Privacy Policy

Last Updated: September 9, 2026
Applies to: TickDown for iOS (iPhone and iPad)

Your content stays on your device. TickDown is a free, ad-supported application that works offline for its core features. Your countdowns and tasks belong to you and are stored locally on your device. To keep the app free, we show advertisements, which involve limited data sharing with our advertising partners as described below. You can remove ads at any time with an optional in-app purchase.

1. Data Storage and Control

TickDown follows a Local First architecture.

• User Content: All countdowns, tasks, subtasks, notes, categories, chosen photos and settings are stored locally on your device. This information is never uploaded to our servers.
• No Account Required: You can use TickDown without creating an account or signing in. We do not know your identity or email address. There is no sign-in of any kind in the app.
• No Servers, No Sync: TickDown for iOS does not operate a server, and your content is never uploaded to us. TickDown does not sync your countdowns and tasks between your devices. Your data leaves your device only if you save a backup yourself, or if you switch on optional iCloud backup — which writes an encrypted backup file to your own iCloud Drive, not to us (see Section 6).
• Widgets: If you add a TickDown home screen or lock screen widget, a small snapshot of your upcoming countdowns is written to a private, app-specific shared container on your device so the widget can display it. This snapshot never leaves your device.
• Data Deletion: Deleting the app from your device permanently removes its local data. Backup files you saved yourself, and any backups in your iCloud Drive, are not removed by deleting the app — you can delete those in the Files app. You can also erase everything from within the app using Settings → Delete All Data.

2. Permissions We Request

TickDown requests only the permissions required for its functionality. Each one is optional, and is requested either during first-run setup or at the moment you first use the related feature. Declining any of them leaves the rest of the app fully usable, and you can change any of these choices later in iOS Settings.

• Notifications: Used to deliver reminder notifications, countdown alerts and scheduled summaries. If you decline, the app continues to work but cannot alert you.
• Calendar: Optional. If you enable calendar integration, TickDown reads your device calendar events so they can be shown alongside your countdowns. Calendar data is read only while the calendar view is on screen, is never uploaded to our servers, and is not permanently stored by TickDown.
• Photos: Optional. If you choose a photo as a countdown background, iOS gives the app only the specific image you select through the system photo picker. A copy is stored inside the app's own private storage on your device and is never uploaded.
• App Tracking Transparency (Tracking): Optional. On iOS 14.5 and later, we present Apple's tracking prompt before our advertising partners may use your device's Advertising Identifier (IDFA) for personalized advertising. If you choose Ask App Not To Track, the IDFA is not made available and you receive non-personalized ads. You can change this at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• Network Access: Used to load advertisements, process optional in-app purchases and send analytics and crash reports. The core features of the app work offline.

3. Advertising

TickDown is free to use and is supported by advertising. Ads are provided by Google AdMob. TickDown for iOS does not use any additional mediated advertising networks.

To serve and measure ads, Google AdMob may collect and process:

• Your device's Advertising Identifier (IDFA), where you have allowed tracking, and general device information (such as device model, operating system version, and coarse, non-precise location inferred from IP address).
• Ad interaction data, such as ads shown, clicks and app events used for frequency capping and measurement.

Consent (GDPR / UMP) and Apple's Tracking Prompt

• Where required (for example, in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland), we present a consent request using Google's User Messaging Platform (UMP) before serving personalized ads.
• Separately, and in addition, iOS requires your permission through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt before the IDFA can be used. Both must allow it for ads to be personalized.
• If you decline either prompt, we and our partners serve non-personalized ads instead, which are not based on an advertising profile.
• Where UMP indicates it applies to you, you can change or withdraw your consent at any time from Ad Privacy Settings in the app's Settings screen. Your Apple tracking choice is changed in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• For more information about how Google uses data from apps that use its services, please see Google's Privacy & Terms.

4. Premium Unlock (In-App Purchase)

TickDown offers an optional one-time in-app purchase that removes advertisements and unlocks the home and lock screen widgets, unlimited photo backgrounds, and automatic daily iCloud backup. It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription.

• All purchases are processed by Apple through the App Store. We do not receive or store your payment card details.
• Purchases are verified on device using Apple's StoreKit. When premium is active, ads are disabled and the Advertising Identifier is no longer used for in-app ads.
• Restoring a purchase on a new device is handled through your Apple Account using the Restore Purchases option in the app.
• We use Firebase Remote Config (Section 5) to decide which product and price the app offers, and how often it shows the upgrade screen. This may mean different people are shown a different price. Whatever price applies to you is always shown by Apple before you confirm anything, and this involves no additional collection of information about you.

5. Analytics and Crash Reporting

We use Firebase Analytics, Firebase Crashlytics and Firebase Remote Config (provided by Google) to help us understand how TickDown is used, identify crashes, improve stability and enhance future versions of the app.

What We Collect

• Crash reports and diagnostic information to help identify and fix software issues.
• Anonymous usage events, such as opening screens, creating countdowns, changing settings or using features.
• A non-personal Firebase App Instance ID used solely for analytics and crash reporting.

What We Do NOT Collect

• We never collect or transmit the text content of your countdowns, tasks, notes or reminders, or any photo you attach.
• We do not collect your contacts.
• We do not collect your precise (GPS) location.
• We do not sell your personal information for money.

Analytics and crash information is transmitted securely using encrypted HTTPS/TLS connections.

