Privacy Policy
Last updated: 8 September 2026
Hearth Island is a focus app: you start a timer, and a little 3D island grows with the minutes you focus. Here is exactly what it does — and does not — collect.
Your island lives on your device. The island you build, your companion, your Focus Energy and your session history are all stored locally on your iPhone. There is no account and no sign-up, and none of it is uploaded to us. There is no Hearth Island server holding your progress.
Who we are
Hearth Island is made by StarNova. If you want to reach a person about anything on this page, email vdnhan97@gmail.com.
What stays on your device
All of the following is stored locally on your iPhone and is never transmitted to us:
- Your island — the land you have raised and every item you have placed.
- Your Focus Energy (✦), total focused minutes, streaks and completed sessions.
- Your companion and its state, plus milestone unlocks and premium catalog status.
- Your chosen theme, sound and ambience settings, and other app preferences.
Deleting the app deletes all of it. We cannot recover it for you, because we never had it.
What we do collect
Usage analytics (Google Analytics for Firebase)
Hearth Island uses Firebase Analytics to understand whether the app works — how many people open it, whether they finish a focus session, and where they get stuck. These are counts of actions, never the content of your island.
| Collected | Why |
|---|---|
| App opens, sessions, first launch, crashes | Know the app runs and how often it is used |
| Which screens you visit and in what order | Find where the flow breaks down |
| Events like "a focus session completed", "an item was placed", "the paywall was shown" | Measure whether the core loop works |
| Device model, iOS version, app version, language, country | Fix bugs on specific devices; decide which languages to support |
| A random, app-scoped install identifier | Count one person once instead of counting every launch as new |
Hearth Island does not use the IDFA (Apple's advertising identifier), does not ask for App Tracking Transparency permission, and does not track you across other companies' apps or websites. There are no ads and no advertising SDKs in Hearth Island.
Analytics is processed by Google. See Firebase's privacy documentation and Google's Privacy Policy.
Purchases (RevenueCat + Apple)
If you subscribe to Hearth Premium, the payment itself is handled entirely by Apple — we never see your card, your Apple Account, or your billing address. We use RevenueCat to confirm that a purchase is valid and to restore it if you reinstall. RevenueCat receives an anonymous purchase identifier, the product you bought, and your country. See RevenueCat's Privacy Policy.
What we never collect
- Your name, email address, phone number, or any account — Hearth Island has no sign-up.
- Your photos, camera, contacts, calendar, location, microphone, or health data.
- The contents of your island or anything about what you build, beyond the anonymous event counts above.
- Anything used for advertising, cross-app tracking, or sold to a data broker. We do not sell or share personal information, and never have.
Permissions Hearth Island asks for
Hearth Island needs no camera, photo, location, contacts or microphone access at all. The only system permissions it ever requests are optional and power the Focus Shield:
- Do Not Disturb / Focus (optional) — if you turn on "Silence notifications", the app asks the system to quiet notifications for the length of a focus session, then restores them. On iPhone this is handled through the system Focus / Screen Time; nothing about it is sent to us.
- Shield distracting apps (optional, Android only) — if you turn on "Shield distracting apps", the app covers apps you choose with a cozy overlay during a session. This uses Android's notification-policy and overlay permissions and never leaves your device.
You can revoke any of these in iOS Settings ▸ Privacy & Security (or the equivalent on Android). Hearth Island keeps working; the Focus Shield simply stops.
Children
Hearth Island is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. Since Hearth Island has no account, no messaging, and no user-to-user content, there is nothing for a child to publish or disclose through the app. If you believe a child's information has somehow reached us, email us and we will delete it.
Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the EU/UK, or the CCPA in California) you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or port your personal data, and to object to processing.
In practice, most of this you can exercise yourself and instantly: everything Hearth Island holds about you that is personal lives on your own device, and deleting the app deletes it. For the analytics data described above, email vdnhan97@gmail.com and we will handle the request. We will not discriminate against you for making one.
Data retention
Analytics events are retained by Google Analytics for up to 14 months and then deleted automatically. Purchase records are kept by RevenueCat and Apple for as long as needed to honour and account for the purchase. On-device content is kept until you delete it.
International transfers
Our analytics and purchase-validation providers process data on servers in the United States and other countries. Where required, these transfers rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes in a way that matters, we will update the date at the top and note the change in the app's release notes. Continuing to use Hearth Island after a change means you accept the updated policy.
Contact
Questions, requests, or corrections: vdnhan97@gmail.com.