TipStub Privacy Policy
Effective date: October 31, 2026
Who we are: TipStub is made by Aetheris Innovations (Frezer Kifle) ("we", "us"). Contact: support@aetherisinnovations.com.
TipStub is a record-keeping app for tipped workers. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the IRS or any government agency.
The short version
- TipStub has no account and no server of its own. Your tip records stay on your phone (and in your own iPhone backups, if you use iCloud Backup or a computer backup). We can't see them.
- You type your name, address, tips and hours into TipStub yourself. We don't collect them.
- TipStub never asks for or stores your Social Security number.
- No ads, no analytics, no tracking. We don't sell or share your personal information.
- The only online service the app talks to is RevenueCat, which checks your Pro subscription with Apple or Google. It gets random IDs, your purchase history and basic facts about your device, not your name or your tip records.
- You decide where your exports and backups go. Backups are encrypted with a passphrase only you know.
- To erase your records: Settings → Delete all data, or delete the app.
What TipStub keeps on your phone
| Data | Why | Where it is kept |
|---|---|---|
| Jobs: employer name, business name, employer address, worker type (employee or self-employed) and occupation | To show the right employer on your records and statements | On your phone |
| Shifts: date, hours, cash tips, card tips, tips received from others, tips paid out, the names of the people you tipped out and how much, noncash tips, service charges paid as wages, and notes | To keep your daily tip record and your totals | On your phone |
| Monthly reports: the month's total and the date you marked the report as given to your employer | To show what is due and what you gave | On your phone |
| Your name and mailing address (optional) | They print on the statements you give your employer and on the year-end record pack | On your phone |
| Settings: language, workdays, reminder times, and whether you finished the welcome screens | So the app works the way you set it | On your phone |
| App lock: whether it is on, whether fingerprint or face unlock is on, and a one-way hash of your PIN (never the PIN itself) | To lock the app | On your phone. The PIN hash is in secure storage (the iPhone Keychain, or storage encrypted with an Android Keystore key); the on/off switches are with your other settings |
| Subscription status: RevenueCat's random ID and a saved copy of whether you have Pro and of your purchase details | So Pro works offline and after a restart | On your phone, in the app's storage. Deleting the app removes it. Delete all data keeps it, so Pro stays on |
The names of coworkers you tip out are kept the same way as your shifts.
Phone backups. On Android, TipStub turns off Android's automatic cloud backup and device-to-device transfer for its data, so Google doesn't get a copy. On iPhone, if you use iCloud Backup or back up your iPhone to a computer, iOS includes TipStub's data in that backup, as it does for most apps. That backup belongs to your Apple account. We can't see it.
What we never collect
- There is no account, so we never get an email address, phone number or password from the app.
- TipStub never asks for or stores your Social Security number. The employer statement prints a blank line for it, to fill in by hand.
- TipStub doesn't use your location, contacts, photos, camera or microphone, and it never reads your advertising ID.
- No analytics, no crash-reporting tools, no ads, and no tracking across apps or websites. TipStub doesn't send us error reports or logs.
- Apple and Google may give us crash reports and app statistics without your name, if your phone's settings allow sharing with app developers.
Purchases: RevenueCat, Apple and Google
Pro is a subscription sold through the App Store (Apple) or Google Play (Google). TipStub uses RevenueCat to check whether you have Pro.
When the app connects: each time TipStub starts or you come back to it, and when you buy, restore or manage Pro, it asks RevenueCat whether your store account has Pro. This happens even if you never buy anything. Nothing else in TipStub uses the internet, except links you tap, which open in your browser or email app.
What RevenueCat gets:
- a random ID that RevenueCat's software makes on your phone (not your name or email);
- on iPhone, the ID that iOS gives our apps on your phone (identifierForVendor; it is the same for all our apps on that phone and changes after you delete all of them);
- your TipStub purchase history from Apple or Google (such as the receipt or purchase token, the plan, the price and the dates);
- your App Store or Google Play country, and when the app last connected;
- on iPhone, whether you allowed app tracking (TipStub never asks);
- basic technical facts such as device model, operating system, app version, language and currency.
Like any internet service, RevenueCat also sees your phone's IP address when the app connects. It never gets your tip records, your name, your address or anything else you type into TipStub.
What we turned off: RevenueCat's collection of advertising and attribution identifiers (such as Apple's advertising ID). TipStub never asks to track you and sends RevenueCat nothing you type.
Why: to unlock Pro, to restore it on a new phone, and to show us totals without names, such as how many people subscribe. RevenueCat is our service provider. It processes this data only to provide its service to us, under its data processing terms, and must protect it at least as well as this policy does. It does not sell it or use it for ads. See RevenueCat's privacy policy.
Apple and Google take the payment under your Apple ID or Google account. We never see your card number. They send us sales reports, and Google Play lets us look up an order by its order number when you ask us for help. See Apple's privacy policy and Google's privacy policy.
App lock
- You choose a 4- to 6-digit PIN. TipStub never stores the PIN. It stores only a salted, one-way hash of it in your phone's secure storage (the iPhone Keychain, or storage protected by the Android Keystore).
