Privacy policy

Effective 4 October 2026 · Applies to the Early app (app.early.mobile)

Who we are (controller)

The data controller for Early is Amir Jan Torkamani, an independent developer based in Sweden. For anything in this policy — including GDPR requests — contact jan.torkamani.dev@gmail.com. You can also call +46737831732.

What stays on your device

Everything you create in Early is stored locally on your phone: alarms and their schedules, wake-up task settings, registered QR codes and reference photos used for dismiss tasks, copied alarm sound files, timer and Pomodoro presets, stopwatch laps, wake stats and streaks, and appearance preferences. We do not operate a cloud sync of that content. Uninstalling the app removes Early’s active local copy. Android or Google backups may retain and restore selected data according to the device’s backup settings.

Android may include some non-excluded app files in the phone’s Google backup or device transfer. Early excludes all app preferences (where your alarms, schedules, settings, presets, and stats are stored) and copied alarm sounds (alarm_sounds) from Auto Backup and device transfer, so Android does not restore them. Photo-match reference images (task_photos) are included in Auto Backup and device transfer so Photo Match alarms keep working after restore; they are bounded ≤512 px re-encoded JPEGs and are not uploaded by Early to our servers. Photos and videos you choose as alarm ring backgrounds (ring_backgrounds) are included only in a direct device-to-device transfer, not in Google cloud backup. Separately, Settings lets you export an encrypted backup file of your alarms and settings that you control; that file is not uploaded to us.

Home-screen widgets and launcher shortcuts

Early Premium widgets can show alarm names and schedules, timer countdowns, stopwatch progress, and focus-session information on your home screen. Launcher shortcuts can show the names of favourite timers and focus programs and let you start them. Early gives Android and your home-screen launcher the display information and action identifiers needed for these features. Widget preferences, cached Premium access, and shortcut authorisation data are stored locally and excluded from Early’s Android backup, like other app preferences. Early does not upload widget or shortcut data to its servers.

Information displayed on your home screen may be visible to anyone who can view it. You can remove widgets and pinned shortcuts through your launcher; changing favourites in Early updates its available shortcuts. Android and your launcher manage their own storage and any backup of home-screen layouts or shortcuts under their own settings and policies. These features do not enable diagnostic reporting or grant new permissions automatically.

What leaves your device

• Error and crash reports (optional, off by default).Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), given when you turn on automatic reporting or tap Send report for a single error. Crash reporting is opt-in and stays off until you enable it in Settings → Privacy & diagnostics → Crash reports or tap Always send on an error screen; you can turn it off again anytime without losing access to the rest of the app. When enabled, Early may send diagnostic reports to Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.) when the app crashes or when unexpected errors are recorded — not only hard crashes. Separately, when Early shows an error screen you can tap Send report to send that one report to Sentry even while automatic reporting is off; it includes the note you type under “What were you doing?”, if any, and automatic reporting stays off afterwards. If that report cannot be sent to Sentry, Early opens Android’s share sheet so you can choose an app to send the report text yourself. A report contains a technical stack trace, basic device information such as model and OS version, and limited network or error metadata needed to diagnose a failure. We configure Sentry not to send default personally identifiable information, and we scrub file paths, content URIs, emails, and token-like strings from report messages and your note where practical. Reports are not designed to contain your name, email, or alarm content. If automatic reporting is off and you do not tap Send report, nothing is sent.
• Purchases.Legal basis: performance of the contract / steps prior to a contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) for fulfilling Premium, and our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) in preventing fraud and validating entitlements. Premium purchases are processed by Google Play. Early uses RevenueCat to validate purchases; RevenueCat receives a random/pseudonymous app identifier, purchase entitlement information, store purchase tokens, and technical metadata needed to validate Premium. Google Play processes the payment details; Early does not receive your payment card information, and RevenueCat receives only the fields needed for purchase validation and account support.
• Radio catalog and streaming.Legal basis: your request to use the feature (Art. 6(1)(b)) and our legitimate interest in providing the catalog (Art. 6(1)(f)). If you browse or wake to live radio, Early may query the Radio Browser directory (for station search and metadata) and then connect to the station's stream. Like any web connection, this exposes your IP address to those servers.
• Feature requests (optional).Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) when you send the email. If you tap Suggest a feature in Settings, Early opens your email app with a prefilled message to the contact address above. Nothing is uploaded unless you send that email. Early does not host a public feedback board and does not store feature requests on a third-party backend.

