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The Alarm

Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 12, 2026

In short

  • The Alarm works without an account and without a server of its own. Your alarms and everything you enter stay on your iPhone.
  • We receive no alarms, no events and no location from the app.
  • Only for some features does anything go to Apple: your location to the weather service, if you use the weather on the good-morning card, in the talking alarm or for the weather lead, and your alarm times for the next seven days to your home in the Home app, if it should wake up with you.
  • Apple Intelligence helps with your roster and with alarms in your own words – only on your iPhone.
  • Backups only exist if you set them up: in a place you choose, encrypted with a password if you like.
  • No ads, no tracking, no selling of your data. Anonymous crash reports and usage figures go to Atriya, our own service – never with your alarms, events or places, and you can turn them off at any time.
  • What happens when you visit the website thealarmapp.com is explained further down, in a section of its own (see “The website”).

Controller

The controller under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for The Alarm app and its website (thealarmapp.com, until the move thealarm-hq.github.io) is:

Luca Efinger
Friedrich-Ebert-Ring 16
97072 Würzburg
Germany
Email: contact@lacodea.com

The Alarm app

On your iPhone

The Alarm is built to work without an account and without a server. What you enter and what the app remembers, it keeps on your iPhone:

  • your alarms with their exceptions, vacations, groups, notes and shift plans, your region for public holidays and your settings
  • the cities and people of your world clock, your timer presets and interval programs, and the stopwatch runs you save
  • your mornings: when an alarm rang, how often you snoozed and when you stopped it – the last 30 mornings per alarm, for the snooze coach and “Overslept?” –, and how long the steps of your morning routine took recently
  • your sounds: your own recordings and sound files you imported or loaded from a link – each also uncut, so you can trim them again later – and the announcements of the talking alarm
  • for alarms by your calendar, when your first event begins on each of the next 40 days, and for the weather, your iPhone's last known location (see “Permissions”)

Widgets, Live Activities, controls, Siri, Shortcuts and the Focus filter use the same data on the iPhone. The names and times of your alarms are also in your iPhone's search index, so you can find them in iOS search. This index stays on the device.

What lives only on your iPhone never reaches us. The Alarm keeps it until you delete it (see “Deleting”). If you back up your iPhone with Apple's iCloud Backup or on a computer, iOS includes The Alarm's data; what you have set up with Apple applies to this.

Permissions

The Alarm only asks for access when you use a feature that needs it. You can take back any access in the iOS Settings.

  • Alarms and timers: so your alarms and timers ring on time – in silent mode and with a Focus on, too. The Alarm schedules them with AlarmKit, the alarm system of iOS. iOS shows them with their name and time on the Lock Screen, in the Dynamic Island and on a paired Apple Watch.
  • Notifications: for the evening check, safety net, bedtime, weather lead, clock change, wake-up check, good-morning card, time to leave and week ahead. The Alarm schedules them on the iPhone; it uses no push service. You choose which notifications you get and whether they show their content under Settings › Notifications.
  • Location while using the app: for alarms by the sun, for the weather (see “Weather”) and, if you like, to find the region for public holidays (see “Apple Maps and App Store”). If you choose “Use My Location” for an alarm by the sun, The Alarm saves the place, rounded to about 100 meters, with the alarm, along with the name of the place; you can also use a city from your world clock instead. For the weather, The Alarm remembers your iPhone's last known location – updated each time you open the app, as long as you allow location access – so that the good-morning card, the talking alarm and the weather lead also work when the app isn't open. If you turn off “Precise Location” in iOS, The Alarm only gets an approximate location; that's enough for the sun and the weather. The Alarm doesn't need location access “Always”.
  • Calendars (full access): for alarms by your calendar, for the first event on the good-morning card and in the talking alarm, and to take vacations over from your calendar. The Alarm reads your calendars on the iPhone and changes nothing there. For alarms by your calendar, it only remembers when the first event begins on each of the next 40 days – not what it's called. Only the good-morning card and the talking alarm show the name of the first event, if you turn on “First Event” there. To take over vacations from your calendar, The Alarm looks for events like “Vacation”, “Holiday” or “Urlaub” in the next twelve months; you choose which of them become vacations. If you enter a calendar link, The Alarm hands it to iOS: you decide there whether to subscribe, and iOS subscribes to the calendar and loads it – The Alarm doesn't open the link itself.
  • Microphone: to record your own alarm sound. The Alarm only records while you're recording; the recording stays on your iPhone.
  • Home (HomeKit): for “Your home wakes up with you”. For this, The Alarm creates a timed automation in your home in Apple's Home app for every alarm in the next seven days that your home should wake up with. It starts the scene you chose and is named with “The Alarm” and the day and time of the alarm. Apple stores these automations with your home; your home hub, such as a HomePod or Apple TV, runs them, even when your iPhone is off. Anyone who shares your home with you in the Home app can see them, and with them your alarm times. When you turn the feature off or delete all data, The Alarm removes its automations again. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR; Apple's privacy policy applies.
  • Motion & Fitness: so the wake-up check “Walk 30 steps” can count your steps. The Alarm only counts during this task and doesn't save your steps.
  • Face ID: for the app lock. iOS checks your face or your device passcode; The Alarm only learns whether the check succeeded. If you set a code of your own, The Alarm doesn't store it – only a hash of it, in this device's keychain.

