Projects / Soonest

Privacy policy

This Privacy Policy applies to Soonest (app.soonest), a calendar app for Android that will be distributed through Google Play.

Soonest is developed and published by Gabriele Lippi, an individual developer. For privacy questions, write to the developer through Soonest’s issue tracker, github.com/glippi/soonest/issues.

The related Terms of Service cover the licence — Soonest is free software under the GNU General Public License — and the limits of what a calendar app can promise. A plain-language description of the app is on its overview page.

Summary

  • Soonest does not require an account. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to sign in to.
  • Soonest does not operate a backend server. There is no developer-run service to which your data could be sent.
  • Soonest does not have the INTERNET permission, and Android does not let an app without it open a network connection. Its build also strips INTERNET and ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE from any library that would add them.
  • Soonest contains no ads, no advertising SDK, no analytics SDK, no crash-reporting SDK, no remote configuration and no billing library. Its libraries are AndroidX and Kotlin libraries.
  • Soonest does not sell or share personal data.
  • Your events stay in Android’s calendar storage on your phone, the storage every calendar app uses. Soonest keeps no database of its own and makes no copy of your calendar.
  • Syncing is done by the accounts you added to Android — Google, Exchange, DAVx⁵ or others — not by Soonest. A calendar kept on the phone alone is not synced anywhere.
  • Something leaves the app only when you send it: a “when I’m free” message or an event file through Android’s share sheet, an export to a place you pick, or a link you open in another app.

Permissions the app requests, and why

Soonest declares the permissions below. It has no internet or network-state permission, no location, contacts, camera, microphone or storage permission, and it does not read the list of apps on your phone.

Calendar

Soonest declares READ_CALENDAR and WRITE_CALENDAR and asks for both on first run, when you tap “Show my calendar”. Reading lets it show your events, search them, work out your free time, draw the home-screen widget and show reminders. Writing lets it save the events you create, edit, duplicate, import or delete; create, rename or delete a calendar kept on the phone; and add an event when an assistant asks on your behalf, as described below. Without calendar access Soonest can neither show nor keep your events, and it says so; you can allow access later in Android settings.

Notifications

Soonest declares POST_NOTIFICATIONS (required on Android 13 and later) and asks for it after calendar access, with “Allow reminders”. It is used for event reminders, with Join, Snooze and Directions, and for the countdowns you start on an event. Granting the permission does not, by itself, post anything. If you decline, the rest of the app keeps working.

Exact alarms

Soonest declares USE_EXACT_ALARM, which is granted at install and which Google Play reserves for alarm and calendar apps, and SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM on Android 12L and earlier. They exist so that a reminder you snooze comes back on time. The reminders themselves come from Android’s calendar storage, which alerts calendar apps when an event’s reminder is due.

Live Updates

Soonest declares POST_PROMOTED_NOTIFICATIONS so that, on Android 16 and later, a countdown you start on an event can show as a Live Update. Nothing is promoted unless you start a countdown.

Background work for the widget

The home-screen widget is built with AndroidX Glance, which runs on AndroidX WorkManager. WorkManager adds WAKE_LOCK, RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED and FOREGROUND_SERVICE to the app so that scheduled widget work can finish and survive a restart. None of that work sends anything off the device.

Internet

Soonest does not declare INTERNET. Its manifest removes INTERNET and ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE even if a library tries to add them. The manifest is public, with the rest of the source code.

Package visibility

Soonest’s manifest names one other app, Fewest (app.fewest), from the same developer, and the standard hand-offs it uses: maps (geo:), web links (https:), the Play Store (market:) and Android’s add-account screen. On Android 11 and later this only lets Soonest check whether Fewest is installed, to mention it in onboarding and Settings, and find the app that should receive a hand-off. It does not read the list of apps on your phone, and nothing about it leaves the device.

Information processed on your device

Your calendar

Soonest reads and writes events in Android’s calendar storage: titles, times and time zones, places, notes, repeat rules, reminders, colours and availability; guests, with their names, email addresses and responses, as your calendar accounts store them; and the calendars themselves, with the accounts they belong to. It uses them on the phone to show your days, search across five years, work out free time, count down to events and show reminders.

