Privacy policy
How Paperclock handles your data: on this website and in the app for iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch.
01Controller
This is an English translation of our German privacy policy. If the two differ, the German version applies.
The controller responsible for processing your data on this website and in connection with the Paperclock app, within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is Jan Koenig, koenigmedia (Einzelunternehmen, a sole proprietorship), Brunnenweg 17a, 21643 Beckdorf, Germany. Phone +49 170 3014775, email jan@koenigmedia.de. Paperclock is a product of koenigmedia.
There is no data protection officer because we are not required to appoint one: koenigmedia is a sole proprietorship without employees, and none of the cases under Art. 37(1) GDPR and § 38 BDSG (German Federal Data Protection Act) apply. If you have any questions about data protection, just write to jan@koenigmedia.de.
02The key points in brief
Under normal circumstances, this website sets no cookies, stores nothing in your browser and uses no tracking, no analytics services and no advertising pixels. Fonts, images and scripts all come from this website itself; your browser does not connect to Google, social networks or any other third parties.
On the website, data about you is only processed in two cases: when you visit a page (technically necessary, via our host Cloudflare) and when you contact us by email or phone.
The Paperclock app stores your data on your iPhone and Mac, and the running timer and today's entries on your Apple Watch too. If your device is signed in to iCloud, the app also syncs your data via your own iCloud. It turns this on during setup, and you can turn it off at any time. We have no access to this data: there is no user account, there are no analytics or advertising services, and the app sends none of your content to us. We only receive crash reports via Apple, and only if you have allowed sharing with app developers. Data only goes to Notion if you set up the connection yourself. If you connect Notion by signing in to Notion, a small sign-in service of ours passes the access key on to the app without storing it.
03Hosting and delivery
The website is hosted by Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA (Cloudflare). The pages are pre-built files that Cloudflare delivers through its worldwide server network, usually from a data centre near you.
For a page to reach you, Cloudflare processes technical connection data with every request: the IP address of your device, the date and time, the address requested, and your browser, operating system and the previously visited page, insofar as your browser transmits them. Cloudflare uses this data to deliver the page, fend off attacks and keep the service running securely. We ourselves do not see individual requests, only aggregated figures such as the number of page views, and we do not store any access logs.
The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is a secure, fast and reliable website; without this data, no page can be delivered. Cloudflare processes the data on our behalf; the data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR is part of Cloudflare's contractual terms. On the transfer to the USA, see “Transfers to countries outside the EU”. The same applies to our sign-in service at auth.paperclock.app, which also runs at Cloudflare (see “Integrations”).
04Data in the app
Paperclock runs on your iPhone, your Mac and your Apple Watch. There is no user account with us; you do not register anywhere. Whatever you create in the app is stored in a database on your iPhone or Mac: your business details such as name, address, tax number and bank details, optionally a profile picture and a logo, your clients with their contact details, projects, tasks, time entries with notes, and invoices with their PDF and XML files. If you back up your device via iCloud Backup, Time Machine or your computer, the app's data is included.
We have no access to this data. The app does not send it to us, and there is no Paperclock server where it ends up. The sign-in service for Notion (see “Integrations”) receives none of this data. We therefore do not process it; you alone decide what happens to it. If you add clients with names, addresses or email addresses, you process this data for your own business and are yourself the controller within the meaning of the GDPR. You do not need a data processing agreement with us for this, because we do not receive this data. If iCloud sync is on or you connect Notion, your clients' data is also held by Apple or Notion. Whether that is appropriate for your business is for you to decide as the controller; you can turn iCloud sync off at any time in the app's settings.
The app contains no third-party analytics, crash reporting or advertising services and no usage measurement of its own, and it does not track you across other apps or websites. It writes technical logs only to your device's system log; they are not sent to us. It only establishes its own internet connections to iCloud while sync is on, to Notion if you connect Notion, and to our sign-in service at auth.paperclock.app when you connect Notion by signing in to Notion, when the connection is renewed or when you disconnect it. All of these connections are encrypted. Purchases and the status of your subscription are handled by the system through Apple's App Store (see “App Store and payments”).
Crash reports and statistics from Apple: if you have turned on sharing with app developers on your iPhone or Mac under “Privacy & Security” › “Analytics & Improvements”, Apple provides us with crash reports and usage statistics for the app. Crash reports contain, for example, the device model, system version, app version and the technical sequence of events before the crash; we only receive statistics in aggregated form. We do not receive your name, your Apple Account or your contact details in the process. We use this information to find bugs and improve the app. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest is a stable app. Whether you share is up to you in these settings, and you can change it there at any time.
Pre-release versions via TestFlight: if you test a pre-release version via Apple's TestFlight, Apple provides us with the information TestFlight foresees for this, for example your name and email address if we invited you by email, installation and session data, crash reports and the feedback you send yourself with screenshots. The TestFlight app shows exactly which information this is. We only use it for the test and for troubleshooting (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and delete downloaded information no later than twelve months after the test ends.
