Privacy policy

In short

• The app collects no data. Nothing you enter is sent to me or to anyone else.
• Your countdowns are stored only on your iPhone, in a space shared by the app and its widgets.
• There are no accounts, no servers, no analytics, no ads, no tracking and no third-party code in the app.
• Reminders are scheduled on your iPhone by iOS.
• The one-time unlock is bought and checked through Apple. I never see your payment details or your Apple Account.

Who this policy covers

This policy covers the iPhone app Countdown to the Minute and its widgets (“the app”), made by Christian Ortiz, an individual publishing as Christian Ortiz Studio (“I”, “me”). It explains what the app does with your data and how I handle the information you share with me.

It doesn’t cover the App Store, your Apple Account or iOS, which are governed by Apple’s privacy policy.

Questions about this policy: support@christianortiz.studio.

What the app keeps on your iPhone

Your countdowns and the app’s preferences are stored in the app’s App Group, a storage space on your iPhone that only the app and its own widgets can read. The tour record is in the app’s own settings storage.

• Your countdowns: each one’s name, date, whether it has a specific time and what time, its time zone, unit, number size, theme, repeat rule, whether it skips weekends, its reminder settings, whether it’s archived or keeps counting up, its order in the list, and when it was created and last changed.
• Small preferences: whether you’ve seen or finished the tour, whether the Add a widget guide has opened, and, only if recovery was ever needed, the name of the data file it set aside.
• Widget settings: which countdown each widget shows is kept by iOS as part of the widget.

None of this leaves your iPhone through the app. If you back up your iPhone with iCloud Backup or to a computer, the app’s data is included in that backup, which Apple and your device manage under your settings, not me.

iCloud sync is not available in this version: the switch in Settings is off and can’t be turned on, and the app uses no iCloud storage.

What the app doesn’t do

• It makes no network requests of its own. It contains no analytics, advertising, crash-reporting or other third-party code.
• It asks for no account, sign-in, contacts, photos, location, camera, microphone or calendar access.
• It doesn’t track you across apps or websites, and it never shows the App Tracking Transparency prompt because there’s nothing to ask about.
• It checks whether your iPhone is online, only so the unlock screen can say when the App Store can’t be reached. Nothing is sent for that.

Notifications

If you turn on At target or Milestones for a countdown, the app asks iOS for permission to send notifications, then schedules them on your iPhone with the countdown’s name. They’re local notifications: they don’t go through any server, mine or Apple’s. Turning the reminders off, deleting the countdown, or turning notifications off in iOS Settings stops them.

The one-time unlock

The optional unlock is an in-app purchase, sold and processed by Apple through the App Store. When you buy or restore it, your iPhone talks to Apple, under Apple’s privacy policy. The app asks Apple whether you’ve unlocked each time it needs to know, and doesn’t store the answer.

Apple doesn’t give me your name, email or Apple Account. I see only what Apple shows every developer: sales and refund totals, and aggregated, anonymous statistics about the app, including crash reports from people who chose to share them with developers in their iPhone’s settings.

Links

Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Support and the documentation open these pages in Safari only when you tap them. Manage purchases opens Apple’s own purchase screen, and Open Settings opens the app’s page in iOS Settings.

App Store privacy details

On the App Store, the app’s privacy label is Data Not Collected: neither I nor any third party collects data from the app. Its privacy manifest declares no tracking, no tracking domains and no collected data types. The only system data it accesses is its own settings storage (UserDefaults), to save the preferences above and share them with its widgets.

Deleting your data

• One countdown: swipe it in the list and tap Delete.
• All countdowns: Settings → Delete all countdowns.
• Everything: delete the app. iOS removes all its data, including the widgets’ data and any data file set aside by recovery.

I can’t delete or recover your countdowns from my side, because I never have them.

If the app can’t read its data

If the app ever can’t open its data file, it moves the file aside on your iPhone instead of deleting it, so your countdowns can still be recovered. It never sends the file anywhere. If you choose to email me about it, I’ll explain how to recover it; I’ll only ever see your countdowns if you decide to send them, and I’ll delete them as soon as I’ve helped.

Support emails

If you email me, I receive your email address, your name if you include it, and whatever you write and attach. I use it only to answer you, and delete it when you ask, unless I need to keep it for a legal reason. For those emails, I’m the controller of your data. I don’t sell or share personal information.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or move your personal data, or to object to how it’s used. The app holds no personal data of yours on my side; for anything you’ve emailed me, email me and I’ll respond within 30 days.

Children

The app is rated 4+ and collects no data from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If I change this policy, I’ll update the date at the top of this page. If a version of the app ever handles data differently, I’ll update this policy and the App Store privacy label before that version is released.

Contact

Christian Ortiz, publishing as Christian Ortiz Studio
support@christianortiz.studio