Privacy policy

01The short version

CleanVault has no account, and we have no servers. Your photos and videos are scanned, grouped and searched on your phone, and they are never uploaded. What you hide in the private space is encrypted on your device. The free version shows a few ads from Google AdMob in Swipe and after a clean-up; the private space never shows ads, and Pro removes them all. The app has no analytics of its own.

We, the developer, do not receive any of your personal data. Only Google sees a little: through Google AdMob, which serves the ads in the free version; through Google Play’s billing library, which the app uses to check and sell Pro; and through Google’s ML Kit, if you use the QR scanner to pair devices for local sync. All three are explained below.

02What stays on your phone

• Your photo and video library, and everything the app works out about it: duplicate and similar groups, screenshots, large videos, object tags, text found in pictures, your basket and your clean-up history.
• The private space: photos, videos and files you hide or import, encrypted on the device.
• Your PIN, the recovery key and your settings.
• The storage page’s list of apps, how much space each one takes and when it was last used.

None of this is sent to us or to anyone else.

03When the app connects to a network

• Ads, in the free version. Ads are loaded from Google AdMob in three places: in Swipe (a card in the grid or the list, and now and then a page between photos in the full-screen viewer), on the result page after a clean-up, and as a short video that you choose to watch for more daily actions or one try of a Pro feature. Ads never appear in the private space, on the lock screen or while you enter your PIN, and Pro users get none. Ad requests are non-personalized. To serve ads, limit how often they show, measure them and prevent fraud, AdMob receives your IP address, information about your device, the advertising ID and how you interact with the ads; see how Google uses this data at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland the app asks for your consent first with Google’s consent form, and you can change your choice later in Settings. You can reset or delete the advertising ID in Android settings. Ads never receive your photos, videos or anything you hide.
• Purchases. Buying or restoring Pro goes through Google Play Billing. Google handles the payment under its own terms; the app only stores on your phone whether Pro is active. To know whether Pro is active, the app asks Google Play when it starts and when you return to it. Each time, Google’s billing library in the app also sends diagnostic information to Google about how that request went, such as the library and app versions and error codes. This happens whether or not you buy anything. It does not include your photos or anything else stored in the app.
• Local sync, when you start it. Two of your own devices on the same Wi-Fi find each other and sync the private space over an encrypted connection that only those two devices can read. Nothing goes through the internet or through us.
• Pairing by QR code, if you use it. The pairing scanner uses Google’s ML Kit barcode scanning, which runs on the phone. Google says ML Kit sends diagnostic and usage information to Google, such as the device model and Android version, the app’s package name and version, performance figures, error codes and an identifier generated for the installation that is not meant to identify you or your device. It does not include the camera image or the code you scanned. You can pair with the six-digit code instead and never open the scanner.

The app makes no other connections. It does not include analytics, crash reporting or tracking of its own.

04Permissions the app asks for

• Photos and videos (including “selected photos only”). Used for: scanning and showing your library, so you can tidy it. If you say no: the app can only work with the photos you selected, or with none.
• Usage access (granted in system settings). Used for: the storage page, how much space each app takes and when it was last used. If you say no: the storage page shows only the overall figures; everything else works.
• Delete apps. Used for: uninstalling an app from the storage page; the system asks you to confirm every time. If you say no: you can still uninstall from system settings.
• Camera. Used for: scanning a pairing QR code for local sync. If you say no: pair with the six-digit code.
• Fingerprint / biometrics. Used for: opening the private space. If you say no: use your PIN.
• Wi-Fi state and multicast. Used for: finding your own devices for local sync. If you say no: local sync is unavailable.
• Internet. Used for: ads, store purchases (and the diagnostics Google’s billing library and QR scanner send, see above) and local sync. If you say no: ads, purchases and sync are unavailable.
• Advertising ID. Used for: ads from Google AdMob (requests are non-personalized). If you say no: delete or reset it in Android settings.

The app does not read where your photos were taken: the permission that would allow it is removed from the app.

05What we collect

We, the developer, collect nothing: we have no server to collect it on, and we do not sell or rent data, build profiles or track you across apps. Google AdMob, Google Play and ML Kit receive the data described above for their own services, under Google’s privacy policy.

06Keeping and deleting your data

• Everything is stored on your phone. Uninstalling the app deletes the app’s data, including the private space, unless you have a backup or a synced copy on another device.
• Photos you delete with CleanVault go to the system’s trash where your phone has one (Android 11 and later). How long the trash keeps them is decided by your phone, not by us. On phones without a system trash, deletion is final.
• Backups are written to a folder you choose, and stay there until you delete them.
• If you forget your PIN and have no recovery option left, we cannot open your private space. We hold no copy of your keys.

07When you contact us

If you e-mail us, we receive what you choose to send, and your e-mail address. We use it only to answer you, and we delete it when you ask. Please never send us your PIN, your recovery code or private photos.

08Children

CleanVault is not directed at children under 13.

09Your rights

Because we hold no personal data about you, there is nothing for us to give access to, correct or delete. Data handled by Google AdMob, Google Play or Google ML Kit is covered by Google’s privacy policy, and requests about it go to Google.

10Changes and contact

If this policy changes, the new version is published on this page with a new date. Questions: devgame11@gmail.com