Questions
Everything people ask before they install Pulse.
How the cues work, what your partner can and cannot see, where your health data goes, what it costs. If something is missing, write to us and it will be here tomorrow.
32 questions, answered plainly.
The basics
What Pulse is, who it is for and what happens in the first five minutes.
What is Pulse, in one sentence?
Pulse is a couples wellness app for iPhone and Apple Watch that turns the quiet signals from your body, sleep, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, movement, into one short, human cue for your partner each day. Never a number, never a chart, never a diagnosis.
Who is Pulse for?
Two people who want to stay attuned to each other without having to explain every hard day out loud. It was built for couples who live apart as much as for couples who share a kitchen, and it works the same whether you have been together three months or thirty years.
What happens in the first five minutes?
You download Pulse, allow it to read the health data you choose, and connect your partner with an invite link or a short code. Pulse then spends a few days learning your own baseline before it says anything at all about a change.
What do I need to use it?
An iPhone on iOS 17 or later. An Apple Watch (Series 6 or later, watchOS 10) or a WHOOP band gives Pulse the signals it reads, but the app itself works on the iPhone alone for everything that does not depend on a wearable.
Can I use Pulse without a partner?
Yes. On your own, Pulse is a quiet daily reflection on your own week: your trends, your patterns, your reading. You can connect a partner later and nothing you wrote before that is shared retroactively.
How do I connect with my partner?
You send them a link or an eight-character code from inside the app. They install Pulse, enter it, and the two devices exchange keys directly. Pulse is a space for exactly two people, so there is no group, no third seat and no audience.
Signals and cues
What the app reads from your wrist, and the one sentence that comes out of it.
Which signals does Pulse actually read?
Resting heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep and movement, read from Apple Health on your own device with your explicit permission. You can switch any of them off, and the app keeps working with whatever is left.
How does Pulse know what is normal for me?
It compares today against your own recent weeks, not against a population average. A resting heart rate of 48 is unremarkable for one person and unusual for another, which is why there is no threshold shared between users anywhere in the app.
What does my partner actually see?
One sentence, such as "a calm evening might mean a lot today", with a couple of things they can do about it. They never see the signals behind it, the direction they moved, or how far. The cue expires at midnight and is not archived.
How often does a cue appear?
At most one a day, and only when the day is different enough from your own baseline to be worth mentioning. On an ordinary day Pulse says nothing, which is the point: a notification every morning would mean nothing at all.
What is Rhythm Awareness?
An optional setting where your cycle phase gently shapes the tone of a cue without ever naming the phase to your partner. Sharing your actual cycle calendar is a separate choice, off by default, and you can turn either off at any time.
What happens if Pulse notices something unusual?
It tells you, not your partner. If a short window of unusual heart signals shows up, you decide whether that single moment is shared at all, and you can soften the suggested wording or keep it entirely to yourself.
Privacy and data
Where your health data lives, what our servers can see, and how to stop everything at once.
Does my health data leave my phone?
No. Heart rate, HRV, sleep and movement are read and interpreted on your device. The sentence your partner receives is the only thing that leaves it. Our servers never receive a raw health measurement, so there is nothing there to leak or to sell.
What is end-to-end encrypted?
Your chat, Our Story, the daily question, the watchlist comments, everything the two of you write to each other. It is encrypted on one phone and decrypted on the other, which means we can carry it without being able to read it.
Where is the encryption key kept?
In your iCloud Keychain, on your own devices. It is never uploaded to Pulse and we have no copy of it. That is also why a new phone restores your history from your own backup rather than from us.
What do your servers actually store?
The minimum needed to deliver a message to the right phone: an account, the link between two partners, encrypted payloads we cannot open, and the notification tokens Apple needs. No advertising identifiers, no third-party analytics SDKs, no health data.
Can I stop sharing without a conversation about it?
Yes. One button pauses sharing instantly, and you can choose whether your partner is told. Nothing new crosses over until you turn it back on, and the app keeps working for you in the meantime.
What happens if we disconnect, or break up?
Ending the connection deletes the records the two of you shared. There is no archive kept on our side for a rainy day, and neither person keeps a copy of the other's side of it.
Can I get my data out, or delete it entirely?
Both, from inside the app and without writing to anyone. Export gives you a JSON file of what is yours. Deleting your account removes it rather than deactivating it.
Is Pulse GDPR compliant?
Yes. Pulse is made by Knightify FlexCo in Vienna, Austria, so it is built under EU and Austrian law from the start rather than adapted to it afterwards. Access, export, correction and deletion are all in the app, and the privacy policy names what is processed and why.
Devices and wearables
iPhone, Apple Watch, WHOOP, and the platforms that are deliberately not supported.
Do I need an Apple Watch?
Not for the shared parts: chat, Our Story, the shared calendar, the wishlist and the daily question all work with an iPhone alone. You need an Apple Watch or a WHOOP band for the health-signal cues, because that is where the signals come from.
Does Pulse work with WHOOP?
Yes. Connecting your WHOOP account imports your own sleep, recovery and workouts into Apple Health on your iPhone, and Pulse reads them there exactly as it reads a Watch. WHOOP's own composite scores are deliberately not imported, because Apple Health has no type that means them.
What about Oura, Garmin or Fitbit?
If the device writes sleep, heart rate or HRV into Apple Health, Pulse can read what is there, because Pulse reads Apple Health rather than any single manufacturer. Only Apple Watch and WHOOP are tested and supported end to end today.
Is there an Android version?
No, and none is planned. The on-device health interpretation and the encryption keys depend on Apple Health and the iCloud Keychain, which is exactly what the privacy promise rests on. If one of you is on Android, a cross-platform app will serve you better and we would rather say so.
Will it drain my battery?
No more than any app that reads Apple Health once or twice a day. Pulse does not track you continuously, does not use background location, and does not keep a connection open to a server waiting for something to happen.
Health and safety
What Pulse is not, and what it will never claim to know about your body.
Is Pulse a medical device?
No. Pulse is a wellness tool. It does not diagnose, treat or monitor any condition, and it is not a substitute for a doctor. Every health concept it references is sourced from public medical bodies and linked in the app so you can read the original.
Can Pulse tell if I am ill, or pregnant, or depressed?
No, and it never claims to. Pulse notices that today looks different from your own recent pattern. Why it looks different is something only you know, which is why every cue is written as a "might" rather than a verdict.
What if I am in real trouble?
Pulse is not an emergency service and cannot call for help. If you are in crisis, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line in your country. The app will never stand between you and that.
Account and support
Languages, a new phone, deleting everything, and how to reach us.
Which languages does Pulse speak?
English, German, Persian, Arabic and Russian, with Arabic and Persian laid out right to left throughout the app rather than mirrored as an afterthought. Messages between partners can be translated with a long press.
How do I get help from a human?
Write to us from the contact page or to [email protected]. We are a small team in Vienna, we read everything, and we usually answer within two working days.
I got a new phone. What comes back?
Your chat, Our Story and your settings return from your own encrypted iCloud backup. Health history deliberately does not travel with them, because it never left the old device in the first place.
How do I delete my account?
In the app, under your own settings, in two taps and without asking us first. It deletes the account rather than hiding it, and your partner is not shown a reason.
Nothing here matches that. Try a shorter word, or write to us, a real person answers.
Still not answered?
Write to us. A person in Vienna reads every message and usually answers within two working days.