System features: the app only shows notifications, such as a reminder about a timer that has been running for a long time, after you have allowed them. On iPhone, widgets, Control Center and the Live Activity show the running timer, and you can start and stop timers with Siri or Shortcuts. For this, the app stores the title, client, project, start time and hourly rate of the running timer in a storage area on the device that only the app and its widgets can read. The app does not access your location, contacts, camera, microphone or photo library; you choose the images for your profile and logo yourself. If you speak a command to Siri, Apple processes the voice input under its own terms.
Apple Watch: the Watch app has no database of its own and no connection to iCloud, Notion or us. Your iPhone sends it, over the connection Apple provides between iPhone and Watch, the running timer, today's entries and the start list with titles, clients and projects. The Watch keeps the latest state on the watch for its complications. If you start, pause or stop a timer on the Watch, that command goes to your iPhone, which saves it in the app.
If you export, share or back up invoices, reports or data as PDF, XML, CSV or ZIP, the files end up wherever you yourself put or send them.
05Syncing via iCloud
During setup, the app turns on iCloud sync if your device is signed in to iCloud. That way, data you have already created on another device arrives on the new device automatically. Without an iCloud sign-in, sync stays off and the app stores data only on the device. You can turn it off at any time, per device, in the app's settings. When it is on, the app syncs your data between your devices via your own iCloud, including the PDF and XML files of finalised invoices. For this, it uses Apple's CloudKit service, and exclusively the private database of your iCloud account. So that changes arrive quickly, Apple notifies the app through its push service; this, too, only happens between Apple and your device. The data counts towards your iCloud storage.
Only you and your devices have access to the private database, not us. Paperclock does not run its own server for this. Apple only shows us aggregated technical metrics, such as the number of requests, but no content and no information about who uses the app. Apple provides iCloud under your own Apple Account, transmits and stores the data in encrypted form and processes it in accordance with the iCloud terms and Apple's privacy policy at apple.com/de/legal/privacy.
To make sure nothing is accidentally loaded into a different iCloud account, the app keeps on the device a non-reversible check value (hash) of the identifier that iCloud assigns to your account for this app. This value never leaves the device.
If you turn off sync, syncing stops; the data on the device and in iCloud is kept. You can delete what is stored in your iCloud via the iCloud storage management of your Apple Account.
06Integrations
Integrations are optional and only become active once you connect them yourself. Without a connection, no data flows to these services. With a connection, the data goes directly from your device to the service, under your own account and your own contract with the provider. We are not involved in this exchange of data and receive nothing from it. The only exception is the sign-in service for Notion, see below.
You connect Notion in the app with “Connect Notion”. The app opens Notion's own sign-in page in a system window. There you sign in to Notion and choose the pages and databases Paperclock may see. Notion then gives the app an access key (token) for your workspace via our sign-in service (see below). Alternatively, in the settings you can paste the access key of an internal integration that you create yourself in your Notion workspace; the sign-in service is then not involved. Either way, the app only sees what you share in Notion. It reads the tasks from the databases you select and writes stopped time entries as rows in your time database, with description, start and end, duration, client, project, ticket, note and the name of the device, depending on how you have mapped the fields. The provider is Notion Labs, Inc. in the USA. How Notion handles your data is governed by your contract with Notion and Notion's privacy policy.
To sign in, Notion requires a secret key that must not be stored in an app. The exchange therefore runs through a small sign-in service of ours at Cloudflare (Cloudflare Workers) at auth.paperclock.app. It only acts when you connect or reconnect Notion, when the app renews an expired access key and when you disconnect or switch to another workspace. What passes through it is the one-time code Notion issues after you allow access, the access key and the key used to renew it, Notion's answer with the ID, name and icon of your workspace, and the technical connection data such as your IP address. Any details about your Notion user that Notion includes are discarded by the service at once; it only passes the rest on to the app. Paperclock does not ask Notion for your name or email address. Your time entries, clients, invoices or tasks never reach the service. We store none of it and write none of it to logs; Cloudflare processes the connection data as described under “Hosting and delivery”. To prevent abuse, the service only accepts a limited number of requests per minute from one IP address; for this, Cloudflare counts the requests per IP address for the current minute. The service sends the code and keys to Notion because you request the connection to your Notion account. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, and Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR for the limit (our legitimate interest: a service that is not abused). Cloudflare processes the data on our behalf under Art. 28 GDPR. Signing in to Notion is voluntary: without it, you use Paperclock without Notion or connect Notion with the access key of an internal integration.
The app stores the access key and, when you sign in through Notion, the key used to renew it in your device's keychain, never in its database and never in the app's iCloud data. If iCloud Keychain is turned on, Apple syncs both with your other devices using end-to-end encryption. You remove them with “Disconnect Notion”. For a connection made by signing in, the app also signs out of Notion through the sign-in service if your device is online. You remove the “Paperclock” entry in Notion under Settings › Connections. When sync is on, the app syncs via your iCloud which databases you have connected and how you have mapped the fields.
The connections to Lexware Office and sevDesk shown in the app as “kommt später” (coming later) do not exist yet; the app transmits nothing to them. We will update this policy before they become available.
