Privacy Policy

Effective July 13, 2026

Early Owl is designed to help you keep a bedtime routine while keeping sensitive app-blocking and camera data on your device. We do not sell personal data, show ads, or track you across apps and websites.

Waitlist

If you join the Early Owl waitlist, we collect the email address you provide so we can send the launch announcement and occasional product updates. Buttondown processes the signup, sends the confirmation email, and manages the subscriber list on Early Owl’s behalf. Your address becomes active only after you confirm it. You can unsubscribe using the link in any update or ask us to remove your address through Early Owl Support.

Information processed on your device

Early Owl stores your schedule, selected apps and categories, unlock preferences, unlock sessions, and emergency-access settings locally on your device and in its private Apple app group. This information is used only to provide Night Lock and related features.

If you use movement verification, camera frames and body-pose observations are processed on your device in real time. Early Owl does not upload or store camera frames.

TrueDepth and face data

On devices that support Apple TrueDepth, Early Owl may use ARKit during push-up verification. ARKit tells Early Owl whether a face is currently tracked and provides the face anchor's position relative to the device. Early Owl derives a temporary distance measurement from that position to help count a push-up. Early Owl does not use face data to identify or authenticate you, create a faceprint or profile, infer identity or emotion, or for advertising or analytics.

TrueDepth camera frames, face geometry, face anchors, tracking status, and derived distance measurements are processed only on your device while the verification session is active. Early Owl does not store this data, upload it, include it in analytics, or share it with Apple, RevenueCat, PostHog, Buttondown, or any other third party. The temporary tracking data is discarded when the verification session ends.

Screen Time access

With your permission, Early Owl uses Apple Screen Time frameworks to apply the app and category restrictions you select. Apple provides opaque identifiers for these selections; Early Owl does not use them to identify your activity in other apps.

Subscriptions

Purchases are processed by Apple. Early Owl uses a subscription service provider to load subscription products, validate purchases, restore access, and maintain membership status. This provider may process an anonymous service identifier, purchase history, subscription status, and basic app or device information needed to operate those services. Early Owl does not send the provider your camera frames, Screen Time selections, or schedule.

See the Apple Privacy Policy for information about App Store purchases.

Notifications

Early Owl can schedule local reminders for upcoming locks and temporary-unlock expiration. These notifications are created on your device. Early Owl does not operate a remote notification server.

Anonymous product and website analytics

Early Owl uses a privacy-limited analytics provider to understand whether important product steps succeed, such as completing onboarding, enabling a required permission, activating Night Lock, completing an unlock, visiting the Early Owl website, or joining the waitlist. The app sends explicitly named events with an anonymous installation identifier and basic technical information such as app version, operating-system version, and device type. The website sends explicitly named events for landing-page visits, waitlist form progress, confirmed subscriptions, and App Store link clicks.

Website events may include campaign parameters, the referring website's hostname, and the landing-page path so Early Owl can understand which marketing efforts are useful. Early Owl does not send your email address or form contents to its analytics provider. Campaign attribution is stored in your browser and may also be attached to your Buttondown subscriber record when you join the waitlist.

Analytics never includes camera frames, body-pose observations, selected app or category identifiers, exact schedules, Apple Account information, or subscription-service identifiers. Automatic screen capture, interaction capture, crash capture, session replay, and automatic website interaction capture are disabled. You can stop future app analytics events in Early Owl Settings.

Early Owl does not use analytics for advertising or track you across other companies' apps and websites. We do not sell or rent personal information.

Data retention and deletion

Local Early Owl data remains on your device until you reset the app's settings or delete the app. Anonymous analytics events and purchase records are retained by our service providers and Apple according to their respective policies and legal obligations. Deleting Early Owl does not cancel an active App Store subscription; subscriptions can be managed in your Apple Account settings.

Children's privacy

Early Owl is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Early Owl changes. The effective date above identifies the latest version.

Contact

For privacy questions, visit Early Owl Support.