Privacy Policy

Last updated September 21, 2026

Reply Required is a family messaging app for iPhone. A parent can send a message that needs a reply, or give a task, and the apps the family chose on the child's phone pause until the child replies or finishes it. This policy explains what the app collects, why, and the choices you have. The short version: your information is shared only with your own family, it isn't sold or used for advertising, there are no ads, no analytics and no tracking, and a parent can delete their account, and the family, from inside the app.

Who we are

Reply Required is an independent app operated by its developer, Ryan Pliske, in Missouri, USA. For any privacy question, email tplisk@gmail.com.

What we collect

Parent accounts. Parents sign in through Pliske ID, the shared sign-in for this developer's apps, using Sign in with Apple or Google Sign-In. We receive the name and email address that Apple or Google shares, and use them to identify your account and show your name to your family. If you choose Apple's "Hide My Email", we only see the relay address.
Child accounts. A child doesn't sign up. A parent adds the child to the family and types the name the family will see; the app then gives the parent a code that the child enters on their own phone. The code works on one phone only. We don't ask a child for an email address, phone number or any other detail.
Family. The family's name, who is in it (names and whether each person is a parent or a child), and the codes used to join.
Messages. The text messages you send. Conversations exist only inside your family: a family chat and one-to-one threads between members.
Tasks. Tasks and chores a parent gives, messages marked as needing a reply, and whether each one has been done.
Parent passcode. A parent can set a passcode that is needed to change the pause settings on a child's phone. We store only a salted hash of it, never the passcode itself.
Pause status. Whether the chosen apps on a child's phone are paused right now, and when that phone was last seen by the app, so a parent can tell whether their message has reached it.
Devices. A random ID the app creates for each install, and a push-notification token for each phone, so the app can notify you and so a child's code stays on the phone it was first entered on.
What we don't collect. No phone number, location, contacts, photos, health or financial data. The app has no analytics or advertising SDK and does not use the advertising identifier.

Screen Time and the apps that pause

Reply Required uses Apple's Screen Time framework for one purpose: to pause the apps the family chose on the child's phone while a reply or task is waiting, and to bring them back when it's done. Which apps were chosen is picked with Apple's own app picker and stays on the child's phone. It is never sent to us, and we can't see it; Apple gives the app only opaque references to the apps, not their names. The app does not see how the phone is used, what apps are opened, or for how long.

Notifications

Notifications about messages never include the message text; they only say that a reply is waiting. A notification for a new task shows the task's title.

Who can see it

Everything in a family is visible only to that family's members. Family members see each other's names and the family chat, and a child sees their own tasks. A one-to-one conversation is visible only to the two people in it. Parents also see a child's tasks, whether the child's apps are paused, and when the child's phone was last seen. People outside your family cannot see any of it.

How your data is stored

Reply Required stores and delivers data with Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore and Cloud Functions, on Google Cloud), and sends notifications through Apple Push Notification service. Sign in is handled by Sign in with Apple and Google Sign-In through Pliske ID. Access is enforced by security rules: family data is readable only by that family's members, and your device data only by you. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest by the underlying Google Cloud infrastructure.

What we do not do

We do not sell your personal data.
We do not show ads or share your data with ad networks or data brokers.
We do not use analytics or track you across other companies' apps or websites.
We do not read your messages except as needed to operate and support the app, or to act on a report.

Reporting and blocking

Anyone can report a message by touching and holding it. A report goes to the family's organizer (the parent who created the family) and includes the reported message so it can be reviewed; a report made by a parent also goes to the developer. Parents can block another parent, which hides that person's messages from them.

Children and teens

Reply Required is made for families with teens, roughly ages 13 to 16. A child's account is created and managed by a parent: the parent adds the child, types the child's name, and gives the child the code to join. A child cannot create an account on their own and does not sign in with Apple, Google, an email address or a phone number.

For a child we keep only what the app needs to work: the name the parent typed, the messages and tasks in their family, whether their apps are paused and when their phone was last seen, and their device's push token. There are no ads and no analytics, and nothing about a child is shared outside the family or used for any other purpose.

A parent can see their child's tasks and pause status in the app, and the parent who created the family can delete the child's account at any time, as described below. A child who wants their account deleted can ask a parent, or email us. If you believe a child is using the app without a parent's involvement, email us and we will delete that account.

Your choices and rights

Delete your account (parents). In the app, open Account, then Delete account. This deletes your Pliske ID, which is shared with this developer's other apps, and your data in Reply Required. It cannot be undone.
- If you created the family (the organizer), the whole family goes too: its messages, tasks, members, and every child account in it along with the child's data.
- If you joined someone else's family, you leave it. Your one-to-one conversations are deleted, and the family carries on without you. Messages you posted in the family chat stay in the family's conversation; email us if you want those removed too.
Delete a child's account. The parent who created the family opens the child's page and taps Delete account. This permanently deletes the child's account, their code, tasks, messages, reports about them and their device records, and it cannot be undone.
By email. If you can't get into the app, or want a copy of your data or any other request, email tplisk@gmail.com from the address on your account (for a child, from the parent's). We'll take care of it within 7 days.
Notifications. You can turn notifications off in iPhone Settings.

Changes

We may update this policy as the app evolves. Material changes will be reflected here with a new "last updated" date.