Privacy Policy

The countdown tool itself collects nothing. The duration and label you set are encoded only in the URL in your own browser's address bar — they are never sent to, or stored on, any server operated by CountLink. There is no account system and no database.

Clock check. When a timer page loads, it asks countlink.app/api/now for the current time, so a device whose clock is wrong can be corrected and still show the same countdown as everyone else. The request carries nothing about you or your timer — no duration, no label, no identifier — and the answer is simply the time. The result is remembered in your browser's session storage for ten minutes so moving between pages doesn't repeat it.

QR codes. "Show QR code" and "Print poster" draw the code in your own browser. Your link is not sent anywhere to make it.

Phone control (optional, off unless you tick it). If you tick "Let me pause, adjust, or stop this from my phone," control messages for that countdown — pause, resume, adjust, stop, a short flash message you type, and the countdown's end time and label — are relayed between your screens through Ably, a real-time messaging provider. To connect, your browser first fetches a short-lived access token from countlink.app/api/realtime-token; that request carries only the countdown's session id or control key, never anything about you. Nothing is stored by CountLink. Ably processes the messages to deliver them, under its own privacy policy. The control key is kept in your browser's local storage for two days so the screen that started the countdown stays in charge of it after a reload. Each connected screen also joins the session under a random id, made fresh for every connection, so the screens can show how many are connected; that id identifies nothing about you or your device. None of this happens for a countdown without phone control.

Voice cues and the pop-out window. "Voice" reads milestones aloud using your browser's own speech engine, and "Pop out" opens a small window on your own screen. Neither sends anything anywhere. Whether Voice is on is remembered in your browser's local storage.

Fonts. The typefaces are served from countlink.app itself, so loading a page doesn't contact a font provider.

The AI assistant endpoint (/mcp). CountLink publishes a Model Context Protocol server so an AI assistant — ChatGPT, Claude or similar — can build a timer link for you when you ask it for one. It receives only what the assistant sends it: a duration, and optionally a short label you chose. It has no account system, no database and no storage of any kind; it does not receive, and could not store, who you are. It replies with a countlink.app URL and keeps nothing. You never touch this endpoint by using the website normally — only an assistant you have asked to make a timer does.

Hosting. The site and its small server endpoints (the clock check, phone control tokens, join codes, the badge image and /mcp) run on Cloudflare, which keeps standard request logs (such as IP address and timestamp) as part of operating the network, under its own privacy policy.

Advertising. This site shows, or intends to show, ads served by Google AdSense. Google uses cookies — including the DoubleClick cookie, now part of Google's advertising products — to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites on the internet. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on someone's prior visits to this site and/or other sites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the internet. In the UK, the EEA and Switzerland, Google's consent message asks for your choice before personalised ads are shown. You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings, or generally at optout.aboutads.info.

Analytics. This site uses Google Analytics (GA4) to understand aggregate traffic — which pages are visited, and events such as a timer being started, shared or finished — not who you are individually. Analytics data is processed by Google under its own privacy policy. You can block this with a browser extension such as Google's own Analytics opt-out add-on.

Grow by Mediavine. Pages on this site (other than the embeddable widget) load Grow, a third-party script from Mediavine that adds the floating share and bookmark button. Grow may set cookies and use browser storage, and processes data under Mediavine's privacy policy; anything you choose to give it (for example signing in to save a page) is handled by Mediavine, not CountLink.

Cookies and browser storage. Advertising, analytics and Grow may set cookies in your browser as described above. CountLink itself sets no cookies. It keeps a few things in your own browser's storage, where they never leave your device: your most recent timers (so you can find a link again), your chosen board style and alarm sound, the phone-control key described above, and the clock-check result. Clearing your browser's site data removes all of them.

Children's privacy. This site does not knowingly collect personal information from children and is not directed at children under 13.

Changes. This policy may be updated as the site's features, advertising or analytics setup change. Continued use of the site after a change constitutes acceptance of the update.

Contact. Questions about this policy can be sent to hello@countlink.app.