What Cuckoo is
Cuckoo watches your calendar, works out how to get to your next event — driving, bus/train, or bike/scooter, using live traffic and transit data — and sends you the plan over WhatsApp and push notifications before you have to think about it. It can optionally trigger private buttons you configure — a smart lock, a gate, or any other HTTP-controllable relay — and it runs as CarPlay tabs while you drive.
Cuckoo does not run ads, does not sell data, and does not use any third-party analytics or tracking SDK. Every piece of data below exists because a specific feature needs it, not because it was convenient to collect.
Data we collect
Collected only once you pair the app to a profile (see Your controls) — nothing is collected before that.
| Data | Where it comes from | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Name & mobile number | Entered when pairing | Identifies your profile; the number receives your one-time pairing code over WhatsApp |
| Calendar events | Google Calendar and/or your iPhone's Calendar app | Knowing what's next, and where |
| Reminders | Your iPhone's Reminders app | Shown alongside events on your dashboard |
| Home & default destination address | Entered in Profile | Origin/destination for commute calculations |
| Travel preferences | Entered in Profile, or set per event | Which transport modes to consider, and your preferred navigation/ticket apps |
| Private button credentials | Entered in Profile → Private Buttons, if you configure any | Lets your own account trigger your own button (a lock's API key, a gate's, or a custom endpoint's own request details) — see Security |
| Family car trip location | Your phone's GPS, only during a family car trip you drive, from Start trip to End trip | A trip driven by a family member who isn't a parent is visible to the family's parents (live position, route, speeding and lost-tracking alerts, frequently visited places). A parent's own trip is visible only to that parent, unless they turn on "Share my trips", which shows it to the other parents. Routes are deleted after 30 days |
| Family invites | A parent types a family member's mobile number | If that number isn't on Cuckoo yet, it receives one WhatsApp invite with the app's download link; the number is kept with the pending invite (visible only to the family's parents) until they join, the invite is cancelled, or 30 days pass |
| Family car connection & parking | The name/identifier of a family car's CarPlay or Bluetooth audio connection, linked by a parent; which family member's phone is connected to a family car right now; the spot where a family car was parked (saved when a trip ends, or set by a family member) | Recognises which family car a phone is connected to, to start and end trips automatically; shows every family member who is in each car right now and where each car is parked. The parking spot is cleared when the car's next trip starts |
| Who's home | Whether each family member is home or away, as reported by their own phone: inside the home zone (yes/no), connected to the home Wi-Fi (yes/no), heard the door lock's Bluetooth (yes/no), and when it last reported. The home's location, home Wi-Fi names and which buttons to run are set by a parent. Never the phone's position | Shows the family who's home, and runs the buttons a parent chose (e.g. turning off the AC) once nobody is |
| Family cars | Entered in Profile → Family & cars and on the Cars tab, if you join a family | Your family role, the family's cars and keys, car bookings (times, notes, approvals), young-driver insurance confirmations (who confirmed it, when, and any reference number you type) and where each key was left — shared only with the members of your own family |
| Private button location | Set by you in Profile → Private Buttons ("Use my current location"), if you choose | Automatic use of a button (auto-opening a gate, auto-unlocking a door) is accepted only when your phone reports it is within that location's radius, so it can't be triggered from elsewhere |
| App version | Sent by the app with each request (app and iOS version) | Shown to your family's members in Family & cars, so it's clear who needs to update; also helps diagnose problems |
| SMS messages (sender and text) | Your phone's own SMS, handed to Cuckoo by a Shortcuts automation you set up (iPhone) or received directly (Android), only if you turn on SMS in Profile → SMS | Shown in Cuckoo's Messages tab and as notifications on your other devices. End-to-end encrypted: each message is encrypted on your phone; the server only passes along sealed messages it can't read, and deletes each one as soon as your device receives it |
| SMS settings | Profile → SMS | Your filters, forwarding rules (the sender or text to match, recipient numbers, webhook addresses) and any rule you choose to publish for others. Stored with your account; webhook header values are stored encrypted |
| Groups | Profile → Groups | The group's name and type, its members' names and roles, and the phone numbers of people invited who haven't joined yet (visible only to the group's admins; removed when they join, the invite is cancelled, or 30 days pass) |
| Button sharing | A button's "Shared with" setting | Which users, groups or phone numbers a button is shared with, and each person's own automatic-use setting for it |
| Device push token | Generated by iOS when you enable notifications | Delivers commute-plan and reminder notifications |
Cuckoo does not collect device location, with one exception: family car trips. While a family member is driving a family car on a trip in Cuckoo, their phone sends its location to Cuckoo from the moment the trip starts until it ends. For a driver who isn't a parent, the family's parents (and the driver) can see that trip's live position and route, are alerted about speeding or lost tracking, and can see places the driver often stops at. A parent's own trip is visible only to that parent, unless they turn on "Share my trips" in their profile, which shares it with the other parents. Routes are deleted automatically 30 days after the trip. The driver sees that the trip is being shared for as long as it lasts. Otherwise, addresses are the ones you type in, not a live GPS position.
