Privacy policy

Who’s responsible

Kite is made by me, Joshua Goodwill, an independent developer. In this policy, “I” and “me” mean me, and “Kite” means the app. I’m responsible for the information this policy describes, and you can reach me at support@kite-browser.app.

What Kite doesn’t collect

• No account. Kite never asks for your name, email address or phone number.
• No ads, analytics or tracking. Kite contains no advertising or analytics code, doesn’t use your iPhone’s advertising identifier, and doesn’t track you across apps or websites.
• No location, contacts or photos. Kite doesn’t ask for them.
• Nothing synced. Kite doesn’t upload your tabs, history, archive, favorites or settings, apart from the details in a bug report you send.
• Your clipboard. Kite reads it only when you paste. To name its Paste menu item, it asks iOS whether the clipboard holds a web address, which iOS answers without showing Kite what’s on it.

What leaves your iPhone

A browser has to talk to the internet. This is everything Kite sends, who receives it, and when.

Websites you visit

Kite loads pages straight from the sites you open, and from the services those pages use, unless Shields blocks them. As with any browser, those sites see your IP address and what you do on them, and their own privacy policies apply.

Websites can also ask to use your microphone, for calls or voice notes, or to read your iPhone’s motion and orientation, for games or maps. Kite asks you first, and a site you allow receives what the microphone hears, or the motion readings.

Kite tries the secure (HTTPS) version of a site first, and asks every site not to sell or share your data, using Global Privacy Control. While Shields and its Strip Tracking Parameters setting are on, as they are unless you turn them off, Kite removes common tracking parameters, such as utm_source, from addresses you copy and share, and from those you open on sites where Shields is on.

With Settings › Shields › Reject Cookie Banners on, as it is unless you turn it off, Kite answers cookie banners for you on sites where Shields is on. It picks “Reject all” or “Only necessary” where a banner offers one, and some filter lists instead save an answer in the site’s own storage, so the banner doesn’t appear. The site, and the consent service it uses, receives and records that answer, as if you’d given it yourself.

Your search engine

What you search for, typed or spoken, goes to the search engine you choose: Google, unless you pick DuckDuckGo, Bing, Kagi or one you add yourself. In normal tabs the search engine also receives its own cookies, so if you’re signed in to it, it can link your searches to your account.

Search engine suggestions (off unless you turn them on)

With Settings › Search › Search Engine Suggestions on, Kite sends what you type to your search engine as you type, to show its suggestions. It never does this in private browsing, never sends text that looks like a web address, and sends no cookies with these requests.

Filter list updates

To block ads, trackers and dangerous sites, Kite downloads filter lists from AdGuard (filters.adtidy.org), and the Malicious URL Blocklist from its publisher’s site (malware-filter.gitlab.io, hosted by GitLab): when you first open Kite, and then every few days. These downloads contain nothing about you or your browsing, though the servers see your IP address. Kite checks pages against the lists on your iPhone.

Warnings about dangerous sites

Kite turns on WebKit’s fraudulent website warning, the same check Safari uses. Before a page loads, information calculated from its address, but never the address itself, may be sent to Apple and to Google Safe Browsing (and, if your iPhone’s region is set to mainland China or Hong Kong, to Tencent Safe Browsing). Google or Tencent may log your IP address when that happens. Apple explains this in its Safari & Privacy notice.

Translate (only when you tap it)

Translate, in the page menu, reloads the page through Google Translate. Google receives the page’s address and the language to translate it into, loads the page itself and shows it to you translated, and pages you open from there go through Google too. In normal tabs, Google also receives its own cookies. Translate works in private tabs as well.

Voice search

Kite turns speech into text on your iPhone, and voice search never sends your voice anywhere. The first time you use voice search in a language, iOS may download Apple’s speech model for it. The words you said then go to your search engine, like a typed search.

Bug reports you send

Sent only when you tap Send. See Bug reports below for exactly what they contain.