How long we keep data

• On-device data: until you delete it in-app or uninstall Early (subject to any device backup you control).
• Crash reports (Sentry): retained according to the active Sentry project retention settings for the limited diagnostic period; turning the toggle off stops new automatic reports from this device but does not automatically delete reports already received.
• Purchase / entitlement records (RevenueCat / Google Play):retained as needed to provide Premium and meet store and tax/accounting obligations.
• Feature-request emails: only if you send one; retention then follows ordinary email handling on the recipient mailbox, not an Early server.
• Radio: no account-linked radio history is stored by Early on our servers; station servers may keep standard connection logs per their own policies.

International transfers

Some processors are based outside the EU/EEA (notably the United States). Where personal data is transferred internationally, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the processors’ Standard Contractual Clauses and, where applicable, participation in frameworks like the EU–US Data Privacy Framework:

• Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.) — crash/error diagnostics
• RevenueCat — purchase validation
• Google Play (Google) — billing and distribution
• Google Android backup and device transfer — selected local app files

Radio Browser and individual station stream hosts may also be outside your country when you use live radio.

Cookies

The Early mobile app does not use cookies. The earlyapp.pages.dev website does not set non-essential cookies for advertising or analytics. Cloudflare Pages may process IP addresses and request metadata in its ordinary logs to deliver and protect the site. Any strictly necessary cookies or local storage used by the host are limited to delivering the site securely.

Permissions and why Early asks for them

• Notifications, exact alarms and full-screen intent: used to ring at the time you set, including over the lock screen.
• Display over other apps: lets the ring screen open straight away when an alarm fires while you are using another app.
• Battery optimization exemption: lets Early show Android’s one-tap dialog to exclude it from battery optimization so alarms are not delayed.
• Do Not Disturb access (optional): requested only if you want alarms to ring through Do Not Disturb. Early restores your previous Do Not Disturb setting when the alarm ends.
• Background work, start at boot, wake lock and vibration:granted at install so alarms, timers and Pomodoro keep running, ring after a restart, and vibrate.
• Camera: used only for the QR scan and Photo match wake-up tasks. Images are processed on the device and are not uploaded by Early.
• Physical activity: used only to count steps for the Steps wake-up task, on the device.
• Compass / orientation sensors: used only for the Compass align wake-up task, on the device.
• Music and audio files: used only to let you pick tracks from your phone as alarm sounds.
• Installed apps list (optional app launcher): when you pick an app to open after dismissing an alarm, Early reads the names of the launchable apps on your phone to show the list. The list stays on the device and is not uploaded.
• Internet: used for Premium purchase validation, error reports you send, optional automatic crash reports, and radio catalog/streams.
• Device administrator (optional Uninstall safeguard):requested only when you turn on the safeguard. While active, Android requires you to turn it off in Settings before Early can be uninstalled. Early requests no lock, wipe, password, camera, or other device-management policies, and this system status is not uploaded or used to collect data.

Exact alarms and the background, boot, wake-lock, and vibration permissions come with the install because ringing on time is Early’s core job. Early asks for notifications, full-screen alerts, display over other apps, and the battery exemption when you set up an alarm, timer, or Pomodoro; you can decline them, but alarms may then ring late or without the ring screen. Every other permission is optional: Early only requests one when you enable the feature that needs it, and the rest of the app works without it.

What we don't do

• No user accounts and no sign-in.
• No advertising and no ad networks.
• No behavioural analytics or tracking SDKs.
• No selling or renting of personal data.
• Limited transfers only to the providers and feature hosts described above.

Your rights and choices

Local app data is under your control on the device. If you enabled the optional Uninstall safeguard, turn it off in Android’s security settings first; uninstalling Early then removes what it stored there. Automatic crash reports stay off until you enable them in Settings → Privacy & diagnostics or tap Always send on an error screen; you can turn the toggle off again anytime. Turning reporting off stops new automatic reports, and a single error report is sent only when you tap Send report. Contact us if you want us to look up or delete reports already associated with the available device identifier. Subscriptions are managed and cancelled in Google Play settings. For feature requests or any other request, email jan.torkamani.dev@gmail.com. If you are in the EU/EEA, you have rights under the GDPR (access, correction, deletion, objection, withdrawal of consent). You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (in Sweden, IMY).

Children

Early is not directed at children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal data, contact us so we can review and delete it where appropriate.

Changes to this policy

This revision accompanies Early 2.0.0 and explains home-screen widgets and launcher shortcuts. The redesigned interface does not change the local storage of your alarms and settings or make optional diagnostic reports automatic.

If this policy changes, the new version will be published here with an updated effective date. Material changes will be noted in the app's release notes and may require renewed in-app acknowledgement.