Athena is built to know as little as possible about you. This page explains what it does keep, why, where, and for how long, and how you can delete it.
In short
- There’s no sign-up. The app gets a random account ID; the name you type is the only name we know.
- We store what’s needed to share your mornings with the people you invite: your name, your alarm times, when you woke up, your feed and reactions, whether your phone can receive alerts — and, only if you turn it on, where you woke up.
- Your data is stored in the EU on Google Firebase. Only the people in your circles can see your mornings.
- Feed entries are deleted after 30 days, shared places after 24 hours, invite codes after a few minutes.
- If someone pays for a circle, Apple handles the payment. We keep a record of the subscription, never your card or Apple Account details.
- No ads, no tracking, no analytics, no cookies. We never sell your data or share it for marketing.
- You can delete your data yourself, in the app: Settings › Delete my data. Only a record of a store subscription stays, with no link to you (why).
Who we are
Athena is made by Johan Tidemann Esbjug, an independent developer in Norway. He is the controller of your data: the person responsible for it under data protection law (the GDPR, as it applies in Norway and the EU).
You can write to him about anything in this policy at j.tidemann@me.com. When this page says “we” or “us”, it means him.
What we store
People using Athena share their mornings in a circle: a small private group (up to 12 people) that you create or join with an invite code. Everything below is visible only to the members of your circles unless it says otherwise.
| What | Why | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Your account ID — a random identifier our server creates when you first open the app, and the sign-in tokens that go with it. Before it does, Apple’s App Attest and Firebase App Check confirm that the request comes from the real Athena app. Your Support ID is the first 12 characters of it. | So your data belongs to you and only you can change it, and to keep fake accounts out | You (the tokens stay in your iPhone’s Keychain) and our server |
| Your name as you type it, what you use Athena for (for example “My parent or grandparent”), the look you picked for the app (for example Grandma or Son), and a circle’s name if someone gives it one | To show you to your circle and shape the app around you | Your circles |
| Alarm settings — times, days, on or off — your time zone, and the time of your next alarm | To show whether you’re up, waiting or need attention, and to know when a quiet morning should send a heads-up | Your circles; the next alarm time is used by our server |
| Check-ins and snoozes — when you tapped “I’m up”, and until when you snoozed | To show your morning status and tell the people who look out for you | Your circles |
| Feed entries — alarm set, on or off, woke up, snoozed, joined (and who invited you), left, and any ray of sunshine or moonlight you send, to the circle or to one person in it | The shared feed | Your circles |
| Reactions (☀️ ❤️ 🌸 🚀 😂) you give or get | The shared feed and notifications such as “Anna ❤️ your wake-up” | Your circles |
| Your settings for people you look after — a nickname, whether you chose “Morning update” or “Only if needed”, and how long to wait before a “needs attention” alert | To name them your way and send the notifications you chose | Your circles |
| Where you woke up — only if you turn it on: coordinates (rounded to about 1 km when “Approximate”), their accuracy, and a short place name such as “Grünerløkka, Oslo”, never a street address | So your circle can see where you woke up | Your circles |
| Alert health — whether your phone can receive alerts (for example, notifications or Time Sensitive notifications switched off for Athena, or backup alerts on), when your phone last confirmed its notification address, the result of any test alert you send, and delivery problems our server noticed when sending to you | So you, and the people who rely on you, can find out when alerts might not arrive and fix it | You and your circles (the app shows a problem to others only when it’s clear) |
| Connection notes — for people with an alarm: when your phone last made contact with our server, how many of the last 14 mornings it was offline around the alarm, whether a check-in had to wait for a connection, and, after a missed wake-up alert, our note that your phone may have been offline and when it was last in touch. Never your network, and never the times you were offline. | So a “not up yet” alert can say when a phone may simply be offline, and a late “I’m up” can say why it was late | Our server. Your circle’s apps receive it with your other details, but show only the note, on a morning someone got an alert |
| Notification details — your phone’s push tokens for notifications and widgets, your language and the kind of phone (iPhone or Android) | To send notifications in your language and keep widgets up to date | You and our server only |
| Invite codes — the code, the circle it opens, who made it and when it expires | To let someone join your circle once | Our server only |
| Safety records — counters that limit how often accounts, invites, joins and other actions can be tried (per account, and per network using a scrambled form of the IP address, never the address itself), markers that stop a notification being sent twice, and a block on an account that is used for abuse | To prevent abuse, spam and duplicate notifications | Our server only |
Every request from the app also carries the technical details any internet connection needs, such as your IP address and the app and system version. Google’s servers use them to deliver the request and keep short technical logs (see How long we keep it). They aren’t linked to your name.
