Privacy Policy for Elsewhere

Effective date: May 31, 2026

Elsewhere ("the app," "we," "us," "our") is a world-clock app developed by 229 South. We built Elsewhere to need as little of your data as possible. This policy explains, in plain terms, exactly what the app does and does not do with information.

The short version: Elsewhere has no accounts and asks for no personal information. It never requests your location, contains no ads, and includes no third-party analytics or tracking. Your list of cities and your preferences stay on your device. The only thing that leaves your device is a random, anonymous identifier used to deliver city artwork and — if you ever choose to buy optional content — to validate that purchase with Apple.

Information we do NOT collect

  • No identity. No name, email address, phone number, Apple ID, or account of any kind.
  • No location. Elsewhere never requests location permission. Your "home" city is chosen by matching your device's own time-zone setting, entirely on your device; that setting is not sent to us.
  • No advertising identifier (IDFA) and no ads.
  • No third-party analytics, tracking, or advertising SDKs. We do not track you across apps or websites, and we do not sell or share your data with data brokers.

Information stored only on your device

The cities you save, your chosen home city, and your per-city visual-style choices are stored locally on your device (in the app's own preferences) and are never uploaded to us.

Information sent to our servers

To deliver city artwork beyond the images bundled inside the app — and to support optional purchases — the app communicates with our backend (operated on Cloudflare). When it does, the following is involved:

  • An anonymous device identifier. The first time the app runs, it generates a random cryptographic key pair on your device. The private key never leaves your device (it is held in the iOS Keychain). The matching public key is sent to our server, which issues a random device ID. This identifier is not connected to your name, email, Apple ID, or any personal information. It exists only so the server can deliver the right artwork to your installation and remember any content you have unlocked.
  • Which artwork you request. When the app downloads a city scene that is not already bundled in the app, the request tells the server which city, visual style, and time-of-day image to send. The server can therefore see which cities you download artwork for, associated only with the anonymous device ID above.
  • Network metadata. As with any internet service, our hosting provider (Cloudflare) processes your device's IP address and standard request information in order to return responses and to protect the service from abuse. We use this solely to operate and secure the service.

For each device, we store only: the anonymous device ID, the public key, and timestamps for when the device was first seen and last seen.

Purchases

Elsewhere launches as a free app. If optional paid content is offered in the future, all payments are processed by Apple through the App Store — we never receive or store your credit-card number or payment details. To unlock purchased content, Apple provides us a cryptographically signed record of the transaction, which we verify and associate with your anonymous device ID so that your content stays available to you.

Children's privacy

Elsewhere does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children under 13. Because the app collects no personal information and contains no ads or social features, it is suitable for a general audience.

Data retention

Because we hold no information that identifies you, there is nothing personal to delete. The anonymous device record persists so that any unlocked content remains available to your installation. If you delete the app, the key stored on your device is removed; reinstalling generates a new, unrelated anonymous identifier.

Your rights (GDPR / CCPA and similar laws)

We do not collect personal data that identifies you, we do not sell or share personal information, and we do not use your information for targeted advertising. If you live in a jurisdiction with data-protection rights and have questions about the anonymous data described above, contact us at the address below.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app evolves. Material changes will be reflected here with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Email thisway@229south.net.