Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

CloakVPN – Fast & Secure Proxy ("CloakVPN," "the App," "we," "us," or "our") is an OpenVPN client application for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. This Privacy Policy explains what information the App handles, where it goes, and what choices you have. It applies to the App and any companion features (Home Screen widget, Siri Shortcuts) distributed under bundle identifier com.co.shieldvpn.

We are an independent app developer. We do not operate any backend servers, databases, or analytics infrastructure of our own — a fact that shapes almost everything else in this policy.

2. Information We Do Not Collect

Unlike most apps, CloakVPN has no sign-up, no user account, and no server to send your data to. Specifically, we do not:

• Ask you to create an account, provide your name, or provide an email address to use the App;
• Operate any analytics, crash-reporting, or advertising SDK — the App contains none (no Firebase, no Crashlytics, no ad networks, no third-party trackers of any kind);
• Log, inspect, sell, or share your browsing history or VPN traffic content — we have no server in the traffic path capable of seeing it;
• Access your camera, microphone, contacts, photos, or location — the App never requests these permissions;
• Track you across other apps or websites.

3. Information Stored Only On Your Device

The App stores the following information locally, inside Apple's app-sandboxed storage (and, for items shared with the VPN network extension and widget, inside the App Group container group.com.co.shieldvpn, which is only ever readable by CloakVPN's own components on your device). None of the items below are transmitted to us, because we have nowhere to send them.

You can erase all of the above at any time from Settings → Clear All Data, or by deleting the App.

4. Information That Leaves Your Device

Three, and only three, things leave your device when you use CloakVPN:

a) The public VPN Gate server-list request

To show you free servers, the App periodically sends a standard, anonymous GET request to VPN Gate's public API (vpngate.net), operated by the University of Tsukuba, Japan, and unaffiliated with us. This request contains no account identifiers and no personal profile — it is the same request anyone's device would send visiting that URL. Like any network request, your device's IP address is inherently visible to that server and to networks between you and it (this is unavoidable for any internet request and is not something CloakVPN adds). This endpoint currently responds over plain HTTP rather than HTTPS, which is a limitation of that third-party service, not of CloakVPN.

b) Your VPN tunnel traffic

Once connected, your device's internet traffic is encrypted and routed through the OpenVPN server you chose — either a volunteer-run VPN Gate server or a server from a config you imported yourself. See Section 5 for important details about who can see that traffic.

c) Your subscription purchase

If you subscribe, the purchase is processed entirely by Apple's App Store / StoreKit. See Section 6.

5. Third-Party VPN Servers & VPN Gate

CloakVPN lets you connect to two kinds of servers, and our ability to make privacy promises differs for each:

• VPN Gate public servers. VPN Gate is a free, volunteer-operated public VPN relay service run as an academic research project. Anyone can register a personal or business computer as a "VPN Gate" relay. We do not operate, vet, or control these relays, and we cannot guarantee their logging practices, security, jurisdiction, or trustworthiness. By design, the operator of whichever relay you connect through can technically observe unencrypted traffic passing through it (exactly as with any VPN relay you don't personally control), and VPN Gate's own research project is publicly documented as logging connection metadata for academic purposes. We strongly recommend reviewing VPN Gate's own published information at vpngate.net before relying on it for sensitive traffic, and avoiding it entirely for highly sensitive use cases.
• Your own imported configuration files. If you import a .ovpn file from another VPN provider, your traffic is governed entirely by that provider's own privacy policy and terms — not this one. We simply store the file and credentials on your device and hand them to Apple's Network Extension framework to establish the tunnel you configured.

In both cases, CloakVPN itself does not intercept, inspect, log, or transmit the content of your tunneled traffic to us — the app has no server-side component capable of doing so.

6. Subscriptions & Payment (Apple)

CloakVPN offers optional auto-renewable subscriptions (Weekly, Monthly, and 6-Month plans) and a one-time, 10-minute free trial session for new users. All purchases are processed exclusively through Apple's In-App Purchase (StoreKit) system.

• We never see, receive, or store your payment card number, billing address, or Apple ID password. Apple handles all payment data under Apple's own Privacy Policy.
• The App reads your subscription's active/expired status directly from StoreKit on your device to unlock features. This status is mirrored into the on-device App Group storage described in Section 3 so the VPN network extension can enforce trial limits — it is not sent to us.
• Subscriptions auto-renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and are billed to your Apple ID account. Manage or cancel anytime via Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions on your device.

7. Permissions We Request

CloakVPN never requests access to your camera, microphone, contacts, photo library, health data, or precise location.

8. How We Protect Your Data

Because everything sensitive is stored locally, its security depends primarily on Apple's platform protections, which we rely on and build on top of:

• VPN credentials are stored in the iOS/macOS Keychain, which encrypts data at rest and restricts access to CloakVPN's own components via a dedicated Keychain access group.
• Configuration files and cached data live inside an App Sandbox and App Group container that other apps cannot access.
• The VPN tunnel itself is encrypted using the OpenVPN protocol, running inside Apple's Network Extension framework.

No method of storage or transmission is 100% secure, and this section describes our safeguards, not a guarantee.

9. Data Retention & Deletion

Since all data described in Section 3 lives only on your device, it is retained for as long as the App is installed and you choose to keep it. You can delete it at any time by:

• Using the Clear All Data button in Settings, which removes cached servers, saved configs, and credentials; or
• Deleting the App, which removes all of the above along with the App Group container.

Because we hold no copy of this data on any server, deleting it on your device deletes it everywhere it ever existed.

10. Children's Privacy

CloakVPN is not directed at children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your region), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Since the App does not collect personal information from any user in the first place, this risk is inherently limited — but if you believe a child has provided us information in a way this policy hasn't anticipated, please contact us using Section 15 and we will address it promptly.

11. Your Rights & Choices

Many privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA, and others) grant rights to access, correct, export, or delete personal data a company holds about you. Because CloakVPN does not transmit your personal data to us or store it on any server we control, there is generally nothing on our end to access, correct, export, or delete — the data already lives entirely under your control, on your device. You can exercise full control over it at any time via Section 9 above. If you have questions about a specific right in your jurisdiction, contact us and we will do our best to help.

12. International Users & GDPR

If you are located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may apply to you. Because we do not operate servers that receive or store your personal data, we do not perform any international transfer of your personal data ourselves. Note that if you connect through a VPN Gate server or an imported server located outside your region, your traffic will physically pass through that server's country, subject to that server operator's practices and local laws — not ours.

13. California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

We do not sell or share personal information, and we have not sold or shared personal information in the preceding 12 months, as those terms are defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act. California residents' other rights (access, deletion, correction) are addressed the same way as described in Section 11, since we hold no personal data on our servers.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example to reflect new features or legal requirements. We will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page when we do. If a change is material, we will make reasonable efforts to highlight it within the App (such as in release notes) before it takes effect. Continuing to use CloakVPN after an update means you accept the revised policy.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how CloakVPN handles information, contact us at:

support@shieldvpn.app