CLARITY

Privacy Policy for Clarity

Last updated: August 22, 2026

About

Clarity is a private, minimalist app for tracking consumption habits (such as smoking, alcohol, caffeine, or your own custom trackers). This Privacy Policy explains what data Clarity handles and how.

Clarity is designed to be private by default. There is no account, no login, and the data you log stays on your device. This policy describes the little data that is processed, mostly to keep the app stable and to understand - in aggregate and anonymously - how it is used.

Data controller: Daniel Oberlechner ("we", "us", "our") Contact: hello@danobe.dev

Our approach: privacy by default

No account, no login, no sign-up. You can use Clarity without giving us any personal identity.
Your logged data stays on your device (and, if you use iCloud, in your own iCloud account). We never upload it to our own servers.
No ads. No advertising trackers. We do not sell your data.
No purchases. Clarity is free and contains no in-app purchases, so no payment data is ever involved.

1. Data you create and store

When you use Clarity, you create data such as:

Trackers - name, goal (observe/pause), color, icon, and optional price/baseline values.
Entries - amount, an optional trigger, an optional note, and a timestamp.
Your settings - for example your custom trigger list and notification preference.

This data is stored locally on your device using Apple's SwiftData framework. We do not have access to it, and it is not uploaded to our servers.

iCloud sync: Clarity syncs your data across your own devices using your personal iCloud account (Apple's iCloud/CloudKit). That data lives in Apple's infrastructure under your Apple ID; we never have access to it, and it is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. If you sign out of iCloud or turn it off for Clarity, your data stays only on your device.

Backups you create yourself. Clarity can export everything you have entered - your trackers, your entries (including amounts, triggers, notes, and timestamps), and your custom trigger list - into a single backup file, and read that file back in later. Both are started from Settings → Backup.

The file goes only where you send it. When you create a backup, iOS asks you where to save it - the Files app, your iCloud Drive, or any other destination you choose. The file is written directly there. It is not sent to us, it does not pass through any server of ours, and it is not shared with any third party. We never see it and have no way to access it.
Restoring replaces, it does not merge. Reading a backup back into the app replaces the trackers and entries currently in Clarity. The app checks the whole file first and asks you to confirm before anything is replaced.
Once exported, the file is yours to manage. If you save it to iCloud Drive or another cloud service, that service's own terms and privacy policy apply to it. We cannot access, retrieve, or delete it for you.

Backups Clarity creates automatically. Clarity can also write these backup files on its own, without you doing anything. This is switched on by default and can be turned off at any time in Settings → Backup.

Once a day, into your own iCloud Drive. While this is on, the app writes one backup per day - and only if something has actually changed since the last one - into a folder named "Clarity" in your personal iCloud Drive. The 30 most recent files are kept; older ones are deleted automatically.
They never reach us. These files are written straight to your own iCloud account. They do not pass through any server of ours, are not shared with any third party, and we have no way to see or access them. Apple's iCloud terms apply to them, just as they do to iCloud sync above.
They stay if you delete the app. The folder remains in your iCloud Drive even after Clarity is removed, so a backup is still available if you reinstall. You can open, move, or delete these files yourself in the Files app at any time.

Keep your backups somewhere private. A backup is a plain, unencrypted file. Anyone who can open it can read everything in it, including your notes. This applies to the automatic backups too: they sit in your iCloud Drive in readable form, so anyone with access to your iCloud account or to a shared device can read them. Store backups somewhere you consider private, delete them when you no longer need them, and turn the automatic backups off if you would rather no such file existed.

2. Analytics data

To understand how Clarity is used and to improve it, we use Mixpanel for anonymous product analytics.

What is collected: anonymous usage events (for example that an entry was logged, a tracker was created, or which screen was viewed), plus non-identifying context such as device model, operating system version, app version, language, and session information.
Anonymous identifier: these events are tied to a random identifier generated by the app on your device - not your name, email, or Apple ID.
What is NOT collected: we do not send the content of your notes, your tracker names, or any free text you enter. We only record that an action happened and non-identifying attributes about it.
Where: Mixpanel is configured with EU data residency (data processed on Mixpanel's servers in Frankfurt, Germany).

