Privacy Policy for 4Work

Last updated: 19 October 2026

1. Who is responsible

4Work ("the App") is developed and published by Robert Poetzsch under the robspace brand.

Robert Poetzsch
Brückenstr. 8A
65719 Hofheim am Taunus
Germany
Email: support@robspace.de

This policy explains which data 4Work processes, where it is kept and who can see it. It applies to the 4Work app for iPhone, including its widgets, and to this website.

2. Summary

  • 4Work is a time clock for your working hours, places, breaks and time off. It works without an account and without a robspace server.
  • What you record stays on your iPhone and, if you use iCloud, in your private iCloud. The App sends the developer no data. robspace cannot see your entries, your places or your location.
  • 4Work contains no analytics, no advertising, no tracking, no crash-reporting SDKs and no third-party SDKs. It is built with Apple's frameworks only.
  • Location is optional. 4Work keeps no location history, and your position is never sent to robspace (section 5).
  • Exports, monthly reports and backups stay on your iPhone until you pass them on yourself (section 9).
  • Purchases are handled by Apple. robspace receives no payment or account data (section 10).

3. What 4Work stores on your iPhone

Your records (in the App's database):

  • Time entries: start, end, breaks, the place, how the entry was made (button, location, Shortcut, notification, Live Activity or by hand) and your note.
  • Time off: kind (vacation, sick leave, special leave, time off in lieu, unpaid leave), days, half days, status (for example requested or approved) and your note.
  • Day marks (for example "home office" or "office" for a day) and your goals per kind of place.

Your settings: work schedules (target hours, workdays, vacation days), break rules, vacation entitlement and carry-over, your vacation years (per year: the vacation days from the work schedule, a correction and the carry-over), the region for public holidays, the daily limit, your places (name, kind, colour, symbol and, if you add one, address, map point, radius and the time windows for automatic clock-in and clock-out), the name on the timesheet and the monthly-report setting.

Settings of this device only: automatic clock-in on or off, the morning question, reminders, the Live Activity switch, the appearance, the demo mode, the date of the last automatic backup, the version for the "What’s new" notice and the purchase status (section 10).

Sick leave: If you record sick leave, 4Work stores only the days and, if you write one, your note. The App does not ask for a diagnosis. Sick days are information about your health; they are handled like all other data in this policy: on your devices and in your private iCloud only.

Public holidays are calculated on the device. The demo mode uses sample data that is kept in memory only, separate from your own data; it is never synced or backed up.

Like the data of every app, 4Work's data is part of your iPhone backup (iCloud Backup or a backup on your computer) if you use one.

4. iCloud sync

If you are signed in to iCloud on your iPhone, 4Work keeps your time entries, time off, day marks and goals in the private CloudKit database of your Apple Account, and your settings (including your places with address and map point, and the name on the timesheet) in iCloud key-value storage. Your other devices with the same Apple Account receive them from there. The settings of this device only, the purchase status and the start of the free trial are not synced.

There is no robspace server involved. robspace has no access to your private iCloud database. Apple encrypts the data in transit and on its servers; Apple's privacy policy applies to iCloud. Apple's push service tells your other devices that something has changed; these messages contain no content of your entries.

To stop syncing, open iOS Settings → your name → iCloud → Saved to iCloud → See All → 4Work and switch it off. 4Work then keeps working with the data on this iPhone. Without iCloud, 4Work works on this iPhone only.

5. Location

Location is optional. 4Work asks for permission only when you tap "Allow location" or switch on automatic clock-in. Without permission, 4Work works fully apart from the two features below; you choose the place by hand.

While using the App: When you open 4Work, it determines your position once to pre-select the place you are at. In the place editor, "Use my current location" sets a place to where you are.

Always (4Work Pro): Only if you switch on 4Work → Settings → Places → "Clock in and out automatically" and allow location "Always". 4Work then registers a circle around each of your places that has an address (at most 20) with iOS. iOS tells 4Work only when you enter or leave one of these circles, also when the App is closed. 4Work then clocks you in or out, if you allowed this for that place and time window, or shows a notification instead. The morning question "Only in home office" uses whether you are inside your home office's circle.

