Privacy Policy

Shortless for iOS · Last updated September 30, 2026

Overview

Shortless is a digital wellbeing app for iOS that blocks short-form video feeds (YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok, and Snapchat Spotlight) in Safari. It uses a Safari Content Blocker, a Safari Web Extension, and Home Screen widgets. Shortless collects no personal data.

Data Collection

Shortless does not collect, store, or transmit any personal data. Specifically:

• No analytics or telemetry
• No tracking of any kind
• No cookies
• No user accounts or sign-up
• No browsing history is accessed or recorded
• No data is sent to any server operated by us

How Blocking Works

All content blocking happens on your device, using two mechanisms:

• Safari Content Blocker: Apple's native content-blocking API uses declarative rules, generated on your device from your preferences, to block or hide short-form content before it renders.
• Safari Web Extension: content scripts watch for short-form content that sites load dynamically (common on YouTube and Instagram) and hide it.

Neither mechanism sends any data off your device.

Data Stored on Your Device

Shortless keeps a small amount of data on your device, in storage shared between the app and its extensions:

• Platform preferences: which platforms you have switched on or off
• Block counter: a daily count of blocked items, for the Time Reclaimed dashboard
• Onboarding answers: your estimated daily short-form video time and your reduction goal, used to personalize Time Reclaimed
• Streak: the date your current scroll-free streak began

This data never leaves your device. It is not synced to any server, cloud service, or third party, and deleting the app deletes it.

Home Screen Widgets

The optional Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets show your streak, block count, and Time Reclaimed from the same on-device storage. Widgets make no network requests.

Third-Party Services

Shortless does not send data to or receive data from any third-party service, API, or server, and makes no network requests of any kind.

Children's Privacy

Shortless does not collect data from any user, including children under 13.

Changes to This Policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted on this page with a new date.

Contact

Questions about this policy: privacy@martinapps.dev. For help with the app, see Shortless Support.