See Mixpanel's Privacy Policy.

A second, self-hosted analytics system. We are currently evaluating whether to move away from Mixpanel. For as long as that evaluation runs, the same anonymous usage events are also sent to Aptabase, an open-source analytics tool that we run on our own server in Nuremberg, Germany.

No third party is involved. The server is operated by us, the data stays on it, and no provider receives it. Nothing leaves Germany.
It collects less than Mixpanel, by design. Aptabase uses no device identifiers, no cookies and no fingerprinting, and it has no concept of a user account. The events are the same ones described above, but without the random identifier - which means they cannot be grouped by device at all.
It is temporary. Once the evaluation is finished we will use one of the two systems, not both, and update this policy accordingly.

3. Crash and performance data (measure.sh)

To find and fix bugs and to keep the app stable, we use measure.sh for crash and performance reporting.

What is collected: crash and error reports, "app not responding" events, device and operating system information, and a short diagnostic timeline of events leading up to a crash.
Screenshots: any screenshot captured at the moment of a crash or when the app becomes unresponsive ("app not responding") is automatically masked - text and media are hidden - to protect your content.
Purpose: diagnosing and fixing stability issues.
Where it is stored: measure.sh Cloud stores this data on Google Cloud Platform, encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256).

See measure.sh's security information.

4. Notifications

Optional milestone reminders (for "pause" trackers) are scheduled locally on your device. No data is sent to us or to any third party in order to deliver them.

5. What we do not collect

We do not collect:

Your name, email address, or phone number (unless you choose to email us for support).
Your precise location, contacts, photos, or Apple Health data.
Advertising identifiers. Clarity contains no ad networks.
Payment data. Clarity has no in-app purchases, subscriptions, or payments of any kind.
The contents of your backups. Whether you export a backup yourself or Clarity writes one automatically, the file goes straight to the location you choose or to your own iCloud Drive - it never reaches us.

6. Third-party services

Service	Purpose	Privacy information
Mixpanel (EU region)	Anonymous product analytics	Privacy Policy
measure.sh	Crash & performance reporting	Security & Privacy
Apple	App Store, iCloud	Privacy Policy

These providers act as data processors for the limited data described above.

Our self-hosted Aptabase instance is deliberately not listed here: we run it on our own server, so there is no provider and no processor relationship.

7. International data transfers

Some of our providers are based outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Where data is transferred outside the EEA, appropriate safeguards (such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses) apply.

Analytics (Mixpanel) is used with EU data residency to keep this data within the EU.
Self-hosted analytics (Aptabase) runs on our own server in Nuremberg, Germany. This data never leaves the EEA, and no third party is involved.
Crash & performance data (measure.sh) is stored on Google Cloud Platform. Where this involves processing outside the EEA, appropriate safeguards apply.
iCloud data is handled by Apple under your Apple ID, governed by Apple's own terms.

Legitimate interest - anonymous analytics and crash reporting, so we can operate, secure, and improve the app. We minimize this data and keep it non-identifying.
Consent - where required by law.

9. Data retention

On-device data: kept until you delete it (Settings → "Delete all data") or uninstall the app.
Backups you exported: kept for as long as you keep them, wherever you saved them. We never receive or store copies, so we cannot delete them for you - you remove them like any other file.
Automatic backups: kept in your own iCloud Drive and rotated by the app - the 30 most recent files remain, older ones are deleted automatically. You can delete them yourself at any time in the Files app, or switch the feature off in Settings → Backup.
Analytics and crash data: retained only as long as necessary for the purposes above, according to our providers' retention settings.
Self-hosted analytics: kept on our own server for as long as the evaluation described in section 2 is running, and deleted when it ends.

10. Your rights

If you are in the EU/EEA, under the GDPR you have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and port your data, to object to processing, and to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

In practice:

You can export all your data at any time in Settings → Backup → Back up data. The backup is a machine-readable file, which covers your right to data portability - you do not need to ask us for it.
You can delete all your data at any time in Settings → Delete all data, or by removing the app from your device.
For anonymous analytics or crash data associated with the app-generated identifier, contact us at hello@danobe.dev and we will help where technically possible.