If you email us, we get your email address, your message and anything you choose to include, such as your Support ID. We use it only to help you.
Plans and purchases
Your own alarm is always free. Sharing with a circle needs an Athena Connect subscription, which one person in the circle can buy. Apple handles the payment: we never see your card, your bank details or your Apple Account.
- What we store: the App Store’s transaction IDs for the subscription (on Android, once it’s available, Google Play’s purchase token), which plan it is (monthly or yearly), its state and dates (for example when it renews or ends, and whether it renews), whether an offer such as a free-access code was used, an app account token (a code made from your account ID, which Apple keeps with the purchase so we can match it to your account), and which circles the plan covers. If you’re given free access by email, we also note which code went to which email address, so each person gets one.
- Why: to confirm your plan with Apple, restore it on a new phone, keep your circles covered, and apply the notices Apple sends us when a subscription renews, is cancelled, fails to renew or is refunded.
- Who can see it: everyone in a circle sees who covers it and when that coverage ends or renews (for example “Covered by Dad”). The purchase details themselves are for our server only.
- After “Delete my data”: the purchase record is kept, but unlinked from your deleted account, for as long as the store subscription exists, because Apple keeps sending notices about it. If you later tap Restore purchases, it’s linked to your new account again. Deleting your data doesn’t cancel the subscription: cancel it in your iPhone’s Settings first (see Help).
The free week
Every new circle is free for its first week together, starting when the first person joins. Nothing is charged and no payment details are asked for. We note on the circle when the first person joined it and when its free week ends; everyone in the circle can see that date.
Each phone gets one free week. To check this, Athena looks at whether this phone, this App Store account or this Athena account already had one. On iPhone it uses Apple’s DeviceCheck (Apple keeps two yes/no values for the phone; we store nothing from it), a scrambled form of the App Store’s download identifier for this app, and, for 30 days, a scrambled form of the network address a free week was started from. On Android it uses a scrambled form of the phone’s Android ID for this app. The scrambled values are made with a secret key, stored separately from your account, and kept for up to 24 months, only to prevent misuse of the free week. While a new circle waits for its first member, these values are also kept with that circle for up to 14 days, so its free week can start when someone joins. On a child’s phone the same check runs once, when the child’s circle is created; it reads these device values only, nothing about the child.
If you think your phone was marked by mistake, for example a second-hand phone, email j.tidemann@me.com and we’ll reset it.
What stays on your phone
Some things never leave your iPhone:
- Phone numbers you save for someone you look after. They are never uploaded.
- Your own alarm sound. It stays on your phone and isn’t included in your phone’s backups. Athena also keeps a small note about your sound, such as how long it is and when you added it. The note doesn’t contain the sound or the original file’s name. On iPhone, that note is part of the app’s settings, which your phone’s normal backup can include. You choose the video or file with your phone’s own picker, so Athena doesn’t ask for access to your photo library. Settings › Delete my data removes the sound and the note.
- Backup alerts your iPhone sets for itself, in case a “needs attention” alert from our server doesn’t arrive, and the times your phone noticed it was offline.
What we don’t collect
- No email address, phone number or password — there’s no account to create.
