PRIVACY POLICY

Effective Date: August 31, 2026

Last Updated: August 31, 2026

1. OVERVIEW & PRIVACY COMMITMENT

Welcome to Slow Clock ("we," "our," or "the Application"), developed by Slow Software Studio. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring transparency regarding our data practices.

Slow Clock is built upon a Privacy-First, Local-First Architecture. We believe your time, routines, and device data belong exclusively to you. Slow Clock does not require account registration, does not collect personal identifiers (such as your name, email address, phone number, or contacts), and does not sell, rent, or monetize your data.

This Privacy Policy explains what data is accessed, why it is accessed, how it is processed, and your rights under applicable global privacy laws including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA / CPRA), and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

2. INFORMATION WE PROCESS & COLLECT

2.1 Information Stored Strictly on Your Device (Local Data)

Slow Clock operates primarily on-device. The following information is stored in your device's secure local storage (e.g., via SharedPreferences and local application storage):

- User Preferences & Settings: Selected aesthetic theme/skin (such as Paper Light, Solar Amber, Cyber Aurora), font size, time display format (12-hour/24-hour), and perception dilation rates.

- Alarm Configurations & Bedtime Schedules: Alarm times, recurrence rules, custom audio synthesizer presets, snooze intervals, and bedtime wind-down schedule preferences.

- Stopwatch & Timer Presets: Custom countdown durations, lap records, and active timer states.

- Saved World Clock Cities: The list of global time zones and cities you manually pin or select.

- Subscription & Purchase Entitlements: Local cryptographic cache of your lifetime unlock or subscription entitlement status received securely from Google Play Billing or the Apple App Store.

Note: None of this local data is transmitted to our servers or any third-party marketing database.

2.2 Network Requests & Transient Data

Slow Clock makes minimal, direct client-side network requests solely to deliver core timepiece features:

- Approximate Location / IP Geolocation (Transient):

  Purpose: To automatically detect your local time zone and anchor your primary city for the World Clock and weather widget.

  How it works: The app performs a transient lookup via ipapi.co from your device. Only approximate city/time-zone level data is retrieved.

  Storage: We do not log, store, or profile your IP address or geographic coordinates on any external server.

- Live Weather Data:

  Purpose: Displaying local temperature and current atmospheric conditions for your selected World Clock cities.

  Provider: Open-Meteo API (api.open-meteo.com).

  Data Sent: Latitude and longitude coordinates of the chosen cities. No personal identity or device identifiers are sent.

- Map Display Tiles:

  Purpose: Rendering high-contrast spatial world map backgrounds.

  Provider: OpenStreetMap (tile.openstreetmap.org). Standard HTTP caching applies.

- Network Time Synchronization (Fail-Safe Clock Fallback):

  Purpose: In the event of device system clock drift or desynchronization, Slow Clock checks public NTP/HTTP time endpoints (e.g., timeapi.io / api.open-meteo.com) to calculate exact universal time. No personal data is sent.

2.3 Financial & Payment Information

All purchases, including the 7-Day Free Trial, Monthly Subscription, and Lifetime Unlock, are processed directly through the Google Play Store (Google LLC) or Apple App Store (Apple Inc.).

Slow Clock and Slow Software Studio do not collect, receive, process, or store your credit card numbers, bank account information, or billing address. All transactions are subject to the respective store's privacy policy:

- Google Play Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

- Apple Privacy Policy: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/

3. DEVICE PERMISSIONS & WHY WE NEED THEM

- Internet Access (android.permission.INTERNET): Required to fetch real-time weather forecasts, OpenStreetMap tiles, and network time validation.

- Vibration & Haptics (android.permission.VIBRATE): Provides tactile haptic feedback when interacting with switches, dial adjustments, and alarm triggers.

- Exact Alarms (SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM / USE_EXACT_ALARM): Ensures your set alarms and wake-up routines fire precisely to the exact second, even when the device is in low-power or Doze mode.

- Post Notifications (android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS): Displays active background timer countdowns, bedtime reminders, and alarm banners (Android 13+).

- Full-Screen Alarm Intent (USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT): Allows the alarm ringing UI to appear immediately over the lock screen when an alarm sounds.

- Wake Lock (android.permission.WAKE_LOCK): Briefly keeps the processor awake so the alarm audio synthesizer can play reliably without stuttering when the screen turns off.

- Audio Settings (MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS): Ensures synthesized PCM alarm tones play at your configured alarm stream volume level.

- Floating Window / PiP (SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW): Enables the optional Picture-in-Picture floating mini-timer countdown widget over other apps.

- Foreground Service (FOREGROUND_SERVICE): Maintains isolate stability for active countdown timers and prevents aggressive OS memory termination.

- Boot Completed (RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED):  Automatically restores and reschedules your active alarms after your device is restarted or rebooted.

4. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Slow Clock utilizes trusted third-party services exclusively to facilitate essential application operations:

1. Google Play In-App Billing (Google LLC): Manages secure subscription transactions and entitlement validation.

2. Open-Meteo (Open-Meteo GmbH): Provides open-source, privacy-friendly weather forecast data without personal tracking.

3. OpenStreetMap Foundation: Delivers map tile imagery.

4. ipapi.co: Performs client-side IP-to-timezone resolution for default city setup.

5. Google Fonts & Google Model Viewer: Delivers typography and 3D WebGL rendering assets.

We do not embed third-party advertising SDKs (such as AdMob, Meta Audience Network, or Unity Ads) or behavioral analytics trackers (such as Facebook Pixel or third-party data brokers).

5. DATA RETENTION AND ACCOUNT DELETION

Because Slow Clock does not maintain user accounts or cloud databases, all your data resides on your physical device:

- Data Retention: Your preferences, alarms, and settings remain on your device until you reset them or uninstall the app.

- Data Deletion: You can delete all data at any time by navigating to your device's Settings > Apps > Slow Clock > Storage > Clear Storage / Clear Data. Alternatively, uninstalling the application will immediately and permanently erase all locally stored data.

6. CHILDREN'S PRIVACY (COPPA & GDPR-K COMPLIANCE)

Slow Clock is designed for general audiences and utility purposes. We do not knowingly collect, solicit, or store personal information from children under the age of 13 (or under 16 in the European Economic Area). If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided personal information to us, please contact us at support@slowclock.app, and we will take immediate steps to address your concern.

7. INTERNATIONAL PRIVACY RIGHTS

7.1 European Economic Area (EEA) & UK (GDPR)

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), users in the EU/EEA and UK have the right to access, rectify, or erase any personal data held about them. Since Slow Clock processes no identifiable personal data on external servers and keeps all configurations local, you exercise full data autonomy directly via your device settings.

7.2 California Privacy Rights (CCPA / CPRA)

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

- No Sale of Personal Data: We do not sell, share, or monetize your personal information or sensitive personal information to third parties.

- Non-Discrimination: You will never be discriminated against for exercising your privacy rights.

8. SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION

We implement industry-standard security practices:

- All network communications (weather updates, time validation, map tiles) are encrypted using Transport Layer Security (HTTPS/TLS).

- On-device data is secured within the operating system's application sandbox environment.

9. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, or legal obligations. When we make updates, we will revise the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy. Continued use of the Application after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

10. CONTACT US

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Publisher: Slow Software Studio

Email: help.slowsoftware@gmail.com