Privacy policy

This policy explains what personal data Tinyclock collects, why, how long we keep it and what choices you have. It covers the Tinyclock website at tinyclock.app and the Tinyclock mobile apps for iPhone and Android ("the apps"). We wrote it to be read by parents, so we keep the language plain. A short, friendlier summary is in Privacy and your family's data.

Tinyclock is in development. Where this policy describes features that have not launched yet, it describes how they are designed to work, and we will update this page before they are released.

Our promises

• No ads. Tinyclock shows no advertising to anyone.
• No sale of data. We do not sell personal data and we do not share it for advertising.
• No reading private content. We never collect the content of messages, emails, calls, photos, contacts or browsing history.
• Children's data is for the family only. It is used to run Tinyclock for that family and for nothing else.
• Parents are in control. Parents decide what is switched on and can export or delete everything.

Who is responsible for your data

The controller of the personal data described here is Piotr Rudnicki, trading as Tinyclock, based in Szczecin, Poland. You can reach us at hello@tinyclock.app. We answer privacy requests from a real person.

Parents, children and consent

Tinyclock is a tool for parents and legal guardians.

• Only a parent or legal guardian can create an account. By adding a child, the parent confirms that they are the child's parent or legal guardian and gives consent for Tinyclock to process the child's data as described here.
• Children do not create accounts, do not provide an email address and do not sign in. The child's phone is paired with a short code or QR code created by the parent.
• Where the law requires verifiable parental consent, for example under the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the parent's account setup and confirmation, together with the Apple or Google account checks required to authorise parental controls on the child's device, serve as that consent.
• Parents can review, export and delete everything held about their child, and can withdraw consent at any time, as described under "Your rights and choices".

We do not knowingly collect personal data from a child without a parent's involvement. If you believe a child has used Tinyclock without a parent's consent, write to us and we will delete the data.

What we collect

Parent account

• Email address and sign-in method (email, Sign in with Apple or Google)
• Subscription status, as reported by the app store (we do not receive card details)
• Family settings, notification preferences and support messages you send us

Child profile

• First name or nickname and age or year of birth, so that suggestions and defaults fit the child's age
• A Timo avatar choice
• The devices paired to the family, with a device name and platform

Rules and schedules

• Daily limits, bedtime, school-time and focus schedules, always-allowed apps, one-off exceptions and rewards you create

Device usage

• Android: time spent in apps and categories on the child's phone, collected so we can apply limits and build reports. App names and times are processed on the child's device and sent to your family's account.
• iPhone: Apple designs its Screen Time framework so that detailed information about which apps a child uses stays on the child's device. Tinyclock applies your limits there, and detailed per-app usage is shown to the child on their own phone. Tinyclock does not receive app names or per-app times from iPhone.
• We never read what is inside an app.

Requests for more time

• The reason your child chooses and the time of the request
• Optional voice notes and 3-second videos, only if a parent has allowed them and only when the child chooses to record. Camera and microphone are used only for that moment.

Location (optional)

• Off by default and switched on only by a parent. While it is on, the child sees an indicator on their phone.
• Saved places (such as home and school) and arrived or left events. Optional short route history if the parent enables it.
• Background location is used only when location is switched on, only to detect saved places and to answer an "I'm here" or "Call me" action.

Technical data

• App version, device model and operating system version, language and time zone, crash reports and basic security logs. These are used to keep Tinyclock working and secure.
• Push notification tokens, so that parents and children receive alerts.

This website

• No advertising or tracking cookies and no third-party analytics scripts.
• If you join the waitlist, we store your email address, the time you signed up and which page you used. We use it to send one email when Tinyclock launches. You can ask us to delete it at any time.
• Our hosting provider may process technical data such as IP addresses in server logs for security and reliability.

What we do not collect

• Content of messages, emails, calls, photos, contacts or browsing history
• Keystrokes or screenshots of the child's screen
• Advertising identifiers
• Precise location, unless a parent has switched location on
• Biometric data. Voice notes and short videos are stored only as the recordings you allow and are not analysed to identify anyone.

Why we use data

• To provide the service: apply limits and schedules, show reports, deliver requests and notifications, and show location check-ins when enabled
• To keep the service safe and working: security, abuse prevention, debugging and crash fixing
• To provide support and manage your subscription
• To meet legal obligations

Our legal bases under the GDPR are performance of our contract with the parent, the parent's consent (for the child's data, location and recordings), our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure, and legal obligations. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time in the app.

We do not use personal data for advertising, we do not build advertising profiles and we do not use children's data to train advertising models. We do not make decisions about people by automated means that have legal or similarly significant effects.

Who we share data with

We do not sell personal data. We share data only with the following kinds of service providers, who process it for us under contracts that limit their use of it, and when the law requires it:

• Hosting, database and file storage providers that run our servers and store family data and recordings in encrypted form
• Push notification services operated by Apple and Google, which deliver alerts to devices
• Subscription management and app store services, which handle purchases and tell us whether a subscription is active
• Email delivery providers, for account and support emails
• Professional advisers and authorities when needed to protect rights or comply with law

We keep a current list of the specific providers and their locations and will provide it on request at hello@tinyclock.app. We will not add a provider whose use would conflict with the promises at the top of this page.

Information about Screen Time, Family Controls or device usage obtained through Apple or Google programmes is never used for advertising, marketing or data brokering, and is never shared with third parties other than the providers listed above.

International transfers

We store family data in the European Union where we can. If a provider processes data outside the European Economic Area, we rely on safeguards such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision.

How long we keep data

When a parent deletes the family or closes the account, we delete the family's data from our systems within 30 days, apart from records we must keep by law. Backups are overwritten within a further 30 days.

Your rights and choices

Parents can use these controls in the app under Settings, then Privacy:

1. Turn location on or off at any time
2. Choose how requests work (Off, Optional or Required) and whether recordings are allowed
3. Review what is held about each child
4. Export the family's data
5. Delete a child's data, or the entire family, permanently
6. Stop all data collection by removing the child's device from the family

Depending on where you live, you also have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or port your data, to object to processing and to withdraw consent. Parents may exercise these rights for their child. To use any right, write to hello@tinyclock.app. We will verify that you are the account holder and reply within one month.

If you live in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you can complain to your data protection authority. In Poland this is the President of the Personal Data Protection Office (UODO).

If you live in the United States, parents have the rights described in COPPA: to review the child's personal information, to have it deleted and to refuse further collection. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined in US state privacy laws. Residents of states such as California can ask what we hold and ask us to delete it.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Recordings are stored separately from other data and are available only to the family. Access by our team is limited, logged and used only for support or security with a clear reason. Parent accounts support sign-in with Apple, Google or email, and sensitive changes need the parent's approval. More in Security. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your data, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

Changes to this policy

If we make a significant change, we will tell parents in the app and by email before it takes effect, and we will ask for fresh consent where the law requires it. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated.

Contact

Questions, requests and complaints: hello@tinyclock.app.