How Poise works and what it can detect

Poise compares head tilt from supported AirPods with your calibrated baseline. When the tilt persists beyond your settings, it can play a nudge. It reports time spent in good posture.

From head motion to a nudge

1. Receive motion. Supported headphones send head-motion readings to your iPhone.
2. Set a baseline. Calibration records your reference while you sit upright and look ahead.
3. Apply your settings. Sustained tilt, sensitivity, active hours and activity state affect when monitoring and nudges apply.
4. Give a cue. Poise plays a reminder and records monitored time for your daily progress.

Phone awareness and activity

Phone-Awareness Mode can hold nudges when head position and phone activity match its phone-use conditions. It does not inspect what you are reading. Smart Activity Detection uses headphone motion to distinguish stationary, walking and undetermined activity. These estimates can be wrong, and their settings affect when reminders play.

Poise has separate walking preferences. Use Poise while walking for the setup, background settings and reminder controls.

What the sensors cannot establish

Headphones report head movement. They do not directly measure your shoulders, spine or lower back. A level head can coexist with a rounded back. Looking down can also be an intentional part of a task rather than a moment that needs a reminder.

The app's time totals describe its monitoring rules. They are not a validated measure of whole-body alignment or a prediction of injury. Research about posture generally does not establish a specific outcome from using Poise.

What stays on the phone

Your raw motion data stays on-device. Poise uses RevenueCat for subscriptions and PostHog for de-identified analytics. Read the privacy policy for the full distinction; raw processing on your phone does not mean no data is collected.

For the practical steps, see desk setup, compatible headphones, and troubleshooting.