Privacy Policy for Unseal
What we collect
There is no account and no sign-up. To learn how the app is used, so we can fix what gets in people's way, the app sends anonymous usage statistics through Google Analytics for Firebase, described below. Apart from that, nothing about you or your reading is sent to us.
Usage statistics
- What is sent: which screens you open and for how long, which features you use and whether they worked (for example "opened from another app", "cancelled", or an error code), the settings you choose, and general information about the device and the app (model, Android version, language, app version, and the country and region derived from the network address). It is tied to a random identifier that Firebase creates for this installation, not to your name, email or phone number. If the app shows ads, Firebase may also read the device's advertising ID, which you can reset or delete in Android Settings, under Privacy, Ads.
- What is never sent: which stories you read by name, your reading position or anything stored in the app. Where an amount or a size matters, only a range is sent (for example "5-10 chapters"), never the exact content.
- Google processes this data for us, under the Firebase privacy and security terms and Google's privacy policy. We use it only to understand and improve Unseal; we do not sell it and do not share it with anyone else. It is sent over an encrypted connection and kept for at most 14 months.
- You can turn it off at any time in the app's Settings ("Share anonymous usage data"); from then on nothing more is sent.
Stories
- The app downloads its list of stories, the chapters and the cover pictures from our content server. These are plain downloads: the app sends nothing about you with them, only the ordinary information any download carries, such as your network address, which the server does not keep with anything that identifies you.
- Your library, which chapters you have unlocked, where you stopped reading, your favourite genres, your check-in streak and your settings (dark mode, text size, reminders) are stored only on your device. Downloaded chapters and covers are kept on the device as a cache so they open quickly.
- Android may include the app's settings and reading progress in your own device backup to your Google account, if you have backup turned on; we never see that backup.
- When you share a story, the app creates a picture and a link to the app on Google Play, and Android's share sheet sends it only where you choose.
Notifications
If you turn on the reading reminder in Settings, the app may show at most one notification in the evening, after you have been away for a day, to remind you where you stopped. It is created on your device; no notification is sent to the app from a server. The app asks for permission to show notifications only after you finish a chapter.
Permissions
- Notifications, for the optional reading reminder.
- Internet access, to download stories and to request ads. Advertising ID and related Android ad permissions are declared by the ads SDK.
Advertising
The app shows a banner on the home screen and on a story's page, and a rewarded video only when you tap to watch one to unlock a chapter (at most five a day). There are never ads inside the text you are reading.
Ads are served by Google's Mobile Ads SDK (AdMob). To show and measure ads it may collect your device's advertising ID, general information about the device and the app, an approximate location derived from your IP address, and whether an ad was shown or tapped. Google describes this in its privacy policy and in how Google uses information from apps that use its services. You can reset or delete your advertising ID at any time in Android Settings, under Privacy, Ads.
Where the law requires it, for example in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the app asks for your consent with Google's consent form before any ad is requested. You can change or withdraw your choice at any time with the "Ad privacy" button on the home screen.
In US states with their own privacy laws (for example California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and Utah), Google's consent form lets you opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for ads, and of targeted advertising. You can make or change that choice at any time with the "Ad privacy" button. After you opt out, the app still shows ads, but Google shows them without using that information for personalization.
Retention and deletion
Clearing the app's storage in Android Settings or uninstalling the app removes everything it stored. The usage statistics are not linked to your identity, so we cannot pick out yours; they are deleted automatically after at most 14 months, and you can stop them at any time from the app's Settings. For any question, write to the contact address above.
Children
Unseal tells romance and drama stories written for adults and is not directed at children under 13.
Changes
If a future version collects or shares anything more, this policy will be updated before that version is published, together with the app's Data safety section on Google Play.