- No contacts, photos, health data or advertising identifier.
- No alarm sounds. If you make your alarm sound from one of your own videos or sound files, it’s made and kept only on your phone. We never receive it, it’s never uploaded, and your circle can’t hear it.
- No location in the background. A place is only taken at the moment you tap “I’m up”, with the app open, and only if you turned sharing on.
- No payment details. Apple handles every payment.
- No analytics or crash-reporting services, and no advertising or tracking code of any kind. Athena doesn’t track you across other companies’ apps or websites. The only exception is Google’s own: the Firebase software that connects the app to our server tells Google its version and the kind of phone it runs on, so Google can maintain it. It says nothing about what you do in Athena.
Athena doesn’t ask for health information. Whether someone is up yet isn’t medical information, but please don’t put health details in names or nicknames.
Where it’s stored and who helps us
We use Google Firebase (Google Cloud) as our processor, under Google’s data processing terms:
- Cloud Firestore, our database, in the
eur3multi-region — data centres in the European Union (Belgium and the Netherlands). - Cloud Functions, which send notifications and handle accounts, invites, plans, the free week and deletion, in
europe-west1(Belgium). - Firebase Authentication, which keeps your account ID, and Firebase App Check, which confirms that requests come from the real app. These, and Google Cloud’s technical logs, may process your account ID and the technical data that comes with every request (such as your IP address) outside the EU and EEA, for example in the United States. Such transfers rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses in Google’s terms and, for the United States, the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.
- Firebase Cloud Messaging delivers notifications to Android phones, once Athena is available on Android. It receives the notification text.
Apple provides some parts of the service under its own privacy policy:
- The Apple Push Notification service delivers notifications to iPhones. To do that, Apple receives the notification text — for example “Marie is up ☀️ — 7:02 · Grünerløkka”. Widget updates carry no personal content.
- App Attest and DeviceCheck confirm that the app is genuine and whether a phone already had its free week.
- The App Store handles payments, renewals, cancellations and refunds. Our server checks purchases with Apple and receives Apple’s notices about them.
- Apple Maps turns your location into a place name, only when you share where you woke up.
We don’t sell your data, and we don’t share it with anyone else, unless the law requires us to.
Why we may use it (legal bases)
- To provide the app you asked for — alarms, status, feed, reactions, notifications, alert health, connection notes, widgets, invites, plans and purchases (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b), performance of a contract).
- Your consent for sharing where you woke up (Art. 6(1)(a)). You can withdraw it at any time by turning sharing off; the place is then deleted.
- Our legitimate interest in keeping the service safe, fair and working — App Check, rate limits, scrambled network addresses, duplicate-notification markers, abuse blocks, the free-week check and technical logs (Art. 6(1)(f)). You can object to this; write to us.
How long we keep it
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Feed entries and their reactions | 30 days, then deleted automatically |
| Where you woke up | Hidden from your circle after at most 24 hours, then deleted automatically; deleted at once if you turn sharing off |
| Invite codes | 10 minutes (30 minutes for a family), deleted as soon as they are used |
| Rate-limit counters | 2 to 25 hours |
| Duplicate-notification markers | 3 hours to 30 days, depending on the notification |
| A block on an account used for abuse | 400 days |
| Alert health and connection notes | Until the next alert gets through, you check in, or your phone reports again; always deleted when you leave a circle |
| Your name, alarm settings, check-ins, preferences and notification details | Until you leave the circle or delete your data |
| Purchase records | As long as the store subscription exists, and after it ends only as long as needed for refunds, restores and questions about it; unlinked from you when you delete your data |
| Free-week check (scrambled values) | Up to 24 months; the network value 30 days; with a circle nobody has joined yet, up to 14 days |
| Technical logs at Google | About 30 days |
| Recovery copies of the database | Up to 7 days, only to recover from mistakes |
| Emails you send us | As long as we need them to help you |
“Deleted automatically” means the database removes expired entries on its own, usually within a day of the time shown.
