Privacy policy
Last updated November 6, 2026
- Your information stays on your phone, unless you join a 👨👩👧 Family: then only what you choose to share is kept on FirstWise's server so your family can see it.
- Family accounts use no email, name of record, password or age: just a first name or nickname you pick and a random code.
- We don't collect, sell or share your personal information, and there are no ads or tracking.
- Each permission is used only for the feature described below, and only if you turn it on.
Who we are
FirstWise is an Android app made by an independent developer. In this policy, "we" means the maker of FirstWise. Contact: support@firstwise.app.
What stays on your phone
Everything you add to FirstWise is saved only on your phone: tasks, events, goals, streaks, achievements, lists, recipes and their photos, weight entries, settings, and daily screen-time totals. We never receive a copy, unless you share it with your family (below). Uninstalling the app, or clearing its data in Android settings, deletes everything on the phone.
Phone only (optional)
FirstWise never requires an account. If you turn on Settings → Privacy → "Keep everything on this phone" (also offered on the first setup screen), FirstWise sends nothing to its server: cloud AI, Family, Email to FirstWise, account backup and Compare are turned off. On-phone AI still works on phones that support it. Calendar links and Google Tasks connect only to your own accounts, and only if you add them.
Backups
Backup file: Settings → Backup & account → Save a backup makes one file with everything in FirstWise (and your recipe photos). It goes wherever you choose, like Google Drive or your phone. We never receive it.
Android's own backup: if backup is on in your phone's settings, Android may copy FirstWise's data to your Google account, and back to a new phone. That's handled by Google, under Google's privacy policy.
Account (optional)
You can use FirstWise without an account. If you choose "Sign in with Google", FirstWise's server (run on Cloudflare) keeps:
- A one-way code made from your Google account ID, so it can find your backup again. We don't keep your email address, name or photo. (Your email is shown only on your phone, to tell you which account you're signed in with.)
- Your latest backup: your settings, tasks, events, projects, lists, recipes (without photos), goals, levels and badges, packed into one file, made about once a day.
- Scrambled sign-in keys for the phones you're signed in on.
The backup is used only to restore your data. It's never sold, used for ads, or used to train AI. Delete your account any time in Settings → Backup & account → Delete account: your account, backup and sign-in keys are deleted from the server right away, and FirstWise keeps working on your phone. You can also ask us to delete it.
Google Tasks (optional)
If you connect Google Tasks (Settings → Import & sync), FirstWise asks Google for permission to see and edit your Google Tasks. Your phone then talks to Google directly: it reads your open tasks (their titles and due dates) to add them to FirstWise, and marks a task completed (or not) in Google Tasks when you tick it off (or untick it) in FirstWise. This data goes only between your phone and Google. It never goes to FirstWise's server, and it isn't sold, used for ads, or used to train AI. Disconnect any time in Settings → Import & sync (the tasks stay in FirstWise as normal tasks), or remove FirstWise's access in your Google Account → Security → Third-party connections.
FirstWise's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Importing a list (optional)
When you paste a list or share one from another app, FirstWise turns each line into a task on your phone. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Email to FirstWise (optional)
If you turn on Settings → Email to FirstWise, your copy of the app gets its own random address. Emails you forward to it are received by FirstWise's server (run on Cloudflare), which keeps only the sender, subject and text (no attachments) until your phone picks them up, and then deletes them. Anything not picked up is deleted after 14 days. FirstWise never connects to or reads your email account. Getting a new address stops the old one working.
Compare with others (optional)
Levels and badges are worked out on your phone. If you turn on "Compare with others", your phone sends only this week's point total and the app's random ID (no name, email, tasks or account). The server keeps a count of how many people are in each point range for that week, so it can tell you what share of people you're ahead of, and deletes it after about two weeks.
Family sharing (optional)
If you start or join a family, FirstWise's server (run on Cloudflare) keeps:
- Your family's name, a 6-letter invite code, and for each person: the name or nickname they typed, a color, a role (parent, adult or teen), when they joined and were last active, and a random sign-in token (stored only as a scrambled hash).
- Only the items you share: the Groceries and Shopping lists (unless you turn "Family list" off), and each event, task, project or recipe you mark 👨👩👧 Shared. Private items and recipe photos never leave your phone.
- Wish-list items and "🎁 I'll get this" marks. The server never sends a mark to the person whose list it is.
- For teen accounts only: the rules a parent sets (paused apps, limits, chore time, and the parent PIN stored only as a scrambled hash), and the teen phone's check-in, every 30 minutes: whether the app watcher, screen time access and uninstall protection are on, when protection last stopped, today's minutes in each paused app, time earned, tasks and chores done, and the list of apps on the phone so the parent can choose which to pause. Only parents in the family (and the teen) can see these.
Everyone in your family can see what's shared. Shared data is sent over a secure connection, is never sold, used for ads or used to train AI, and is deleted when it's removed in the app. When someone leaves, their wish list and teen data are deleted; when the last person leaves, the whole family is deleted. AI features in Family (✨ Share out, ✨ Gift ideas) work like the other AI helpers below: only the task names, first names, or wish-list items needed for that request are sent.
