Privacy Policy
In short. AlwaysInTouch is a serverless messenger. Conversations, photos, map pins and game scores never pass through our infrastructure, because there is no such infrastructure. Devices connect directly to one another — over a local network created by one of the phones' hotspots, or over Bluetooth Low Energy.
We do not operate user accounts. We do not know your name, e-mail address or phone number, because we never ask for them.
1. Data that stays on your device
The following data is stored locally only, in a database encrypted with SQLCipher whose key is held in the Android system keystore:
- the content of text messages,
- photos sent to and received from the group,
- the display name you choose on first launch,
- map pins and notes,
- game scores,
- the diagnostic log (technical connection information — see §5).
Android backup is disabled for this app
(allowBackup="false"), so this data is never copied to Google Drive.
Uninstalling the app deletes it irreversibly. We hold no copy of it and cannot recover it.
2. Data shared with other group members
When you join a group, its other members receive — directly from your device to theirs — whatever you send them:
- messages and photos,
- your display name,
- your position on the group map, if you enable location sharing,
- map pins and game scores.
Traffic between devices is encrypted. It passes through no intermediary server and does not travel over the internet — it stays within the local network or the Bluetooth link.
Group members are people you invite yourself, or whose invitation you accept. We have no visibility into who is in a group or what is exchanged within it.
3. Permissions and why they are needed
| Permission | What it is used for |
|---|---|
| Location (precise and approximate) | Required by Android in order to start a local hotspot
(LocalOnlyHotspot) — without it a group session cannot start.
It also shows your position on the group map, if you turn that on yourself. |
| Camera | Scanning the QR code when joining a group, and taking photos to send to the group. |
| Bluetooth (scan, advertise, connect) | Discovering nearby devices and handing over network details when joining a group or restoring a dropped connection. |
| Wi-Fi and nearby devices | Starting the hotspot on the device hosting the session, and letting the other devices join it. |
| Notifications | Informing you about new messages and about the session state. |
| Foreground service / battery optimisation exemption | Keeping the connection to the group alive while the screen is off. Without it the system suspends the process and the group loses connectivity. |
| Internet | Only the three uses described in §4. |
Your location is never sent to us or to any third party. It goes only to the members of your group, and only when you enable location sharing yourself.
4. The only internet connections
The app is designed to work without an internet connection. It reaches the network in exactly three situations, all of them typically before you set off:
- RevenueCat — handling the purchase and verifying an active Pro
subscription. RevenueCat receives an anonymous device identifier (in the form
$RCAnonymousID:…), purchase details and standard technical connection data. We do not send it your name, your conversations or your location. RevenueCat's privacy policy: revenuecat.com/privacy - Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) — searching for places in the offline map wizard. The search term you type is sent. osmfoundation.org
- Map tile server — downloading the offline map package for the area you select.
Outside these three cases the app sends nothing to the internet. In particular, it contains no advertising and no analytics tooling.
5. Diagnostic log
The app keeps a local technical log (connection state, errors) that helps diagnose connectivity problems. It lives in the app's directory on your device and is never sent anywhere automatically.
You can export it and send it to us yourself from the Diagnostics screen — this happens solely on your initiative and under your control. The log may contain Wi-Fi network names and participants' display names; it does not contain message content.
6. Children
The app is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their data.
7. Your rights and data deletion
Because we operate no user accounts and store none of your data on servers, there is no account to delete and no dataset for which a copy could be requested.
You delete local data by uninstalling the app or clearing its data in the system settings.
Purchase data is held by RevenueCat and in your Google Play account — for those matters, refer to the policies of those services.
8. Changes to this policy
We will announce material changes through the update notes on Google Play. The date of the most recent change appears at the top of this document.
9. Contact
For privacy matters: kontakt@haskelar.pl