Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Hands Free Timer is developed and maintained by Pedro Barbosa. If you have any questions about this policy, you can contact us at pedro.neto992@gmail.com.

2. What the App Does

Hands Free Timer is a countdown timer that you can control hands-free using your voice or ambient sounds. It has no user accounts, sign-in, or registration of any kind.

The app offers four sound-trigger modes, all processed entirely on-device:

• Any sound — any sound above a configurable threshold starts or pauses the timer.
• Whistle — only a whistle tone triggers the timer.
• Yell — only a yelled voice triggers the timer.
• Voice Command ("Ok Time") — the app listens for the specific spoken phrase "Ok Time" using an on-device speech recognition model (Vosk). No internet connection or cloud speech service is involved; all recognition happens locally on your device.

While a countdown is active, the app runs a foreground service that displays a persistent status-bar notification showing the remaining time. This keeps the timer accurate in the background and prevents the operating system from suspending it. The service and its notification are automatically dismissed when the timer is paused, reset, or completed.

When a countdown finishes, the app sends a local notification to your device alerting you that the timer has ended. This notification is generated entirely on-device; no data is transmitted to any server.

The app displays ads provided by Google AdMob (see section 5). An internet connection is required only for ad delivery; all timer functionality works fully offline.

3. Microphone Access

The app requests access to your device's microphone solely to enable hands-free timer control. Microphone access is used in two ways, depending on the mode you choose:

• Sound detection modes (Any / Whistle / Yell): the app analyses the raw audio level and frequency characteristics in real time to detect the configured trigger sound.
• Voice Command mode ("Ok Time"): the app uses Vosk, a free and open-source offline speech recognition library, to listen for the specific phrase "Ok Time". The Vosk model runs entirely on your device; no audio or transcription data is ever sent to any server or third party.

In all modes:

• Audio is processed entirely on your device in real time.
• No audio recordings are ever created, saved, or stored.
• No audio data is ever transmitted over the internet or to any server.
• No third party ever receives microphone data.

You can revoke microphone permission at any time through your device's Settings. The timer will continue to work manually if permission is denied; only the hands-free sound-detection feature will be unavailable.

4. Data We Do Not Collect

The app itself (outside of the Google AdMob SDK described in section 5) does not collect, process, or transmit any of the following:

• Personal identifiers (name, email, phone number, device ID)
• Location data
• Usage analytics or crash reports
• Financial or payment information
• Health or fitness data
• Contacts, photos, files, or any other device content
• Voice recordings or speech transcriptions

5. Third-Party Services — Google AdMob

Hands Free Timer displays ads served by Google AdMob, a service operated by Google LLC. AdMob may collect and use the following data to serve relevant ads:

• Advertising identifier (Google Advertising ID / GAID)
• Approximate device information (OS version, device model)
• IP address (used to infer country/region; not stored by us)
• Ad interaction data (impressions, taps)

This data is collected and processed by Google under their own privacy policy. We do not receive, store, or have access to this data. You can review Google's practices and opt out of personalised ads at any time:

• Google Privacy Policy
• On Android: Settings → Google → Ads → Delete advertising ID to opt out of interest-based advertising.

No other third-party SDKs, analytics services, or social media platforms are integrated into this app.

6. Permissions

The app requests the following device permissions:

• Microphone (RECORD_AUDIO) — to detect sounds or recognise the voice command "Ok Time" for hands-free timer control. All audio processing happens on-device; no recordings are made or transmitted.
• Notifications (POST_NOTIFICATIONS) — to display a foreground service notification while the timer runs in the background, and to send a local alert when the countdown finishes. All notifications are generated on-device; no data leaves your phone.
• Wake lock (WAKE_LOCK) — to keep the screen on while the timer is active, when the user enables the "keep screen bright" option. The setting is stored locally and is off by default; no data is transmitted.

You can revoke any permission at any time through your device's Settings. Revoking microphone permission disables hands-free control but the timer continues to work manually. Revoking notification permission removes background and completion alerts but does not affect the timer itself.

7. Children's Privacy

We do not knowingly collect any personal information from children or anyone else, as described above. Google AdMob provides mechanisms for child-directed ad serving in compliance with COPPA and equivalent regulations.

8. Data Retention

We collect no personal data, so there is nothing to retain or delete on our end. The following data is stored locally on your device only and never transmitted anywhere:

• Timer preferences — selected preset duration, sensitivity level, user-created custom presets, and any built-in presets the user has chosen to hide.
• Timer state — remaining time, so the countdown can be accurately restored if the app is suspended or restarted by the operating system.
• Theme preference — light or dark mode.
• Language preference — the display language selected by the user.
• Screen keep-bright preference — whether the screen should stay on while the timer is active.

All locally stored data is permanently removed when you uninstall the app.

9. Your Rights

Since we collect no personal data, there is no data for us to provide, correct, or delete on request. For data collected by Google AdMob, please refer to Google's own data controls and opt-out options described in section 5. If you have any other concerns, please contact us and we will respond within 30 days.

10. Changes to This Policy

If we ever update this privacy policy, the new version will be posted at this URL with an updated "Last updated" date. Continued use of the app after a change constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

11. Contact

Questions or concerns about this privacy policy?
Email: pedro.neto992@gmail.com