You choose photos and files – such as a roster or a sound file – with the iOS pickers. The Alarm only sees what you pick; it doesn't need access to your photo library for this. If you open a roster from Mail or Messages “in The Alarm”, iOS puts a copy into the app; The Alarm deletes it as soon as you close the import.

Weather

For the weather, The Alarm uses Apple's weather service (WeatherKit):

  • Good-morning card, talking alarm and weather lead: The Alarm sends your iPhone's last known location – as precise as iOS provides it – to Apple and receives the forecast for the next few days. This only happens if you use one of these features and have allowed location access.
  • World clock: for the current weather in your cities, The Alarm asks with the location of each city, not with yours.

As with any connection, Apple also receives your device's IP address; Apple's privacy policy applies. The Alarm keeps a forecast in memory for half an hour so it doesn't ask all the time. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR: you use a feature that doesn't work without a forecast.

Apple Maps and App Store

  • Apple Maps: if you choose “Use My Location” for an alarm by the sun, The Alarm asks Apple Maps for the name of the place, such as “Berlin”. Apple receives the location for this. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
  • Public holidays by city: under Settings › Public Holidays › “Find by City”, what you type goes to Apple Maps so that you get suggestions for cities. When you pick one, The Alarm asks Apple Maps for this place, its country and its state. “Use My Location” uses your location once for this, while you're using the app. For public holidays, The Alarm only keeps the region – the country, the state and, where there is one, the local area. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
  • World clock cities: when you search for a city under World Clock › “Add City”, what you type goes to Apple Maps so that you get suggestions for places. When you pick one, The Alarm asks Apple Maps for its location, time zone, country and state. The Alarm keeps the city with its name, time zone, location and holiday region on your iPhone – for the time, the sun, the weather and the public holidays there. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
  • App Store: when you open Settings › About The Alarm, The Alarm loads LaCodea's other apps from Apple's App Store, with their icons, at most once a day. Nothing about you goes to Apple except the request itself – with the country of your App Store and, as with any connection, your IP address. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in showing you our other apps (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

Apple's privacy policy applies in each case.

With Pro, you can use “Load from a Link” under Settings › Sounds: you enter the address of a sound file, and The Alarm downloads the file directly from there – only over HTTPS and up to 25 MB. You decide which address that is. As with any download, the server at this address learns your IP address and the usual technical details of a request; its operator's privacy policy applies to it. Nothing of this reaches us. The Alarm checks that the file really is a sound and keeps it only on your iPhone.

