Privacy policy
Last updated October 11, 2026
- Your recovery record stays on your phone, encrypted. We never receive it, and neither does your surgeon.
- No ads and no tracking. We don't sell or rent anyone's information, and there are no advertising or third-party analytics tools in the app.
- What is online: surgeons' public profiles and protocols, the patient community if you choose to join it, an anonymous count of how many patients use each protocol, and anonymous usage counts that you can turn off.
- Stored in Canada. Arthrostride's database is in Montréal.
This policy covers the Arthrostride iPhone app and this website. "Arthrostride", "we" and "us" mean the people who run them. Questions, requests and complaints go to hello@arthrostride.com.
If you're a patient
Kept only on your phone
- Your first name (if you give one), date of birth, operation, side and surgery date.
- Your check-ins — pain, swelling, range of motion, sleep, mood and any note — the exercises you complete, your notes, and any changes you make to your plan.
- Your reminder and weekly-summary settings. Reminders and summaries are created on the phone.
This record is encrypted with a key that never leaves your phone. It isn't sent to us, your surgeon, your physiotherapist or anyone else, and nobody monitors what you enter. Because the key stays on the phone, a new phone can't open an old record: use Export my recovery in your profile to keep a copy. Deleting the app, or Reset in your profile, erases it.
Only with your permission, and only on your phone
- Apple Health: after a hip or knee replacement, Arthrostride can read walking asymmetry, walking speed, step length and double support time. It reads nothing else and writes nothing to Health.
- Location: used only when you search for physiotherapy clinics nearby, through Apple Maps. It isn't stored.
- Camera: used to read the QR code your surgeon gives you. No picture is taken or kept. If you choose a photo of the code instead, only that photo is read. Surgeons can also use it to scan a printed protocol into the app (see below).
Sent only when you send it
Your exported record, and emails the app drafts for you — letters, requests to your surgeon's office, feedback to us — go only where you send them, from your own email. A feedback email includes the app version and your iPhone model so we can find the problem.
Finding your surgeon's protocol
When you search for a surgeon, what you type is sent to our server to find matches. It isn't linked to you. When you use a surgeon's protocol, the app tells our server that one installation follows it, using a random number created by the app that identifies nothing about you. Your surgeon sees how many patients use each protocol — never who. The app also checks occasionally for updates your surgeon has made to it.
The community (optional)
Joining creates an anonymous account: no email address or phone number. We keep the name you choose to post under, the operation you had (each operation has its own community), and your posts, replies, likes and any reports you make. Other members of the same community can read your posts and that name. People who run Arthrostride review reported posts and may hide them.
If you set a restore code, our server keeps only a scrambled form of it that can't be turned back into the code. The code itself is saved in your iCloud Keychain, if you use it, so you can carry on from a new iPhone.
Leaving the community (in the Community tab) deletes everything you posted. Posts are not deleted when you simply delete the app — they stay under the name you chose. Write to us if you want them removed and can no longer leave from the app.
The shop
Product links open the retailer's own website, such as Amazon. Arthrostride may earn a commission on what you buy there. We don't see what you buy — only, in the anonymous usage counts, that a link was tapped. The retailer handles your purchase under its own privacy policy.
Anonymous usage counts (can be turned off)
So that we can tell whether the app is being used, it counts a few things and sends them to Arthrostride's database without any information that identifies you:
- that the app was opened (at most once in ten minutes);
- that setup was finished, and which operation was chosen;
- that a surgeon's QR code was read, or a surgeon's protocol was chosen;
- that a link to a retailer was tapped, and the product it was for.
Each count goes with a random number the app makes for itself, the version of the app, and the time. It is separate from the number used for protocol follower counts, so the two can't be joined. It is never your name, email, date of birth, surgery dates, check-ins, pain scores, notes, location or anything from Apple Health, and it is not shared with advertisers or used to follow you across other apps or websites.
The people who run Arthrostride see totals and trends — how many people set the app up, how many open it each day or week, how many tapped a shop link — not what any one person did. A tap on a shop link is not a purchase: buying happens on the retailer's website, which we can't see.
You're in control. This is on until you turn off Share anonymous counts in your profile. Turning it off stops the counting and deletes everything recorded under your phone's random number. Deleting the app starts a new random number if you reinstall it. The counts are kept while the app is in use. To have anything deleted that you can no longer reach from the app, write to hello@arthrostride.com.
If you're a surgeon
- Your account: your email address and password. Passwords are stored only in a form that can't be read back. Sign-in emails are sent through Google's email service.
- Your directory profile: name, credentials, specialty, clinic, city, province or state, country, licensing body and licence number, and a photo if you add one, plus the protocols you write.
- What patients can see: once Arthrostride has verified your licence and you choose to be listed, everything in your profile except your email address and password — including your licence number, which your regulator already publishes — and the protocols you publish. A protocol you share with colleagues is visible to other verified surgeons.
- Importing a protocol: a PDF, or photographs of a printed protocol taken with the camera or chosen from your photo library, is read on your phone. The pictures are never uploaded or kept; only the protocol you then choose to publish is.
- Verification: we check your licence against your regulator's public register, and keep a record of who verified you and when.
- Deleting your account: Account → Delete account in the app removes your sign-in, profile, photo and protocols, and their follower counts. Patients keep copies of protocols they've already downloaded.
This website
See your plan keeps the protocol you choose and your surgery date in your browser only. The surgeons' editor keeps your sign-in in your browser until you sign out. The site uses no tracking or advertising cookies.
Who handles data for us
| Service | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | The database and sign-in: the surgeon directory, protocols, the community, follower counts and anonymous usage counts | Canada (Montréal) |
| Netlify | Hosting this website | A global network, which may serve pages from outside Canada |
| Sending surgeons' sign-in emails | Google's servers, which may be outside Canada | |
| Apple | App distribution, iCloud Keychain, Apple Maps and Health | Under Apple's privacy policy |
Like most online services, these providers keep short-term technical logs, such as IP addresses, to run and protect their services. We don't use them to identify patients.
Your choices and rights
You can ask us what information we hold about you, and to correct or delete it, by writing to hello@arthrostride.com. Most of it you can delete yourself, as described above. If you're not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Children
Arthrostride is meant for people recovering from orthopaedic surgery. Anyone under 16 should use it with a parent or guardian.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update this page and the date at the top. If a change affects what is shared or who can see it, we'll also say so in the app.