Privacy Policy for CatchyTime

Effective date: 22 May 2026

Last updated: 22 May 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Richardson App Studio ("we", "us", "our", or "the Publisher") collects, uses, and protects information when you use CatchyTime ("the App"). By installing and using CatchyTime, you agree to the practices described in this policy.

If you do not agree with any part of this policy, please do not install or use CatchyTime.

1. Who We Are

CatchyTime is published and operated by Richardson App Studio, based in India.

You can contact us about this policy or any privacy concerns at:

📧 richardsonappstudio@gmail.com 

2. Summary (Plain Language)

We have designed CatchyTime to respect your privacy:

• ✅ No account required. You don't sign up, log in, or give us any personal information to use CatchyTime.

• ✅ Your data stays on your device. All your saved locations, check-in history, sessions, and goals are stored locally on your phone, not on our servers.

• ✅ We don't sell or share your personal data. Ever.

• ✅ You're in control. Uninstalling the app deletes all your data permanently.

• ⚠️ Location is used only on your device. CatchyTime uses your location to detect when you arrive at or leave places YOU choose to track. Your location is not sent to us or any third party for advertising or profiling.

• ⚠️ We use some third-party services (Google Play Services for geofencing, Google Maps for the map picker, Firebase Crashlytics for crash reports, and AdMob for ads). These services have their own privacy practices, described below.

The rest of this policy explains the details.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Information You Provide

When you use CatchyTime, you may provide:

• Location names (e.g. "Home", "Office", "Gym") — typed by you

• Location addresses (optional, typed by you)

• Geofence coordinates and radius — selected by you on the map picker

• Daily time goals — set by you per location

• Custom photos or emojis — chosen by you as place icons

All of this information stays on your device. We do not receive, see, or store any of it.

3.2 Information Generated by Your Use of the App

When you use CatchyTime, the app generates the following data locally on your device:

• Check-in and check-out times — when you arrive at or leave a saved location

• Session durations — how long you stay at each location

• Visit counts — how many times you've visited each place

• Goal completion history — which days you reached your daily goal

This data is stored in a local database on your phone (Room/SQLite) and is never transmitted to our servers.

3.3 Device and Location Permissions

CatchyTime requests the following Android permissions to function:

• Fine Location (ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION) — to detect when you enter or leave your saved geofence locations.

• Coarse Location (ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION) — fallback when fine location is unavailable.

• Background Location (ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION) — to detect arrival and departure even when the app is closed; this is core to automatic time tracking.

• Notifications (POST_NOTIFICATIONS) — to alert you of check-ins, check-outs, and when you reach your daily goal.

• Exact Alarms (SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM) — to play a celebration sound at the exact moment you hit a daily goal.

• Boot Completed (RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED) — to restore your geofences after your device restarts.

• Internet (INTERNET) — to load map tiles, fetch ads, and submit crash reports.

You can revoke any permission in your device's Settings at any time. CatchyTime's location-based features will not work without the location permissions.

3.4 What We Do NOT Collect

CatchyTime does NOT collect:

• ❌ Your name, email, phone number, or any personal identifier

• ❌ Your contacts, photos (other than ones you explicitly select as place icons), files, or messages

• ❌ Your browsing history, search history, or other app usage

• ❌ Your precise location at any time other than when you are entering or leaving one of your own saved geofences

• ❌ Any biometric data, microphone audio, or camera images

4. How Your Location Is Used

This section describes how CatchyTime uses location data because it is the most sensitive permission the app requests.

4.1 What Happens On-Device

When you create a geofence location, CatchyTime registers the location's coordinates and radius with Google Play Services (the system-level service built into your Android device). Google Play Services then monitors your device's location in the background using battery-efficient signals (Wi-Fi, cell towers, GPS) and notifies CatchyTime only when you enter or exit one of YOUR saved locations.

CatchyTime does NOT:

• Continuously track your location

• Store your raw GPS coordinates over time

• Build a profile of where you go

• Share your location with us, advertisers, or any third party

4.2 Background Location Use

CatchyTime uses background location to detect arrivals and departures at your saved locations even when the app is closed. Without this permission, automatic tracking does not work — you would have to open the app and check in manually each time.

Background location data is processed by Google Play Services on your device. We do not receive this data.

5. Third-Party Services

CatchyTime uses the following third-party services to function. Each has its own privacy policy.

5.1 Google Play Services — Geofencing API

• Used for: detecting arrival and departure at your saved locations.

• Data processed: your device's approximate location (on-device only).

• Google's Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

5.2 Google Maps SDK for Android

• Used for: rendering the map when you set a geofence area.

• Data processed: map tiles loaded based on the area you view; your approximate location may be shown to you (the "blue dot") only if you grant location permission.

• Google's Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

5.3 Firebase Crashlytics

• Used for: receiving automatic crash reports when CatchyTime crashes, so we can diagnose and fix bugs.

• Data processed: anonymous crash logs (stack traces, device model, Android version, app version). No personal data, location data, place names, or session data is included in crash reports.

• We have disabled Firebase Analytics at the project level. Crashlytics is the only Firebase service active.

• Firebase Privacy Policy: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy

5.4 Google AdMob

• Used for: displaying banner advertisements in the app to support development.

• Data processed: AdMob may collect a device advertising identifier (a non-personal ID you can reset in your device settings), approximate location based on IP address, and information about ad interactions, to serve relevant advertisements. AdMob does not receive your saved locations, names, or session data from CatchyTime.

• AdMob Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

You can limit ad personalization in your device Settings → Privacy → Ads.

6. How We Use Information

We use information for the following purposes:

• Saved locations and sessions — to provide the core time-tracking feature. Stored on your device only.

• Geofence registration — to detect entry/exit events. Stored in Google Play Services on your device.

