Effective date: June 18, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how ALI OGULCAN DULGER, a sole proprietorship based in Turkey, provides and handles information in connection with the mobile application Instead.
Instead is a mobile app designed to turn a user's screen time into ideas for what they could do instead, based on interests the user selects. Some app functionality works on the user's device. Separately, if a user chooses to join the waitlist, certain form information is sent to our backend infrastructure provider.
1. Who provides the app
Instead is provided by ALI OGULCAN DULGER. References to "we", "us", and "our" mean ALI OGULCAN DULGER.
Contact email: ogulcan.dulger@gmail.com
2. Information we collect directly from you
If you submit the waitlist form, we currently collect the information you choose to submit in that form:
• Email address
• Goals
• Duration
• Country, if provided
• Age, if provided
• Sex, if provided
Email, goals, and duration are required by the current form. Age is optional, but if entered it must pass the app's current validation range. Country and sex are currently optional.
3. Information used locally on your device
Instead uses information stored locally on your device to provide its core experience. In the current version, this may include:
• Selected interest IDs
• Seen activity IDs
• Whether the device has submitted the waitlist form before
• Submission counts by day
• The current hourly activity deck
• A local submission-history record containing the goals and duration fields from waitlist submissions, so those entries can be shown again inside the app on that same device
In the current version, the app does not intentionally keep local copies of waitlist email, country, age, or sex fields for that submission-history display.
The app's activity suggestion content is bundled locally in the app and is not pulled from a remote content management system in the current version.
4. Screen-time and app-usage information
On Android, Instead may access aggregated app-usage statistics made available by the operating system for a selected time range. Based on the current implementation, this native access can include package name, app display name, total foreground time, and last time used.
The current app logic mainly uses total screen-time minutes for "today" to drive the experience.
On iOS, Instead may request Family Controls authorization, but direct raw screen-time usage export is not currently implemented. Screen-time functionality on iOS may be limited by Apple permissions, approvals, device settings, regional availability, and platform restrictions.
If automatic access is unavailable, unsupported, declined, or not granted, users can manually enter screen time instead.
5. Manual screen-time entry
Manual screen-time entry is temporary runtime state. It is not persisted in AsyncStorage and expires at the next top of the hour.
6. What is sent remotely
Based on the current app implementation, the confirmed outbound network call for waitlist data is a POST request to Supabase REST for waitlist submission.
The data sent remotely through that waitlist submission is:
• Email
• Goals
• Duration
• Country, if provided
• Age, if provided
• Sex, if provided
Screen-time and app-usage information used for the app experience is intended to be handled locally on the device in the current version.
A limited local copy of the submitted goals and duration fields may also remain on the device after submission so the app can display submission history on that device. That local copy is separate from the remote waitlist record.
7. What stays on device
The following items are currently intended to remain on the device unless you delete the app, clear app storage, or the app replaces them through normal operation:
• instead:selected-interest-ids
• instead:seen-activity-ids
• instead:has-submitted
• instead:submitted-goals
This local record is used for submission history in the app and currently stores the submitted goals and duration values, together with related local metadata needed to display those entries.
• instead:submission-counts
• instead:hourly-deck
Manual screen-time entry is temporary and expires automatically.
In the current Android configuration, app-local data is not intended to be backed up through Android's automatic backup feature.
8. How we use information
We use locally stored information to run the app experience, including selecting and rotating activity suggestions, remembering interests, avoiding immediate repeats, and limiting waitlist submissions on a per-device daily basis.
We use submitted waitlist information to manage the waitlist, understand broad user interests and expected usage patterns, plan launch and product decisions, respond to user inquiries, and send app-related communications.
9. Communications and waitlist emails
If you submit the waitlist form, we may contact you at the email address you provide about the waitlist, launch, availability, and related updates about Instead.
Where permitted by applicable law, these communications may occasionally include promotional or marketing content relating to Instead or closely related product updates.
You can opt out of non-essential emails at any time by using the unsubscribe mechanism provided in the message, if available, or by contacting us at ogulcan.dulger@gmail.com.
10. Third-party services and infrastructure
We currently use Supabase as backend infrastructure for waitlist form submissions. Supabase acts as a service provider or infrastructure provider for receiving, storing, and processing form submissions that users choose to send through the app.
11. How we share information
We do not sell personal information collected through the app for money.
We share waitlist form data with Supabase as needed to receive, store, and process that data on our behalf.
We may also disclose information if reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request; to protect our rights, users, or the public; or in connection with a business transfer involving the app, such as a sale of assets, merger, or reorganization.
12. Data retention
We retain waitlist submission data sent to our backend for as long as reasonably necessary to operate the waitlist, communicate about launch and related product updates, maintain appropriate business records, resolve disputes, enforce our rights, and comply with legal obligations.
Locally stored app data remains on the device until it is removed by the user, replaced by app logic, or removed when the app is uninstalled or local app storage is cleared. In the current version, this includes local submission-history copies of submitted goals and duration.
Temporary manual screen-time entry expires automatically at the next top of the hour.
13. Access, correction, and deletion requests
You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of waitlist data that you submitted to us by emailing ogulcan.dulger@gmail.com.
We may ask for information necessary to verify your identity before acting on a request.
If you want to remove locally stored app data on your device, you can generally do so by clearing the app's local storage or uninstalling the app, subject to your device and operating system controls.
14. International users
Instead is intended to be usable worldwide. We are based in Turkey, and information you submit may be processed in Turkey and in other countries where our service providers operate infrastructure.
If you use the app from outside Turkey, you understand that your information may be transferred to and processed in countries that may have data protection laws different from those in your country.
15. Children and age-related use
Instead is not currently intended for users under 18. The app's current waitlist age validation also reflects an adult-oriented setup.
We do not knowingly seek to collect waitlist personal information from children under 18 through the current version. If you believe a person under 18 has submitted personal information through the app, contact us and we will review and, where appropriate, delete the information.
If we later decide to permit younger users, we may change the app, its age and consent flow, and this Privacy Policy.
16. Security
We use reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect information under our control. However, no method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
17. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make a material change, we will update the effective date above and may provide additional notice where appropriate under applicable law or platform requirements.
18. Contact details
For privacy questions, requests, or complaints, contact:
ALI OGULCAN DULGER — Email: ogulcan.dulger@gmail.com