Behind the app
Why RowTally Works Offline and Stores Nothing
Most of what makes an app feel a certain way comes from a handful of early decisions. RowTally has three, and each involves giving something up.
No account
Counting rows does not require knowing who you are. So there is no sign-up, no email field and no password — you install the app and start.
What this costs: we have no way to contact you, no way to help you recover data, and no idea who our users are beyond anonymous usage patterns. Every support conversation starts from scratch. We think that is the right trade for a tool this small, but it is a real trade.
Storage on the device only
Your projects live on your iPhone in a local database. Nothing is uploaded to a server we run, which means there is no server holding your knitting, nothing to breach, and no subscription that stops working because a backend was switched off.
What this costs is the feature people ask for most: sync. If you count on an iPhone and want the same project on an iPad, RowTally cannot do it, and an app built around iCloud sync will serve you better. We say so on our comparison pages, because pretending otherwise would waste your time.
It also means backups are yours. Your RowTally data is included in your normal iPhone or iCloud device backup, but if you delete the app without one, we have no copy to restore.
Every tap written immediately
The obvious way to build a counter is to hold the number in memory and save when the app closes. It is simpler and faster, and it fails in exactly the situation that matters: iOS closing the app in the background to reclaim memory, a flat battery, a crash.
So every tap is written to storage as it happens. It is slightly more work per tap and it is why we suggest a specific test to anyone evaluating a counter app, ours included: count ten rows, force-quit, reopen. If the number survived, the app writes as it goes.
What we do measure
Saying "nothing is uploaded" would be too neat. Your project content stays on the device, but the app does send anonymous product analytics — which screens get used, when a project is created, when a row is incremented, when a purchase completes. It runs through an EU-hosted PostHog instance and is not linked to any identity, because there isn't one.
Screen recordings are also captured, with text input fields and images masked so what you type is not transmitted. Our privacy policy sets out exactly what that includes and where masking has limits — worth reading rather than taking on trust.
What we would change
The device-only decision is the one we revisit most. Sync is genuinely useful, and "your data never leaves your phone" and "your project is on both your devices" cannot both be true without careful design.
If it happens, it will be through iCloud rather than a server of ours, and it will be optional. Until then the honest position is the one on this page: we do not sync, and for some people that is the wrong app.
Frequently asked questions
Will RowTally ever support iCloud sync?
It is the most requested feature and the one we revisit most, but nothing is committed. If it ships it will use iCloud rather than servers of ours, and it will be optional.
Does the app work in airplane mode?
Completely. Every feature works with no connection, because your projects are stored on the device rather than fetched from anywhere.
What happens to my projects if the app is discontinued?
They stay on your device and keep working with the version you have installed, because nothing depends on a server we run. That is one of the main reasons for the device-only decision.