Roster and alarms in your own words

  • Reading a roster: The Alarm reads a photo, screenshot or PDF of your roster on your iPhone – the writing with iOS text recognition, PDFs through their text. On iPhones with Apple Intelligence, the language model on the device finds the days with shifts in it. You check every day before alarms are set. The Alarm doesn't keep the photo or the file, only the alarms you save.
  • Alarms in your own words: if you describe an alarm in a sentence, the language model on the device turns it into the settings in the editor. You see them before you save.

None of this leaves your iPhone. More in the AI notice.

Sharing

When you share a shift plan, The Alarm turns it into a QR code with a link for The Alarm or into a file. It only contains the name of the plan, the pattern, when it starts and the kinds of shifts with their times and colors – no exceptions, no vacations, no other alarms.

You share a single alarm as a QR code or as a file (“.thealarm”). It contains the alarm's time, schedule and settings, including its name and note – no exceptions, no group, not the place of an alarm by the sun, no home and no sounds of your own. You share a running timer or a stopwatch as a QR code or a link. It only contains the name, when the timer rings or since when the stopwatch has been running, the duration and the laps.

The data is inside the link, the QR code or the file itself; no server of ours is involved. You decide whom you give something to and through which app – such as Messages, Mail or AirDrop; those apps' terms apply to them. When someone opens something shared, The Alarm shows it first; it's only taken over once that person confirms.

Everything else you pass on through the iOS share sheet – such as a calendar file with your alarm times, your year in review, stopwatch runs, a time from the world clock or the ready-made message in “Overslept?” – goes to the app and the people you choose. The Alarm itself sends nothing.

Siri, widgets and app lock

When you use Siri, Apple processes your request; The Alarm only receives the recognized action, such as “skip the next alarm”. Widgets, controls, Live Activities, Shortcuts and the Focus filter “Pause Alarms” work with the data on your iPhone.

The app lock protects the app. When it's on, notifications don't show their content, unless you choose otherwise under Settings › Notifications. Widgets then only show times, without the names of your alarms and vacations, and iOS search no longer finds your alarms. Live Activities and controls keep showing what's running – such as a timer or your morning routine –, including on the Lock Screen. A ringing alarm shows its name, as in Apple's Clock.

Backups

Under Settings › Backup you set up backups – in your iCloud Drive, in a folder of the Files app (for example with a cloud provider such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Nextcloud, or on a USB drive), on your own server via WebDAV or only on this device. These providers' privacy policies apply; your backups never reach us.

A backup contains your alarms with their exceptions and vacations – for alarms by the sun also their place, for alarms by your calendar when your first events begin –, the world clock, timers, stopwatch runs and your settings. Your own sounds and the history of your mornings aren't included.

If you set a password, The Alarm encrypts every backup on your device (AES-256-GCM, with the key derived using PBKDF2); without the password nobody can open it, not even us. The Alarm doesn't store the password itself, only the key derived from it, in this device's keychain. Without a password, anyone with access to the place can read a backup. WebDAV only works over HTTPS; the credentials are kept in your device's keychain. You find backups that are only on this device in the Files app under “On My iPhone › The Alarm”.

Purchases

You buy The Alarm Pro through the App Store. Apple handles payment, subscriptions and Family Sharing; we receive no payment details. The Alarm checks on your iPhone, with Apple's StoreKit, whether Pro has been bought – this doesn't need a server of ours. Apple gives us sales reports without personal data.

Usage statistics, no ads

The Alarm contains no advertising or tracking services.

So that we can find bugs quickly and know which features are used, The Alarm sends anonymous crash reports and usage statistics to Atriya, our own analytics service. It sends the crash and hang reports iOS gives the app through MetricKit – with the place in the code, the app and system version and the device model –, when the app is opened and how long it's in the foreground, and which screens are viewed. Your alarms, events and places are never sent.

The Alarm stores nothing on your device for this, not even an identifier. Sending necessarily transmits your IP address. Our server only derives the country from it and, together with the device model and the system identifier (user agent), forms an identifier that is only valid for one day: a hash with a random daily key, which the server deletes after two days at the latest. We don't store the IP address itself. This way we see how many devices use The Alarm on a day – we can't recognize you or follow you across days.