Things you share

Links you share, copy or export go where you put them. When you share a page, iOS’s share sheet may load it to show its title and icon, even from a private tab. Links that open another app, such as Maps or Mail, go to that app when you tap them or allow it.

Apple’s TestFlight

While Kite is being tested, you install it with Apple’s TestFlight. TestFlight automatically collects crash logs and usage information, such as how often you open Kite, and shares them with me, along with your name and the email address I invited you with, your iPhone’s model, a device identifier and its iOS version. TestFlight doesn’t let you turn this off.

Feedback you send through TestFlight reaches me too, with any screenshot and details such as your battery level, carrier, time zone, connection type and free storage. Apple explains its part in its TestFlight & Privacy notice. I use this information only to test and improve Kite.

Bug reports

Kite’s bug reporter is how testers tell me something went wrong. Nothing is sent until you tap Send.

Starting a report

Shake your iPhone while you’re using Kite, or choose Report a Bug… in Settings or in the page menu. The form shows what the report will send, under “What’s included”, so you can check it first. Each report also carries a random ID, listed below. To stop shakes from opening reports, turn off Settings › Feedback › Shake to Report a Bug.

What a report contains

• What happened, and the steps to reproduce it, as you write them.
• A screenshot of Kite’s screen as it was when you started the report, unless you remove it. It shows whatever was on screen, such as the page you were reading, or Home, whose cards show your open tabs’ titles and sites, so look before you send. Kite takes none in private browsing, or while search, the archive or the share sheet from Kite’s page menu is open, because those show web addresses and history.
• The page’s address, but only if you turn on “Include this page’s address”, which is off until you do. Kite first takes out any user name, password and the part after a #, and removes tracking parameters as it does when you share a link.
• Kite’s version, build and code revision, and your iPhone’s model, such as iPhone 16 Pro Max.
• Technical details:
  • your iOS version;
  • the screen and window size, size classes and orientation, and on a foldable iPhone, how far it’s open;
  • your language and region settings;
  • whether Low Power Mode is on, and how warm your iPhone is;
  • how much memory Kite is using, and how much storage is free;
  • whether Shields is on, which filter lists are on and how many rules they hold;
  • how many tabs you have open outside private browsing, but not which;
  • whether you were in private browsing, and whether the page was still loading;
  • how you started the report.
• Up to 200 lines of Kite’s own technical log since it last started, each with its time, and with web addresses, site names, IP addresses and email addresses replaced by placeholders. If you include the page’s address, that site’s name can appear.
• Reports of crashes and freezes that iOS has passed to Kite and no earlier bug report included, with when they happened, and with addresses removed in the same way.
• A random ID, so I can tell when the same report arrives twice.

What Kite never adds to a report

Kite never adds your name, email address or Apple Account, your iPhone’s name, or any device or advertising identifier. What you type, the screenshot and an address you include can still show them, for example a page you’re signed in to or an address with your email in it, so check before you send.

Apart from the screenshot and an address you choose to include, a report says nothing about your browsing: never your history, cookies, passwords or form data.

In private browsing

A report started in private browsing, or with a private tab in front, has no screenshot and no address. If it can’t be sent, Kite doesn’t keep it.

Where a report goes

Kite sends the report over an encrypted connection to Kite’s relay at feedback.kite-browser.app, a small program that runs on Cloudflare. The relay checks the report and files it as an issue in a private GitHub repository that only I can open; GitHub itself, and the key the relay files reports with, can reach it too. The screenshot, and any technical details too long for the issue, are saved as files in that repository. The relay stores nothing itself and keeps no request logs.

Cloudflare sees your IP address when the report arrives, and its dashboard keeps a sample of requests to the relay, with their IP addresses, for about a month. The relay uses the address only to limit how many reports one address can send in a minute, and I don’t use Cloudflare’s records to work out who sent a report.

Who reads reports

I read reports to find and fix problems in Kite. I also use Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic, to help me read and sort them, so a report’s contents, its screenshot included, are processed by Anthropic for that. My Claude account is set so that Anthropic doesn’t use what I share with it to train its models, and Anthropic keeps it for up to 30 days (longer only if its safety systems flag it). Apart from the companies named here, I don’t share reports with anyone.

