Lala Kalimba Privacy Policy
This is a translation. If it differs from the English version, the English version applies.
Lala Kalimba (“the app”) is an app for practising melodies from number notation on a kalimba, a steel tongue drum, a xylophone or a lyre harp. The developer runs no server of its own and does not collect information that tells who you are. This page explains what the app keeps on your device and what the Google services built into the app receive. On iPhone and iPad, where the app comes from Apple’s App Store, it works the same way: it shows the same child-directed, non-personalised ads, does not track you or use the advertising ID and asks for no permission; “Remove ads” is bought there through the App Store (section 6), and the information on the device may be included in your own iCloud or computer backup, which the developer cannot see.
1. Personal information we collect
None. The app has no sign-up or sign-in, and the developer does not collect your name, e-mail address, phone number, contacts or precise location. The app shows a banner ad from Google AdMob (section 5), and purchases are made through Google Play or, on iPhone and iPad, Apple’s App Store (section 6). The app also uses two Google services, Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics, which send Google usage statistics and crash reports marked with a random identifier of the installation rather than your name; in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland both are switched off (section 7).
2. Information stored on your device
Your instrument and its tuning, your practice settings, the songs you have finished with your best accuracy and when you last played them, your favourite songs, the interface language and whether you have bought “Remove ads” are stored only on your device. They are not sent to the developer.
If backup is turned on in your phone’s settings, Android may include this information when it backs up your phone to your own Google account; the developer cannot see that backup. The information is deleted when you delete the app or clear its data, and “Reset progress” in the app’s menu deletes your finished songs and favourites.
3. Device permissions
The Android app asks for no permission that needs your approval. It has only the permissions for internet access and the network state (for the ads, the usage statistics and the crash reports), for Google Play purchases, and those that Google’s ad and analytics software uses for its own background work. It does not use the microphone, the camera, your location, your contacts or your files. It does not use the advertising ID: the permission for it is removed from the app.
4. Internet connections
Practising works without an internet connection: the songs and the instrument sounds are inside the app. The app connects to the internet only to show the banner ad (Google AdMob), to send the usage statistics and crash reports (section 7) and, through Google Play or the App Store, to check whether you own “Remove ads” and to buy or restore it; the check is made when the app starts and when you return to it. Links such as this policy or the source of a score open in your browser. “More Lala apps” in the menu opens the pages of the developer’s other apps in Google Play or the App Store.
5. Advertising (Google AdMob)
The Android app shows a banner ad at the bottom of the screen, or at the side when a phone is held sideways. Children use the app and the app does not ask anyone’s age, so every ad is requested in the way meant for children, for every user:
- each request is marked as directed to children and as coming from a user under the age of consent;
- only ads rated suitable for everyone (G) are requested;
- ads are not personalised, and the advertising ID is not used.
To show an ad, Google receives information such as the device’s IP address (from which an approximate location can be derived), the device model and operating system, an app set ID (an identifier shared by one developer’s apps on this device, not the advertising ID), whether an ad was shown or tapped, and diagnostic information about the ad software. Google uses it to deliver ads, to limit how often an ad is shown, to prevent fraud and to measure ads, and may process it outside your country, under Google’s own privacy policy. The developer receives only totals of impressions and earnings.
6. In-app purchase (“Remove ads”)
“Remove ads” is a one-time purchase through Google Play, or through Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPad. Payment is handled entirely by Google Play or Apple under their own terms and privacy policies; the developer never receives your payment details. The app only asks the store whether your account owns “Remove ads” and remembers the answer on your device. Purchases follow the store’s parental controls and family settings (on Apple devices, Ask to Buy).
7. Usage statistics and crash reports (Google Firebase)
Usage statistics: the Android and iOS apps use Google Analytics for Firebase, a service of Google, to show the developer how the app is used in general: how many people use it, in which countries, on which devices and app versions, how often and for how long, and what the ads earn. For this, Google’s software in the app sends Google a random identifier of the installation with technical data such as the device model, system version, language, the IP address (which shows an approximate region) and events such as opening the app. Your songs, your practice and your records are never sent. The advertising ID and the device ID are not collected, and the data is not used to personalise ads.
Crash reports: the apps use Firebase Crashlytics, a service of Google, so that the developer can find and fix errors. When the app crashes or a part of it fails, a report is sent to Google that says where in the program the error happened and gives the device model, system version, app version, the state of the device at that moment (such as free memory) and the time, under a random identifier of the installation. It contains nothing of your songs or your practice.
In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland both services stay switched off, and nobody is asked to turn them on. The app tells this from the device’s time-zone setting only, never from its location: the services are off in the app as it is built, and they are switched on when the app starts only on a device whose time zone is elsewhere. Google handles this information under its own privacy policy (section 5); the developer sees only totals and the crash reports.
8. Sharing with third parties
The developer does not sell or share your information with anyone. Information leaves your device only through the Google services described in sections 5, 6 and 7.
9. Children’s privacy
The app can be used by people of all ages and treats every user as a child: ads are requested as described in section 5, and the usage statistics and crash reports contain no advertising ID and are never used to personalise ads (section 7). The developer does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, children included. If you believe that information about a child has been collected, please contact us and it will be deleted.
10. Your choices
The developer keeps no information that tells who you are, so the developer holds nothing about you to show, correct or delete; the usage statistics and crash reports carry only a random identifier that the developer cannot connect to you, and it is erased when you clear the app’s data or delete the app. Your records on the device can be deleted with “Reset progress” or by deleting the app. The ads stop when you buy “Remove ads”, and no ad is loaded while the device is offline. For the information that Google handles, see Google’s privacy policy, and for purchases on iPhone and iPad, Apple’s.
Where the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation applies, ads are shown, without personalisation, on the basis of the developer’s legitimate interest in offering the app free of charge, and the purchase check is necessary to give you what you bought; usage statistics and crash reports are not collected there (section 7).
If you believe your privacy rights have been infringed, you can also complain to the data-protection authority where you live. In Korea, these are the Personal Information Infringement Report Center (privacy.kisa.or.kr, phone 118) and the Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee (www.kopico.go.kr, phone 1833-6972).
11. Keeping and protecting information
Information stored on your device stays there until you delete it — with “Reset progress”, by clearing the app’s data or by deleting the app — and it is never copied to the developer. Information that Google receives when it shows an ad or handles a purchase, and that Apple receives when it handles a purchase on iPhone or iPad, is kept and deleted under their own retention policies; Google keeps crash reports for 90 days and the individual events of the usage statistics for 2 months (only totals made from them remain). Every connection the app makes is encrypted (HTTPS), and the app asks for no permission that reaches your personal data.
12. Changes to this policy
If a change to the app affects this policy, the new text is published on this page with a new effective date.
13. Contact
If you have a question about this policy, please contact the developer, who is also the person responsible for privacy matters:
Developer: diligentDad
E-mail: mylovejs2@gmail.com