Privacy policy
Effective 30 October 2026
The short version: Elf O'Clock collects nothing about you or your children. Everything the app knows lives on your phone and never leaves it.
What the app stores on your device
When you set up the app you type in a few things so the elves can talk to your family:
- your children's names and the age band you pick for each
- the names and looks of the elves your children build
- your plan for the month, what you have done, and any notes you add
- your reminder time
- what your children make and do on the kids' side: stickers, colouring, collages, their notes to the elf and letters to Santa (typed or drawn), game scores and bests, the elf's den, and their postcard album
- any photos you choose to take through the app, and, if you allow the kids' camera, the photos your children take for their postcards
- the Elf Cam tapes you film: a few photos of your elf, kept as files in the app's own storage
All of this sits in the app's own storage on your phone or tablet. We cannot see it and nobody else can. There is no account, nothing to sign up for and no password.
What leaves your device
Nothing, unless you share it yourself. The app does not talk to any server of ours. (The one thing outside our control is your phone's own speech voice, described under Children below.) It has no analytics, no advertising, no crash reporting, no tracking and no third-party software kits beyond the platform tools needed to run on iOS and Android. Offline it works exactly the same. The camera and the microphone are used on your device only: nothing they capture is uploaded or analysed, and the only way a photo, a tape or a party video leaves your phone is when you send it yourself through your phone's share sheet.
Your purchase is handled by Apple or Google under their own terms. We never see your payment details.
Sharing and saving
Every Share, and the Save button on the kids' colouring and collage, asks for your parent code first, so a child can't send anything out alone. The app then makes the picture or video on your phone and hands it to your phone's own share sheet (or, in a web browser, a download). Where it goes from there (a chat, a social app, your camera roll) is your choice and that app's terms; we never receive it. The app deletes its own copy once the share sheet closes.
Shared door cards, postcards, game scorecards, the season reel and Elf Cam videos never show a child's name unless you switch names on when you share. None of them carries a location.
Elf Cam videos
Elf Cam videos are made on your phone and only leave it when you share them, as above. The video shows your elf, the room label you picked and the date.
Notifications
If you turn on the nightly reminder, the app schedules a notification on your device at the time you choose. It is created and shown by your phone, not sent over the internet. Turn it off in the app's settings or your phone's settings whenever you like.
Camera and photos
If you choose to take a photo or film an Elf Cam tape, the app asks for camera permission first, and photos and Elf Cam never record sound; the one place the app uses the microphone is described in the next section. Elf Cam shows the camera's picture inside the app so you can line up each shot; a picture is only kept when you tap the shutter, and the camera is off whenever that screen is closed. Photos and tapes are saved in the app's own storage on your device only, are never copied to your camera roll by the app, and are never uploaded or analysed. If you say no, the app carries on working: you take photos with your usual camera app instead, and Elf Cam can use pictures from your photos.
Microphone and party filming
The microphone is used only if a grown-up turns on "Film the room in Paper hat" in Features (it's off unless you switch it on). The app then films the room with the front camera and records its sound while you play. The video is never saved by the app and never sent anywhere. You can watch it back, and share it if you choose, through your phone's own share sheet. When you leave the result screen, it's gone.
Children
The app is bought and set up by an adult, and children use it on that adult's device. We collect no personal information from children or anyone else. The children's side has no chat, no links out, no advertising and no purchases. Children's names appear only on screen on your own device. The spoken elf voices are pre-recorded and never say your child's name. A few things have no recording, such as a message you type for the elf; those are read by your phone's own speech voice. The app never gives that voice a child's name, but on some Android phones the speech voice may run on the voice provider's server, under that provider's terms.
We designed the app with the UK Information Commissioner's Children's code in mind: the highest-privacy setting is the only setting, we keep nothing we do not need, and we never share or profile.
Deleting everything
Open Settings in the app and choose "Reset everything" to wipe all stored data, Elf Cam tapes included ("Clear all tapes" removes just the tapes). Deleting the app also removes everything it stored. Nothing was ever sent to us, so there is nothing to request and nothing left behind.
Device backups
If your phone's own backup (iCloud or Google) is on, it may include this app's data along with your other apps. That is controlled by you and by Apple or Google, not by us.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law, and similar laws where you live, you have rights over your personal data. We hold none, so there is nothing for us to access, correct or delete, but you are welcome to write to hello@elfoclock.com with any question. In the UK you can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Changes
If the app ever handles data differently we will update this policy, change the effective date and update the privacy answers on both stores before that version is released.