Colour Studio Privacy Policy

Learning and app records

The App may save the following information in its local app storage:

• lesson progress, completion dates, predictions and observations;
• pinned colour references and app setup choices;
• notebook entries and reflections;
• Play campaign drafts, completed compositions, observations and motion/haptic preferences;
• Palette Stylist palettes and colour specifications, including any physical reference codes and decision notes the user types;
• spaced-review schedules (which review cards were answered and when they are next due);
• daily-puzzle answers, the endless sorting room’s level, and the paper box (which of the 42 papers have been used, when, and in which exercise);
• work moved to Recently deleted, which is kept for 30 days and then removed;
• the learner’s answer to “what brings you here” (on my own, a class, or teaching), their answer to the opening “one grey, or two?” question, appearance and display choices, and review-reminder settings;
• the dates (not times) of the days the App was opened, up to the last 120, used only to offer a short refresher after a long break;
• classroom pilot records, only if the user joins a pilot (see below);
• educator usefulness ratings, only if an educator saves them;
• test-feedback ratings, categories and comments; and
• device model, iOS version and app version, but only when the user chooses to include this context in a feedback note.

These records are used only to provide the App’s learning, notebook and testing features, including the Play campaign. They are not transmitted to the developer.

Suggestions from what I do (optional)

This setting is off unless the learner turns it on, during setup or later in Settings. While it is on, the App keeps a short log on the device of:

• predictions in the experiments: the idea being practised, whether the prediction matched the result, whether the learner saw the effect, the optional “Sure / Not sure” answer and how many seconds the prediction took;
• searches typed in the Dictionary and whether they found an entry;
• which Dictionary terms were opened; and
• how many hints were opened in a Play puzzle and whether a check passed.

The App uses the log on the device to notice a few patterns (an idea that is not settling yet, a belief that colour does not change with its surround, searches that found nothing, a term opened on several days, the answer hint used often) and to suggest something to try. Every suggestion is shown with the evidence behind it in What Colour Studio noticed, where the learner can mark it as wrong, which hides it for 30 days. Entries older than 60 days are removed automatically, and the log holds at most 2,000 entries.

The log is never sent to the developer, never synced through iCloud and never included in a backup. Turning the setting off stops new entries; Forget everything noticed deletes the log immediately. The App does not use the log to grade, rank or compare learners. If the learner chooses Send missed searches to CRIT Studio, the list of searches that found nothing is passed to Apple’s share sheet, where the learner chooses whether and where to send it.

Camera

With the user’s permission, Camera Colour Hunt and the Digital Glitch exercise use the rear camera to sample rendered colour, compare white balance and find a nearby paper swatch. Other eyes, live shows camera frames through an approximate colour-vision simulation. Camera frames are analysed live on the device. The App does not record or upload those frames as photographs or video.

If the learner chooses Scan your teacher’s code, the App uses the camera with Apple’s on-device text and code recognition to read a QR code. Only a Colour Studio link is accepted; anything else is ignored, and no image is kept.

Photos for the Fall leaf study

The Fall leaf study lets the user choose a photograph through Apple’s system photo picker. The App reads colours from that one image on the device. The photograph itself is not copied into the App or uploaded; only colour values the user chooses to save are kept.

Optional reference photos

The user may choose a photograph through Apple’s system photo picker as a personal reference for a physical exercise. The App receives only the image selected by the user. It prepares a smaller JPEG, stores it in the App’s private Application Support directory and shows it back inside that milestone. It does not unlock a credential, and it is not uploaded or reviewed by an instructor.

Classroom pilot (optional)

Pilot mode is off unless the user reads a consent screen, enters a cohort code supplied by their educator and chooses to join. The pilot record contains a randomly generated six-character participant code, the cohort code, answers to three short multiple-choice checks, confidence ratings, optional written explanations, whether the Screen to print module and a pilot brief were completed, and an optional interest rating. It does not contain a name, account, contact detail, location or device identifier.

The record stays on the device. A user can share a pilot export with their educator through Apple’s share sheet; written explanations are left out of the export unless the user turns them on. Leaving the pilot deletes the record from the device. Educators can import learner exports into Educator tools on their own device to see combined results; imported files are read for that screen only and are not stored by the App. From version 3.0, completion dates in an export are rounded to the day, so an export does not show what time of day a learner worked.

Review reminders (optional)

If the user turns on review reminders, the App asks iOS for notification permission and schedules at most one local notification at a time, on a day when review cards are due, at the time the user chooses. Reminders are scheduled and delivered by iOS on the device. No information is sent to a server. Reminders can be turned off in the App’s Settings or in iOS Settings.

Widgets, Spotlight and Shortcuts

The App’s widgets read a small summary written by the App into a container on the device that only the App and its widgets can open: the title of the next step, how many steps are done and when review cards are due. Spotlight indexes the App’s own dictionary terms, papers and exercise titles on the device; it does not index the user’s work. Shortcuts actions only open screens in the App.

iCloud sync (optional)

iCloud sync is off unless the user turns it on in Settings. When it is on, the App stores copies of its journey progress, Notebook entries (including Recently deleted), Play artworks, review schedules, palettes, specifications, the paper box, puzzle answers and endless-room progress in the user’s own iCloud key-value storage, so they appear on the user’s other devices. Evidence photos, predictions, feedback notes and pilot records are not synced. This data is held by Apple under the user’s Apple Account and Apple’s privacy policy; Kamalanarayanan and CRIT Studio cannot access it. Turning sync off stops further syncing, and Reset all progress also removes the iCloud copy.

Licensed reference material

Version 3.0 contains no licensed partner colour data. If such data is added in a later version under an agreement, it will be bundled with the App and will not involve sending user information to the partner.

Apple Intelligence

On compatible devices, the optional Studio Critic uses Apple’s on-device Foundation Models framework to explain exercise results. The App provides the model with the current exercise context and colour metrics. This processing does not use a CRIT Studio server, and the developer does not receive the prompt or response. The App’s core exercises remain available when Apple Intelligence is unavailable.

The App can create feedback summaries, notebook cards, study plates, Notebook sheets, colour specification images and text, printable PDF test pages, pilot exports (JSON), combined pilot results (CSV), daily-puzzle result cards, palette files (Colour Studio, Procreate, Adobe, GIMP and CSS), images, short videos and a full backup file on the device. A backup file contains all of the App’s records listed above, including any evidence photos, so it should be kept somewhere private. An export is shared only after the user opens Apple’s system share sheet and chooses a destination. The selected destination, such as Mail, Messages, Files or a social platform, may process the exported content under its own privacy policy. The App does not control those services.

Users should review exported material before sharing it and should not include sensitive information unless they intend to send it to the selected recipient or service.

Links and QR codes

Colour Studio links (colourstudio://) contain only the screen to open and, for the classroom pilot, an optional cohort code. Opening a link does not send anything to the developer, and a cohort code still requires the learner’s own consent before a pilot record is created. If a link is the first thing that opens the App, the App opens the shared screen, records the learner’s role as “for a class” (which they can change in Settings) and leaves the rest of setup until later.