Privacy policy
Shifty Habits helps you track habits around a shift-work schedule. It has no accounts, no sign-in and no server of its own: the app makes no network requests except through the Google services described below.
In short: everything you put into the app stays on your phone. Your habit names, shift names, day notes, times and links are never sent anywhere.
The app sends anonymous usage and crash diagnostics to Google's Firebase so problems can be found and fixed. In the UK, the EEA and Switzerland that only happens if you agree; everywhere else you can turn it off at any time under Settings → Privacy.
What the app stores on your device
Your habits and their names, your logs, your shift types and roster or cycle schedule, your day notes, and any link you attach to a habit are stored in a database on your device. None of it is sent to the developer, and there is nowhere for it to be sent to.
What leaves your device
Usage analytics (Firebase Analytics, provided by Google)
So that we can tell which parts of the app are used and where people get stuck, the app reports events such as: the app being opened, which screen is shown (with any record id removed), a habit being logged and whether it was logged from a reminder, an onboarding step being completed, the upgrade screen being shown, how many reminders were scheduled — as a range, never an exact number — and, if you answer the optional “what stopped you?” question the app may ask when setup is left unfinished, which of its fixed answers you picked (nothing you type is ever sent).
Alongside these it records a few coarse labels about the installation: how far through setup you are, which schedule mode you use, roughly how many habits you have (as a range such as “3-5”), whether you have upgraded, and whether reminders are on, off, blocked by Android, or not yet asked for. Google also attaches general device information, such as device model and OS version, and an app instance identifier tied to the installation rather than to you.
Your habit names, shift names, day notes, times and links are never included in any of this. No advertising identifier is collected — the app blocks it outright — and the app never sets a user id of its own.
Crash reporting (Firebase Crashlytics, provided by Google)
If the app crashes or hits an unexpected error, technical information is sent so it can be diagnosed: device model, OS version, app version, a stack trace, and short breadcrumbs describing what the app was doing — for example the start and finish times and duration of a shift type being saved. We deliberately keep your own content out of these reports: habit names, day notes, links and the names of apps you have linked are all excluded. We cannot completely rule out that an unexpected error message from the operating system or a library quotes something you entered.
Google Play
If you buy the upgrade, the purchase is handled by Google Play. The app never sees or stores your payment details; it asks Play whether the upgrade is owned and keeps only a yes/no answer on the device, which is also how the upgrade is restored on a new phone. The app also asks Play whether a newer version is available, and may show Play's in-app review prompt. These exchanges involve the app's own version and package name, and the Google account already signed in to Play.
Backups you create yourself
Exporting a backup writes a complete, unencrypted copy of your database — habits, notes, schedule and history — and hands it to whichever app you choose in the share sheet. The developer never receives it. Once you have sent or saved that file, anyone who can open it can read everything in it, so treat it like any other personal document. Importing a backup reads a file you pick; links in it are checked before they can be opened, and any record of a purchase inside the file is discarded, since ownership comes from Google Play rather than from a file.
What the app reads but does not send
To let you link a habit to another app, Shifty Habits reads the list of apps on your device that can be launched, and their icons. This list is used only to show you a picker, stays on your device, and is never transmitted — including in crash reports, where the linked app's name is deliberately left out.
Android backup
The app's database is excluded from Google's automatic cloud backup, so your habits and schedule are not copied to your Google Drive. It is included in Android's direct device-to-device transfer, so setting up a new phone from your old one carries your data across.
Notifications
Reminders are delivered by your device's notification system. By default a reminder names the habit, which means the name can appear on your lock screen. Settings → Privacy → “Hide Names in Reminders” replaces it with a neutral title; the shift, the time and the action buttons all still work.
Location
Shifty Habits does not collect, store or transmit your location. It also does not access your contacts, calendar, camera, microphone or photos.
Data sharing
Shifty Habits does not sell your personal information. The usage and crash data above is shared only with Google, as the provider of Firebase Analytics, Firebase Crashlytics and Google Play, for the purposes described. Nothing is shared with anyone else.
Your choices
- If you are in the UK, the EEA or Switzerland, nothing described above is collected unless you say so. The app asks once, on first launch, before any analytics or crash report is sent, and collection stays off until you answer — declining, or dismissing the question, leaves it off. Everywhere else, diagnostics are on by default and you can turn them off at any time using the setting below. Which of the two you get is decided from your device's time zone, on the device; the app never looks up your location and never asks anyone else where you are.
- Settings → Privacy → “Send Diagnostics” turns off both analytics and crash reporting, and turns them back on if you change your mind — including if you declined when first asked. Analytics stops immediately; crash reporting stops fully after the app is next restarted, because Android starts that collector before the app's own code runs.
- Settings → Privacy → “Hide Names in Reminders” keeps habit names off your lock screen.
- Android's own notification settings control whether reminders can be shown at all.
- Clearing the app's data or uninstalling it deletes everything the app has stored on your device. If you have upgraded, that entitlement is held by Google Play and returns when you sign in again.
- You can export your data at any time from Settings → Data.
Data retention and deletion
Data on your device stays until you delete it. Analytics and crash data held by Google is retained according to Firebase's retention settings for this app and is tied to an app instance identifier, not to you; clearing the app's data or reinstalling generates a new identifier. To have diagnostic data stop being collected, turn off Send Diagnostics. For any other request, contact us below.
Data security
Your data is stored in the app's private storage and is protected by your device's security settings. Data sent to Google is transmitted and stored by Google under the Google Privacy Policy and Firebase's terms. Backup files you export are not encrypted — their security is whatever the place you send them to provides.
Changes to this policy
If what the app collects changes, this page is updated and the date at the top changes with it.
Contact
For questions regarding privacy, contact ShiftyHabits@gmail.com.