Why I Built a Baby Tracker With Zero Data Collection

When my son was born, I did what every new parent does: I downloaded a baby tracker app. Actually, I downloaded five.

I needed something simple. A way to log feedings at 3 AM without fumbling through a complicated interface. A way to tell the pediatrician exactly how many wet diapers we'd had this week, because apparently that matters a lot more than I realized.

What I found instead were apps that took up half my iPhone storage, crashed constantly, and wanted my email, my location, and my baby's full name and date of birth — before I could even log a single feeding. Apps with banner ads that lit up my screen in a dark nursery. Apps so bloated with features that tapping "log feeding" required four screens and a scroll.

And then there was the privacy thing. I'm a developer. I checked the privacy policies. Buried in thousands of words of legalese were clauses about sharing "anonymized usage data" with third-party partners. My baby's feeding schedule was being collected and used to target me with ads before he could hold his own head up.

That was the moment I decided to build Tots.

What "zero data collection" actually means

When I say Tots collects zero data, I don't mean "we collect your data but promise not to sell it." I don't mean "we anonymize your data so it's technically not tied to you." I mean zero.

Open Tots in the App Store and check the privacy label. It says "Data Not Collected." Not "Data Not Linked to You." Not "Data Used to Track You." Collected. As in, none of it leaves your phone.

Your baby's feeding times, sleep patterns, diaper changes, growth measurements, first words — all of it stays on your device. I don't have a server somewhere with your baby's name on it. I couldn't look at your data even if I wanted to, because it doesn't exist anywhere except on your phone and your partner's phone if you've chosen to sync.

This wasn't a business decision. It was a design principle. I built the app I wanted to use for my own kid, and I didn't want my kid's data sitting on someone else's server.

The speech delay that led to the Word Tracker

My son had a speech delay. His pediatrician wanted to know exactly how many words he was saying at each checkup — not a vague "oh, maybe fifteen?" but an actual count. Which words. When they first appeared. Whether he was progressing or plateauing.

So I started tracking every new word in the Notes app on my iPhone. It worked at first. But as the list grew past 30, then 50, then 80 words, I started losing track. Was "ball" already on the list? Did I already write down "more"? I was double-counting words because the list was so long I couldn't reliably scan it anymore. And when the pediatrician asked "how many new words since our last visit three months ago," I had to scroll through an undated wall of text and guess.

No baby tracker app had a word tracker. Not Huckleberry. Not Glow Baby. Not Baby Tracker. They all tracked feedings and diapers and sleep — the logistics of keeping a baby alive — but none of them tracked the developmental milestones that actually matter at those doctor appointments. The first "mama." The first "more." Whether "dada" showed up at 10 months or 14 months.

So I built one. Every new word, saved with the date, no duplicates, so when the pediatrician asks "how many words does he have?" you can give a real answer in two seconds.

The daycare sickness spiral

My son started daycare at six months old. If you've been through this, you already know what happened next: he was sick every other week. Colds, ear infections, hand-foot-and-mouth, and then RSV — which was genuinely terrifying as first-time parents.

Suddenly we were managing multiple medications with different dosing schedules, keeping track of which symptoms started when, and trying to remember what the pediatrician said at Tuesday's appointment when we were back in the office again on Friday. We had doctor's notes scattered across the Notes app, buried between grocery lists and random reminders. When a new doctor asked "what medications has he been on in the last month?" we'd look at each other and try to piece it together from memory.

That's when I realized a baby tracker shouldn't just track feedings and sleep. It should be the one place where everything about your baby's health lives — medications, doctor's notes, symptoms, all of it — so that when you're sitting in the pediatrician's office sleep-deprived and stressed, you can just open one app and have the full picture.

Partner sync that actually works

My wife and I kept a shared note on our phones for the first few days. "Fed 2oz at 11:30pm — left side." "Diaper at 2am — wet only." It was chaos. We tried sharing an account on one of the big tracker apps, and it kept logging one of us out every time the other opened it.

Tots lets both parents track together in real time. When one of you logs something, the other sees it instantly. No shared passwords. No getting kicked out. No "did you already feed her?" at 5 AM because you can just open the app and see.

Built for one hand at 3 AM

I designed every screen assuming you're holding a baby in one arm and a phone in the other. At 3 AM. With the brightness turned all the way down. The apps I had been using were bloated, slow, and crashed on me more than once mid-log. Tots is 7.6 MB. It opens instantly and it doesn't crash. If something takes more than two taps to log, I redesigned it until it didn't.

Why there are no ads — not now, not ever

Tots is free to download, with a $4.99/month (or $29.99/year) premium tier. I know that sounds like every other app, but here's the difference: there are no ads at any tier. Not now. Not ever.

Most free baby trackers make money from ads or by selling your data. That's their business model. The app is the product that gets you in the door, but you — or more specifically, your baby's data — are the real product.

I wanted a different model. You pay for features you value, and I use that money to keep building the app. That's the whole arrangement. No investors pushing me to monetize your data. No ad network tracking your 2 AM browsing habits. Just a straightforward exchange: you get a great baby tracker, and I get to keep working on it.

What I've learned since launching

Tots has been on the App Store for a few months now. It's still small — I'm a solo developer, not a venture-backed startup. But the reviews have been meaningful to me in a way I didn't expect.

One parent wrote that the app "takes a load off my shoulders." Another said it was the first tracker that didn't make them feel like they were doing something wrong. A dad told me the partner sync feature saved him and his wife from at least one argument per night about who fed the baby last.

Those are the moments that make this worth it. Not downloads or revenue numbers. The fact that something I built is making someone's hardest days a little bit easier.

Try it yourself

If you're a new parent — or about to become one — I'd love for you to try Tots. It's free on the App Store, and I genuinely believe it's the best baby tracker out there for parents who care about privacy, simplicity, and actually remembering the moments that matter.

And if you have feedback, I read every single message. I'm not a support team. I'm a dad who built an app because the existing ones weren't good enough.