This information is never uploaded by Soonest. It has no way to send it anywhere, keeps no database of its own, and makes no copy of your calendar.

Calendars kept on the phone

If you have no account, or want a calendar that stays put, Soonest can create one on this device. It lives in Android’s calendar storage under a local account, not in Soonest’s own storage, and nothing syncs it. Other calendar apps on the phone can see it. Because it belongs to Android’s calendar storage rather than to Soonest, uninstalling Soonest does not delete it; delete it first in Soonest, under Calendars and accounts, if you want it gone.

Settings and important marks

Soonest stores its own settings on the phone: the look, light or dark, the first day of the week, defaults for new events, when events turn amber and vermilion, the calendar view and zoom you last used, and similar choices. Separately, it keeps the identifiers of the events you mark as important — numbers, not titles.

Typing an event

When you type an event the way you’d say it, the sentence is read on the phone to find the day, the times, the place and the rest. It is not sent anywhere, and it is not kept: what is stored is the event itself, in your calendar.

Notifications and the widget

Reminders, countdowns and the home-screen widget show event titles, times and places where Android displays them, including on the lock screen, according to your device’s notification and lock-screen settings.

Shared files

When you share an event, Soonest writes it as a small .ics file in its own cache, so that Android’s share sheet can pass it on. Files older than an hour are deleted the next time you share.

Android backup and device transfer

Soonest allows Android’s app backup for two small files only: its settings and the important marks. Depending on your Android version and your device and Google account settings, Android may include them in a cloud backup or a phone-to-phone transfer and restore them on a new device. Your events are excluded; they belong to their calendar accounts. The backup is run by Android and Google, not by the developer, who cannot read it, and you can turn it off in your device settings.

Information sent off your device

Soonest the app sends nothing: it cannot open a network connection. The cases below leave the app only because you hand them to another app, or because Android does.

Share when I’m free

“Share when I’m free” works out the free stretches of your coming week on the phone, and shows the message word for word before anything happens: the days you chose, their free times, and your time zone. It contains no event titles, places or guests. It leaves only when you tap Share, as plain text through Android’s share sheet to the app you pick, or when you tap Copy, to the clipboard. The app you pick then handles it under its own policy.

Sharing and exporting events

Sharing an event hands an .ics file to the app you pick in the share sheet. It carries the event’s title, times, place, notes, repeat rule, availability and reminders, but not its guests. Exporting writes every event of a calendar you choose to an .ics file, in a place you pick with Android’s file picker. Soonest uploads neither; where the file goes next is up to you and the app or service you chose.

Importing

Importing reads only the .ics file you pick, or open from another app, and adds its events to the calendar you choose.

Links and places you open

Join opens a video call’s link in the app you use for it, or in your browser. Links in an event’s notes open directly in your browser, without Google’s google.com/url redirect. Directions and Open in maps hand the event’s place to your maps app. The licence page and Fewest’s store listing open in your browser or the Play Store. Each of those apps handles what it receives under its own policy.

Assistants

On Android 16 and later, Soonest offers assistants on your phone one thing through Android’s AppFunctions: adding events. When you ask an assistant to, it can send Soonest a sentence, or a title, start, length and place. Soonest reads it on the phone, adds the event to your calendar — the default one, unless the sentence names another — and returns that event’s title, start and calendar name. Assistants cannot use Soonest to read, change or delete anything else in your calendar. What you said to the assistant is handled by its provider, under its own policy.

Your calendar accounts

Changes you make to an account’s calendar — Google, Exchange, a CalDAV server through DAVx⁵, or any other — are synced by that account on Android, under its provider’s policy. Soonest takes no part in the transfer.

Google Play

Soonest is free and has no in-app purchases. Once it is on Google Play, downloads and updates happen there, under the Google Privacy Policy. Soonest contains no Google Play library and never talks to Google Play from inside the app.

Information Soonest does not collect

Soonest does not operate user accounts and does not collect, store, or transmit any of the following to developer-operated services:

  • your events, calendars, notes or guests
  • name, email address, or phone number
  • contacts or messages
  • location of any precision
  • photos, files, or audio
  • payment card or bank details
  • advertising identifiers, device fingerprints, or any identifier used for tracking
  • analytics events, usage statistics, performance traces, or crash reports

Data sharing

Soonest does not sell personal data and does not share personal data for advertising or analytics. There is no pipe through which the developer could share it.

