Privacy Policy

Summary

• This policy covers the My Car app on Android, iOS, macOS, Windows and the web. The controller is KineApps Ltd, Finland.
• You can use the app without registering or giving an email address. Your vehicle data then stays on your device only.
• With a My Car Premium subscription, or as a member of a shared group, your data syncs to our cloud. We then store your account details (email, name) and the content you enter: vehicles, fuel, expenses, income, services, trips, reminders, notes, photos and attachments.
• Your synced data is stored in Google Firebase data centres in London.
• The app contains no third-party advertising, and we never sell your data.
• Usage statistics and crash reports are off by default. You choose whether to send them, and you can change your choice at any time in Settings.
• Purchases go through Google Play or the App Store. No payment card data reaches us.
• You can export your data from the app at any time, and delete your data and your account at any time, in the app or at mycar-app.com/delete-account.

The rest of this policy gives the details.

Who we are

KineApps Ltd (KineApps Oy), Finland, Business ID 3257225-7, is the data controller for the My Car app.

• Privacy questions and requests: info@kineapps.com
• App support: mycar@kineapps.com

Scope

This policy applies to the My Car app ("the app", "My Car") on Android, iOS, macOS, Windows and the web app, and to the cloud services behind it. It does not apply to the mycar-app.com website, which has its own website privacy policy.

The app is distributed through Google Play, the Apple App Store and the Microsoft Store. The stores collect data about downloads and purchases under their own privacy policies. We receive no personal data from the stores apart from purchase data (see "Purchases") and, if you join a beta test, the email address you enrolled with.

Data we collect

For each kind of data, this section tells you what we collect, why, on which legal basis, how long we keep it and who receives it. Legal bases refer to Article 6(1) of the GDPR.

Account

You can sign in with Google, with Apple or with an email link, or choose "Sign up later". "Sign up later" creates an anonymous account with a random user ID and no email address or name.

• What: a user ID created by Firebase Authentication, your email address, your display name, and the URL of your profile photo at Google or Apple. When you sign in, Firebase Authentication also logs your IP address and browser or device type for security. The photo is shown from your provider and never uploaded to us. With Sign in with Apple you can hide your email address; we then receive Apple's private relay address instead of your real one. Firebase Authentication also sends you emails for sign-in links and to verify a changed email address. We also record which versions of this policy and of the terms you accepted, your usage-statistics choice, and your consent to data sharing when you join a group.
• Why: to sign you in, to connect your subscription to you, to sync your data between your devices, and to let you take part in shared groups.
• Legal basis: contract (b).
• How long: until you delete your account, or until it is deleted automatically after a long period without use (see "Data retention and deletion"). Firebase Authentication keeps the logged IP addresses for a few weeks.
• Who receives it: Google (Firebase Authentication, data centres in the United States).

Vehicles and logs

• What: everything you enter in the app: vehicles with their details, fuel fill-ups, expenses, income, services, trips, odometer readings, reminders, notes, locations and addresses typed as free text, and your settings. Free text can contain personal data, for example a licence plate number, a vehicle identification number (VIN), a name in a note or an address.
• Why: this is the service. Without a permanent account and My Car Premium, or membership in a shared group, this data stays on your device and is never sent to us. With them, it syncs to our cloud so you can use it on all your devices and share it with your group.
• Legal basis: contract (b).
• How long: while you use the cloud sync, and 3 months after your subscription has expired (see "Data retention and deletion").
• Who receives it: Google Firebase and the members of a group you share the vehicle with.

Photos and attachments

• What: photos you take or pick, and files you attach to vehicles and events (images and documents such as pdf, docx and xlsx).
• Why: so you can keep receipts, documents and photos with your records and see them on all your devices.
• Legal basis: contract (b).
• How long: as your vehicles and logs.
• Who receives it: Google Firebase and the members of a group you share the vehicle with.

Photos uploaded from the Android and iOS apps keep their embedded metadata (EXIF). This can include the time the photo was taken and, if your camera stores it, the GPS position. If you do not want to share a photo's location, turn off location tagging in your camera settings, or remove the metadata before you attach the photo.

