TimePaws Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 18, 2026 · TeraQuark Industries LLC

TimePaws is a screen-time awareness app for individuals and families. We built it to collect as little data as possible. This policy explains exactly what the app collects, where it goes, and what your choices are. There are no surprises below: no ads, no data brokers, no selling of personal information — ever.

The short version

• Your app-usage data stays on your phone unless you choose to link a family device.
• If you enable family linking, limited alert data (which app, how many minutes, when) is shared only with your linked family group through our cloud provider.
• We don't require accounts, emails, or names to use the app on your own device.
• We show no ads and sell no data. Our only revenue is the one-time in-app purchase.

Data that stays on your device

To do its job, TimePaws uses Android's Usage Access permission to measure how long social media apps are in the foreground. This usage data, your settings (limits, goals, chosen animal, reminder mood, language), your streak history, and your session statistics are stored locally on your phone only. They are never transmitted anywhere unless you enable family linking as described below. Uninstalling the app deletes them.

Data shared when you enable family linking (optional)

Family linking is off by default. If a parent creates a family group and a child device joins it with the family code, the following is stored in our cloud database (Google Firebase, hosted in the United States) so that parent alerts and weekly summaries can work:

• Family code — a random 6-character identifier for your family group.
• Parent email address — provided by the parent when creating the group, used to identify the family account.
• Child device label — an optional first name or nickname entered at join time (e.g., "Emma") so parents can tell devices apart. You may use any label; a real name is not required.
• Alert events — when a linked child device passes a time limit: the app name, minutes used, the type of alert, and a timestamp. Alert events are automatically deleted after 30 days.
• Push-notification tokens — technical identifiers issued by Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging, required to deliver notifications to the parent's device.
• Time zone — the family's IANA time zone (e.g., "America/Denver"), used only to deliver the weekly summary at a reasonable local hour.
• Anonymous user ID — the app signs in anonymously (no email or password) to Firebase; this random ID ties a device to its family group.

This data is visible only to the linked family group and to us as the service operator. Detailed browsing content, messages, photos, contacts, and location are never collected — TimePaws measures time, not content.

Children's privacy

TimePaws is designed for use by families, including children, and we follow the Google Play Families policy:

• Child devices join a family only by entering a code that a parent created and shared — the parent is in control of linking.
• We collect no more data from a child's device than from any other device: the optional device label and the alert events described above.
• Devices set up as a child's never see purchase prompts or marketing; the family unlock is purchased on the parent's device.
• We show no advertising to anyone, including children.

Parents can remove a child from a family at any time from the parental settings, and can request deletion of all family data by contacting us (see below).

Purchases

The one-time Family Unlock is processed entirely by Google Play Billing. We never see or store your payment details. Purchase status is recorded on your family group so the unlock reaches your linked devices.

What we don't do

• No advertising, and no advertising SDKs in the app.
• No sale, rental, or sharing of personal data with data brokers or marketers.
• No third-party analytics SDKs in the app.
• No collection of contacts, messages, photos, browsing content, or precise location.

Service providers

We use Google Firebase (Google LLC) for the optional family-linking features: anonymous authentication, the Firestore database, and Cloud Messaging for notifications. Google processes this data on our behalf under its Firebase data-protection terms. Data is stored in the United States (us-central1).

Data retention and deletion

• On-device data: deleted when you uninstall the app.
• Alert events: automatically deleted after 30 days.
• Family group data: deleted on request, or when a family is dissolved.
• To request deletion of any cloud-stored family data, email privacy@tera-quark.com with your family code; we will complete the deletion within 30 days.

Security

Cloud data is protected by Firebase security rules that restrict access to members of the same family group, and transmitted over encrypted connections (TLS). No system is perfectly secure, but we deliberately minimize what exists to be breached.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we will update this page and the effective date above, and note the change in the app's update notes. We will never quietly expand data collection.

Contact us