Strapline Privacy Policy
Strapline is an Apple Watch app, with an optional iPhone app for signing in, that lets you read and reply to your Microsoft Teams chats. This policy explains what happens to your information when you use it.
The short version
We do not store your chats or messages. Strapline has no accounts of its own, no analytics and no advertising. Your watch talks to Microsoft directly on your behalf. The one exception is instant alerts: Microsoft sends each new message to Strapline's alert service, encrypted so only that service can read it. The service uses it in memory to put the sender's name and a short preview on your watch through Apple's push service, and keeps nothing. With the Strapline Pro + Calls plan, Teams calls you make from the watch pass through Strapline's call service while they last; they are not recorded, and it keeps only a count of minutes used this month, deleted after two months.
What the app handles, and where it goes
- Your Microsoft sign-in. You sign in with your work or school Microsoft account on a Microsoft sign-in page. Strapline never sees your password. Microsoft gives the app access tokens, and these are kept in the Apple Watch Keychain on your watch, protected so they cannot be restored to another device.
- Signing in on your iPhone. If you use the Strapline iPhone app to sign in, you sign in on Microsoft's page on your iPhone and the session is passed straight to your paired watch over Apple's encrypted connection between the two. The iPhone app keeps no tokens and sends nothing anywhere else; it only shows which account the watch uses.
- Microsoft sign-in and Intune components on your iPhone. The iPhone app includes Microsoft's sign-in library (MSAL) and, for organisations that use Intune, the Microsoft Intune App SDK. When you sign in with Microsoft Authenticator, these send your account details and device identifiers to Microsoft to sign you in and to apply your organisation's Intune policy. That data goes to Microsoft under your organisation's agreement with Microsoft, not to us. Intune telemetry is switched off in Strapline. In phone mode your iPhone sends your watch's Teams requests to Microsoft and passes the results to your watch over Apple's encrypted connection; it stores no chats and keeps tokens only in Microsoft's protected keychain storage on the iPhone.
- Your chats and messages. Strapline downloads your chats from Microsoft Graph so you can read them. Messages you send go straight to Microsoft Graph. They are not sent anywhere else, and the app does not save your messages permanently on the watch.
- Your purchase. Payments are handled by Apple. Strapline asks Apple whether you have an active purchase, on your watch and, for calls, through Apple's own servers. We receive no payment details and no Apple Account details. When you make a call with Strapline Pro + Calls, the watch sends Apple's signed record of that plan to the call service, which checks it with Apple's certificates and with Apple's servers.
- Reactions, status and availability. Reactions you add, and any status you set for yourself, go straight to Microsoft Teams. To show whether the other person in a one-to-one chat is available, busy or away, the watch asks Microsoft for their Teams status while the chat list is open; it is shown, not kept.
- Meetings and people. To show today's and tomorrow's meetings and let you accept or decline them, the watch reads your Microsoft 365 calendar from Microsoft while the Meetings screen is open, and answers go straight to Microsoft. To start a chat, it looks people up in your organisation's directory through Microsoft. None of this is sent to us or kept after you leave the screen. Pictures in messages are downloaded from Microsoft to show them and kept in memory only while Strapline is open.
- Pinned and muted chats. Which chats you pin or mute, and the Mentions only setting, are stored only on your watch, where Strapline's notification extension reads them to deliver alerts for muted chats quietly.
- Instant alerts. So a new message reaches your watch in seconds, your watch asks Microsoft to notify Strapline's alert service (hosted on Microsoft Azure) about new messages in your chats. Microsoft encrypts each one to a key only that service holds. The service decrypts it in memory, skips your own messages, and sends the sender's name and the first part of the text to your watch through Apple's push notification service. It stores and logs no messages, names or account details; the only thing it handles about you is your watch's push address, sealed inside Microsoft's notification. Turning off Message alerts in Strapline's Settings, or signing out, removes the subscription.
- Teams calls (Strapline Pro + Calls only). A watch cannot run Microsoft's calling software, so a call you make or join from the watch goes through Strapline's call service on Microsoft Azure in Australia. The watch sends a calling sign-in issued by Microsoft, which the service exchanges with Microsoft for a Teams calling token, then places the call as you with Microsoft's calling software and passes the audio between your watch and Microsoft Teams while the call lasts. For a phone call, the service receives the number you dial and passes it to Microsoft, which places the call on your organisation's Teams Phone service. Calls are not recorded, and no audio, transcript, phone number or name is stored. The only thing kept is the number of call minutes used this month, against a one-way hash of your subscription's purchase number, so the 300 included minutes can be applied. It is never linked to your name or Microsoft account, and it is deleted after two months.
- Alerts and the complication. To show new-message alerts and your unread count on the watch face, the watch keeps the name and a short preview of your latest unread chat, and when it last saw each chat. This stays on your watch, is removed when you sign out, and alerts are created by the watch itself, not sent through any server.
- Settings. Your quick replies, the account the watch is set up for, and similar preferences are stored only on your watch.
Microsoft permissions and how we use them
Strapline asks Microsoft for the least access it needs: your basic profile (User.Read), your chats (Chat.ReadWrite), sending messages (ChatMessage.Send), colleagues' availability (Presence.Read.All), setting your own status (Presence.ReadWrite), finding people to chat with (People.Read) and your meetings (Calendars.ReadWrite). Channels, only if you turn them on, add reading and posting in your teams' channels. Teams calls, only with the calls plan, add Azure Communication Services' permission to start and join Teams calls as you (Teams.ManageCalls and Teams.ManageChats). Data obtained through Microsoft Graph is used only to show you your chats and to send your replies. It is not sold, shared, used for advertising, or used to build profiles. It is not used to train any model.
Your organisation's Microsoft 365 tenant governs your Teams data. Microsoft's handling of it is described in the Microsoft Privacy Statement and in your organisation's own policies. We protect Microsoft data to the same standard as that statement: it stays on your device, it is encrypted in transit (HTTPS), and tokens are held in the Keychain.
What we do not do
- We do not collect personal data. The only usage data we keep is the monthly call minute count described above, which identifies no one.
- We do not record or keep your calls.
- We do not track you across apps or websites.
- We do not sell or share any information. We have none to share.
Removing your data and revoking access
Choose Settings, then Sign out in Strapline to delete the tokens and cached data from the watch. Deleting the app does the same, so uninstalling removes everything the app holds.
You can revoke Strapline's permission to your Microsoft account at any time at myapps.microsoft.com. Your IT administrator can also remove it in Microsoft Entra ID under Enterprise applications.
Children
Strapline is for people with a work or school Microsoft 365 account. It is not aimed at children.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new effective date.
Contact
Questions: support@hamdam.com.au. See also the support page.
Strapline is an independent app and is not endorsed or sponsored by Microsoft. Microsoft Teams is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.