Purchases

• What: My Car Premium is sold through Google Play and the App Store. The store sends us the product you bought, the transaction IDs, the purchase and expiry dates, and a purchase token or receipt that our server verifies with the store. We also store your subscription status, referral offers and promo codes you use. No payment card or bank details reach us; the store handles the payment.
• Why: to activate and renew My Car Premium, to verify purchases, and to run the referral program.
• Legal basis: contract (b).
• How long: your subscription records are deleted together with your synced data, 3 months after the subscription expires, or when you delete your account.
• Who receives it: Google Firebase. Google Play and the App Store process the payment as independent controllers. The referral program also receives your device language, so the offer can be shown in your language.

User groups

• What: the owner of a group adds members by email address and gives each member a role (admin, driver or viewer) and a choice of vehicles. For each member we store the email address, role, vehicle filter and, once the member has signed in, their user ID. The group name defaults to the owner's name or email address. Invitations are sent from your own mail app or share sheet, not by us.
• Why: to let several people keep one set of records for shared vehicles.
• Legal basis: contract (b) for members who have joined. Until an invited person joins, we store their email address on the basis of our legitimate interest (f) in letting owners set up their group. The owner can remove the invitation at any time. If you were invited and do not want us to keep your email address, ask the owner to remove you or email us and we will delete it. If you add another person's email address to your group, you are responsible for having their permission and for telling them about this policy.
• How long: while the group exists. Data you added to another person's group stays in that group until you delete it in the app (while you are a member with edit rights), the owner deletes it, or you delete it with the "Delete shared contributions" option when deleting your account.
• Who receives it: Google Firebase and the other members of the group (see "Sharing with other users").

Usage statistics, crash reports and campaign measurement

These are off by default. The app asks you once, when you first start it, whether to "Send anonymous usage statistics". One toggle covers all three items below, and you can change your answer at any time in Settings.

• What:
  • Usage statistics (Firebase Analytics on Android, iOS and web): screens you open, features you use, and paywall, trial and purchase events, with your plan type and whether you belong to a group. These events carry a device-level identifier, not your user ID, email or name.
  • Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics on Android and iOS; Sentry on the web app): the state of the app when it crashed, the device model, operating system version and app version, and a Firebase installation ID. Sentry error reports do not store your IP address and are scrubbed of sensitive values such as passwords.
  • Campaign measurement (Google Ads): when usage statistics are on, Analytics events such as trial starts and purchases are shared with our Google Ads account, so we can see whether our own campaigns that promote My Car work. The app contains no third-party advertising, and we do not use this data for remarketing or to build advertising audiences. On Android and iOS the app also disables ad personalization signals in Analytics, and the Android app does not collect the advertising ID.
• Why: to understand which features are used, to find and fix crashes, and to measure our own campaigns.
• Legal basis: consent (a). You give it with the toggle and withdraw it the same way. Turning the toggle off stops new data from being sent. Data already collected carries a device or installation identifier rather than your account details, and is deleted according to the retention periods below.
• How long: Analytics event data 2 months and user-level data 14 months after your last activity; Crashlytics starts removing crash data 90 days after collection; Sentry 30 days. Aggregated reports that do not identify you are kept longer.
• Who receives it: Google (Analytics, Crashlytics and Google Ads; processed in the United States or globally) and Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry, United States).

Technical and security data

Some data is needed just to run the app safely. It is always on and cannot be turned off.

