari (inside the app, or on the Mac in your browser), where their own privacy policies apply. Some links may be affiliate links: the shop then knows you came from YarnSpace and may set cookies.

YarnSpace Pro

Purchases and subscriptions are handled entirely by Apple. The app only learns whether Pro is active; I receive no payment details.

Photos and files

The app reads photos and pattern files only when you pick them, and has no access to the rest of your library.

When you scan a yarn label, the app reads the photo's text entirely on your device (Apple Vision and, where available, on-device Apple Intelligence). The photo isn't kept and doesn't leave your device.

Anonymous usage statistics

To see which features get used, the app sends anonymous events to TelemetryDeck (TelemetryDeck GmbH, Germany; servers in the EU), such as “a project was created”, “a label was scanned” or “the subscription page was opened”. Each event carries the app version, system version, device type, language and region, and an identifier that is hashed several times on your device already, so it can't be traced back to you.

Names, notes, photos, search terms, yarns, patterns and other content are never sent. TelemetryDeck doesn't store IP addresses and doesn't link the data with other apps or services. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in improving the app).

You can turn the statistics off at any time in the app's Settings under Privacy; the app then sends nothing more.

Diagnostics

Crash and hang reports from Apple (MetricKit) are kept on your device only. If you agreed in iOS Settings, Apple shares anonymized diagnostics with the developer.

Settings on your device

Settings such as language, appearance and app color, and the days you counted on (for your streak), are kept on your device; the app color and counting days also sync through your iCloud.

Contact by email

If you email me, I use your address and message only to reply to you (Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR).

Your rights

You have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and to object (Art. 15–21 GDPR), and to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority.

To delete your data, remove it in the app or delete the app; delete iCloud data in iOS Settings under Apple Account › iCloud › Manage Storage. For questions, write to jlauapps@gmail.com.

Changes

When the app or this website changes, I update this policy. The current version applies.