GuitarTool Privacy Policy

Zhichao Wei (the “developer”) respects your privacy. This policy covers GuitarTool for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and its companion websites. It explains information handling for tuning, metronome practice, voice counting, chord lookup and Home Screen widgets. The App Store lists Shanghai Qishan Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. as the seller. Android and Wear OS are covered by the separate Android privacy policy.

Information we do not collect

GuitarTool does not sell personal information or use it for advertising or tracking. The app requires no account or sign-in. It does not collect names, email addresses, phone numbers, precise location, contacts, photos, or advertising identifiers, and it contains no advertising or third-party analytics or tracking SDKs. The developer does not collect or receive feature-use counts, time spent, or other usage analytics. The small amount of local state used for system rating eligibility is described under “Local settings and App Group sharing.”

Microphone and audio processing

On iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, the tuner requests and uses that device's microphone only after you choose to start tuning. Audio is used on that device to calculate pitch, cents, signal strength and stability in real time. The Watch tuner offers guitar, ukulele, bass and chromatic modes; opening its page alone does not start capture.

Audio is processed entirely on your device and is not sent to the developer or any third-party server.
Microphone recordings are not saved to files, Photos, iCloud, or other persistent storage.
Live capture stops and analysis buffers are released when you stop tuning, switch tools or move the app to the background. On Apple Watch, changing pages or leaving the app also ends capture.
You can revoke GuitarTool microphone access in iOS/iPadOS or watchOS Settings at any time. The tuner on that device will then be unavailable.

Voice counting and previews

Version 1.1.3 adds the “Voice” sound to the iPhone and iPad metronome. Prerecorded Chinese counts from one through twelve and their speed variants are bundled as WAV files. Counting, the one-to-four preview at your current BPM when selecting the sound, and sample selection and playback for tempo stages all run on your device. The app does not download speech, call a runtime AI, speech-synthesis or cloud service, capture your voice, or request microphone or speech-recognition permission for this feature. Changing the interface language does not translate these built-in Chinese counts. This feature is not available on Apple Watch.

Chord cards, Photos, and torch feedback

The app requests add-only Photos access only after you choose “Save to Photos,” and writes the chord card that was just generated on your device to the system photo library. The app does not read, browse, or upload your existing photos or videos. Denying access does not affect tuning, the metronome, chord lookup, or system sharing.

When metronome torch feedback is enabled, the app controls the device torch only while the app is in the foreground and the metronome page is visible. It does not capture photos, video, or camera frames. The app requests that the torch turn off when you switch pages, enter the background, or stop the metronome.

Local settings and App Group sharing

The app stores settings such as tempo, time signature, sound selection (including Voice), practice settings (including audible/silent bar counts, tempo stages, bars per stage and loop settings), custom presets, tuning presets, theme and interface language on your device. Sound selection can be saved in a local custom practice preset; the app does not save recordings of your voice. Some metronome state is shared through an Apple App Group between GuitarTool and its Home Screen widget so the widget can display and control the same local configuration.

To avoid requesting a rating during playing or too often, the app keeps limited eligibility state on-device: a qualifying-practice counter, practice dates, local time zone, recent random practice IDs for deduplication, and versions and times of previous prompt attempts. Foreground audio duration is used only to qualify a practice; a full duration log is not saved. This state is not linked to an identity or uploaded to the developer, is not a cloud practice history, and does not record satisfaction, stars or review text. Apple decides whether to display the system rating interface and handles any review you submit.

These settings stay on your devices; the interface language may sync to your paired Apple Watch. Deleting the app normally removes its local data. System backup behavior depends on your iOS and iCloud settings.

Network use, third parties, and tracking

GuitarTool's core features do not require an internet connection. The app includes no third-party advertising, analytics, or tracking SDKs, creates no user profile, and performs no cross-app or cross-site tracking.

The app has no developer-facing usage analytics feature or analytics consent prompt. Rating eligibility described under “Local settings and App Group sharing” is evaluated only on your device.

The current 1.1.3 release bundles seven complete themes and their images, including Jade Resonance. Previewing and using purchased themes require no connection to the developer's theme service or separate asset download. Voice counting also uses bundled samples and introduces no network requests or new data collection.

All practice features and four basic looks are free. The seven complete visual themes remain separate Apple App Store in-app purchases. Apple StoreKit handles purchases and restores, which may require an internet connection; the developer does not receive card details or send transaction credentials to a developer-operated theme service. See Apple’s App Store & Privacy for Apple’s handling of purchase data. Once unlocked, the themes work offline.

The website, support pages and this policy are hosted on GitHub Pages. The host processes network request information to serve these pages; see the GitHub Privacy Statement. This privacy policy page does not load external fonts, analytics scripts, or tracking pixels and does not set cookies. The language links open the corresponding static page without saving a language preference.

The website's online tuner requests browser microphone access only after you start it. Pitch analysis runs locally in the browser; recordings are neither saved nor uploaded. Capture ends when you stop, leave the page or hide it. The online metronome generates clicks in the browser without microphone access. These browser demos do not use the app's bundled voice samples. If you open the App Store or another external link, that service handles information under its own policy.

Children's privacy

GuitarTool does not ask children or other users to submit personal profiles. The app has no accounts, social features, or data-upload feature through which a child could submit profile information to the developer.

Security and your choices

Data minimization is the app's primary protection: audio is neither uploaded nor retained, practice settings remain in storage provided by Apple platforms, and the developer receives no usage analytics. You can manage microphone and Photos access in system settings, or delete the app and its local data.

Changes to this policy

This update explains offline Chinese voice counting in the released 1.1.3 version, sound previews, local sound selection and practice presets, website demos, and the listed seller. Voice counting introduces no new data collection, cloud service or permission. If the app's data practices change, this page will show a revised date and describe the new handling. If a feature introduces new data collection or permissions, the app will explain them before the feature is enabled and request consent where required.

Contact the developer

For questions about this policy, microphone or Photos access, or local data handling, contact:

If you choose to email support, the developer receives the email address, device details and feedback you provide to reply and investigate, and retains them only as needed to handle your request, provide follow-up support and meet applicable record-keeping obligations. Please do not send private recordings or payment details. You can request access, correction or deletion of related support emails using the same address. Chord cards saved to Photos or shared with another app are managed in that library or service; deleting GuitarTool does not delete Apple's transaction records.

weizhichao1027@gmail.com