OffMyChest Privacy Policy
OffMyChest is a free app made by Flow Apps. This page explains what the app collects, why, and what it never collects.
- OffMyChest has no accounts. Posts are anonymous: nothing you post is stored with your name or any other detail that says who you are. You can delete your posts in the app.
- The app is free because it shows ads. The ads come from Google, and Google collects some data from your device to show and measure them.
- iOS asks whether the app may track you. Say no, and the ads are not based on your interests.
- If the app crashes, a report goes to Google's Firebase so we can fix it. It is not linked to you.
Your posts
When you post, the text of your post is sent to Firebase, a Google service that stores it for us, so that other people using the app can read it. There is no account, so a post is not stored with your name, email address, phone number or anything else that says who you are.
Everyone who uses the app can read what you post, so please keep personal details out of it, yours and other people's. You can delete your own posts in the app. We may remove posts that break the app's rules.
Ads
OffMyChest shows ads through Google Mobile Ads (AdMob), a service run by Google. To choose the ads, to count how often they are shown and tapped, and to spot fraud, Google's advertising software inside the app collects data about your device and how you use the app, and sends it to Google. The details are listed below. Google shares some of this data with the advertising partners it works with.
iOS asks whether OffMyChest may track you. If you allow it, Google may use your device's advertising identifier (the IDFA) to show ads based on your interests, and to link what you do in this app with data from other companies' apps and websites. If you don't allow it, the identifier stays hidden from Google, and the ads are chosen from general things like your country, your language and the type of device you use. You can change your answer at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
What OffMyChest collects
Crash reports go to Firebase Crashlytics. Everything else here is collected by Google's advertising software. The groups are the ones on the App Store privacy label.
Data used to track you
- Device ID. Your device's advertising identifier (the IDFA). Google only gets it if you allow tracking. It lets Google and its partners recognise your device across other companies' apps and websites, to show ads based on your interests and to measure them.
Data linked to you
Apple calls data "linked to you" when it is tied to you or to your device. Google ties this data to your device's advertising identifier, or to other identifiers for your device. None of it tells us who you are.
- Device ID. The advertising identifier described above, and other identifiers that tell your device, or this installation of the app, apart from others.
- Product interaction. When the app is opened, and how you respond to ads: whether an ad was shown, tapped, closed or watched to the end.
- Advertising data. Which ads you have seen, in this app and in other apps that show Google ads, and how you responded to them.
- Coarse location. Roughly where you are, worked out by Google from your device's IP address: your country or region, and sometimes your city. Never your exact position.
Data not linked to you
- Crash data. When the app crashes, Firebase Crashlytics sends a crash report: where in the code the problem happened, the app version, the device model, the iOS version, and the state of the device at that moment, such as free memory. The report carries a random installation ID created by Firebase, so we can tell one installation from another. It is not your Apple ID, your name or your email address, and it is never used for advertising. Deleting the app resets it.
- Performance data. Google's advertising software records how quickly the app and its ads load and respond, and whether an ad played smoothly.
- Other diagnostic data. Technical details that help find problems, such as the device model, the iOS version, the app version, your language, the screen size and the type of network connection. Both Crashlytics and the advertising software send some of these.
What OffMyChest never collects
- Your name, email address, phone number or contacts. The app has no accounts, so it never asks for them.
- Your precise location, your photos or your health data.
How we use it
Posts are used only to run the app: to show them to other people, and to keep the app safe by removing posts that break the rules. Crash reports are used only to find and fix crashes.
The advertising data is used by Google to choose ads and to measure them, as described above. We only ever see totals in our Google account, such as how many ads were shown and what they earned, never what any one person did. We don't sell your data, and we don't combine it with anything that could identify you.
Who processes it
Everything goes to Google, in two different ways.
Posts and crash reports are stored with Firebase, a Google service. Google keeps them for us and only does with them what we ask. You can read more in Privacy and Security in Firebase.
The ads are handled by Google and the advertising partners it works with, under Google's own rules. You can read more in Google's Privacy Policy, Google's advertising technologies and how Google uses data from apps that show its ads.
Either way, Google may process the data on servers outside your country, including in the United States. Google takes part in the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Frameworks.
Apple handles downloads through the App Store, under Apple's Privacy Policy. If you chose to share analytics with app developers in your device's settings, Apple also gives us crash and usage statistics. They contain nothing personal.
How long it is kept
Posts stay until you delete them in the app, or until we remove them. Crash reports are deleted after 90 days. Google keeps advertising data for the periods described in How Google retains data it collects.
Your choices and rights
- Tracking. You can change your answer at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. Turning it off stops Google from using your advertising identifier in this app. Ads still show, but they are not based on your interests.
- Your posts. You can delete your own posts in the app. If you can't, for example because you deleted the app, email us the text of the post and we will remove it. Because posts are anonymous, we can't tell which ones are yours any other way.
- Deleting the app stops all collection. It does not delete your posts, so delete those first if you want them gone.
Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to ask for access to your personal data, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to its use, and to complain to your local data protection authority. Where the law asks for a legal basis, ours is the consent you give through the tracking prompt for ads based on your interests, and our legitimate interest in running the app and showing the ads that keep it free. Email us and we will help. For data that Google holds, Google's Privacy Policy explains your choices.
Children
OffMyChest is not aimed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will update this page and the date at the top. The address of this page stays the same.
Contact
Flow Apps
privacy@flowapps.xyz