Why We Made Tideflock Free

When people hear that Tideflock is completely free, the next question is usually some version of “So what’s the catch?”

It’s a fair question. Most of us have learned that when an app is free, we’re paying some other way: with our attention, our data, or a trial that quietly turns into a subscription. So we want to be clear about how Tideflock works, what we will and won’t do, and why.

The short version

No paywalls. Every feature is available to everyone.
No ads. Not now, not later.
We will never sell your health data.
Tideflock is supported by an optional tip jar. If you can chip in, great. If you can’t, you get the exact same app.

Here’s the longer version.

GLP-1 medications are already expensive

If you’re on Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound, or a compounded version, you already know the cost. Between prescriptions, insurance battles, prior authorizations, and pharmacy runs, many people are stretching their budget just to stay on treatment.

Asking those same people to pay another monthly fee to log their own doses didn’t sit right with us. Keeping track of your medication shouldn’t be one more bill.

Why no paywalls

A lot of health apps give you the basics for free and lock the useful parts behind a subscription. Charts, history, reminders, exports. It’s a common business model, and we understand why apps use it.

But for a medication tracker, the “premium” features are often the ones that matter most. Being able to look back at your dose history, see how your side effects lined up with a dose change, or share a clear summary with your prescriber isn’t a luxury. It’s the whole point.

So we decided early that there would be no free tier and paid tier. There’s just Tideflock. If we build a feature, everyone gets it.

Why no ads

Health is personal. When you open an app to log a rough day of nausea or a number on the scale you’re not happy about, the last thing you need is an ad for a diet program, a supplement, or a “miracle” alternative to your medication.

Ads in health apps can also create pressure to keep you scrolling and to collect more about you so ads can be targeted. We don’t want Tideflock to be designed around holding your attention. We want it to be quick to use, so you can log what you need and get on with your day.

Why we’ll never sell your health data

This is the one we feel most strongly about.

The information you put into a GLP-1 tracker is sensitive. Your medications, your doses, your weight, how your body is reacting. That’s yours. It isn’t a product, and it isn’t something we’ll trade for revenue.

We will never sell your health data. Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to anyone. When we share more detail about how data is stored and handled, it will be in plain language in our privacy policy, not buried in fine print.

So how does Tideflock keep going?

Building and maintaining an app takes real time and costs real money. There are developer accounts, infrastructure, testing devices, and the many hours it takes to design, build, fix, and improve things. We’re not pretending it’s free to make.

Our answer is a tip jar. Inside the app, there will be an optional way to leave a tip if Tideflock is helping you and you’re able to give something back. That’s it. There’s no nagging, no features unlocked by tipping, and no guilt if you never do.

We know a tip jar is not the most common way to fund an app. It’s a bet that if we build something genuinely useful and treat people well, enough of them will want to help keep it around. We’d rather earn support than force it.

The flock idea

Our tagline is “Track your journey. Join the flock.” Every person using Tideflock is a bird in the flock. Birds in a flock aren’t all flying at the same speed or for the same reasons, but they move together and look out for one another.

That’s the spirit we want for the app and for this community. Some people will tip. Some won’t be able to. Some will help by sharing feedback, reporting bugs, or answering a newcomer’s question on the message board. All of it helps keep the flock going.

Where things stand

Tideflock is still in development and coming soon to iOS. We’re building it to track doses, estimated medication levels, weight, and side effects, all in one place, with a warm, simple design and no judgment.

If you’d like to help shape it, we’d love to hear from you. Share ideas in the Feedback and Feature Requests forum on the Tideflock Community, or email us at support@tideflock.app. You can find more about the app at tideflock.app.

No catch. Just a free tracker, made with care, for people who deserve one.