YardTime Support Privacy

Support

Something not working, or an idea for the app? Write to us — a real person reads every message.

📮 [email protected]

We usually reply within a couple of days. It helps if you mention your iPhone model, your iOS version, and what you were doing when the problem happened.

Getting started

Do I need an account?

No. YardTime has no login and no password. It uses the Apple Account already signed in on your iPhone, so make sure you're signed in to iCloud (Settings → [your name]) before you start.

How do I invite my neighbors?

Create a yard group, then share the invite link from the app — by message, email, or however you like. Your neighbors tap it, and they're in. There's nothing else to set up.

If a neighbor wants to know what they're joining before they install anything, send them to yardtime.app/invited — it explains the app and lists exactly what a group can and can't see.

We're two people and one dog — do we both install it?

Yes, on both phones. When your partner taps the same invite link, they pick Join a household already here and choose yours, so you share one row and one status instead of showing up as two households with the same dog.

From then on, whoever let the dog out can walk off. The "still out?" reminder, the last call before the yard clears, and the "time to head out" nudge for a planned yard time reach every phone in the household — and answering on any of them settles it on all of them.

What do I need to run it?

An iPhone on iOS 17 or later, signed in to iCloud. The Apple Watch app needs watchOS 10 or later. NFC tap tags need an iPhone XS or later, which is the first model that can read tags in the background.

Everyday use

How do the timers work?

When you let your dog out, pick 15, 30 or 60 minutes — or leave it open-ended.

When a timer runs out, YardTime doesn't clear the yard on the spot. It asks first: you get a nudge with two buttons, Extend 15 min and Mark as in, and the yard stays marked occupied while it waits for your answer. Your neighbors see "out past 3:30 PM" in the meantime, rather than a yard that reads free while your dog is still sniffing the fence. If nobody answers, there's a last call, and half an hour after the timer ended the yard frees itself and everyone gets the "yard is clear" heads-up. You never have to remember to flip it back.

Open-ended timers never clear themselves. You get a "still out?" reminder after an hour instead, and the yard stays yours until you bring the dogs in.

Whatever duration you picked last becomes your default — it's what the widget, Siri, the watch and tap tags use, since none of them show a picker. To change it, pick a different duration the next time you let the dog out from the app.

Can I plan yard time ahead?

Yes. Tap Plan on the main screen, pick a start time in the next 24 hours, and choose how long you need — 15, 30 or 60 minutes. Your neighbors then see "Heading out 7:30–8:00 AM" on your row in the app, and in the hour before it starts, on their widgets, their watch and their Live Activity too. Nobody gets a notification about your plan; it simply shows up wherever the status does.

When your time arrives you get a "Time to head out" nudge. Let them out starts the timer for the length you planned, and Skip cancels the plan. A plan you don't act on clears itself ten minutes after it was due to start.

A plan is a heads-up, not a lock. If a neighbor has already planned that window, you'll see it before you confirm, and you can go ahead anyway. The same goes the other way: a neighbor about to let a dog out into your window gets a heads-up, and can still go. Each household holds one plan at a time — planning again replaces it, and you can edit or cancel it from the same spot on the main screen.

What's the recent activity list?

The list under the roster shows who let dogs out, who brought them in, and when the yard cleared. It's shared with your group, so the latest entries read the same on every phone — including a phone that just joined or was just set up. Your own phone also keeps a longer tail of older entries that stays local.

Can I let the dog out without opening the app?

Several ways, yes:

How do I set up NFC tap tags?

Open Settings → Tap tags in the app. It walks you through it and drops you straight into the Shortcuts app.

The short version: you'll create two NFC automations in Apple's Shortcuts app, one bound to a tag by the back door that runs "Let the dog out," and one bound to a tag inside that runs "Bring the dog in." Turn off "Ask Before Running" so the tap is silent. Any NTAG215 sticker works — they cost a few dollars for a roll.

Once set up, tapping a tag flips the yard status without opening YardTime, and without unlocking your phone.

The full tap tags guide has the steps written out, plus what to check when a tap doesn't register.

Troubleshooting

My neighbor's status isn't updating

Nearly always an iCloud issue on one end. Check that:

  1. Both of you are signed in to iCloud (Settings → [your name]).
  2. Both devices have a working network connection.
  3. The neighbor actually accepted the invite link — an unopened link means they were never added.

Opening the app forces a refresh. If a household still looks stuck after that, email us and tell us which one.

Which notifications can I turn off?

Inside the app, Settings → Notifications has two switches: A neighbor's dog goes out and Yard becomes clear. Quiet hours silences both of those overnight, between whatever times you set.

Your own reminders always come through — the "still out?" nudge when your timer ends, the last call before the yard clears, and "time to head out" for a plan — because they're things you asked the app to remind you about.

I'm not getting notifications

Check Settings → Notifications → YardTime on your iPhone and make sure alerts are allowed. If you declined the permission prompt when you first opened the app, this is where you turn it back on. Also check that Focus or Do Not Disturb isn't silencing them, and that the app's own quiet hours (above) aren't in effect.

The Live Activity disappeared

A Live Activity ends when the yard clears — when you bring the dogs in, or half an hour after the timer ran out if nobody answered the nudge — and iOS removes them after a while on its own. If you're not seeing them at all, check Settings → YardTime → Live Activities.

The widget is showing the wrong status

Widgets refresh on iOS's schedule, not instantly. Opening the app updates it right away. If it's still wrong after that, remove the widget and add it back.

Privacy and your data

What does YardTime know about me?

Nothing — we have no servers. Your group's information lives in your own iCloud account and is shared only with your group. There's no analytics, no ads and no tracking. The full details are in the privacy policy.

How do I leave a group or delete my data?

Use Leave group in the app's settings. It's a real deletion — your household's record is removed from the shared iCloud data, and everything YardTime kept on your device goes with it.

If you created the group, that control reads Delete group instead, because the shared storage belongs to your iCloud account. Using it ends the group for everyone in it, so check with your neighbors first.

The privacy policy spells out each option, including how to clear the app's data straight from iCloud.

Like the app?

YardTime is free, with no ads and nothing sold — and it's staying that way. If it has brought peace to your fence line and you'd like to say thanks, you can ☕ buy us a coffee. It goes toward the Apple developer fee and the occasional bag of treats for the resident QA department.

Everything else

Found a bug, want a feature, or just want to tell us about your dog? The inbox is open.

[email protected]