Privacy Policy
1. Your data stays on your phone
Flashsmith works fully offline and has no accounts. Your decks, cards, card pictures, tags, review history, schedule and streak stay on your phone only, in the app's private storage. Nothing you study is uploaded, collected or shared, and we operate no servers that receive your content; cloud backup of that storage is disabled. Spaced-repetition scheduling (SM-2) runs entirely on the device.
Flashsmith only opens a file when you choose one: a word list (TXT, CSV or TSV) or a .flashsmith backup is read through Android's system file picker, and a backup or CSV export is written only to the place you pick. Text shared to Flashsmith from another app is read only when you share it. Pictures on cards come from Android's Photo Picker, which hands the app only the pictures you choose; Flashsmith cannot see the rest of your gallery. Read-aloud uses the text-to-speech voices already installed on your phone.
2. Permissions
- No access to your personal data. Flashsmith never asks for storage, photos, camera, microphone, location or contacts. Files and pictures are opened only through the system pickers, which need no permission.
- Notifications (POST_NOTIFICATIONS) — optional, asked only after you finish your first study session and tap “Remind me”. At most one study reminder a day, and only when cards are due. You can turn reminders off in Settings or in Android's notification settings.
- Run at startup (RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED) — only to re-schedule your study reminder after the phone restarts.
- Vibration (VIBRATE) — haptic feedback when you flip or grade a card; you can turn it off in Settings.
- Internet and network state — only for ads, analytics, purchases and consent. Studying works with no internet; your cards are never sent.
3. Analytics and crash reports (Google Firebase)
With your consent where required, we use Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics to understand how the app is used and to fix crashes. We log anonymous events such as “paywall viewed” or “purchase completed”, plus device model, OS and app version, approximate region and an app-instance identifier. We never log your content; the app enforces this with an allow-list of event parameters. Crash reports contain the error type and stack trace only. Firebase Remote Config is used to tune paywall and ad settings.
4. Advertising (Google AdMob and Unity Ads)
The free version shows ads: one slim banner on a list screen, an occasional full-screen ad after you save something, and optional rewarded ads you choose to watch to unlock a Pro tool for a while. Ads never cover a live tool, onboarding or the paywall, and never appear in the first two minutes of first use. Flashsmith Pro removes all ads.
Ads are served by Google AdMob, with Unity Ads competing through AdMob mediation and serving the banner directly. These partners may collect the advertising ID, device and usage information and approximate location derived from your IP address to serve and measure ads. See Google's and Unity's privacy policies.
5. Your choices (GDPR, UK GDPR, Swiss FADP, US state laws)
In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Flashsmith asks for your consent through Google's consent message (IAB TCF) before personalised ads or analytics are used. If you decline, ads are non-personalised and analytics stays off. In US states with privacy laws (such as California, Virginia, Colorado), you can opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information and targeted advertising. You can change your choice at any time in Settings → Privacy choices.
Legal bases (GDPR): consent for analytics and personalised ads; performance of a contract for the features you use and for purchases; legitimate interest for crash diagnostics where consent is not required. You may request access, deletion, correction or portability of data we control, object to processing, or lodge a complaint with your supervisory authority. California residents (CCPA/CPRA): we do not sell personal information for money; ad partners may receive identifiers as described above, which you can opt out of in Privacy choices. We do not discriminate against users who exercise their rights.
6. Purchases
Subscriptions and the lifetime purchase are processed by Google Play. We never receive your payment details; Google tells the app whether Pro is active.
7. Retention and deletion
Your content remains on your device until you delete it or uninstall the app. Analytics data is retained by Google for up to 14 months. See how to delete your data.
8. Children
Flashsmith is not directed to children under 13 (under 16 in the EEA) and we do not knowingly collect their data.
9. Changes
We will update this page if our practices change and revise the date above.