Virtual Pocket Air Conditioning: privacy and terms of use

Virtual Pocket Air Conditioning has no account, no ads and nothing to sign up for. It plays a sound. The only data that leaves the phone is a set of anonymous usage statistics and, when something breaks, a crash report.

I, Tiago Danin, am the developer and the controller of this data under the LGPD (Lei 13.709/2018). If you are in the EU, the GDPR gives you the same rights and I answer them the same way. Write to TiagoDanin@outlook.com about any of it.

What the app does with your phone

It plays a bundled air conditioner sound in a loop and shows an animation. It asks Android to keep the device awake while the sound plays, so the audio does not stop when the screen turns off.

It keeps a short usage history on the phone: the day you last opened it, how many times you have opened it, how many times you have turned the air conditioner on, and whether you left it on or off last time. It also reads the date Android installed the app. These stay on the phone; the statistics below only carry rough ranges made from them, such as "2 to 7 days since install", and the month of the install. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its data in Android settings, erases the history.

On the 3rd, 5th and 10th time you open the app, it may ask Google Play to show its rating card. Google Play decides whether the card appears. Your stars and any review go to Google Play under its own terms, and the app never learns whether you rated it or what you wrote.

What the app sends

Google Analytics for Firebase records how the app is used: when you turn the air conditioner on or off and for how long it ran, when it reaches full volume, when you leave or come back to the app with it on, when the sound fails to play, when you open the About screen, how long you stay there and which link you tap. It also records the first touch of each visit and where it landed (the power button or another part of the screen), taps on parts of the screen that are not buttons, when the screen turns, when the phone runs low on memory, and when a rating card was requested. Each visit sends a few screen settings (orientation, a rough screen size, text size in ranges, whether animations are reduced or a screen reader is on, the app language and whether the phone's language is one the app supports) and how long the app took to start. Return visits carry the time since the last visit and since the install in ranges of days, plus ranges of how many times you have opened the app and turned it on. Each statistic is tagged with some of these values and the month of the install. Like any app using the SDK, it also records automatic events such as the first open and each session, together with an ID for this installation, the device model, Android version, app version and approximate location. The SDK may read the install referrer (how you got to the app on Google Play). The app turns off the advertising ID, so the SDK neither reads nor sends it. The app does not send a user ID, because it has none, and does not use this data for advertising.

When the app crashes or hits an error, Firebase Crashlytics sends a crash report: the technical trace of the error, the device model, Android version, app version and an ID that Crashlytics creates for this installation. The report carries no user ID. Development builds of the app send none.

For this, the app now uses the internet connection.

Who else receives it

Google, which runs Firebase and processes this data on my behalf, on servers that may be outside Brazil, including in the United States. Their terms: Firebase privacy and Google Privacy Policy.

I do not sell this data, share it with advertisers, or hand it to a data broker. The statistics and crash reports are used to find bugs and to see which parts of the app people use, on the basis of my legitimate interest in keeping it working.

Links out

The About screen links to tiagodanin.com, to this page and to the page of the sound's author on orangefreesounds.com. Tapping one opens your browser, and from then on that site's own privacy policy applies.

How long it is kept

Statistics and crash reports are kept for the retention period configured in Firebase, after which Google deletes them.

Your rights

Since the statistics and crash reports carry no name or account, I usually cannot tell which ones are yours. You can still ask me what exists, ask me to delete it, or object to it, at TiagoDanin@outlook.com. You may also complain to the ANPD, Brazil's data protection authority.

Children

The app is not directed at children. I do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child's data reached me, write to me and I delete what I can find.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. A change in what is collected is described here before the version that makes it is published.

Contact

Tiago Danin, TiagoDanin@outlook.com.

These terms apply to anyone who installs or uses Virtual Pocket Air Conditioning. Using the app means you accept them. If you do not, uninstall it.

Who provides the app

Tiago Danin, a private individual in Brazil, who develops and publishes the app on Google Play. "I" and "me" below mean him.

What it is

A novelty app. It plays the hum of an air conditioner and shows cool air on the screen. It does not cool the room, the phone or you. Keep the volume at a level that is comfortable for your ears, especially with headphones.

Price

Free, with no ads and no purchases.

The sound

The air conditioner sound is by Alexander, from orangefreesounds.com, used under the CC BY-NC 4.0 licence. It belongs to its author. You may not extract it from the app and use it commercially. The app, its name, its icon and its design are mine.

What you may do with it

I give you a personal, free, non-exclusive and revocable licence to use the app on your devices. You may not resell or redistribute it.

Liability

The app is provided as it is, and it may change or be removed from the store at any time. To the extent Brazilian law allows, I am not liable for damage caused by using it. Nothing here removes a right that the law gives you and that a contract cannot take away, such as those in the Código de Defesa do Consumidor.

Changes

I may update these terms. The date at the top changes when I do.

Law

Brazilian law governs these terms. Anything an email cannot settle goes to the courts of Belém, Pará, without prejudice to your right as a consumer to sue where you live.

Contact

Tiago Danin, TiagoDanin@outlook.com.