What is stored: the places you set up (address, map point, radius). Your entries show at which of your places you worked and when; an entry created this way is marked "location". Not stored: your position itself, routes or a location history. Your current position is held in memory only for as long as it takes to compare it with your places. 4Work sends no location to robspace or to anyone else.

Apple Maps: When you search for an address, the text you type goes to Apple to suggest addresses. "Use my current location" sends your position to Apple to look up the address. The map in the place editor loads map images from Apple. Apple processes this under its own privacy policy; robspace receives none of it.

You can change or revoke the permission at any time: iOS Settings → Apps → 4Work → Location.

6. Notifications

Notifications are optional. 4Work asks for permission once, as long as iOS has never asked before: the first time you clock in with the button in the App, or when you switch on 4Work → Settings → Places → "Clock in and out automatically" (together with the location question). It also asks when you switch on one of the notifications in 4Work → Settings (the morning question, "Target reached" or the daily-limit reminder). It never asks in the demo. If you decline, 4Work keeps working without notifications. 4Work can notify you about:

  • the morning question on workdays ("Where are you working today?"), with one button per place;
  • the daily limit, and reaching today's target;
  • arriving at or leaving a place, and automatic clock-ins and clock-outs with "Undo".

All notifications are created by the App on the device. There is no robspace push service. Notifications can show place names and times on the Lock Screen. If you tap a button in a notification, 4Work carries out the action on the device.

You can turn notifications off in iOS Settings → Apps → 4Work → Notifications.

7. Widgets and Live Activity

The widgets read a small summary that 4Work writes into a storage area on the device shared only between the App and its widgets: whether you are clocked in and since when, whether you are on a break, the current place, today's working time and target, the week's hours and your overtime balance. The Live Activity shows the running working time and the place while you are clocked in. It is updated by the App on the device; no push service is involved.

Widgets and the Live Activity appear on the Home Screen, the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, and can be seen by anyone who can see your iPhone, even when it is locked. You can switch off the Live Activity under 4Work → Settings → Automation → "Live Activity when clocking in", or in iOS Settings → Apps → 4Work → Live Activities.

8. Shortcuts and Siri

4Work offers actions for the Shortcuts app and Siri: clock in (also at a chosen place), change place, clock out, start or end a break, mark the day and ask for the status. The actions run on your device. The names of your places are offered to Shortcuts and Siri so that you can choose them. When you speak to Siri, Apple processes your request under Apple's privacy policy; 4Work only receives the action. Automations you create in the Shortcuts app (for example with an NFC tag, a Wi-Fi network or CarPlay) run on your device; 4Work does not learn what triggered them.

9. Exports, monthly reports and backups

Exports (4Work Pro): You can create a timesheet for a month as PDF or CSV. The file is created on the iPhone and shown in a preview. It only leaves the device if you share it yourself through the share sheet (for example Mail, AirDrop, Files or another app); the privacy policy of the service or app you choose then applies. The PDF contains the name on the timesheet, if you entered one.

Monthly reports: Off by default. If you switch them on under 4Work → Settings → Timesheet → Monthly reports, 4Work creates the PDF and/or CSV of the month just finished at the start of each month and keeps it in the App's storage on this iPhone. "Create past reports" creates them for earlier months. The reports are not part of iCloud sync. You can open, share or delete them on the same screen.

Backups: Under 4Work → Settings → Backup & Restore. 4Work creates a backup automatically once a week when you open the App, and whenever you tap "Back up now". Backups are files in the App's storage on this iPhone; 4Work keeps at most seven and deletes older ones. A backup contains all your records, your settings, the settings of this device and the start date of the free trial in a protected form (so that restoring a backup does not restart the trial). Before a restore, 4Work saves a backup of the current data. "Share a copy…" and "Share" pass a backup on only through the share sheet, to where you choose. When you restore from a file, you pick the file yourself; 4Work reads only that file.

10. Purchases and 4Work Pro

Free trial: For 30 days from your first download you can use all Pro features, without payment details and without an account with us. After that, the time clock, hours, work schedules, time off, your first goal, widgets and Shortcuts stay free; automatic clock-in, the morning question, exports and further goals need 4Work Pro. Nothing is deleted when the trial ends.

