TeaTimer Privacy Policy

Overview

Updated: 30 October 2026. This policy applies to the Android app TeaTimer (package com.teatimer.brew) and its Wear OS app. The app is intended for adults aged 18 and over.

In short: TeaTimer has no account of its own and no server of its own. Your teas, brews and settings stay on your device. Data leaves the device for enabled Google features, advertising and technical Google services, and purchase processing/restore through RevenueCat as explained below. The app shows ads from Google AdMob (see below) and contains no Firebase Analytics and no Crashlytics.

Controller and contact

Ricardo Bochnia, Klingenberger Str. 21, 01187 Dresden, Germany
Privacy requests: ricardo.richard.b@gmail.com
Product support: teatimer.support@gmail.com

If you email us, we process your email address and message to answer your request (Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR). We delete the message once your request is resolved and no legal retention duty applies.

Local data on your device

Teas, vendors and types, notes, prices, brewing settings, stock, history, tins, orders and settings are stored only on your device. We do not receive this data. It stays until you delete it, clear the app storage or uninstall the app.

Local JSON exports and backups stay in the chosen location and can survive uninstallation. Android system backup and device transfer may copy app data according to your device settings; consents and private credentials are excluded.

Google Drive (optional)

If you connect Google and enable Drive backup, the app uploads a JSON copy of your teas, vendors, types, brews, tins and pending orders to your own Google Drive. In an explicitly authorized private build only, reorder sync writes vendor and product names, stock estimates, package sizes, prices and product URLs to a spreadsheet in your Drive. Public builds do not schedule or run this sync. Enabled background jobs may upload without the app being open.

The app only uses the drive.file scope, which covers files it creates or that you open with it. The files live in your Google account; we cannot access them. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). You can withdraw it at any time by turning the feature off in Settings or disconnecting Google. After each successful backup the app keeps its ten newest backups in Drive and deletes older ones automatically; if an upload or the cleanup fails, more copies may remain. Turning the feature off or disconnecting does not delete existing Drive files or sheets; delete them in Drive if needed. Google's processing is governed by the Google Privacy Policy.

Package photos and earlier app versions

Package-photo import is unavailable in the public Google Play build covered by this revision. On-device text recognition and its automatic fallback have been removed; this does not enable cloud photo import in the public app. You can still enter teas manually.

Earlier app versions offer local package-photo recognition with Google ML Kit. In those versions, the photo and recognized text are not sent to us or to Google. A photo taken with the camera is kept only temporarily in the app's cache and deleted by the next capture or when you cancel; photos picked from your gallery stay where they are.

In those earlier versions, ML Kit sends technical diagnostic data to Google: device and app information, a per-installation identifier, performance metrics, error codes and the image format, but not the image or its content. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a working feature (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). See ML Kit data disclosure. Removing recognition from a newer version does not delete data already held by Google.

Wear OS

The paired watch app exchanges tea and timer state with the phone through Google Play services so timers work on both devices. The data goes directly between your devices, not to us. Clear copies on the watch there.

Technically required Google services

The current app includes Google Firebase (App Check with Play Integrity, Remote Config and AI Logic), Google sign-in and Play in-app reviews. ML Kit text recognition belongs to the earlier versions described above. Firebase App Check protects our Firebase interfaces from abuse. To do so, the app asks the attestation provider Google Play Integrity to confirm that it is a genuine installation; technical device and app information is sent to Google. App Check does not retain this attestation material; Play Integrity is governed by Google's terms. The resulting App Check tokens are valid for at most 7 days. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in secure operation (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). For Firebase, Google acts as our processor; see the Firebase privacy information. This technical data is held by Google, not in the app: deleting the app or its data does not remove it; it expires after these periods or under Google's terms.

Firebase Remote Config retrieves ad placement switches, frequency limits and purchase-hint frequency when the app opens or resumes. Decisions use saved values or defaults without waiting for the network. Google Firebase receives country/language codes, time zone, platform/OS versions, Firebase Android App ID, package name, SDK version and a Firebase installation ID to deliver and target this configuration. TeaTimer does not send tea collections, brewing history, photos or notes for ad tuning. Google processes and retains this technical data under its Firebase terms; deleting TeaTimer or its local data does not delete provider-side records. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in operating and adjusting the app (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). AI Logic is not used for content in the public version. Package-photo import is unavailable there and cannot be enabled remotely. Reviews you submit through Google Play go to Google Play and may be shown publicly there.