How we use it
- Compute a route and a "leave by" time for your next event, using live traffic/transit conditions.
- Send that plan, a pre-leg heads-up, and a daily pill reminder over WhatsApp and iOS push.
- Show a one-tap link into your preferred navigation or ticket app — Cuckoo hands off to that app; it does not send your data to it (see Who else sees it).
- Deliver the SMS you choose to sync to your own devices, and forward them as your rules say.
- Let the people and groups you share a button with use it — without seeing its settings or credentials.
- Carry out a button action you tap (unlock/lock, open a gate, or fire a custom endpoint), after you confirm with Face ID, for your own configured button only.
Contacts stay on your phone. If you allow it, Cuckoo shows an SMS sender's name from your contacts instead of the number. It looks up one number at a time on the phone itself and never uploads your contacts. Picking a contact to invite or share with sends only the number you choose.
Who else sees it
Cuckoo's backend calls a small set of services to do the above — each sees only what that one call needs, not your full profile:
- Google Maps & Google Calendar — origin/destination addresses (for routing) and calendar access (only if you connect a Google account).
- Your own family members — only if you create or join a family: they see your name and role, your car bookings, insurance confirmations, and where you left a car key. Never your mobile number, calendar, addresses, or anything else in your profile. Cuckoo does not contact any insurer; insurance is activated by you in the insurer's own app.
- Other Cuckoo users you forward an SMS to — receive that message, end-to-end encrypted to their devices.
- A webhook you set in a forwarding rule — receives the SMS straight from your phone, never through Cuckoo's server.
- Members of your groups, and people you share a button with — see your name and the buttons you shared with them. Never your mobile number or a button's credentials.
- Meta / WhatsApp Business API — your mobile number and the message text, to deliver pairing codes and plan notifications.
- Apple Push Notification service — your device's push token, to deliver notifications.
- Your configured button's own integration (e.g. CandyHouse, or a custom HTTP endpoint you provide) — only if you've configured a button, and only when you actually tap it. A custom endpoint is one you choose and control yourself; Cuckoo sends it only the request you configured, nothing else.
Tapping a navigation or ticket-app link (Waze, Google Maps, Apple Maps, Moovit, Pango) opens that app directly on your device — Cuckoo doesn't transmit anything to them itself.
Nothing here is shared for advertising, and no data broker or analytics platform is in this list — because none is used.
Security
Every account's data is isolated from every other account's on the backend, except the family-car data above, which only members of the same family can see. Private button credentials (API keys, secret keys, or a custom endpoint's own request details) are encrypted at rest and are never returned to any client, app screen, or API response once saved — not even to you; re-entering them is the only way to change them. Every request from the app is authenticated with a per-account key issued only after you pair.
Triggering a private button additionally requires a fresh Face ID confirmation on your device, on top of that account authentication — a stolen but unlocked phone still isn't enough on its own.
Retention & deletion
Your data is kept for as long as your profile exists. Ignoring an event or reminder hides it from your plan but doesn't delete the underlying record. To delete your account and everything associated with it, contact us (see Contact) — we'll confirm once it's done.
Your controls
- Pairing is opt-in and explicit. The app collects nothing until you pair a profile via a one-time WhatsApp code (Profile → Account) or an API key issued to you directly.
- Per-event control. Ignore any event or reminder; override its transport mode independently of your defaults.
- Private buttons are entirely optional and only ever control what you personally configure — no shared or default button exists.
- Notifications can be turned off in iOS Settings at any time.
- Account deletion — see Retention & deletion above.
Children
Cuckoo is not directed at children and is not knowingly used by anyone under 13.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes in a way that meaningfully affects what's collected or how it's used, the "Effective" date at the top will update and, where practical, you'll be notified in-app.
Contact
Questions, deletion requests, or anything else about your data: reach out via the contact details provided in the App Store listing for Cuckoo.