The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a stable app and in knowing which features are used (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). You can object at any time: turn off the usage statistics under Settings › Privacy; The Alarm then sends nothing more.

We run Atriya ourselves. The server is hosted by IONOS SE, Elgendorfer Str. 57, 56410 Montabaur, Germany, in a data center in the European Union; IONOS processes the data on our behalf. We only evaluate it in aggregate and don't pass it on. Once the daily key is deleted, the data is anonymous; we keep it without a fixed time limit.

Independently of this, Apple provides us with crash reports and statistics that don't identify you, if you have allowed sharing analytics with app developers (iOS Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements).

Deleting

  • Everything at once: under Settings › Privacy › Delete all data, The Alarm removes everything it has stored on this iPhone: your alarms including all scheduled alarms and notifications, the world clock, timers and stopwatch runs, your mornings, your sounds including their uncut files, the announcements, the last remembered location, rosters you opened from other apps, the settings of the app lock and backups, all other settings of the app, and the automations in your home. Backups stay where you put them – including those on this device; delete them there. Purchases stay with Apple; “Restore Purchases” brings Pro back.
  • One by one: you delete alarms, cities, timers, runs and sounds directly in the app.
  • Deleting the app removes its data from this iPhone, including backups that are only on this device. The automations in your home stay in the Home app – delete all data first, or remove them there afterwards.

The website

Hosting and delivery

Until thealarmapp.com is online, the website is at thealarm-hq.github.io, where it is delivered by GitHub, Inc., 88 Colin P. Kelly Jr. Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA (GitHub Pages). When you open a page, GitHub necessarily receives technical data – in particular your IP address, the page requested, the time and your browser's identifier (user agent) – and stores your IP address in log files to protect against attacks. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a secure and reliable website (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). GitHub is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. More: GitHub Privacy Statement

thealarmapp.com is delivered by Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. When you open a page, your browser necessarily transmits technical data – in particular your IP address, the page requested, the time and your browser's identifier (user agent). Cloudflare processes this data to deliver the website and to protect it against attacks and abuse, and may briefly store it in log files for this purpose. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a secure and reliable website (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). We have a data processing agreement with Cloudflare; Cloudflare is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. More: cloudflare.com/privacypolicy

If a page can't be loaded, your browser may send a short technical error report to Cloudflare (Network Error Logging) – for example the address, the type of error and your IP address. It is only used to detect network problems.

No cookies, no statistics, no third parties

This website sets no cookies, stores nothing in your browser and doesn't count visits. In individual cases, Cloudflare may set a technically necessary cookie (__cf_bm) to tell people from bots; it isn't used for tracking. The website shows no ads, uses no social media plugins and loads no fonts or scripts from other servers. Links to the App Store lead to Apple; Apple's privacy policy applies there.

Email

On the “Contact” page, you reach us only by email at contact@lacodea.com; there is no contact form on this website. What happens to your email is explained under “When you write to us”.

When you write to us

When you write to us – by email or through the contact form on lacodea.com that “Contact” in the app leads to –, we use your details and your message to reply (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR). Our email runs through IONOS SE, Elgendorfer Str. 57, 56410 Montabaur, Germany; we add requests to LaCodea's ticket system as described in LaCodea's privacy policy. We delete messages once they're no longer needed, unless we are legally required to keep them.

Your rights

You have the right to access your data (Art. 15 GDPR), to rectification (Art. 16) and erasure (Art. 17), to restriction of processing (Art. 18), to data portability (Art. 20) and to object to processing based on legitimate interests (Art. 21). To exercise these rights, just write to us. Because The Alarm keeps your data only on your iPhone, we don't have it and can't see it or hand it over ourselves – in the app you can view it, back it up and delete it yourself at any time.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority – for example the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA), Promenade 18, 91522 Ansbach, Germany.

Changes

We update this privacy policy when the app, the website or the law change. The date at the top shows the version in force.