Permissions and how they're used
| Permission | What it's used for |
|---|---|
| Accessibility service | To notice when you open an app you chose, so your list can show first. In supported browsers it reads the web address to block sites you listed or adult content. If you turn on Smart YouTube limits, it reads the title and channel of the video playing in YouTube to tell learning videos from others. During a Lock you started, it checks Settings, the home screen and uninstall screens for FirstWise. This is checked on your phone in the moment and never saved or sent anywhere. |
| Usage access | To show your screen time per app, enforce daily limits, and work out time saved. Stays on your phone. |
| Health Connect | Only if you connect it. Reads steps and workouts for your goals, reads resting heart rate for your Health chart, and reads and writes weight. When you finish a rep goal, FirstWise can save it as a workout so your other fitness apps see it. Health data is used only on your phone, never uploaded, sold or used for ads. |
| Camera | To count reps (for example push-ups) and to read the words in a recipe photo. Images are processed on your phone. Rep-counting frames are not saved. Recipe photos you take are kept with that recipe on your phone until you delete it. Receipt photos are read on your phone and not kept: only the item names, prices and store name you save stay on your phone. |
| Photos (picker) | When you choose a photo for a recipe. Only the photo you pick is used. |
| Internet | Only for things you ask for: AI helpers (see above), and downloading calendar links you add (to turn events into FirstWise events), recipe web pages you paste, the name of a product page you share or paste into your shopping list, and syncing with Google Tasks if you connect it (see above). Nothing about you is sent with these requests beyond what any web request includes. |
| AI helpers (optional) | Only when you tap a ✨ button (project plans, re-planning, breaking a task into steps, smart add, finding events in a flyer or message, sorting groceries by aisle, cleaning up a recipe, meal ideas, reading a receipt's items and prices), or if you turn on the YouTube "AI check". On phones that support it, Google's on-phone AI (Gemini Nano) does the work and nothing leaves your phone. On other phones, only the text needed for that request (what you typed, the words read from a photo or receipt, your grocery item names or recipe text, or a video's title for the AI check) is sent over a secure connection to FirstWise's AI server, which passes it to Anthropic's Claude API for an answer, together with a random ID for your copy of the app (no name, email or account) used only to limit how much one phone can use. Photos themselves are never sent: their words are read on your phone. Requests are not stored by FirstWise beyond these counts, not used to build a profile of you, and not sold or used for ads. Anthropic handles them under its commercial terms, which do not allow using them to train its models by default. |
| Shared sale prices (optional, off unless you turn it on) | If you turn on 🏷 Shared sale prices, then when you save a scanned receipt, only the items that were on sale are sent to FirstWise's server: the product name, brand, size, regular price and sale price, the day, and a code for the exact store. The store code is made on your phone from the store's name and the address printed on the receipt, so the address itself is never sent. Your phone's random app ID is scrambled (hashed) on the server and kept only to limit how much one phone can send and to count how many different shoppers saw a sale. Nothing that identifies you is sent or kept: no name, email, account, list, photo or the rest of the receipt. Sales are deleted after 3 days. In return, your app asks the server for today's sales at the stores on your own receipts and shows them on your grocery list. You can turn this off at any time in Settings → Privacy; with "Phone only" on, nothing is shared. |
| Notifications and alarms | For your morning and evening reminders and reminders before timed events. FirstWise reads the time of your next phone alarm to time the morning reminder. |
| Device admin (uninstall protection) | Only if you start a Lock with "Also block uninstalling", or on a teen account. It is used only to prevent uninstalling until the lock ends (or until a parent removes the teen from the family), and then turns itself off. It can't see or change anything else. |
| Run at startup | To set your reminders again after the phone restarts. |
Things we don't do
We don't have analytics, advertising or tracking tools in the app. We don't sell or share your information. We don't use your data to train AI. We don't build profiles about you.
Google Play
If you download FirstWise from Google Play, Google handles the download and any purchases under its own privacy policy. If you subscribe to FirstWise Pro, Google Play handles the payment. FirstWise only learns whether your subscription is active (to turn Pro on); we never see your card or payment details. We may see general, non-personal statistics that Google provides to all developers, such as the number of installs.
Children
FirstWise is not directed to children under 13 and has no accounts for them. Teen accounts are only for ages 13 to 17, are joined from a family a parent started, and collect only the check-in described above, which only the teen and their parents can see. FirstWise never asks for a birth date or age. A parent can remove a teen from the family at any time, which deletes their teen data from the server.
Your choices
You can turn any permission off at any time in Android settings, disconnect Health Connect, remove calendar links in Settings → Calendar, disconnect Google Tasks in Settings → Import & sync, and delete individual tasks, lists, recipes and photos in the app. Uninstalling FirstWise deletes everything it stored.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update this page and the date above. If a future version adds other optional features, this policy will be updated before they launch.
Contact
Questions or requests: support@firstwise.app