Retention

We keep analytics and crash data only as long as it is useful for understanding and improving the app. Firebase Analytics event data is retained for 14 months and then deleted automatically; Crashlytics crash reports are retained for 90 days. Advertising data is retained by Google under its own policies, described in Google's Privacy & Terms. Your countdowns, tasks and photos are not retained by us at all, because they never reach us.

"Selling" and "Sharing" (California)

We do not sell your personal information for money, and we never have. However, California law (the CCPA as amended by the CPRA) uses a broad definition in which "sharing" includes disclosing an identifier such as the IDFA to an advertising partner for cross-context behavioural advertising. When you allow tracking, our use of Google AdMob to serve personalized ads may qualify as "sharing" under that definition. Similar concepts exist in other U.S. state privacy laws.

You can stop this at any time, and you do not need to contact us to do it: choose Ask App Not To Track at Apple's prompt, or turn tracking off later in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. Once tracking is off, the IDFA is not made available and you receive only non-personalized ads. The one-time Premium purchase removes advertising entirely. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.

If you wish to request deletion of analytics data associated with your device, please contact us at futuretekapps@gmail.com.

6. Backup & Restore

TickDown can save your data as an encrypted backup file (a .tickdown file) and restore it later. A backup contains your countdowns, tasks, subtasks, categories, your chosen event photos and your app settings.

Encryption

• Every backup is encrypted on your device using AES-256-GCM before it is written. Backups are created and read only on your device; we never receive a copy and we hold no key.
• If you turn on Protect with a Passphrase, the encryption key is derived from the passphrase you choose. Nobody can read or restore that backup without it — including us. If you forget it, the backup cannot be recovered.
• If you do not set a passphrase, the backup is still encrypted. The key is a random key created on your device and stored in your keychain, which iOS syncs to your other devices through iCloud Keychain. It never leaves your devices and we never see it, so nobody else can read the backup — including us. Because the key is yours rather than the app's, a backup made this way restores on your own iPhones and iPads without typing anything, but it will not restore on a device that is not signed in to your iCloud Keychain. If you need a backup you can open anywhere, use a passphrase.
• Backups created by older versions of TickDown used a key held inside the app itself, which offered less protection. Those backups can still be restored, but new backups are no longer created that way.

Where backups are stored

• Saved by you: backups you save through the iOS document picker go wherever you choose — On My iPhone, iCloud Drive, or another storage provider you have installed.
• iCloud backup (optional): if you turn it on, TickDown keeps a single backup file in your own iCloud Drive, in the app's own folder (Files → iCloud Drive → TickDown → Backups). Each new backup replaces the previous one, so no history of earlier backups is kept. The file is held in your personal Apple account, counts against your iCloud storage, and is governed by Apple's privacy policy. It is not sent to us and we cannot access it. You can view and delete it at any time in the Files app or from within TickDown.
• Automatic backup is off unless you switch it on, and requires the optional Premium purchase. When on, it runs at most once a day and always without a passphrase, because no one is present to enter one. Backing up manually, and restoring a backup, never require Premium — your data is not held behind a purchase.
• If you save, share or upload a backup using another service (email, another cloud provider, and so on), that transfer is governed by the privacy policy of the service you choose.
• You remain responsible for storing your backup files, and any passphrase you set, securely.

7. Children's Privacy

TickDown is not directed toward children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Because the app displays third-party advertising, it is intended for a general audience and should be used under the guidance of a parent or guardian where appropriate. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can address it.

8. Your Rights (EEA, UK and Switzerland)

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the GDPR (and the UK GDPR) gives you rights over your personal data. Because TickDown holds no account and operates no server, we cannot identify you from the limited data we receive — but these rights still apply, and the sections below explain how to exercise each one in practice.

Who is responsible

FutureTek Apps is the data controller for the analytics, crash and advertising data described in Sections 3 and 5. Google acts as our processor for analytics and crash reporting, and as an independent controller for advertising. You can contact us at futuretekapps@gmail.com.

Legal bases we rely on

• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) for personalized advertising and the use of the advertising identifier. This is the consent collected through Google's UMP form and Apple's tracking prompt, and you may withdraw it at any time — see below.
• Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) for non-personalized advertising, crash reporting and basic usage analytics, so that we can keep the app free, fix defects and understand which features are used. You may object to this at any time.
• Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) for processing an optional in-app purchase, which is carried out by Apple.

Your rights

• Access — ask what personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Erasure — ask us to delete data associated with your device. Note that deleting the app removes all of your content immediately, because it is stored only on your device.
• Restriction and objection — ask us to limit, or to stop, processing carried out on the basis of legitimate interests.
• Portability — you can export all of your own content at any time, without asking us, using Settings → Backup & Restore → Save Backup to Files.
• Withdraw consent — change your advertising consent from Ad Privacy Settings in the app's Settings screen, and your tracking choice in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing carried out before you withdrew it.

To exercise any of these rights, email futuretekapps@gmail.com. We respond within 30 days. Because we hold no account or contact details, please send your request from the device concerned and include any information that helps us locate the relevant records; in some cases we may be unable to identify data as yours, in which case we will tell you.

International transfers

Google processes analytics, crash and advertising data on servers that may be located outside your country, including in the United States. Those transfers are made under the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and the safeguards described in Google's own privacy documentation.

Complaints

If you believe we have handled your personal data improperly, we would like the chance to put it right — but you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office).

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page together with an updated "Last Updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

10. Contact Us