You send invoices and payment reminders via the mail app on your device: the app opens a ready-made email window with recipient, text and attachments, and the email is sent from your own mailbox. Nothing passes through us.
07App Store and payments
Paperclock is only available on the App Store. Purchase, subscription, trial period, billing, cancellation and refunds are handled through Apple and your Apple Account, not through an account with us. The provider of the App Store for customers in the EU is Apple Distribution International Ltd., Hollyhill Industrial Estate, Hollyhill, Cork, Ireland. Apple processes this data as an independent controller in accordance with its privacy policy at apple.com/de/legal/privacy.
We do not receive any payment details, name, email address or Apple Account from Apple. Apple provides us with aggregated sales and download figures, for example by country and period, and, if you have agreed to share with app developers, the crash reports and statistics described under “Data in the app”. The app checks on your device, through the App Store's interface (StoreKit), whether you have a subscription. It keeps the result on the device so that widgets and the Apple Watch know it too, and does not send it to us. The reminder before the end of the trial is a notification the app schedules on your device.
If you review the app on the App Store, your review is public under the name you chose there. We can read it and reply to it publicly there. The legal basis for our reply is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest is responding to feedback.
08Contact by email or phone
If you email or call us, we process the information you provide, such as your name, email address or phone number and the content of your message, in order to deal with your request. We do not record phone calls.
The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR if your request concerns a contract with you or steps prior to entering into one, otherwise Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, with our legitimate interest in answering enquiries.
Emails to support@paperclock.app are received by Cloudflare (see “Hosting and delivery”) with its Cloudflare Email Routing service and forwarded to our mailbox jan@koenigmedia.de. Cloudflare does not store the messages. Cloudflare processes the emails on our behalf under Art. 28 GDPR. On the transfer to the USA, see “Transfers to countries outside the EU”.
The mailbox jan@koenigmedia.de, where the forwarded emails also arrive, is hosted on Google Workspace; the provider is Google Cloud EMEA Limited, 70 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2, Ireland (Google). Google processes the emails on our behalf on the basis of a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR and may also process data at Google LLC in the USA in doing so.
09Transfers to countries outside the EU
Cloudflare and Notion are based in the USA, and Google may also process data at Google LLC in the USA. For the USA, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework on 10 July 2023 (Art. 45 GDPR). It applies to certified companies. According to their own statements, Cloudflare, Inc. and Google LLC are certified; Notion Labs, Inc. is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
Where the decision does not apply, for example for recipients without certification, the providers safeguard the transfer with EU standard contractual clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR). You can request a copy of these safeguards from us.
The app itself does not transfer any of your content to us. If you connect Notion, data goes from your device directly to Notion in the USA, on the basis of your own contract with Notion. If you sign in to Notion to do so, the code and the access keys pass through our sign-in service at Cloudflare to Notion in the USA.
11Retention periods
Visiting the website and the sign-in service: Cloudflare processes the connection data as described under “Hosting and delivery”. The sign-in service for Notion stores nothing: it only passes the code, access keys and workspace details on to the app. The count used to limit requests only applies to the current minute.
App: your data remains on your devices and, with sync, in your iCloud until you delete it there. We store none of it. Apple provides crash reports and statistics in its developer tools and decides itself how long they can be accessed there. Crash reports that we download for troubleshooting are deleted as soon as the bug is fixed, and after twelve months at the latest.
Enquiries by email or phone: if no contract results, we delete the data no later than six months after the last contact. We keep business correspondence for six years under § 147 AO (German Fiscal Code), and invoices and accounting records for eight years under § 147 AO and § 14b UStG (German VAT Act). The legal basis for this is Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR.
12Your rights
You have the following rights insofar as the legal requirements are met. An informal message to jan@koenigmedia.de or a letter to the address above is all it takes.
We cannot see data that is stored only on your devices or in your iCloud, so we can neither hand it over nor delete it. You manage it yourself in the app. You remove it completely by deleting the app from your devices and deleting its data in your iCloud.
Complaints: you can lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the EU country where you live or work. The authority responsible for us is the Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz Niedersachsen (data protection authority of Lower Saxony), Prinzenstraße 5, 30159 Hannover, www.lfd.niedersachsen.de.
No automated decision-making within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR takes place.
- Access Art. 15 GDPR
- Rectification Art. 16 GDPR
- Erasure Art. 17 GDPR
- Restriction of processing Art. 18 GDPR
- Data portability Art. 20 GDPR
- Objection Art. 21 GDPR
- Complaint Art. 77 GDPR
13Your right to object
If we process your data on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, you can object to this processing at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation (Art. 21(1) GDPR). We will then no longer process the data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
14Encryption and changes
The website uses an encrypted connection (TLS), recognisable by “https://” in the address bar. The app also talks to the sign-in service, and the sign-in service to Notion, only over encrypted connections.
We update this policy when the website, the app, the services we use or the legal situation change. The version published here applies.
Last updated: 1 November 2026