First Step · Last updated 10 September 2026
The short version: everything stays on your phone. First Step has no accounts, no analytics, no advertising, and no servers. We cannot see your data because it never leaves your device.
Your alarm settings, completed morning sessions (mission, duration, reps, hold times or steps), your streak, and any photos you choose to take. All of it lives in the app's private storage on your iPhone and is deleted when you delete the app.
The camera is used in two ways. For some missions you take a single photo to begin (your journal, your mat, your quiet spot) which is saved only in your on-device progress log. During exercise missions the camera detects movement in real time so the timer knows you are actually moving; those frames are reduced to a coarse brightness grid and discarded immediately. No video is ever recorded, stored or transmitted, and First Step does not use the microphone at all.
Step counts and movement detection use Apple's on-device motion APIs solely to verify your morning missions. This data is not stored beyond your session record and never leaves your phone.
Nothing. First Step contains no third-party SDKs, no trackers, and makes no network requests with your personal data. If you install a beta through TestFlight, Apple provides us anonymous crash reports under Apple's privacy terms.
If you subscribe, the purchase is handled entirely by Apple. We never see or hold your name, card details or billing address. We only receive an anonymous signal from Apple's servers confirming whether this device has an active subscription. That check is the only network request the app makes, and it contains nothing about you or your mornings. Apple's handling of your purchase is covered by Apple's privacy policy.
If a future feature (like crew leaderboards) requires any data to leave your device, this policy will be updated first, and the feature will be opt-in.
First Step is published by Calco Studios Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 17439973, with its registered office at 4 Kiln Drive, Tydd St Mary, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE13 5RA. For the purposes of UK GDPR we are the data controller, although as set out above the app collects no personal data and we hold none.
Questions: hello@firststepalarm.com