Deleting your data
In the app, open Settings › Delete my data. In one go, this removes you from every circle and deletes your name and settings, your check-ins, feed entries and reactions, any shared places, your alert health and connection notes, your notification details, your invites, your own free-week record and your account ID. On your phone it also removes your own alarm sound.
What stays: a store subscription’s purchase record, unlinked from you (see above); the scrambled free-week values, which were never linked to your account; and, for a short time, Google’s technical logs and recovery copies (see the table above). Deleting your data, or the app, doesn’t cancel a subscription. Cancel it first in your iPhone’s Settings.
Deleting the app alone doesn’t delete what’s stored on our servers, so use Delete my data first. You can also leave a single circle in the app; your entries and reactions in that circle are deleted too. A circle’s owner — and, in a family with children, a guardian — can remove a member, which deletes that member’s data in the circle.
If you no longer have the app, email j.tidemann@me.com. Because we don’t know who you are, we may ask for details that let us find your data, such as your Support ID, your circle and the name you used.
Children
Athena is made for families. It isn’t directed at children, and it isn’t in the App Store’s Kids category. A child uses Athena only on a phone that a parent or guardian sets up for them, after a short grown-up check. The grown-ups who join that circle with a code become the child’s guardians.
- For a child, Athena stores only what the family needs to see their mornings: the name the grown-up types, alarm times, check-ins and snoozes, the feed and reactions, connection notes, and the technical details that keep notifications working. Nothing is used for advertising or profiling, and nothing is shared outside the circle.
- Sharing where the child woke up is off unless a guardian turns it on, and the child’s screen then says so plainly. Notifications about a child never include a place.
- The child’s phone never shows prices or purchase screens. A grown-up pays, if anyone does, from their own phone.
- Once a parent or guardian has set up a child’s phone, the child can choose their own alarm sound there. It stays on the child’s phone and isn’t shared with anyone, including the grown-ups in the circle.
- Guardians can see the child’s mornings in the app, and can delete the child’s data at any time with Settings › Delete my data on the child’s phone. A guardian can also ask us by email to see or delete a child’s data.
We don’t knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13 (or the age of digital consent where they live) unless a parent or guardian has set up their phone. If you believe a child is using Athena without a parent’s or guardian’s agreement, please email us and we’ll delete their data.
Your rights
You have the right to see the data we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, to limit or object to how we use it, to withdraw your consent, and to get a copy in a portable format. Most of this you can do directly in the app — you can change your name and settings at any time, turn location sharing off, and delete everything from Settings. For anything else, write to j.tidemann@me.com and we’ll answer within one month.
You can also complain to a data protection authority — for example where you live, or Datatilsynet, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (datatilsynet.no).
Security
All traffic is encrypted. Our server creates an account only after Apple’s App Attest confirms the request comes from the genuine app. Database rules check your account on every read and write, so people can only see circles they belong to and only change their own entries. Invite codes are short-lived, single-use and rate-limited. Network addresses and device values are stored only in scrambled form, made with a secret key. Your sign-in tokens are kept in your iPhone’s Keychain. Only the developer can open the database, and only to run and fix the service or to help when you ask.
Athena is a gentle morning check-in. It isn’t a medical alarm or a call-for-help service, and it never contacts anyone outside your circle.
This website
This website uses no cookies, no analytics and no third-party scripts or fonts. It is hosted on Firebase Hosting (Google), which keeps short technical logs (such as the IP address and time of a request) to keep the site running safely. If you pause the animation, your browser remembers that choice on your device; it’s never sent to us.
Changes and contact
If we change how Athena uses data, we’ll update this page and, for bigger changes, tell you in the app first.
Questions? j.tidemann@me.com. The terms for plans and your own alarm sound are on the Terms page.
Version of 29 September 2026.