If a report can’t be sent right away

If you’re offline, for example, Kite keeps the report on your iPhone and tries again when you open Kite, waiting longer after each failed try. Up to 10 reports can wait; past that, the oldest is dropped, and so is a report the relay refuses or keeps turning away. Settings › Feedback shows how many are waiting, and lets you send them now or discard them.

How long reports are kept

Reports stay in the repository until I delete them. I keep them while they help me improve Kite, and I’ll delete yours whenever you ask. Email support@kite-browser.app with its number, which Kite shows when it sends the report (“Thanks, sent as #12”). If Kite sent it later, or you don’t have the number, tell me roughly when you sent it and what it said.

I’ll delete every copy, including one filed twice. Deleting a report removes its issue and erases its screenshot and files from the repository’s history, and I’ll ask GitHub to clear any copies it has cached. Copies I made while fixing a problem, on my Mac and in my Claude sessions, go too, and Anthropic deletes its own copy as described above.

What Kite keeps on your iPhone

Kite stores these in its own space on your iPhone, which other apps can’t read. Deleting Kite deletes all of it.

Open tabs

Each tab’s address and title; its back and forward pages, as WebKit saves them, with your place on each page and anything typed into its forms; when you opened it and when you last used it; and a small picture of the page for the tab switcher. Kept until you close or archive the tab.

Archive

The address and title of each archived tab, and when it was archived. Kept until you delete it: swipe left on it, or tap Clear in the archive.

History

The address and title of pages you visit, when you last visited each, and how often. It doesn’t expire; Settings › Privacy › Clear History deletes it. Open tabs keep their own back and forward pages until you close them.

Favorites

Kept until you remove them.

Site settings

For sites where you change them: whether Shields is on, the page zoom and whether to request the desktop site. There’s no button to clear them all yet; deleting Kite does.

Website data

Cookies, caches and other data that sites store, as in any browser. Sites decide how long; Settings › Privacy › Clear Website Data deletes it all and signs you out of websites.

Your settings

Your choices in Settings, such as your search engine, and a few things Kite keeps track of, such as when it last checked whether it’s your default browser. Kept until you change them or delete Kite.

Filter lists

Replaced as they update.

Bug reports and crash reports

Up to 10 bug reports waiting to send, and up to 10 crash and freeze reports from iOS, kept until a bug report you send carries them.

If you back up your iPhone to iCloud or a computer, iOS includes Kite’s data in the backup, as it does for most apps, except the filter lists, bug reports waiting to send, and websites’ caches.

Private tabs

Private tabs are kept apart from your other tabs, and Kite never saves them:

• They’re never written to Kite’s storage, never restored when Kite starts, and never added to your history or the archive. They can’t be added to favorites.
• They get their own cookies and site data, held only in memory, and thrown away when you choose Close All Private Tabs or when Kite quits.
• Site settings you change in a private tab are kept only in memory.
• Kite never asks your search engine for suggestions in private browsing.
• A bug report from private browsing has no screenshot or address, and is never kept on your iPhone.

A few things to know. Translate works in private tabs too, and sends the page’s address to Google. Sharing a page from a private tab can make iOS’s share sheet load it, to show its title and icon. And when you leave Kite, iOS saves a picture of its screen for the app switcher, as it does for every app; Kite doesn’t hide private tabs from that picture yet.

Permissions

Microphone

Kite listens for voice search while you hold + (Search), tap the microphone or use the Voice Search action, and that audio stays on your iPhone. Websites can also ask to use it, for calls or voice notes. Kite asks you first, and if you allow it, that site receives what the microphone hears.

Speech Recognition

Asked for only if your language needs iOS’s older speech recognizer, which Kite always runs on your iPhone.

Background App Refresh

Lets Kite archive unused tabs and update filter lists in the background. There’s no prompt; you can turn it off in the Settings app.

