Privacy Policy — Fake News or Fact?

What we collect

Nothing that identifies you. The app has no accounts and no sign-in. Your scores, streak and settings are stored only on your device and are deleted when you uninstall the app.

The app downloads each day's quiz deck as a plain file from fakeorfact.datadrivendecisions.ca, which is hosted on GitHub Pages (GitHub, Inc.). Like any web host, GitHub may keep standard technical logs (IP address, time, file requested) for security and operations; see the GitHub General Privacy Statement. We do not use these logs to identify you.

Anonymous play statistics

Once a day the app may send us one small report of counts: how many cards were played and answered right, whether an ad or a streak freeze was shown, how many times something was shared and the kind of app it went to (for example a messaging app, Instagram or email, never the app's name), and the like, together with the day the app was installed, the app's version and which of two ad placements the device uses. It holds nothing that identifies you or your device: no account, no advertising ID, no name. The reports go to our endpoint on Cloudflare, which uses the IP address a report comes from only to limit how many requests one address can send, and keeps no IP addresses. We keep each report for 10 days, then only the totals added up from the reports, which help us see whether the game is worth playing and, later, show how many players got a card right. You can turn this off at any time in Settings › Share anonymous play statistics; in regions where we ask for ad consent, it is off until you turn it on. Because a report carries nothing that points to you, we cannot find or delete your reports if you ask; turning the setting off stops new ones and deletes any still waiting on your phone.

Checking that a report is genuine

Before the app sends its daily report, it asks Google Play to confirm that the report comes from the real app, installed from Google Play, on a genuine Android phone. For this check, Google Play (the Play Store and Google Play services on your phone) handles a one-way code made from the report, which does not reveal what is in it; the app's name, version and signing certificate; whether a Google account on the phone got the app from Google Play; and an integrity check of the phone. Google says it uses this data only to check the app, its licence and the phone, does not pass it to anyone else, and deletes it after a set period. That processing is Google's, under the Google Play Terms of Service and Google's Privacy Policy (see Google's Play Integrity data safety statement).

Google Play gives the app a sealed answer that only Google can open. The app sends it with the report; our server asks Google to read it and keeps a single word with the report: "ok", or the reason the check did not pass. We keep that word for the report's 10 days, then only the number of reports each day with each word. We never keep Google's answer, anything about your phone or any identifier, and we do not use this check to recognize or follow a phone from one day to the next. The check runs only when Settings › Share anonymous play statistics is on; when it is off, the app asks Google Play nothing. If the check fails or Google Play is not available, the report is still sent but may be left out of the totals, and the game works the same.

Advertising

The app shows ads from Google AdMob. Google and its partners may collect and use device identifiers (such as the advertising ID), IP address, and app-interaction data to show and measure ads, and to prevent fraud. Where required by law (for example in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, and in certain US states), the app asks for your consent with Google's consent tool before ads load, and you can change your choice at any time under Settings › Privacy choices. You can also reset or delete your advertising ID in your device settings.

Learn more: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.

Notifications

If you turn on the daily reminder, it is scheduled on your device. No notification data leaves your phone.

Children

The app is intended for people aged 13 and over and is not directed at children.

Reporting a mistake, and emailing us

"Report a mistake", "Report a problem" and "Send feedback" open your own email app with a message to us; nothing is sent until you send it, and you can change or delete any of it first. "Report a mistake" names the card, its deck and the app's version. "Report a problem" adds technical details: the app's version, your phone's model and Android version, and what the app last downloaded. They hold no identifiers and nothing about your progress. We receive only what you choose to send.

When you email us, we keep your email in our support mailbox so we can reply. To make sure every report is handled, we copy the text of your message into our private issue tracker (on GitHub), with email addresses, phone numbers and street addresses removed: the tracker never holds your email address or name, only an anonymous code so we can tell when the same person writes again. You get one automatic reply to confirm we received your email, then an answer from a person. To have your emails deleted, ask us at the address below.

Your rights, and who is responsible

Who receives information: Google, for the ads described above, for the check of the play statistics and for our support mailbox (Gmail), GitHub, which hosts the daily decks and our private issue tracker, and Cloudflare, which runs the endpoint for the play statistics. Their servers may be outside Québec and Canada, for example in the United States. Only the studio's owner reads what you send us, and we never sell or share it.

The person in charge of the protection of personal information at Data Driven Decisions is the studio's owner: write to support.datadrivendecisions@gmail.com with "Privacy" in the subject. You can ask to see, correct or delete what we hold about you, withdraw your consent, or get a copy of it; we answer within 30 days, free of charge. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (cai.gouv.qc.ca) or, elsewhere in Canada, to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca). How long we keep emails, and what applies to all our apps: Privacy at Data Driven Decisions.

Contact

support.datadrivendecisions@gmail.com