Buying through Apple: 4Work Pro is available as a monthly or yearly subscription or as a one-time lifetime purchase. Purchases and subscriptions are handled entirely by Apple, through the App Store and your Apple Account. You enter your payment details only with Apple, and they stay with Apple; 4Work never sees them. Apple's terms and Apple's privacy policy apply to the purchase. Whether you own 4Work Pro, the App asks Apple's StoreKit on the device; the App Store sends signed purchase records to the device, and 4Work checks them there. For the start of the trial, the App asks the App Store on the device for the date of your first download, signed by Apple.

What robspace receives: From Apple, robspace receives no payment or account data: no name, no email address, no Apple Account, no payment details. Apple gives app developers sales and subscription reports in App Store Connect. Apple describes what it shares with developers about purchases as non-personal data; for subscriptions Apple uses a randomly generated Subscriber ID per customer and developer, together with details such as the product, the App Store country or region and the device type. robspace cannot link these reports to you. 4Work itself sends no purchase or trial information to robspace or to third parties, and robspace runs no server that checks purchases.

What 4Work stores on the device:

  • In the keychain of this device (not synced through iCloud Keychain): the start of the free trial. Keychain entries can remain on the device after the App is deleted, so reinstalling does not restart the trial.
  • In the App's settings on this device: the last confirmed purchase status (plan and end of the current subscription period), the date of the first launch (used as the start of the trial until the App Store can be reached), which trial notices were shown, and whether the App is a test version (TestFlight).

None of this goes to iCloud sync.

Family Sharing: 4Work Pro can be shared through Family Sharing. Apple manages this (iOS Settings → Family → Purchase Sharing).

Managing and cancelling: You manage and cancel subscriptions in your Apple Account: in 4Work under Settings → 4Work Pro → "Manage subscription", or in iOS Settings → your name → Subscriptions. "Restore purchases" (4Work → Settings → General) asks Apple again for your purchases. Refunds are handled by Apple at https://reportaproblem.apple.com.

11. Links and support

Under 4Work → Settings → Community & Feedback, the App links to the robspace community page on github.com. It also links to this website, to its privacy policy and, on the purchase screen, to Apple's terms of use. A tap opens the page in your browser; the App itself sends nothing. GitHub's privacy policy applies on GitHub. Issues on GitHub are public: please do not post working times, places or other personal data there.

The support link opens your mail app with the address support@robspace.de. What happens with your message is described in section 14.

12. No analytics, no advertising, no tracking

4Work contains no analytics, tracking, advertising or crash-reporting SDKs and no third-party code; it uses Apple's frameworks only. 4Work does not track you across other companies' apps or websites and does not use the advertising identifier.

Independently of 4Work, Apple provides app developers with crash reports and usage statistics only if you agreed to "Share with App Developers" (iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements). You control this there.

13. This website

This website is hosted by Hetzner Online GmbH on a server in a data centre in Falkenstein, Germany. When you open a page, the web server automatically logs your IP address, the date and time, the requested page or file, the HTTP status, the number of bytes transferred, the referring page (referrer) and your browser's user agent. These logs are used solely to operate and secure the website; the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in secure, stable operation). They are deleted automatically after 14 days at the latest, are not analysed and are not passed on unless required by law.

The website sets no cookies, uses no analytics or tracking and embeds no content from third parties. If the website remembers a choice you make on it (for example the language), it keeps it only in your browser's local storage, not for tracking. Fonts are served from this server; no connection is made to Google Fonts or other font services.

14. Legal bases and your rights

The App transmits no data to the developer. Processing in the App takes place on your device, under your control and at your instruction (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR: providing the features you use). Apple's privacy policy applies to iCloud, Apple Maps, Siri and the App Store.

If you write to support@robspace.de, we process your message to answer it (Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR) and delete it once it is resolved and no retention obligation applies.

You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and objection (Art. 15–21 GDPR), and the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, for example the Hessian Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (HBDI). Because we receive no data from the App, you can exercise most of these rights directly in the App: you can change and delete entries, time off and places, delete backups and reports, and take all your data with you as a backup file ("Share a copy…"). Deleting the App removes its data from this iPhone; data in your iCloud stays until you delete it there, and the trial start can remain in the keychain (section 10).

15. Children

4Work is not directed at children.

16. Changes

If the App's handling of data changes, we update this policy and the date above.

17. Contact

Privacy questions: support@robspace.de