Advertising (Google AdMob)

As an introductory offer, all Premium features are free and TeaTimer loads and shows no ads through 31 December 2026 (Europe/Berlin). No purchase is required and no paid subscription starts automatically. The first 30 days after setup also include all Premium features and ad removal. After temporary access ends, normal purchase rights apply. The free version shows Google AdMob banners on overview screens and may show an interstitial when you leave each completed brew, with a default gap of at least three hours after the previous interstitial. Ad placements and frequency can be adjusted remotely; the interstitial gap is limited to 1–24 hours. App-open ads are no longer used. No ads appear during a timer, alarm, setup or consent dialog, in notifications or on Wear OS, or immediately after the completed brew’s review prompt. Before loading ads, Google’s User Messaging Platform (UMP) requests consent where required by law, for example in the EU.

With your consent, Google may use your device's advertising ID, IP address, device and app information and your interactions with ads to serve and measure personalized ads. Without consent, only limited, non-personalized ads are loaded; Google still processes technical data for delivery, frequency capping and fraud prevention. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, Section 25(1) TDDDG) and, for non-personalized ads, our legitimate interest in funding the app (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Google processes this data as an independent controller; see How Google uses information from apps.

Where consent is required, for example in the EU, you can change or withdraw your choice at any time in Settings → “Ad privacy options”. You can reset or delete the advertising ID in Android settings, which also limits personalized ads.

Ad-free and Premium (Google Play)

Premium is a one-time purchase including ad removal and the existing Premium features: stock overview, reminders and freshness guidelines, full offline brewing libraries beyond the free choices, monthly/yearly recaps and brew lab. Journal, notes and ratings remain free. Legacy lifetime ad-removal owners receive Premium; existing yearly ad-free subscribers keep ad removal only and can manage or cancel in Play. Neither legacy product is sold anymore. Google Play handles payment; TeaTimer receives no card or bank details.

Purchase processing and restore (RevenueCat)

We use RevenueCat Inc., USA, as a processor to validate purchases and restore purchase rights. When configured, the service can be contacted at app start/resume even before a purchase. RevenueCat receives purchase/transaction and entitlement data, a random anonymous App User ID, device/OS/app version information and your IP address during network transfer. TeaTimer supplies no login, name, email or subscriber attributes to RevenueCat. Automatic device identifier collection, SDK diagnostics and automatic in-app messages are disabled. This does not disable AdMob’s separate advertising processing.

The legal basis for purchase processing and restore is performance of the contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). Processing in the USA is covered by a data processing agreement with EU standard contractual clauses; see RevenueCat’s DPA and privacy policy. Cached rights and the SDK’s purchase/identity storage are excluded from Android backup and device transfer and are not in collection JSON exports. Reinstallation may create a new anonymous ID; use Restore purchases with the same Play account to recover rights. RevenueCat and Play retain remote purchase records under their policies and legal duties; uninstalling TeaTimer does not delete those records. Contact us about access or deletion requests. Google Play’s terms and privacy policy also apply.

Opening dates and adjustable freshness guidelines stay on your device and are included in collection backups and exports. Forecasts run locally without cloud processing. Optional quiet stock notifications require a separate opt-in on this installation; turning them off or losing Premium cancels their schedule. Recorded opening data remains readable and exportable when Premium ends. Recipes saved from brewing templates remain editable and exportable. The brewing template library is bundled with the app, and journal recaps and brewing comparisons are calculated locally; these features do not require a cloud service.

Private add-on features

Web product lookup, Gmail order import, cloud photo recognition, tea-tin management and reorder-sheet synchronization are the developer's private features. These features are unavailable in the version distributed through Google Play. Public builds do not send product queries, emails, photos or reorder-sheet data to the services used by these private features (including Google Gemini, GWDG SAIA, Jina Reader and Gmail). Optional Google Drive backup remains available as described above.

Photo import in debug or explicitly private builds requires a configured cloud provider. There is no on-device fallback; manual tea entry remains available.

Transfers outside the EU

Google and GitHub may process data in the United States. Transfers rely on the European Commission's adequacy decision for the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, and otherwise on the provider's Standard Contractual Clauses.

This website

This page is served by GitHub Pages (GitHub Inc.). When you visit it, GitHub processes technically necessary data such as your IP address to deliver and secure the page (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The page uses no cookies, analytics, external fonts or scripts. See the GitHub Privacy Statement. The same policy is included offline in the app.

Your rights

You have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and to object to processing based on legitimate interests. You can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future. Write to the address above. You may also lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority.

Because your app data is only on your device and in your own Google account, you can view, export and delete it there yourself.

Changes

If the app or its data processing changes, we will update this policy. We only enable new optional data transfers after an in-app notice.