Motion

When no tabs are open, Kite reads your iPhone’s tilt to shift the shine on the kite. It isn’t stored or sent, and there’s no prompt. Websites can also ask to read your iPhone’s motion and orientation; Kite asks you first, and a site you allow receives those readings.

Kite doesn’t ask for your location, camera, photos, contacts or Bluetooth, and doesn’t ask to track you. You can change what Kite may use in the Settings app.

Children

Kite is a general-purpose web browser and isn’t meant for children under 13. I don’t knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has sent me a bug report or an email, contact me and I’ll delete it.

Your rights and choices

Most of what Kite handles never leaves your iPhone, so you can see it and delete it yourself, with the settings above or by deleting Kite.

For information that reaches me (bug reports, email you send me, and what TestFlight shares), you can ask me to:

• tell you what I have, and send you a copy;
• correct it;
• delete it;
• stop using it.

For TestFlight, I can remove you as a tester and delete what App Store Connect lets me; Apple keeps its own records under its TestFlight notice.

Email support@kite-browser.app. I’ll answer within 30 days, and asking won’t change how I treat you.

If you’re in the European Economic Area or the UK, data protection law (the GDPR, or the UK GDPR) gives you these rights, along with the right to complain to your data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office). I’d welcome the chance to sort out a complaint first.

I rely on your consent for bug reports, which you give each time you tap Send and can withdraw by asking me to delete a report, and on my legitimate interest in testing and supporting Kite for TestFlight information and email. The companies that handle this information for me are based in the United States, so it may be processed there. Each of them protects it under its own terms at least as well as this policy does, and relies on the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses for information from Europe.

I don’t sell personal information or use it for advertising, and I share it only with the companies named below, which handle it for me. Neither Kite nor this website tracks you across other sites, so a Do Not Track signal has nothing to turn off.

Companies involved

Cloudflare, GitHub, Anthropic and Apple (for my email) handle information for me. The others are services Kite connects you to. Each one’s privacy policy explains what it does with what it receives.

• Cloudflare runs the bug-report relay and this website, and forwards email sent to support@kite-browser.app. Cloudflare’s privacy policy
• GitHub stores bug reports in a private repository. GitHub’s privacy statement
• Anthropic makes Claude, which helps me read bug reports. Anthropic’s privacy policy
• Apple runs TestFlight and the fraudulent website warning, provides speech models, and hosts my iCloud Mail inbox, where email to support@kite-browser.app reaches me. Apple’s privacy policy
• Google is the default search engine, and runs Translate and Safe Browsing. Google’s privacy policy
• Tencent runs Tencent Safe Browsing, which the fraudulent website warning uses only if your iPhone’s region is set to mainland China or Hong Kong. Apple’s Safari & Privacy notice explains what it receives.
• AdGuard and GitLab serve the filter lists. AdGuard’s privacy policy, GitLab’s privacy statement

If you choose another search engine, it receives your searches under its own policy.

This website

This site, kite-browser.app, is a few static pages. The site itself sets no cookies, has no analytics, ads, web fonts or scripts, and loads nothing from other websites.

Cloudflare hosts it, and sees your IP address and browser details to deliver the pages and protect them from attacks, under Cloudflare’s privacy policy. In Cloudflare’s dashboard I can see totals, such as requests per country, and a sample of individual requests (IP address, country, browser and page) for about a month. If Cloudflare ever needs to check that you’re not a bot, it may set security cookies, such as cf_clearance, which aren’t used to track you.

Email you send to support@kite-browser.app passes through Cloudflare, which forwards it to my personal inbox at iCloud Mail, Apple’s email service, without storing the message. Cloudflare keeps a record of each message, with the sender’s address, the recipient and the subject, for 31 days. I keep emails while I need them to help you, and delete them if you ask.

Changes to this policy

If Kite starts handling information differently, I’ll update this policy before that version of Kite reaches you, change the date at the top, and say so in that build’s TestFlight notes.

• November 1, 2026: first version.