To make it very clear, I have no interest in collecting or passing on to third parties any of your data.

However, there are certain exceptions to this rule:

  1. If you choose to contact me, then of course I will preserve any personal information (e.g. email address) that you provide to me; how else will I be able to keep up the conversation? If at any time you wish me to delete that information, then please let me know and I will. Note that any non-personal information may still be stored, in an anonymised fashion, for the improvement of or my support of the product
  2. If you make an in-app purchase, then Apple provides me with a receipt. This receipt contains no personal information, but I may use it to validate your purchase and preserve your purchase across devices.
  3. You may have agreed (usually in the device setup) to allow Apple to provide third parties with crash logs and statistics. Thank you if you have; it helps me improve the app. Note that all this data is anonymised by Apple so as not to be traceable to you.
  4. If you do not make an in-app purchase then your use of Nagtastic is ad-supported, and the Nagtastic app includes code from Google AdMob to provide these ads. This code will share the device’s Advertising Identifier with Google, and if you consent to your data being used to provide more relevant ads, then this code will pass on Personally Identifiable Information both to Google and to other ad providers.

This last exception requires a better explanation:

As you may be aware, ad providers like to show ads that you are more likely to click. You may also prefer to see ads that are more relevant to you! To do this they need to collect:

  • Information they can use to identify you as a unique individual across apps and even across devices (also know as Personally Identifiable Information, or PII for short). For example, if you have logged into a Google app then Google may be able to use that information to present ads targeted to that Google username. I trust Google not to mine personal data you enter in the normal use of the app, or stored elsewhere on the device’s file system; you may not be so trusting. Note that Google claims not to sell its data to any third party.

Failing this, ad providers still want to be able to track ads and try to prevent ad fraud. To do this they have to resort to:

  • Anonymous or pseudonymous data; this is information that cannot be used directly to identify you as an individual. The Advertising Identifier is such information; it is a number unique to the device that Apple provides. This is what is meant by ‘unique identifier’ in the Consent Form (see below). Google also receives the IP address of the device, which allows rough location-based targeting as well as allowing Google to comply with local privacy regulations. Similarly, any clicked-on ad will probably open in Safari; thus it will also have access to the IP address, as well as any cookies it is allowed to access.

    Note that Apple gives users ways of limiting the usefulness of the Advertising Identifier:

    • By allowing the user to Reset Advertising Identifier (i.e. generate a new one)
    • By providing a dummy identifier when the user chooses to Limit Ad Tracking.

    These controls are located in the Settings app. On iOS 13, they can be found in Advertising under Privacy.

Here is some reference material, if you are interested:

Given all that, here is what I do to protect your personal data in Nagtastic:

  • I tell Google AdMob to delay collecting and sending any data.
  • I display a Personal Data Consent Form before showing ads in which you have to choose between:
    1. Seeing ‘more relevant ads’ by allowing ad providers to collect Personally Identifiable Information.
    2. Seeing ‘less relevant ads’ by only allowing the use of Anonymous or pseudonymous data.
    3. Seeing no ads and completely eliminating all data collection by making an In-App Purchase.

    [I am thus giving everyone the benefit of EU regulations that gives an EU resident the right to opt out of the collection of Personally Identifiable Information (see Google’s EU user consent policy)].

  • I provide an option in the Nagtastic Settings screen for you to reconsider your consent. Note that you will need to force-close Nagtastic and then relaunch Nagtastic for your change to take effect (Apple do not allow any app to restart or even quit itself). If you have chosen reduce the data collected, you may also wish to Reset your device’s Advertising Identifier, or even Limit Ad Tracking (go to Privacy > Advertising in the Settings app) before relaunching Nagtastic.

Children’s Privacy

In many locations it is illegal to supply targeted ads to anyone under the age of 13. In such a situation I must insist that a parent or guardian decline Google’s use of Personally Identifiable Information or, alternatively, make an in-app purchase ;-)

I do not knowingly collect Personally Identifiable Information from children under 13. If I discover that a child under 13 has provided me with Personally Identifiable Information, then I will delete it. If you are a parent or guardian and you discover that your child has provided me with personal information, please contact me so that I may take appropriate action.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

I may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Whenever I do so, I will endeavour to notify you when you next launch the app. I also advise you to review this page periodically for any changes; since I do not collect Personally Identifiable Information from you, I have limited ways of informing you.

This policy is effective as of 2020-05-20