Clock You: a privacy focused Material 3 clock for Android

Four clock functions in one small app

Clock You is described in one line as a privacy focused clock app built with MD3, and the feature list is short enough to be stated in full. Material Design 3 is implemented, with the You variant of the design. There is a dark and a light theme. The clock, alarm, timer and stopwatch are integrated into a single application rather than spread across several. The interface is described as convenient, and the whole thing is written in Jetpack Compose. That is the entire product. There is no account system, no cloud sync, no widget catalogue in the description, and no feature list that reaches beyond the four familiar functions. For a reader trying to judge whether this is the right app, the honest reading is that it is a well executed replacement for the set of clock apps most phones ship with, and it competes on the quality of the interface and on the absence of anything that tracks you, not on breadth.

What privacy focused means in practice here

The privacy claim is a positioning statement, and it is worth reading it carefully rather than as a marketing flourish. What the project actually shows is an app that has no stated dependency on a backend, no account to create, and no indication of any analytics or advertising SDK in the feature set. A clock app that shows the time needs no server, so the absence of a network component is a structural property rather than a policy promise. That is a real and often underappreciated difference: the classic objection to the bundled clock app on a stock phone is that the more capable versions often exist to serve advertising, and an app with no reason to talk to a server has nothing to leak. The GPL licence reinforces the same point in a different way, since the source is available for anyone to read, audit and build. The limit of the claim is equally clear: the description is about the app, and the project is careful not to claim anything about the rest of your phone, which is where most data collection actually happens.

Four ways to install it, none of them a store monopoly

The download section is the most concrete part of the documentation, and it lists four channels. The first is F-Droid, under the package identifier com.bnyro.clock. The second is the IzzyOnDroid repository. The third is Obtainium, with a link that adds the project directly, and Obtainium is the tool for tracking a source repository and building or pulling the app as it updates. The fourth is the GitHub releases page, which is where the APKs are actually published. There is no Google Play link in the list. The practical consequence for an installer is that the app is a sideloaded APK in every case, which means the security model is the one you would expect for sideloaded software: the source is public, the builds are reproducible by anyone who reads the Gradle configuration, and you can see when the artefact you install was produced. The top level of the repository matches that story, with a `gradlew` and `gradlew.bat` wrapper, `settings.gradle.kts`, `build.gradle.kts`, `gradle.properties`, an `app/` module and a `fastlane/` directory for release metadata.

The contribution rules include something unusual

The feedback and contributions section says all contributions are very welcome, and then the first bullet asks readers to read the contribution rules about AI usage. That is a distinctive choice for an open source project and worth flagging to anyone who plans to send a patch or to use a coding assistant to write one. The rest of the process is conventional. Discussion happens in a Matrix room, bug reports and feature requests go to the issue tracker with all the requested information filled in, and developers are asked to fork the project and submit a pull request. The presence of a Matrix room rather than a chat platform tied to a single company is a small but consistent choice with the privacy framing of the project. The credit list names the icon designer, the You-Apps organisation that created the app, and the maintainer. The repository also carries a `CONTRIBUTING` file and a `.github/` directory for the workflow and issue templates.

Translations run through Weblate

Localisation is handled with Weblate, and the README embeds the hosted Weblate widget for the project. That choice has a practical benefit for a small application: a hosted translation platform means new contributors do not need to understand the build system to add a language, since the strings are managed in a web interface and pulled into the project from there. It also means the translation status is public, which is a reasonable proxy for how widely the app is actually used in practice. The alternative, a hand-maintained `values-xx` directory, pushes the work onto people who can already build the app, and that is a much smaller pool. For a privacy focused clock that people install from F-Droid, having the interface in the user's own language is closer to table stakes than a feature, and Weblate is the cheapest way to get there.

Release cadence and the state of the project

The tag history shows a project on an annual major version line with frequent point releases. v11.0 shipped on 2026-07-13, v12.0 on 2026-09-11, and v12.1 on 2026-10-08, with the last push on 2026-10-19. The README opens with a note that a new release with fairly big bug fixes is out, which suggests the recent point release addressed something that mattered. The primary language is Kotlin, the default branch is main, and the homepage is you-apps.net. The project is not archived. What the metadata does not tell you is whether the app is feature complete against the wider alarm clock category, and the honest answer from the feature list is that it is a clock, an alarm, a timer and a stopwatch, which is the standard set. If your requirement includes world time zones, a second alarm with a different schedule, or a bed time routine, those are not in the list and you would have to check the app itself or the issue tracker for them.

Editorial conclusion

Clock You fits someone who wants one small, ad free, tracker free clock on their phone and is comfortable installing from F-Droid or building from a release APK rather than relying on a store. It is the wrong choice if you need a feature the four listed functions do not cover, and it is the wrong choice if you need a specific Google Play integration, since the distribution channels are independent stores and direct releases. Before you install, check the release notes for the version you pick, because the project has just shipped a release described as containing fairly big bug fixes, and note that contributions are subject to explicit rules about AI usage. The last push was on 2026-10-19 with v12.1 released on 2026-10-08, and the code is under the GPL.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. License: GPL-3.0
2. Project website
3. README
4. Releases
5. you-apps/ClockYou on GitHub