First Thing privacy policy
First Thing is an alarm and morning-planning app for Android phones and Wear OS watches. It looks at your calendar, and optionally your sleep data, to work out when you need to wake up and go to bed. This policy explains what data the app uses, where that data goes, and the choices you have.
The short version: most processing happens on your phone and watch. We don't sell your data, show ads, or use your data to track you across other apps.
Who we are
First Thing is made by Owt, an independent app developer in the UK, which is the data controller for the purposes of UK GDPR. For questions or requests, email support@owt.cards.
Data we use
| Data | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar events (title, time, location) from the calendars you choose | Find your first commitment of the day and plan your alarm around it | Read and processed on your device. The plan derived from it (alarm time, event title) is stored on your device and synced to your paired watch. |
| Health Connect data: sleep sessions (including sleep stages, where your watch or phone records them) | Understand how you've slept and adjust your bedtime and alarm suggestions | Read on your device. Only used for the features described here. See "Health Connect" below. |
| Google account: name, email address, profile photo, and a Firebase user ID | Sign you in | Handled by Google Firebase Authentication. |
| Routines, places and travel times you enter, and app settings | Work out how long you need to get ready and get to your first event | Stored on your device. If you sign in, also backed up (see "Backup"). |
| Things First Thing works out from your data: sleep debt, your typical sleep need, the time you naturally wake, recent wake times, how steady your sleep is, time-zone and jet-lag state, morning check-in answers, when you leave the house (if you tap I'm off), and the changes it has learned | Keep your bedtime and alarm realistic, and explain them | Worked out and stored on your device only. Never backed up or sent anywhere. |
| A device integrity token (Firebase App Check with Google Play Integrity) | Make sure requests to our backend come from the genuine app | Sent to Google Firebase with each backend request. It doesn't contain your calendar, health or settings data. |
| Where you leave from, and where and when your first event is (live travel, Pro only) | Check traffic and train delays and wake you earlier if you'd otherwise be late | Sent to Google's Routes API for each check. For UK train journeys, the two station codes go to National Rail's live departures. Not stored by us. See "Live travel" below. |
| Purchases (First Thing Pro) | Unlock Pro and restore it on a new phone | Handled by Google Play. We receive a purchase token and what you bought, not your payment details. |
| Text sent to Gemini (see below) | Generate plain-language summaries and suggestions | Sent to Google's Gemini API through Firebase AI Logic. |
Backup (optional)
If you sign in with Google, First Thing backs up your setup so you can restore it on a new phone: your usual wake times, getting-ready times, saved places and travel times, which calendars count (stored as the calendar's account and name), your answers about busy-only time slots, and app preferences. The backup is stored in Google Cloud Firestore in London (europe-west2), in a record only your signed-in account can read or write.
The backup never contains your calendar events, health data, sleep history or anything First Thing has worked out about your sleep. You can use the app without signing in, and nothing is backed up.
Health Connect
First Thing reads the Health Connect data types listed above, but only after you grant permission. You can withdraw that permission at any time in your phone's Health Connect settings.
From your sleep sessions (including sleep stages, where your device records them) First Thing works out, on your device: how much sleep you've had recently, how much you seem to need, and when you naturally wake on free mornings. These are used to suggest bedtimes and usual wake times. They stay on your device.
First Thing's use of information received from Health Connect follows the Health Connect Permissions policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically:
- Health data is only used to provide First Thing's sleep and wake-up features.
- Health data is never sold, used for advertising, or used to determine creditworthiness or insurance eligibility.
- Health data is never shared with third parties, except as described under "AI features": only if you've switched on cloud Gemini, and only to answer a question you asked.
- No human reads your health data unless you've given explicit consent (for example, for a support request), or unless it's required by law or needed for security.
AI features (Gemini)
First Thing has an optional sleep coach you can ask about your sleep, and an optional short note about tomorrow. These use Google's Gemini models.
- On your phone first. On phones that support it, the coach uses Gemini Nano, which runs on your device. Your question and the facts it answers from never leave your phone.
- Google's cloud only if you turn it on. If you switch on the Gemini note in Settings, First Thing sends Google's Gemini API (through Firebase AI Logic) tomorrow's first event title and times to write the note. If Gemini Nano isn't available on your phone and you've turned this on, coach questions are also answered in the cloud: your question is sent with a short summary of what First Thing knows (for example your recent sleep times and durations, your sleep target and steadiness, your plan for the week ahead, and changes First Thing has learned). Google processes these requests under the Gemini API Additional Terms of Service.
- If neither is available or switched on, the coach answers from your data on your device, without any model.
- Whatever answers, the coach can only make changes you tap to confirm (such as an earlier bedtime tonight), and every change is listed in the app with Undo.
Live travel (Pro, optional)
Live travel checks your journey the evening before and shortly before your alarm, and wakes you earlier if traffic or a delay means you'd otherwise be late. It only runs if you have Pro and have entered where you leave from. First Thing doesn't use your phone's location (GPS) for this.
- Roads, buses, trams and the underground: the address you leave from, your destination (a place you've saved or your first event's location) and the time are sent to Google's Routes API to get a journey time. Google processes these requests under the Google Maps Platform terms.
- UK commuter trains: the codes for your departure and arrival stations are sent to National Rail's live departure data (through the Rail Data Marketplace) to find a train that gets you there on time.
- We don't store these requests or their results on any server. The latest journey time is kept on your phone to explain your alarm.
- You can switch live travel off, or turn off individual kinds of journey, in Settings at any time.
Wear OS
If you use the watch app, your day plan (alarm time, first event title, bedtime) is synced between your phone and watch over Google's Wear OS Data Layer. The watch tells your phone whether it can show alarms, and when smart wake woke you early.
Smart wake (optional, off by default): in the 20 minutes before your alarm, the watch reads its motion sensor to notice if you're stirring. The readings are processed on the watch and discarded straight away; only "woke you N minutes early" is sent to your phone.
Don't ring if I'm already up (optional): just before your alarm, your phone checks whether its screen is on and unlocked. Nothing is recorded except that the alarm was switched off.
iPhone waitlist (website)
If you join the iPhone waitlist on our website, we store your email address, whether you ticked "I'd help test the beta" and "I have an Apple Watch", and when you signed up. We use these only to email you about First Thing on iPhone: the TestFlight beta and the launch. They're stored in Google Cloud Firestore in London (europe-west2), can't be read from the website, and are never shared or sold. We delete the list within three months of the iPhone version launching, or straight away if you email support@owt.cards and ask to be removed. If you join the beta, Apple's TestFlight handles it under Apple's privacy policy.
Service providers
We use Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore for the optional backup and the iPhone waitlist, App Check and AI Logic), Google Play (purchases), Google Maps Platform (live travel) and National Rail's Rail Data Marketplace (live train times) to run the app. These services process data on our behalf under their own terms (for Firebase, Google's terms). We don't use advertising or third-party analytics SDKs.
Retention and deletion
- Data stored on your device is deleted when you clear the app's data or uninstall it.
- To delete your sign-in account, use the delete-account option in the app's settings, or email us. Deleting your account also deletes your backup straight away; if you email us, we'll delete both within 30 days.
- If you use Android backup, your device backup may include your app settings and routines. Health data is excluded from backups.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to access, correct, delete or restrict the use of your personal data, the right to object to how it's used, and the right to data portability. You can also withdraw consent at any time, for example by revoking calendar or Health Connect permissions. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the address above. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
Children
First Thing is not directed at children under 13.
Changes
If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the effective date above. Where appropriate, we'll also tell you in the app.