Information reaches third parties only where a step you take requires it:

  • the app you pick in the share sheet, for a free-time message or an event file
  • the place or service you pick for an export
  • the call, browser or maps app that opens a link or a place
  • an assistant you ask to add an event
  • your calendar accounts, which sync your calendars
  • Android and Google, for app backup if you have it on, and Google Play, for downloads and updates

Data retention and deletion

There is no server-side copy of anything, so there is nothing for the developer to retain or delete. On your phone:

  • Soonest’s settings and important marks stay until you clear Soonest’s storage in Android settings or uninstall it.
  • Your events belong to your calendars, not to Soonest, and uninstalling Soonest does not delete them. You delete events in Soonest or in any calendar app; deleting one from an account’s calendar removes it on every device that calendar syncs to.
  • A calendar kept on the phone stays in Android’s calendar storage until you delete it, even after Soonest is uninstalled.
  • Shared event files older than an hour are deleted the next time you share; clearing Soonest’s storage or uninstalling removes them all.
  • Files you exported and messages you sent are outside Soonest, under your control or the recipient’s.

Soonest does not offer account deletion because it does not create or manage accounts.

Your choices

  • You can use Soonest without any account, with a calendar kept on the phone.
  • Soonest needs calendar access to work at all; without it, it shows nothing and keeps nothing.
  • You can decline notifications, or turn Soonest’s reminders off in its Settings — for example, when another calendar app already reminds you.
  • You can choose never to share, export or open a link, in which case nothing leaves Soonest at all.
  • You can turn off Android’s app backup for Soonest, or altogether, in your device settings.
  • You can uninstall Soonest at any time like any other app.

Security

Soonest’s own files live in its private storage, protected by Android’s app sandbox. Your calendar is protected by Android’s calendar permission, which every app needs before it can read it. With no network permission, no server and no account, Soonest has no remote store that could be breached and no way to send your data anywhere.

No method of storage is perfectly secure. A rooted or malware-infected device, or another app you have given calendar access, can read your calendar regardless of Soonest.

Children’s privacy

Soonest is a general-audience calendar. It is not designed for or directed to children under 13, is not a Families programme app, and collects no personal data from anyone, including children.

International users

Because no personal data is collected, transmitted to, or processed by the developer, there is no international transfer of your data by Soonest, and no developer-held record about you to access, correct, port, or erase. Rights you hold under the GDPR, the UK GDPR, the CCPA, or comparable laws remain available to you; a request under them will be answered honestly, which in practice means confirming that no such data exists.

Data synced by your calendar accounts, or sent through apps you choose, is handled by their providers under their own policies, and your rights against them are exercised with them.

Changes to this policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated if Soonest’s features or data practices change. The effective date at the top of this page will be updated when that happens, and material changes will also be noted in the app’s Google Play release notes. This page remains available at its published address, https://glippi.dev/projects/soonest/privacy-policy.

Google Play Data safety summary

For transparency, these are the answers this app supports on the Play Console Data safety form. If the app’s behaviour ever changes, this policy and that form are updated together.

  • Does the app collect or share any of the required user data types? No.
  • Calendar events. Not collected and not shared. They are read and written on the device, in Android’s calendar storage, and synced by the accounts you added to Android. A free-time message or an event file leaves only when you send it, to an app you choose.
  • Personal info, contacts, location, messages, photos and videos, audio, files and docs, health and fitness, financial info. Not collected and not shared. Guests’ names and email addresses are shown from your calendar on the device and are never transmitted by the app.
  • App activity, web browsing, app info and performance, device or other identifiers. Not collected and not shared. There is no analytics or crash-reporting SDK in the app.
  • Is all user data encrypted in transit? Not applicable — the app transmits no user data, and has no network permission.
  • Can users request that data be deleted? Not applicable to server data, as none exists. On-device data is deleted by clearing app storage or by uninstalling; events are deleted in any calendar app.

Contact

For anything about this policy or your data, write to the developer through Soonest’s issue tracker, github.com/glippi/soonest/issues.