Privacy policy

Last updated: 13 October 2026

This policy explains what the Android app Heed (“Heed”, “the app”) does with information on your phone. In short, Heed reads your notifications so it can remind you about them, keeps what it needs in the app's private storage on your device, and never sends anything anywhere.

The short version

Heed processes notifications only on your device.
The app has no internet permission, so it cannot send your data off the phone.
No account, no ads, no analytics, no tracking, no third-party SDKs that collect data.
Your history, rules and settings are stored locally, and you can clear them at any time.

1. What Heed reads

Once you grant notification access, Android lets Heed see the notifications that apps post on your phone and when they are removed. For each notification Heed may read:

the app that posted it and the time it arrived;
its title, text and, for chat apps, the individual messages in the conversation;
the sender's name or phone number where the notification includes it (for example a missed call or an email sender), and the email account shown on the notification;
technical details such as its category (for example “missed call” or “email”) and why it was removed (for example withdrawn by the app).

Heed uses this only to run your rules, create reminders, detect deleted or unsent messages, and show your history. All of this happens on your device. Some content Android itself withholds from apps like Heed, such as one-time codes on Android 15 and newer.

To let you pick apps when building a rule, Heed asks Android for the list of apps on your phone that have a launcher icon. This list is only shown to you and is not stored beyond the rules you create.

2. What Heed stores

Heed keeps the following in its private app storage on your device, which other apps cannot read:

Notification history: the notifications Heed recorded, including those you filtered out and the original text of messages that were unsent or edited.
Rules, categories and quiet hours you create, including any contact names or numbers and keywords you add to them.
Active reminders and their schedule, so they survive a restart of the phone.
Settings, such as your theme, language and reminder preferences.

Retention. History is kept for 30 days by default. In Settings you can change this to 7, 90 or 365 days or forever, turn history recording off entirely, or clear the whole history at once. Older entries are deleted automatically according to your setting.

Backups. Heed opts out of Android's app backup, so its data is not copied to your Google account or to a new phone. Uninstalling Heed deletes everything it stored.

3. No network, no sharing

Heed does not declare Android's internet permission, so it is technically unable to connect to the internet. It does not send, sell or share your information with us or anyone else. There is no account, no server, no advertising, no analytics and no crash reporting.

Heed only passes information to other apps on your phone when you ask it to:

When you open a reminder, Heed opens the app that posted the original notification.
If you turn on the optional backup alarm in the Clock app for a rule, Heed asks your Clock app to set a one-time alarm, with a short label describing the reminder. That alarm is then stored and handled by your Clock app.

4. Permissions and why Heed asks for them

Some of these are granted automatically when you install the app, others you grant in Android's settings. The optional ones can be refused; Heed keeps working with reduced features.

Permission	Why Heed needs it
Notification access `BIND_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SERVICE`	Required. Lets Heed see notifications as they arrive and are removed, so it can apply your rules, remind you and keep your history.
Show notifications `POST_NOTIFICATIONS`	Required on Android 13 and newer. Reminders, the “Missed” notice and the mute prompt are shown as notifications.
Alarms & reminders (precise timing) `SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM`	Optional. Fires reminders at exactly the interval you chose. Without it Heed falls back to less precise timing.
Full-screen reminders `USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT`	Optional on Android 14 and newer. Lets alarm- and call-style reminders take over the screen, like a clock or phone app. Without it they appear as persistent heads-up notifications.
Display over other apps `SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW`	Optional, per rule. Shows the alarm or call screen even while you are using the phone, and is needed for the backup alarm in the Clock app.
Set an alarm `SET_ALARM`	Only used if you turn on the backup alarm for a rule: asks your Clock app to set a one-time alarm. Heed cannot read or cancel your other alarms.
Run at startup `RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED`	Re-arms your active reminders after the phone restarts or the app is updated.
Vibration `VIBRATE`	Vibrates while a reminder rings.

Heed does not request internet, location, contacts, phone, SMS, microphone, camera, storage or account permissions.

If you enable Unmute the phone while ringing (on by default), Heed temporarily switches a silenced or vibrating phone to ring mode while a reminder rings, then restores your previous setting. Heed never changes Do Not Disturb.

5. Contacts

Heed does not have permission to read your contacts. When you choose a contact for a rule, Android's own contact picker opens and returns only the single contact you picked: its name and phone number. Heed saves those in that rule so it can match notifications from that person. It never sees the rest of your address book.

6. Your choices and control

Turn Heed off or pause it at any time from the Home screen or the widget.
Change how long history is kept, stop recording history, or clear it in Settings.
Delete individual rules and categories whenever you like.
Withdraw notification access or any other permission in Android's settings.
Uninstall Heed to remove all of its data from your phone.

Because no data leaves your device, we hold no copy of it and cannot access, export or delete it on your behalf. You are in full control of it on your phone.

7. Children

Heed is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from anyone, of any age: it collects nothing at all off the device.

8. Changes to this policy

If Heed's handling of information changes, for example if a future version needs a new permission, this page will be updated and the date at the top changed before that version is released. Significant changes will also be mentioned in the app's release notes.

9. Contact

Questions about this policy or about Heed? Email support@useheed.app.

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