• Map view requests — to render the map picker. Processed by Google Maps SDK on your device.

• Crash reports — to diagnose and fix app crashes. Sent to Firebase Crashlytics on Google servers.

• Ad interactions — to display ads and support development. Processed by AdMob on Google servers.

We do not use your information for:

• ❌ Marketing emails (we don't have your email)

• ❌ Profile building or behavioral tracking

• ❌ Selling to third parties

• ❌ Sharing with data brokers

7. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for their marketing purposes.

We may disclose information only in these limited cases:

• With your consent. For example, when you use the "Backup to Cloud" or "Share with Friends" features, CatchyTime opens the Android share menu and you choose where to send the data. That choice is yours — we don't transmit anything automatically.

• To service providers. Google (Play Services, Maps, Firebase Crashlytics, AdMob) processes specific data on our behalf as described in Section 5.

• For legal reasons. If required by law, court order, or to protect rights, safety, or property.

8. Data Retention and Deletion

8.1 Data on Your Device

Because all your personal time-tracking data is stored on your device, you control retention:

• Data stays as long as the app is installed

• You can delete individual sessions, places, or all data via the app's Settings → Clear All Data

• Uninstalling CatchyTime permanently deletes all locally stored data

8.2 Crash Reports

Anonymous crash reports sent to Firebase Crashlytics are retained according to Google's data retention policies. We can request deletion of specific crash reports by contacting Google. Crash reports do not contain personal data.

8.3 Ad Data

AdMob data retention is governed by Google's policies. Reset your device's advertising identifier to limit ad-related tracking (Settings → Privacy → Ads → Reset advertising ID).

9. Your Rights

You have the following rights regarding your data:

9.1 Access and Portability

Use the Export Data feature in Settings to download all your CatchyTime data as a JSON file. This is your complete data set.

9.2 Deletion

Use Clear All Data in Settings, or uninstall the app, to delete everything stored on your device. Crash reports cannot be tied back to you, so they do not require separate deletion.

9.3 Correction

You can edit any saved location, session, or goal directly in the app at any time.

9.4 Right to Withdraw Consent

You can:

• Revoke location permission in your device Settings (this stops automatic tracking)

• Revoke notification permission (this stops alerts)

• Turn off Crashlytics indirectly by disabling background data for the app

• Limit ad personalization in your device Settings → Privacy → Ads

10. GDPR Rights (For Users in the European Union, UK, and EEA)

If you are in the EU, UK, or EEA, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives you the following rights:

• Right of access — use the in-app Export Data feature, or contact us.

• Right to rectification — edit your data directly in the app.

• Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") — uninstall the app, or use Clear All Data.

• Right to restriction of processing — revoke location permission to stop automatic processing.

• Right to data portability — use Export Data to download a JSON copy of your data.

• Right to object — disable background location, ads personalization, or uninstall.

• Right to lodge a complaint — contact your local data protection authority.

Legal basis for processing: Our processing is based on (a) your consent (location permission, ad personalization), (b) legitimate interests (crash diagnostics to improve the app), and (c) performance of the service you requested (time tracking).

Data controller: Richardson App Studio, India. Contact: richardsonappstudio@gmail.com.

International transfers: Some of our service providers (Google) process data on servers located outside the EU/EEA. Google uses Standard Contractual Clauses and other safeguards to ensure adequate protection. See Google's Privacy Policy for details: https://policies.google.com/privacy.

11. CCPA Rights (For California Residents)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives you the following rights:

• Right to know what personal information we collect and how we use it (this Privacy Policy describes that).

• Right to delete personal information we hold about you. Because we don't hold personal data on our servers, deletion is achieved by uninstalling the app.

• Right to opt out of the "sale" of personal information. We do not sell personal information, as defined by the CCPA.

• Right to non-discrimination for exercising any of these rights.

To exercise your CCPA rights, contact us at richardsonappstudio@gmail.com.

Categories of personal information collected in the past 12 months:

• Identifiers — a non-personal advertising identifier (via AdMob).

• Geolocation data — your approximate location, processed on-device by Google Play Services to detect arrival/departure events. We do not store or transmit your raw location data.

• Commercial information — none.

• Biometric information — none.

• Internet activity — none.

• Inferences — none.

Sources of information: directly from you, via your device, and from Google services (AdMob).

Categories of third parties with whom data is shared: Google (Play Services, Maps, Firebase Crashlytics, AdMob), as described in Section 5.

12. Children's Privacy

CatchyTime is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or under 16 in the EU/EEA where applicable). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided information to CatchyTime, please contact us at richardsonappstudio@gmail.com and we will assist with deletion (though, as described, CatchyTime does not collect personal information that identifies any individual user).

13. Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information:

• All your personal time-tracking data stays on your device — there is no central server to hack.

• Third-party services we use (Google Play Services, Firebase, AdMob, Maps) follow industry-standard security practices.

• Communication with these services uses encrypted HTTPS connections.

However, no method of electronic storage or transmission is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do:

• The "Last updated" date at the top will change.

• The updated policy will be published at the same URL: https://sites.google.com/view/catchytimeprivacy/home

• For significant changes, we may also notify you via an in-app message.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

15. Contact Us

For any privacy questions, concerns, complaints, or to exercise your rights under GDPR / CCPA / Indian law:

Richardson App Studio

📧 richardsonappstudio@gmail.com

We aim to respond to all privacy inquiries within 30 days.

16. Governing Law

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of India, without regard to its conflict-of-laws provisions. For users outside India, additional local laws (such as GDPR for EU users and CCPA for California users) also apply where required.

Thank you for using CatchyTime. Your privacy matters to us.

Document version: 1.0 Effective date: 22 May 2026 Last updated: 22 May 2026