Forget Me Knot Privacy Policy · Iterative Key LLC

This Privacy Policy explains how Iterative Key LLC (“we,” “us,” or “our”) handles information in Forget Me Knot (the “app”), our alarm app for Android. It applies to the app only. Our website is covered by the separate website privacy policy.

Forget Me Knot is designed to work entirely on your phone. It does not require an account, does not connect to any server operated by us, and does not use your data for advertising or profiling.

Information stored on your device

To do its job, the app stores the following on your phone:

Alarms you create: their names, the messages to be spoken (including any list of messages an alarm picks from at random), the language each alarm speaks in, times, schedules, tones, and related settings. Because you choose what to write, these may include medication names or other health information. The message ideas the app suggests, such as daily affirmations, are built into the app; choosing one does not send anything anywhere.
Ring history: a record of each alarm ring and how it was answered (for example, taken, skipped, snoozed, missed, or rang late), along with the times involved.
Spoken messages: audio files of your alarm messages, prepared in advance by your phone’s text-to-speech engine so they can play without an internet connection.
App settings: your preferences, your chosen companion character, the voice you picked for each language, and your progress through the setup guide.

This information is kept in the app’s private storage, which other apps cannot read. It is never sent to us, and we have no way to see it.

So that alarms can ring after a restart, even before you unlock your phone, the app keeps this information in Android’s device-protected storage. This storage is encrypted by your phone, but unlike regular app storage, it becomes available to the app when the phone starts rather than after you first enter your PIN, pattern, or password. It remains private to the app.

Backup and moving to a new phone

If Android backup is turned on for your phone, Android can include your alarms, ring history, companion choice, and voice choices in your device backup, and can copy them when you transfer your data to a new phone. This lets your alarms come back after you set up a new phone or reinstall the app.

This backup is made and stored by Android in your own Google account, under your control. It is not sent to us, and we cannot access it. On Android 9 and later, when your phone has a screen lock, Android encrypts the backup with your PIN, pattern, or password, so that Google cannot read it either. On Android 12 and later, the app’s data is left out of cloud backups whenever this encryption is not available.

The backup never includes the spoken-message audio files, your progress through the setup guide, or the identifiers used for crash reports. After a restore, the app prepares spoken messages again, asks you to grant its permissions on the new phone, and schedules your alarms from that moment on. Rings that were in progress on the old phone are not repeated.

You can turn backup off, or delete existing backups, in your phone’s Settings (usually under Google, then Backup) or in your Google account. Google’s handling of backups is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

Crash and diagnostic reports

The app’s only use of the internet is to send crash and diagnostic reports through Firebase Crashlytics, a service provided by Google LLC. These reports help us find and fix problems that could stop an alarm from ringing. When the app crashes or encounters a serious error, a report may include:

Technical details of the error, such as the stack trace and the time it happened.
Information about your device and app, such as the device model and manufacturer, Android version, app version, available memory and storage, screen orientation, and whether the device is rooted.
Random identifiers created for your app installation (a Crashlytics installation identifier and a Firebase installation identifier). These let us tell whether several crashes come from the same installation. They are not linked to your name, email address, phone number, or Google account.

Like any internet connection, sending a report reveals your device’s IP address to Google’s servers. Crash reports do not include your alarms, messages, ring history, or other content you enter in the app.

Crashlytics keeps crash reports and their associated identifiers for 90 days, after which they are deleted. Google processes this data on our behalf as a service provider. You can read more in Firebase’s privacy and security information and the Google Privacy Policy.

App updates

When the app is installed from Google Play, it asks the Google Play Store app on your phone whether a newer version is available, and can show you a banner or Google Play’s update screen. This check happens on your phone, between the app and Google Play: Google Play checks for and downloads updates as it does for any app you installed from it, under the Google Privacy Policy. We do not receive any information about these checks or about whether you install an update.

Permissions the app uses

The app asks only for permissions it needs to make alarms reliable:

Alarms and reminders (exact alarms): to ring at the exact minute you set.
Notifications and full-screen notifications: to show a ringing alarm, including over the lock screen.
Run at startup: to restore your alarms after the phone restarts or the app updates.
Foreground service, wake lock, and vibration: to keep an alarm ringing and vibrating until you answer it.
Do Not Disturb access: to check whether Do Not Disturb could silence your alarms, so the app can warn you.
Ignore battery optimizations: to ask that the system not stop the app in the background, which could cause missed alarms.
Internet: used only to send the crash and diagnostic reports described above.

The app does not access your location, contacts, camera, microphone, photos, files, or other accounts.

Features that rely on your phone

Text-to-speech. To speak your alarm messages, the app uses the text-to-speech engine installed on your phone and asks it to use an offline voice. The engine is provided by your phone’s maker or by another company you have chosen, and its handling of text is governed by that provider’s own privacy policy.

Lock screen and sound. A ringing alarm appears on your lock screen and in a notification that shows the alarm’s name, and it may speak its message aloud. Anyone near your phone at that moment may see or hear it. Keep this in mind when writing messages that contain private information.

External links. The app’s check-up screen can open a web page with battery advice for your phone’s manufacturer. That page opens in your web browser and is governed by the privacy policy of the website you visit. The app itself sends nothing to that site.

How we use information

We use crash and diagnostic reports only to detect, investigate, and fix bugs, and to improve the reliability of the app. We do not use them to identify you, to advertise to you, or to build a profile of you.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your information, and we do not share it for advertising. The only third party that receives data from the app on our behalf is Google, which operates Firebase Crashlytics as our service provider. We may also disclose information if required to do so by law, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of our users, ourselves, or others. If Iterative Key LLC is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, this policy will continue to apply to any information transferred.

Security

Information on your phone is protected by Android’s app sandbox and your phone’s storage encryption. Crash reports are sent to Google over an encrypted connection. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we limit what leaves your phone to the minimum needed to keep the app working.

Your choices and rights

You can edit or delete your alarms at any time in the app.
You can delete everything the app has stored on your phone by clearing the app’s storage in your phone’s Settings, or by uninstalling the app. A copy may remain in your Android backup until you delete it or Android replaces it.
Uninstalling the app stops all crash reporting. Reports already sent are deleted automatically after 90 days.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or object to the processing of your personal information. Because crash reports are not linked to your identity, we usually cannot match a report to a specific person. If you would like to make a request, please contact us and we will help as far as we are able.

Where data protection laws such as the GDPR apply, we process crash reports based on our legitimate interest in keeping the app reliable and fixing errors. Google may process this data in the United States and other countries where it operates, with safeguards required by applicable law.

Children’s privacy

The app is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided personal information through the app, please contact us and we will take appropriate steps.

Changes to this policy

If we change how the app handles information, we will update this policy on this page and change the effective date above. If the changes are significant, we will also let you know in the app or in its store listing.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Email us at [email protected].