Privacy Policy

1. Owner and Data Controller

“Vacation Countdown”, “the app”, “we” and “us” refer to the iPhone application published by the Owner and to the website thevacationcountdown.app. “You” means the person using the app or the website.

2. Data that stays on your device

Everything you create in the app is stored only in the app’s private container on your iPhone:

• Countdown names, departure dates, chosen units, styles, colors and backgrounds;
• Destinations you search for and select, and the destination photo the app downloads for them;
• Calendar events you choose to import (title and date only);
• Reminder preferences and app settings;
• A small summary of your countdowns shared with the app’s Home Screen widget, also on your device.

We do not operate a server that receives this data. It is not synced to any cloud service by us. It may be included in the backups your iPhone makes on its own (iCloud Backup or a computer backup), which are governed by Apple’s privacy policy and your iOS settings.

When you share a countdown as an image or export it as a .vacationcountdown file, that content goes only where you send it. Exported files are not encrypted and contain the countdown’s name, date, destination and style.

Deleting the app removes all of this data from your device.

3. Permissions the app may ask for

Calendar (optional)

If you use “Import from calendar”, iOS asks you to grant calendar access. The app reads event titles and dates so you can turn an event into a countdown. It never creates, edits or deletes events and never sends calendar data anywhere. You can revoke access at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Calendars.

Notifications (optional)

Reminders before a trip are local notifications scheduled on your device. The app does not use push notifications and no notification content leaves your iPhone.

The app does not request access to your location, photos, contacts, microphone or camera, and it does not ask to track you across other companies’ apps and websites.

4. Data processed by third-party services

The app connects to the following services. Each one receives only what is listed here and processes it under its own privacy policy.

Analytics and crash data are collected without any identifier that we could tie to you as a person. We have configured the App Store privacy label accordingly: crash data, performance data, product interaction and a device identifier are collected, not linked to your identity and not used for tracking.

Destination photos are Wikimedia content published under free licenses. The app shows the author and license of each photo. See the Terms of Use for how you may use them.

5. What we do not do

• We do not show ads and do not use advertising identifiers (IDFA) or the App Tracking Transparency framework.
• We do not track you across other apps or websites.
• We do not sell, rent or share personal data with third parties for their own purposes.
• We do not create accounts or profiles, and we do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling.
• We do not send marketing emails or push notifications.

6. This website

thevacationcountdown.app is a static site. It uses no cookies, no analytics and no third-party embeds. The “When do you leave?” demo on the home page runs entirely in your browser and stores nothing. The site is served by Cloudflare, Inc., whose edge servers process your IP address and request headers to deliver the pages and protect against abuse, under Cloudflare’s privacy policy.

7. Legal basis and purposes

Where the GDPR or similar laws apply, we rely on:

• Performance of a contract for purchase validation and unlocking Pro (RevenueCat, App Store);
• Our legitimate interest in keeping the app stable and understanding aggregate usage (Crashlytics, Firebase Analytics), balanced by the fact that the data is anonymous and never includes your content;
• Your request when you search a destination or fetch a photo, which necessarily sends the query to Apple or Wikipedia;
• Your consent, given through iOS permission prompts, for calendar access and notifications, which you can withdraw at any time in Settings.

8. Retention

• On your device: until you delete the countdown or the app.
• Firebase Analytics: Google retains event data for a limited period set in our Firebase project (at most 14 months for user-level data) and aggregated statistics thereafter.
• Crashlytics: Google retains crash reports for approximately 90 days.
• RevenueCat: purchase records are kept for as long as needed to honour your purchase and to comply with tax and accounting obligations.
• Email: if you write to us, we keep the conversation for as long as needed to help you and for up to two years afterwards.

9. International transfers

Google, RevenueCat, the Wikimedia Foundation and Cloudflare process data in the United States and other countries. Where required, these providers rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or equivalent safeguards, as described in their policies linked above.

10. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of your personal data, to object to or restrict its processing, to withdraw consent, and to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

Because the app has no accounts, we hold no data that we can associate with you by name or email. In practice:

• To delete the data the app stores, delete the app from your iPhone.
• To stop diagnostics for the future, delete the app; there is no per-user switch for anonymous diagnostics.
• To request deletion of diagnostics or purchase records held by our providers, email [email protected]. Tell us the approximate install date, device model and, for purchases, the Apple receipt or order ID, so that we can locate the anonymous records. We answer within 30 days.

European Economic Area and United Kingdom: you may complain to the data protection authority of your country of residence.

Argentina: the Agencia de Acceso a la Información Pública, as the supervisory authority under Law 25.326, is competent to receive complaints from individuals whose rights are affected by a breach of personal data protection rules (Personal Data Protection Act No. 25.326, section 29 and Decree 1558/2001). Data subjects may exercise their right of access free of charge at intervals of no less than six months, unless a legitimate interest is shown.

California and other US states: we do not sell or share personal information as defined by the CCPA/CPRA and do not use it for cross-context behavioural advertising. You may contact us to exercise any right available under your state’s law; we will not discriminate against you for doing so.

Brazil: holders of personal data have the rights set out in the LGPD, which you may exercise by contacting us.

11. Children

The app is not directed at children under 13 (or the age at which a person can consent to data processing in their country). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided personal data to us, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Security

Data on your device is protected by iOS’s app sandbox and device encryption. All connections from the app to the services above use HTTPS. Our providers apply their own security programs described in their policies.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the app or the law changes. The date at the top shows the latest version. For significant changes we will also mention it in the app’s release notes. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated policy.

14. Contact

Questions about privacy: [email protected] or by post at the address above.