• What:
  • Firebase App Check verifies that requests come from the genuine app, using Google's and Apple's device integrity checks and reCAPTCHA on the web. It issues short-lived tokens for your installation.
  • Firebase Remote Config lets us switch features and settings without an app update. It identifies your installation with a Firebase installation ID, a random identifier that is not linked to your account. Crashlytics uses the same ID when you have opted in.
  • Server logs: our servers log the user ID and a masked form of the email address for each operation, together with its outcome and errors.
  • Firebase Hosting serves the web app and sees your IP address, like any web server.
• Why: to keep the service secure, to stop abuse and fraud, to configure the app, and to troubleshoot problems.
• Legal basis: legitimate interest (f) in a secure and working service. The data is minimal and is what you expect from any online service.
• How long: App Check tokens are valid for at most 7 days and are not stored beyond that, except tokens used for replay protection, which Google keeps for at most 30 days; server logs 30 days; Firebase Hosting keeps IP addresses in its logs for a few months; the installation ID while the app is installed (see "Data retention and deletion").
• Who receives it: Google.

Service emails

• What: your email address, name and subscription details, used in a welcome email and in emails when your subscription is about to expire or has expired.
• Why: to tell you about the state of your subscription and how to continue.
• Legal basis: legitimate interest (f) in keeping you informed about a service you have paid for. You can object by emailing us.
• How long: the record of each sent email is deleted after 60 days.
• Who receives it: Google Firebase and SMTP2GO, which delivers the email from servers in the European Union.

Support emails

• What: when you email us, we receive your email address, name and whatever you write. We keep the conversation so we can help you and refer back to it.
• Why: to answer your questions and fix your problems.
• Legal basis: legitimate interest (f) in supporting our users. Where your request is about your subscription or account, also contract (b).
• How long: 2 years.
• Who receives it: Microsoft (Microsoft 365, data stored in the European Union and EFTA).

Data kept only on your device

Without cloud sync, all your vehicle data stays in the app's local storage. Some settings, such as the email address of the account used for your subscription, are kept in encrypted local storage. The web app keeps its data in your browser's storage. App Check's reCAPTCHA on the web may set a Google security cookie. This storage is strictly necessary to provide the app and keep it secure, which is why it does not require your consent. This does not cover the optional usage statistics or campaign measurement, which require your consent. Uninstalling the app, or clearing the site data in your browser, removes it. We hold no copy of vehicle data you have never synced, so we cannot restore it if you lose or reset your device; use the export feature for backups.

Exports (backup files, CSV files and PDF reports) are saved on your device through the system save dialog, and import files from My Car or other apps are read on your device; we never receive the files themselves. Imported records become part of your vehicle data and sync to our cloud only if cloud sync is on. When you share an export, or rate the app through the store's review dialog, your device and the store handle it under their own terms.

Device permissions

The app may ask for these permissions. You can grant or revoke them at any time in your device settings. The app works without them, apart from the feature that needs them.

• Camera and photo library: to take or pick photos and attachments.
• Notifications and exact alarms: to show reminders you set. Reminders are scheduled on your device only; we send no push messages.

The app does not ask for your location, contacts, calendar or microphone.

What is required

• Registering is optional. With "Sign up later" the app only creates an anonymous user ID, and your data stays on your device.
• An email address is needed only if you sign in, so we can connect your subscription and sync your data. With Sign in with Apple you can hide it behind a relay address.
• Usage statistics and crash reports are optional. The app works the same whether they are on or off.
• Other people's data. If you enter data about other people, for example a group member's email address or a name in a note, you are responsible for having the right to do so.

Purposes and legal bases

Sharing with other users

In a shared group, members see each other's data.

• All members see the shared vehicles and their logs, the group name, and the name, email address and profile photo of every other member. Each event shows which member created it.
• Your role (admin, driver or viewer), set by the owner, decides whether you can only read the shared data or also change it.
• The owner created the group, adds and removes members, sets roles and chooses which vehicles are shared.

While you are a member with edit rights, you can edit or delete the entries you added in the app, like any other data of yours. If you leave or delete your account, the entries you added stay in the group unless you choose "Delete shared contributions" when deleting your account.

Processors and international transfers

Most of these companies process data on our behalf and may use it only for the purpose we give them. Each provider's name links to its privacy policy; Google's Firebase services are also described in the Firebase privacy page. Rows marked "independent controller" are services whose provider decides itself how it processes the data: Google Ads, the stores, beta programs, sign-in services, and the public cdnjs content network, which handles requests under Cloudflare's own privacy policy.

