Watching Now for Jira runs entirely on Atlassian Forge. It has no back end of its own and makes no calls outside your Jira site.
The app makes one Jira API call, as the signed-in user. GET /rest/api/3/mypermissions checks whether that person can administer the project, and it runs only when someone opens, saves or uses the delete button on the project's Watching Now settings page. Everything else, the account ID of the person and the IDs of the work item and project, comes from the Forge context of the page.
Data stays in Forge app storage on Atlassian's platform.
| Record | Contents | Kept for |
|---|---|---|
| Presence record | Account ID and the time of the last check-in, one per person and work item | The record expires when the project's window ends after the last check-in. That's 2 to 5 minutes, or 1, 4, 8 or 24 hours if the earlier list is on. The app never reads it after that. Forge deletes expired data on its own schedule, which its docs say can take up to 48 hours, so up to 72 hours in storage in total. |
| Short "now" record | The same account ID and time, written only when the earlier list is on | Expires after the "has this open" minutes (2 to 5), then the same Forge deletion delay applies. |
| "Don't list me" choice | Only that the person chose it. The key is a SHA-256 hash of their account ID, the value holds no ID. | Until they click "List me again" or the app is uninstalled |
| Project settings | On or off, minutes for "has this open", hours for the earlier list, time of the last change | Until changed or the app is uninstalled |
The presence record's storage key holds a SHA-256 hash of the account ID, and the record itself holds the ID. The project settings don't say who changed them. No names, email addresses, avatars, comments or work item content are stored. Inside the window, the earlier list is a record of who opened the work item. Beyond the window there's no history, and there's no log, report or export of views.
Anyone who opens the panel on a work item in a project that's on sees the other people who have it open, and the earlier list if the admin turned it on. That includes people who never opened the panel, because an invisible script on the issue view checks in for them. The settings page asks admins to tell their team before turning it on. Each person can click "Don't list me" in the panel. After that nothing new is recorded about them on any work item, and their records on the work item they're on are deleted. Older records elsewhere stay listed until their window ends. Nobody sees anything in a project that's off, and nothing is recorded there.
It doesn't write to Jira. It doesn't send data to the developer or to any third party, and it has no analytics or tracking.
Turning a project off deletes its presence records, and so does shortening the window. Project admins can also delete them at any time from the settings page. "Don't list me" deletes the person's records on the work item they're looking at. Uninstalling the app removes all of its Forge storage. Records also expire on their own, as listed above.