clockula/docs/PRIVACY.md

---
title: Privacy Policy — Clockula
description: What Clockula does with your data. It collects nothing, sends nothing, and has no internet permission at all.
updated: 2026-10-22
---

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**Last updated:** 22 October 2026  
Applies to the Android app **Clockula** (package `de.jeanlucmakiola.clockula`),
all versions and all distribution channels.

## In short

Clockula collects nothing, sends nothing, and has no user accounts. It has no
internet permission, so it cannot transmit your data anywhere. Your alarms,
timers and world clocks are stored on your device and nowhere else.

## 1. Controller

IT-Dienstleister | Jean-Luc Makiola  
Mahlerstraße 10  
14772 Brandenburg an der Havel  
Email: [support@jeanlucmakiola.de](mailto:support@jeanlucmakiola.de)

## 2. No data collection

Clockula contains no analytics, tracking, advertising, crash-reporting SDK or
third-party service of any kind. It creates no user profile and generates no
identifier, and it shares or sells no data to anyone.

The app does not request the `android.permission.INTERNET` permission, and
without it Android does not let an app open a network connection. You can check
this yourself in the permission list of any released APK, or in the
[source code](https://codeberg.org/jlmakiola/clockula).

## 3. Data Clockula keeps on your device

Everything below is processed locally on your device. None of it is
transmitted, and the developer never receives or stores any of it.

### Alarms, timers, stopwatch and world clocks

Clockula keeps its own database in the app's private storage. It holds your
alarms (time, repeat days, label, sound and similar options), your timers and
their labels, the stopwatch and its laps, and the list of cities you added as
world clocks. No other app can read this database. Uninstalling Clockula
deletes it.

World clock times are calculated from the time zone data built into Android.
Adding a city does not look anything up online.

### Other apps setting alarms

Clockula supports Android's standard alarm interface, so a voice assistant or
automation app can set, show or dismiss alarms and timers in Clockula. Android
only lets apps that declare the `SET_ALARM` permission do this. Clockula
receives what that app sends (for example a time and a label) and stores it
like an alarm you created yourself. It sends nothing back beyond the result of
the request.

### Alarm and timer sounds

You can choose one of the ringtones that come with your device, or pick your
own audio file through Android's system file picker. Clockula can then read
exactly that file, so it can play it when the alarm rings. It has no access to
your other files.

You can also let a music app on your device play the alarm. Clockula then sees
which installed apps share their music library through Android's standard media
interface, and nothing else about your installed apps. When you browse one,
Clockula reads the folder and track names that app chooses to share and stores
the item you pick. When the alarm rings, Clockula asks that app to play it. The
music app plays it with its own permissions and under its own privacy policy.
If it streams the music, the music app opens that connection, not Clockula.
Clockula still has no internet access.

### Notifications and the lock screen

Alarms, timers and the running stopwatch appear as local notifications, and a
ringing alarm can show a full-screen view over the lock screen. Android also
shows your next alarm in the status bar and on the lock screen. None of this
uses a push service.

### Home-screen widgets

The widgets show data from Clockula's own database, such as your next alarm,
a running timer or the stopwatch. Each widget's style and settings are stored
on your device.

### Backup files

Clockula can export your alarms, timers, world clocks and settings to a
`clockula-backup-v1.json` file in a folder you pick, and import such a file
again. The app reads and writes only the folder or file you select through
Android's system file picker. The file contains your alarm and timer labels,
so treat it like any other personal file when you move or share it.

### App settings

Your preferences (theme, language, snooze length, default sounds and similar)
are stored on your device and are removed when you uninstall the app.

## 4. Android backup

If Android Auto Backup is turned on for your device, Android may back up
Clockula's database and settings to your own Google account, under Google's
terms. The developer has no access to that backup. You can turn Auto Backup off
in your device's system settings.

## 5. Crash reports: the only case where data can leave your device

If Clockula crashes, it offers to report the problem. It never sends anything
on its own. The report is copied to your clipboard and your browser opens the
project's issue tracker with the text filled in. You can read the full report,
edit it, or discard it, and nothing is submitted unless you submit it.

The report contains:

- the app version,
- the Android version,
- the device manufacturer and model,
- your device language,
- the time of the crash,
- and the technical stack trace.

It contains no alarms, timers, labels or other personal data.

If you submit it, the report becomes a public issue on the project's issue
tracker at Codeberg, which Codeberg e. V. operates. Their privacy policy
applies to that submission.

## 6. External links

The settings screen links to the source code, the licence, the issue tracker
and a voluntary donation page (Ko-fi). The "Why might my alarm not ring?"
check can also link to dontkillmyapp.com, which explains battery restrictions
for your phone's manufacturer. Opening any of these links starts your browser
and leaves the app, and the privacy policy of that website applies from then
on. Clockula only opens the address and sends no data of yours with it.

## 7. Permissions and why they exist

- `USE_EXACT_ALARM`, `SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM`: ring alarms and timers at the
  exact time.
- `RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED`: schedule the next alarm again after the phone
  restarts.
- `USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT`: show the ringing alarm over the lock screen.
- `POST_NOTIFICATIONS`, `POST_PROMOTED_NOTIFICATIONS`: show alarm, timer and
  stopwatch notifications, including the live timer in the status bar.
- `FOREGROUND_SERVICE`, `FOREGROUND_SERVICE_SYSTEM_EXEMPTED`,
  `FOREGROUND_SERVICE_SPECIAL_USE`: keep a ringing alarm, a running timer or the
  stopwatch going while the app is in the background.
- `WAKE_LOCK`: keep the phone awake while an alarm or timer rings.
- `VIBRATE`: vibrate when an alarm or timer rings.
- `ACCESS_NOTIFICATION_POLICY`: only used if you turn on Bedtime and allow
  Clockula Do Not Disturb access yourself. Clockula then adds one Do Not
  Disturb mode of its own and turns it on and off on your schedule. It does not
  read your notifications.
- `ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE`: added by the Android library that updates the
  home-screen widgets (WorkManager). It lets an app see whether a network
  connection exists. It does not let it use one, and without `INTERNET` no
  connection is possible.

## 8. Distribution channels

Clockula is distributed through the project's releases on Codeberg, a
self-hosted F-Droid repository, Obtainium and, where available, F-Droid and the
Google Play Store. When you download or update the app, the operator of that
channel processes data such as your IP address under its own privacy policy.
The developer has no control over this, and it is separate from what the app
itself does.

## 9. Children

Clockula is suitable for all ages. It collects no data from anyone, children
included.

## 10. Your rights

The developer processes no personal data of yours, so there is no stored data
to which the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, data
portability or objection (Art. 15–21 GDPR) could apply. You can still contact
the address above with any question, and you have the right to lodge a
complaint with a supervisory authority.

## 11. Changes to this policy

If a change to the app affects how it handles data, this policy will be updated
and the date at the top changed. The history of this file is public in the
project's repository.