Independent controllers. Google Play and the Apple App Store handle purchases, downloads and store statistics under their own privacy policies, and Sign in with Apple is run by Apple. If you join a beta test, Apple (TestFlight) or Google Play receives the email address you enrol with, and we see it in the tester list. For these services Apple and Google decide themselves how they process your data.

Transfers outside the EU. Your synced data stays in the United Kingdom, which the European Commission has recognised as providing adequate protection. New Zealand also has an adequacy decision. Google, Functional Software (Sentry) and Cloudflare are certified under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, which covers data they process in the United States. Where Google or Sentry process data elsewhere, their data processing terms include the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses: Google Firebase, Google Cloud, Google Ads and Sentry.

Access by our staff. KineApps staff access your data only when support or maintenance requires it, for example when you ask us to look into a problem.

Authorities and legal claims. We disclose data when the law requires it, for example to a court or a public authority. We check that a request is valid and disclose only what it requires. We may also use data to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Data retention and deletion

If your My Car Premium subscription expires, the data you synced to our cloud is kept unchanged for 3 months, so you can renew and continue where you left off. After that it is deleted permanently, together with your subscription records. Deletion runs automatically and can take a few more days.

Data you added to another user's shared group stays in that group. To remove it, delete your account and choose to delete that data too.

Your account itself (email address and sign-in) is not deleted with this data. It is deleted when you delete your account, or automatically after a long period without use.

Entries you delete in the app are kept, marked as deleted, for 12 months so that all your devices receive the deletion. They are then removed permanently.

Once data has been permanently deleted, it is removed from our backups within 30 days.

The automatic deletion does not remove data stored on your own devices.

You can delete your data and your account at any time, also after your subscription has expired: in the app select Settings | Account | Delete account, or follow https://mycar-app.com/delete-account.

This applies to our own database and file storage. Google states that your sign-in details held by Firebase Authentication are removed from its systems, including backups, within 180 days after your account is deleted.

Deleting your account with "Delete shared contributions" is the bulk option. You can also delete individual entries in the app, including those you added to a shared group while you are a member with edit rights.

Backups. We keep daily backups of our database for 30 days and can restore it to any point in the last 7 days. Deleted files stay recoverable for 30 days. This is why permanently deleted data disappears from every copy within 30 days.

Other retention periods:

Your rights also cover entries marked as deleted and your personal data in shared groups. We cannot provide a copy of, or erase, data that we no longer hold.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you and get a copy of it.
• Rectify data that is wrong or incomplete.
• Erase your data ("right to be forgotten").
• Restrict processing in certain cases, for example while we check a correction.
• Portability: receive the data you gave us in a machine-readable format.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interest. You can also object at any time to direct marketing.
• Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing that happened before.

These rights are available to you wherever you live. We do not sell your personal data and do not share it for targeted advertising. Apart from the automatic deletion rules described above, we make no automated decisions about you that have legal or similar effects.

Requests are free of charge. We answer within one month; for complex requests we may extend this by two months and will tell you. We may ask you to confirm your identity first. When we correct or erase data, we tell every recipient of that data, unless this is impossible or takes disproportionate effort.

You can also complain to a data protection authority: in Finland the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman (tietosuoja.fi), or the authority of the EU country where you live.

Children

My Car is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we will delete it.

Security

• All data travels encrypted between the app and our servers.
• Firebase App Check verifies that requests come from the genuine app.
• Access rules allow you, and the members of your group, to read and write only your own data.
• Sensitive settings on your device are kept in encrypted local storage.
• Our staff access your data only when needed.

Changes to this policy

The effective date at the top shows the current version. If we change this policy in a way that matters to you, for example by collecting new data or using it for a new purpose, we will tell you in the app and ask for your acceptance again where the law requires it. Smaller changes, such as clarifications, are made without notice.

Contact

KineApps Ltd, Finland, Business ID 3257225-7

• Privacy requests: info@kineapps.com
• App support: mycar@kineapps.com