Privacy Policy
This policy explains what happens to your information when you use ZenTimer. The short version: your timer settings and session history stay in your own browser, and what leaves your device is anonymous, aggregate measurements, the Google Analytics cookies described below, and the data Google needs to serve an ad where advertising is shown.
Last updated
The Short Version
- You do not need an account, and we never ask for your name or your email address to use the timer.
- Your timer settings, session history and the background you picked last stay in your browser local storage. We cannot see them.
- We record anonymous, aggregate measurements of how the site is used — which pages are opened, which timer lengths are popular, and whether a script failed on your device.
- We also use Google Analytics to see which pages are opened and how visitors move between them. It sets its own cookies on our domain, and in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland those cookies are written only after you agree in the consent message.
- We may show advertising through Google AdSense. Where an ad is shown, Google and its partners may use cookies or similar technologies, and you control that through the consent message.
- We do not sell your personal information, and we do not build cross-site profiles of our own.
Who Is Responsible for Your Data
ZenTimer is a free meditation timer online run by an individual developer, not a company. For the purposes of the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation, that developer is the data controller: the person who decides how and why personal data is used.
You can reach the controller at [email protected] about anything in this policy, including a request to see or delete your data.
What Stays on Your Device
Most of what ZenTimer knows about you never leaves your browser. When you change a setting, the timer writes it to local storage: a small key-value store that belongs to this site on this device. It is not a cookie, it is not sent to a server, and other websites cannot read it.
| Key | What it holds |
|---|---|
| zt:config | Your last timer settings — length, mode, bell, interval and volume. |
| zt:history | Your recent sessions, so the result screen can show a day streak and the minutes done today. |
| zt:active | A snapshot of a session in progress, so a refresh does not lose it. Removed when the session ends. |
| zt:firstSeen | The date you first used the timer. Used only to label a first week in anonymous statistics. |
| zt:lastBg | The background image you chose last, so the same one returns next time. |
Because these values live on your device, they are only as private as the device is. If you share a computer, someone using the same browser profile could read your session history. You can remove them at any time — see Deleting the Data Saved in Your Browser below.
What We Measure
ZenTimer counts how the site is used in aggregate, so that we can tell which pages help and which do not. These measurements are anonymous:
- page views, so we know which timers people open;
- timer events — that a session was started, completed or abandoned, with the length and bell settings, so we can see which presets are actually used;
- settings changes, such as switching the bell or the background;
- script errors, so that we can find and fix what breaks on real devices.
A record holds no name, no email address and no account ID, because none exists. To count unique visitors for a single day, a one-way hash of your IP address and browser user-agent is used as the identifier; the address and user-agent themselves are never stored, the secret that produces the hash is discarded every day, and the same visitor cannot be recognised across two days.
Alongside these first-party counts we also use Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-ZSM778JZ6T), Google's own analytics service. It records page views, how you arrived, and coarse device and location information — Google derives an approximate region from your IP address and does not store the address itself. It sets first-party cookies on our domain, _ga and _ga_ZSM778JZ6T, kept for up to two years, so that a returning browser can be told apart from a new one. Where consent is required these cookies are written only after you agree, and you can withdraw at any time using the Privacy settings link in the footer of every page.
We do not use these measurements to build a profile of you, to follow you across other websites, or to decide what to sell you.
Cookies and Local Storage
The timer itself sets no cookies. It keeps its settings in browser local storage, which is not a cookie and is never transmitted with your requests.
Two things can still place cookies in this browser — measurement and advertising. Neither is needed for the timer to work:
| Cookie | Set by | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| _ga, _ga_ZSM778JZ6T | Google Analytics | Tell a returning browser apart from a new one so that visits can be counted. Kept for up to two years. |
| Advertising cookies | Google and its partners | Serve, limit and measure ads, and stop the same ad being shown over and over. |
Where an ad is shown, Google and its partners may set cookies or read device identifiers in order to serve, limit and measure ads. Those cookies are set by Google rather than by us, and no advertising script runs until you have made a choice in the consent message. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland the Google Analytics cookies listed above are held back until you agree as well.
Advertising and Google
Advertising is how a free site like this one pays for itself. Where ads are shown, they are served through Google AdSense.
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites.
- Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and other sites on the internet.
- You may opt out of personalised advertising in Google Ads Settings, and opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising at www.aboutads.info.
For a full description of how Google uses information from sites that use its services, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.
If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, advertising is only loaded after you give consent through the consent message, and you can change or withdraw that consent at any time using the Privacy settings link in the footer of every page.
Your Privacy Choices
Wherever you live you can ask us about your data and we will answer. Depending on your country you may also have specific legal rights:
- to know whether we hold personal data about you, and to receive a copy of it;
- to have inaccurate data corrected, and to have data erased;
- to object to, or ask us to restrict, certain processing, and to withdraw consent you gave earlier;
- to complain to your local data protection authority.
In practice there is very little to ask for: the timer keeps your settings and history on your own device, and the statistics we do hold are anonymous. If you are in California, you have the rights set out in the CCPA and CPRA — to know, to delete, to correct, and to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising beyond what the consent message covers.
To make a request, email [email protected]. Because we hold no account records, we may be unable to identify a record that belongs to you — if so we will say so plainly rather than pretend otherwise.
Deleting the Data Saved in Your Browser
You can remove what ZenTimer has saved in this browser yourself. The button below deletes your session history and the date you first used the timer. Your timer settings are left in place, so the page still opens the way you like it.
To remove everything — settings, history, the in-progress snapshot and the last background — clear this site's data in your browser settings, or use a private window. The timer also works with storage switched off; it simply forgets your preferences when you close the page.
Data Retention
What you keep in your browser stays until you delete it or clear your browser data. We hold no copy of it.
Anonymous statistics are kept in aggregate form for as long as they are useful for understanding the site, and cannot be traced back to you. Records of the consent choices you make are kept for as long as the law requires, so that we can show that consent was given.
Children
ZenTimer is a general-audience tool and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has given personal information to us, write to [email protected] and we will delete it.
Changes to This Policy
If this policy changes, the new version takes effect when it is published on this page, and the date at the top is changed to match. Where a change matters, it will be described in plain language rather than left for you to spot.
How to Contact Us
Questions about this policy, or about anything else on the site, can go to [email protected]. The contact page explains what to include when you write. For the rules of use, see the terms of use.