Privacy Policy

How Focusling handles your data.

Focusling is built to work without collecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains what stays on your device, what the app stores, and which platform services are involved.

1. Who we are

Focusling is a pomodoro focus timer developed by Merve Pekyürek.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, contact: focuslingapp@gmail.com.

2. Data we collect

We do not collect any personal data. Focusling has no account, no advertising and no analytics or crash-reporting services. We cannot see how you use the app. Something leaves your device only when you focus with friends (section 6) and, on iPhone, to end the Live Activity on time (section 7), and then only what that needs.

3. Data stored on your device

To work, Focusling stores the following only on your device:

  • Your focus sessions (start time, length, whether they were finished and whether they were with friends), which are used for your statistics and your ling's growth.
  • Your tasks and their pomodoro estimates.
  • Your settings, such as timer lengths, strict mode and app blocking.
  • Your ling's wardrobe: the items you bought with seeds and the ones it wears.
  • Whether Focusling Pro is active, so the app knows it right away when it starts.

This data is removed when you delete the app. It may be included in your device's own backups (iCloud or Google) depending on your device settings.

4. Permissions

  • Notifications: to show the live countdown and to tell you when a session ends.
  • Exact alarms (Android): so the end-of-session alert arrives on time.
  • App blocking (optional; one app free, more with Pro): Screen Time on iPhone, and usage access plus "display over other apps" on Android. These are used only on your device to keep the apps you picked closed while you focus. The list of apps you pick is never sent anywhere.
  • Widgets and the Live Activity read the timer state from a storage area shared only with Focusling's own widgets.

5. Apple Health and Health Connect

If you turn on "Save to Apple Health" or "Save to Health Connect" in Settings, Focusling writes each focus session you complete as a mindfulness session (its start and end time) to Apple Health on iPhone or Health Connect on Android. It is off by default and asks for your permission first.

  • Focusling only writes mindful minutes. It does not read any health or fitness data.
  • This data goes from Focusling to the health app on your device and is never sent to us or to anyone else. It is not used for advertising, sold or shared.
  • Focusling's use of information from Health Connect follows the Health Connect Permissions policy, including its Limited Use requirements. Data from HealthKit is handled following Apple's HealthKit guidelines.
  • You can turn this off in Focusling's Settings, take back the permission in the Health app (Sharing → Apps) or in Health Connect, and delete the saved minutes there.

6. Focus with friends

If you open or join a room in "Focus with friends", the app connects to our room server, which runs on Cloudflare. The server receives only what the room needs:

  • The room code and a random member ID that the app makes anew for every room. It does not identify you or your device.
  • Your ling's look (growth stage, color and accessory), the focus length, when the round starts and when someone leaves it.
  • A push notification token from Apple or Google, so the room can tell you when a friend joins, the round starts, someone leaves or the round ends.

There are no names, accounts or messages. The others in the room see only the lings and their status, never your push token. A room and everything in it, including the push tokens, is deleted at most 2 hours after its last activity.

Cloudflare processes your IP address to run the connection, and Apple (Apple Push Notification service) and Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) deliver the notifications, each under its own privacy policy. On Android, Firebase Cloud Messaging starts only when you use a room, and Firebase Analytics is turned off. Nothing is used for advertising, sold or shared.

7. Live Activity on iPhone

On iPhone, the countdown on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island is a Live Activity. iOS doesn't let a suspended app close it when a focus or break ends, so the app tells the same server (on Cloudflare) when the current session ends, and the server asks Apple to close the Live Activity at that moment. It receives only the Live Activity's push token from Apple, the session's end time and the card's final text without your task name.

Pausing, skipping or stopping cancels it. Nothing is kept after the session ends, and it isn't linked to you, used for advertising, sold or shared. You can turn off Live Activities for Focusling in the iPhone's Settings; the app then sends nothing.

8. Purchases

Focusling Pro is sold through the App Store and Google Play. Payment, billing and your purchase history are handled entirely by Apple or Google under their own privacy policies; we never receive your payment details.

The app checks with the store on your device whether Pro is active. Google Play's billing services may process purchase and device information as described in Google's privacy policy.

9. Children

Focusling does not collect personal data from anyone, including children. In-app purchases are subject to the parental controls of the App Store and Google Play.

10. Your choices

  • You can turn off notifications, app blocking and saving to Apple Health or Health Connect in the app or in your device settings.
  • You can manage or cancel a Pro subscription in the App Store or Google Play.
  • You can leave a room at any time; turning off notifications for Focusling stops room alerts.
  • On iPhone, you can turn off Live Activities for Focusling in Settings.
  • You can delete all your Focusling data by deleting the app.

11. Changes to this policy

If Focusling's handling of data changes, we will update this page with a new effective date.

Effective date: October 25, 2026