It depends on how you feel about tracking: Spike declares data used to track you. None of it falls in Apple's most sensitive categories (health, financial, location, contacts or your own content). In total the label lists 3 data types; 28% of secure email apps we checked declare tracking.
Spike privacy in one look
- 1Collects nothing
- 2Not linked
- 3Linked
- 4Tracks you
Built only from the developer's App Store label. It describes disclosure, not tested behaviour.
Spike's developer reports using usage data to track you across other companies' apps and websites.
Did Spike ask for something?
Pick the permission prompt you saw. We compare it with what Spike's developer declared.
Location is not on Spike's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
User Content is not on Spike's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
Contacts is not on Spike's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
Spike declares data used to track you, so expect the “Allow to track?” prompt. Tap Ask App Not to Track; the app must keep working without it.
Health & Fitness is not on Spike's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
A permission is what the app can reach on your iPhone; the label is what the developer says leaves it. They answer different questions.
What Spike collects, explained
| Data type | What it covers | Where to limit it |
|---|---|---|
| IdentifiersLinked to you | An account ID, screen name, customer number or a device-level ID such as the advertising identifier. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking: turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track, or tap Ask App Not to Track when prompted. |
| Usage DataUsed to track youLinked to you | What you tap, open and view inside the app, plus which ads you have seen. | There is no single iOS switch. Look for an analytics or personalised-ads toggle in the app's own settings. |
| DiagnosticsNot linked to you | Crash logs, launch times, hang rates and energy use. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements › Share With App Developers controls what Apple passes on; the app's own crash reporting is separate. |
What Spike's label means for you
Spike's label has 1 type under “Data Used to Track You”, 2 types under “Data Linked to You”, 1 type under “Data Not Linked to You”. A data type can appear in more than one section when it is used for different purposes — for example, identifiers used for both analytics and advertising.
Tracking is the declaration that most separates apps. It means usage data from Spike can be combined with data from other companies to target or measure ads, or shared with data brokers. On iOS 14.5 and later, the app must ask your permission before tracking you through the advertising identifier; answering “Ask App Not to Track” blocks that identifier and tells the developer you have declined.
None of the data types fall into the categories most people consider sensitive: health, financial information, precise location, contacts, browsing history or the content you create.
Email apps see every message and contact. Third-party mail clients may route mail through their own servers to offer features like push or AI summaries. Check whether the client connects to your provider directly or stores your mail on its servers.
Among the 141 secure email apps in our snapshot with a label, 28% declare tracking, 60% collect data linked to you and 23% say they collect nothing. Spike lists 3 data types, about the same as the average of 2.9 for this group.
Productivity apps tend to collect the work you do in them — documents, notes and files — so User Content is common. The question is whether it syncs to the developer's servers and how it is protected there.
Settings to check for Spike
- 1
Tracking
Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking. If “Allow Apps to Request to Track” is off, apps cannot ask, and they are told to treat you as having declined. You can also turn it off for this app alone.
- 2
Lock the app
On iOS 18 and later, touch and hold the icon and choose Require Face ID. Anyone who picks up your unlocked phone then needs your face, fingerprint or passcode to open it.
- 3
Notifications
Settings › Notifications › Spike › Show Previews: When Unlocked keeps message and account details off the Lock Screen.
Does Spike track you?
Usage data. Apple defines tracking as linking data from this app with data from other companies' apps, websites or offline sources for targeted advertising or ad measurement, or sharing it with a data broker.
Lock Spike behind Face ID
- Find Spike on your Home Screen or in App Library.
- Touch and hold the icon until the quick-actions menu opens.
- Tap Require Face ID (or Require Touch ID / Require Passcode, depending on your iPhone).
- Tap Require Face ID again to confirm. Spike now asks for authentication every time it opens.
The lock is an iPhone feature, so it works whether or not Spike has a passcode of its own. It does not change what the app sends to its developer.
About Spike
| Developer | SpikeNow Ltd. |
| App Store category | Productivity (also Business) |
| Latest version | 6.1.6, released June 2026 |
| First released | October 2013 |
| Requires | iOS 15.0 or later |
| Size | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ |
| Languages | 1 (EN) |
| Bundle ID | com.pingapp.app |
The current version shipped in June 2026. That is recent enough that the label should reflect current practices, but check the App Store page again before relying on it.
Also by SpikeNow Ltd.: QUICKIE.
What the label cannot tell you
- A label is self-reported. Apple publishes the developer's answers and can reject apps that misrepresent them, but it does not independently verify what Spike sends.
- It does not say where data is stored, how long it is kept, whether it is encrypted, or which companies receive it. The privacy policy covers those points.
- Optional data counts: if a feature lets you add something (a profile photo, a phone number), the type is listed even if you never use the feature.
- Data handled only on your iPhone is not 'collected', so a no-collection label is compatible with an app that reads your files locally.
- Third-party sign-in, payment processors and SDKs are supposed to be included, but a label can lag behind a new version.
The question to ask Spike's developer: Does my email pass through the app maker's servers?
Spike vs similar secure email apps
- Cleanfox
- OneMail
- InstAddr
- Spike (this app)
- TypeApp Email
- Swisscows Email
- Swismail
- Encrypted Email - Mailfence
Fewer types is not automatically safer: a cloud backup app has to collect your files to work. Compare like with like.
Look up any of our apps in seconds, or put two labels side by side.
Apps similar to Spike
All secure email apps → Who tracks you? A–Z → Apps that collect identifiers → Privacy label decoder →
Your Spike privacy checklist
Done. You have applied every control the label points to.
True or false?
- Right.Not quite.
True: it lists usage data under Data Used to Track You.
- Right.Not quite.
Labels are self-reported by developers. Apple can reject or remove apps that misrepresent practices, but it does not audit each label.
- Right.Not quite.
True: Identifiers appears on its label.
- Right.Not quite.
It is collected and sent; the developer says it is de-identified rather than tied to your account or device.
- Right.Not quite.
Apple's rules require apps to work the same whether or not you allow tracking.