RTTy processes network evidence on your devices.

Measurements stored on your Mac

RTTy stores latency, loss, availability, bandwidth counters, route, resolver, interface, VPN and proxy context, permitted Wi-Fi evidence, incidents, configured-target results, and settings locally. By default, statistics are retained for 30 days and events for 90 days. You can change these limits in Settings, up to 365 days for statistics and 730 days for events. Exports occur only when you request them.

Measurements stored on iPhone and iPad

The mobile app performs local path and bounded service probes while it is active. It keeps at most 180 aggregate observations and 180 observations per endpoint in protected app storage. It also keeps up to 64 public-egress identity changes: observation time, public IP address and address family, network number (ASN), network organization, and the responding Cloudflare edge location code when available. These help you recognize when your internet-facing connection changes. The clear-data control removes local observations, endpoint history, public-egress history, and cached Mac snapshots. Pairing credentials are stored separately in Keychain and must be removed with the pairing controls.

Probe destinations

RTTy connects directly from your device to displayed, configured, or built-in diagnostic targets. On Mac, the automatic targets are your default gateway and your system-provided DNS resolvers, not fixed public DNS servers. On iPhone and iPad, fresh defaults enable a TCP connection check to 1.1.1.1:53 (Cloudflare DNS reachability) and a TLS handshake to www.apple.com:443 (Apple HTTPS readiness), about every 15 seconds while the app is active in the foreground. The DNS reachability check tests a TCP connection; it does not send a DNS question or inspect another app's DNS traffic. Each check can be disabled in Settings, and the interval can be changed. Destination operators can observe ordinary connection metadata such as your public IP address. RTTy and East Coast Science do not receive a copy of the measurements.

On iPhone and iPad, a separate automatic request to https://speed.cloudflare.com/meta follows a successful local refresh and is limited to at most once every 15 minutes during an active session. The HTTPS request exposes ordinary connection metadata, including your public IP address, to Cloudflare. Its response supplies the public address, ASN, network organization, and an edge location code for display and local change history. The edge code identifies a Cloudflare location, not a GPS reading or a precise device location. This metadata request does not run a speed test or upload your saved measurement history. RTTy does not send the returned public-egress history to its developer, private CloudKit records, or Nearby peers. The per-check toggles control the TCP/TLS checks; this metadata lookup is separate. Leaving the foreground stops automatic refresh work.

The Mac app also contacts Cloudflare's public speed-test service at speed.cloudflare.com in two cases. (1) A small metadata request after startup and at most every 15 minutes while monitoring is active, to notice when your public IP address or egress network changes. Cloudflare returns your public IP address, network (ASN) and organization; RTTy keeps that result only in its local history on your Mac and never places it in iCloud or in Nearby snapshots. (2) A speed test, which downloads and uploads about 17 MB, runs only when you choose Run Speed Test Now or turn on scheduled tests (off by default). Cloudflare sees your public IP address for these requests under its own privacy terms. Passive monitoring mode sends neither request.

Automatic Application Health checks on Mac

RTTy can detect supported installed apps from their bundle names and identifiers and enable a bounded set of displayed TCP-443 checks. It does not read those apps' documents or user data. macOS may ask for App Management access for this local bundle check; denying it leaves automatic app suggestions unavailable while core network monitoring continues. Eligible hosts are controlplane.tailscale.com, chatgpt.com, claude.ai, www.dropbox.com, drive.google.com, world.tr.teams.microsoft.com, zoom.us, www.webex.com, slack.com, discord.com, github.com, and www.icloud.com. Fresh defaults use a one-second active and five-second idle cadence within the total target budget. Every enabled endpoint is visible; disabling one persists, and observed network domains alone do not enable traffic.

Current Wi-Fi identity

On Mac, RTTy asks for Location authorization only after you choose the Current Wi-Fi Identity action because macOS protects permitted SSID and BSSID access with that permission. RTTy uses the authorization for current Wi-Fi diagnostic context and does not request, store, or transmit geographic coordinates.

Nearby sharing

Nearby discovery begins only when you choose it. After pairing, RTTy can transfer a bounded, authenticated health snapshot over the local network from a Mac to an iPhone or iPad. A snapshot can include the Mac name, interface and local-address context, VPN state, endpoint results, incidents, and availability evidence. Turning Mac sharing off stops access without changing the valid host-wide group secret. Re-enabling sharing reuses it, including after an app relaunch. Only the explicit Rotate action replaces the secret and revokes every retained copy. A failed rotation remains stopped until replacement completes. The Apple TV app can display the same authenticated snapshots while it is open in the foreground; it does not monitor in the background and does not use iCloud.

iCloud (your private CloudKit database)

When your Mac is signed in to iCloud, RTTy saves its portable settings and a small per-device health summary (the Mac name, network interface and local-address context, endpoint results, incidents, and availability evidence) to the private CloudKit database of your own iCloud account, in the container iCloud.com.eastcoastscience.rtty, and loads newer settings from it. This is how a second Mac or a paired iPhone or iPad can pick up where the first left off. The private database belongs to your iCloud account: East Coast Science cannot read it and runs no server that does. Monitoring history stays on your Mac. Settings ▸ iCloud & Sync ▸ Manage iCloud data lets you save, load, preview, or reset RTTy's iCloud data; signing out of iCloud stops it.

On iPhone and iPad, provisioned iCloud features can also store mobile settings and diagnostic evaluation records in your private database. Evaluations include the device identifier and name, observation time, network-path properties, and endpoint check results. Nearby pairing credentials and the separate public-egress history are not included. Clearing local history does not itself delete private-cloud records; the mobile CloudKit controls manage those records separately.

What the RTTy apps do not do

The RTTy apps have no account system, advertising, tracking, marketing analytics, third-party analytics or crash-reporting SDK, or developer telemetry service. Mac automatic resolver checks use system-provided addresses rather than fixed public DNS defaults; a resolver supplied by your system or chosen by you can be operated by Cloudflare or Google. The iPhone and iPad default Cloudflare TCP check and separate metadata lookup are described above. These diagnostic connections do not provide system-wide visibility into other apps' traffic. RTTy Pro is an in-app purchase processed by Apple through StoreKit; RTTy has no receipt server and no account system.

Controls, retention, and deletion

On iPhone and iPad, Stop Nearby Discovery ends local browsing without deleting pairings; Retry Nearby Discovery starts a new attempt after a denial or error. On Mac, disable Nearby sharing to stop advertising and snapshot sharing. Remove a pairing or rotate the Mac group credential to revoke Nearby access. Mac Erase Settings and Monitoring Data first invalidates, cancels, and awaits in-flight startup, probe, and enrichment work, and drains in-flight archive readers before deleting archives and clearing in-memory evidence, so stale work cannot recreate or repopulate cleared monitoring data. It deliberately preserves device identity, the group pairing credential, and the Bonjour node identifier; those are managed separately through Nearby controls. The mobile clear-data control removes retained measurement history and snapshot caches. Uninstalling removes each app's container.

Website and support

This website uses Google Analytics (G-DG945DPRS8) and Google Tag Manager (GTM-MHR65M2G) to understand website visits. This does not add analytics to the RTTy apps. Links from the apps open your external browser; the apps do not embed this website. The website's hosting infrastructure may process routine request data needed to deliver and protect the site. Email and attachments you choose to send are used to answer and investigate your request. Remove private hostnames, addresses, and network evidence before sending diagnostics. You may request deletion of support correspondence at the address below.