- If you turn on fingerprint or face unlock, your phone checks your fingerprint or face (Face ID, Touch ID or Android biometrics). TipStub only learns whether the check passed. It never sees or stores your fingerprint or face data.
- The PIN hash never goes into a TipStub backup file, and TipStub never sends it anywhere.
- Nobody can recover a forgotten PIN, including us. The support page explains what you can do.
Encrypted backups (Pro)
- A backup is one file (its name ends in
.tiplogbackup) with your jobs, shifts, monthly reports, name, address and settings. It never includes your app-lock PIN. - TipStub encrypts the file on your phone with AES-256-GCM, using a key made from a passphrase you choose (at least 8 characters) with Argon2id.
- You choose where the file goes (for example Google Drive, Files, iCloud Drive or email) through your phone's share sheet. That service's privacy policy then applies to the file. We never receive it.
- We can't open your backup, and nobody can recover a lost passphrase. Without the passphrase, the backup can't be restored.
- When you restore, TipStub deletes the temporary copy that your phone's file picker made, once it has read the file.
Exports and sharing
- The CSV export, the monthly employer statement and the year-end record pack are made on your phone. They contain what you logged. The statement and the year-end pack also contain your name and address.
- TipStub hands each file to your phone's share sheet or print screen, and you decide where it goes. Once you send or save a file somewhere else, it is in that place's hands, not ours.
- TipStub keeps a temporary copy of each shared file in its own temporary folder. Your phone may clear that folder at any time, and Delete all data removes it.
Reminders
Reminders are local notifications: TipStub schedules them on your phone. No server sends them. Their text never includes your amounts or your employer's name.
Permissions
| Permission | Why TipStub asks |
|---|---|
| Notifications | To show the reminders you turn on. You can say no; the rest of the app still works. |
| Face ID (iPhone), fingerprint or face (Android) | Only if you turn on fingerprint or face unlock for the app lock. |
| Internet and network status (Android) | To check your Pro subscription with RevenueCat and the store. |
| Google Play billing (Android) | To buy Pro through Google Play. |
| Run at startup (Android) | To set your reminders again after your phone restarts. |
| Vibration (Android) | So reminders can vibrate. |
TipStub doesn't ask for access to your location, contacts, photos, camera, microphone or files. To restore a backup, your phone's file picker gives TipStub only the one file you pick.
Our website
This website (tiplog.aetherisinnovations.com) has no cookies, no analytics, no ads and no scripts. It is hosted by Cloudflare, which processes your IP address and browser details to deliver the pages and protect the site from attacks. Cloudflare is our service provider and processes this data only to run the site for us, under its data processing terms.
Email to support
If you email us, we get your email address and what you write. We use it only to answer you. We keep support emails only as long as we need them to help you, and we delete them sooner if you ask. Please never send your Social Security number, your PIN, your backup passphrase or any password.
Children
TipStub is meant for adults 18 and older. It is not directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from children.
How long data is kept, and how to delete it
- On your phone: your records stay until you delete them. Settings → Delete all data cancels your reminders and erases every job, shift and monthly report, your name and address, your settings, the app-lock PIN hash, and TipStub's temporary copies of shared files. It can't be undone. It keeps RevenueCat's saved subscription status, so Pro stays on.
- Deleting the app removes its data from your phone. On iPhone, iOS may keep the app-lock PIN hash in the Keychain after the app is deleted. It isn't your PIN and holds no tip records. Delete all data removes it.
- Files you exported or backed up stay wherever you saved or sent them. Delete them there.
- iPhone backups that include TipStub's data stay in your iCloud or on your computer until that backup is replaced or deleted.
- Purchase records stay with Apple, Google and RevenueCat under their own policies. Deleting your data in TipStub does not cancel a subscription. Cancel it in the App Store or Google Play. To ask us to delete your RevenueCat record, email us the order number from the receipt Apple or Google sent you. While TipStub is installed, it makes a new anonymous record the next time it starts. If you never bought Pro, your RevenueCat record has no purchase and nothing we can link to you. Deleting the app removes its random ID from your phone.
- Support emails: see "Email to support" above.
Your privacy rights
Depending on where you live (for example California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia or another U.S. state with a privacy law), you may have the right to know what personal information a business has about you, to get a copy, to correct it, to delete it, and to opt out of its sale, its sharing for targeted advertising, or profiling.
- We do not sell or share personal information, as the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA) defines those words. We don't use personal information for targeted advertising or profiling, so there is nothing to opt out of.
- Your tip records are on your phone (and in your own iPhone backups, if you make them). You can see, correct, export and delete them yourself in TipStub. We have no copy.
- For your RevenueCat purchase record or your support emails, write to support@aetherisinnovations.com. We will answer within 45 days. We will not treat you differently for using these rights.
Security
- Your records are stored in TipStub's private storage on your phone, which other apps can't read. TipStub doesn't add its own encryption to that storage; it relies on your phone's protections. Use a screen lock on your phone, and turn on app lock for more protection.
- Backup files are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before they leave the app.
- Connections to RevenueCat and the stores are encrypted (HTTPS).
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page with a new effective date. If a future version of TipStub would collect or share data in a new way, we will update this policy first and tell you in the app before that version does it.
Contact
Aetheris Innovations (Frezer Kifle) · support@aetherisinnovations.com