Privacy policy

2. Information the developer collects

None. We have no servers, no accounts, and no back end. We cannot see your mind maps, your files, your dictation, or how you use the app. All advertising data goes to Google, not to us; we receive only anonymous, aggregated earnings and performance totals from AdMob (for example, total impressions and revenue), which cannot identify you.

3. Information the app stores on your device

To function, the app saves the following locally on your device only, in the app's private storage area:

This data is written using the device's standard app-private storage. It is not encrypted beyond the protections the Android and iOS operating systems apply to app-private storage, it is not backed up to our servers (we have none), and Android auto-backup is disabled for this app.

4. Files you export

When you tap Export, the app renders your mind map — or a single branch of it, if you chose one — as a PDF or PNG and writes that file to a location you can reach:

• Android 10 and newer: into the public Downloads/MindMaps folder, using the system MediaStore. No storage permission is required.
• Android 9 and older: into the public Downloads folder. On these versions only, the app asks for the "Storage" (WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) permission at the moment you export, purely to write that file. If you decline, the export is cancelled and nothing else changes.
• iOS: into the app's Documents folder, visible in the Files app.

The app writes only the export file you asked for. It does not read, scan, index, browse, or upload any other file, photo, or document on your device.

Once a file is saved to your Downloads folder it is an ordinary file under your control. If you then share it — by e-mail, messaging, cloud storage, or any other app — that sharing is your own action, and the receiving app or service handles the file under its privacy policy, not ours.

5. Advertising — Google AdMob

The app is free and is funded by advertising. We use Google AdMob, an advertising service provided by Google LLC (and, for users in Europe, Google Ireland Limited).

5.1 What the current build does

Be aware of the distinction between requesting an ad and showing one, because it affects your privacy differently:

• The ads SDK starts when the app opens (after consent, where consent is required) and requests a rewarded video ad in the background when you open the download sheet. Making that request sends device information to Google, described in 5.2 below. This happens in the current build.

We are describing the request even though you see no ad, because the data goes to Google either way. If a future version turns the rewarded ad back on, it will work as follows: when you save a mind map as a PDF or PNG, a rewarded video plays and watching it unlocks the file; dismissing it early means the file is not saved and you can simply export again. The app shows no banner ads, no interstitials, and no ads while you are editing a mind map.

5.2 What Google collects and processes

To select, deliver, measure, and prevent fraud in these ads, the Google Mobile Ads SDK collects and processes information from your device, which may include:

• Advertising identifier — your Android Advertising ID (AAID) or, on iOS, the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), a resettable ID used for advertising
• IP address, from which an approximate (coarse) location such as your city or country may be derived
• Device and software information — device model and manufacturer, operating system and version, language, time zone, screen characteristics, network type and mobile carrier
• App information — the app's package name and version
• Ad interaction data — which ads were requested and shown, how long you watched, whether you clicked, whether a reward was granted, and related diagnostic and anti-fraud signals

The app does not request or share your precise GPS location, contacts, photos, camera, call logs, SMS, or the contents of your mind maps. Microphone use is limited to dictation and is never connected to advertising (section 6).

5.3 How that information is used

Google uses this information to deliver and render ads, to measure their performance, to detect invalid traffic and fraud, and — where personalised advertising applies — to show ads it considers more relevant to you. Google may combine it with data it holds from other apps and sites that use its advertising services. Google acts as an independent controller of this data, not as our processor.

For details, please read:

• Google Privacy Policy — policies.google.com/privacy
• How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services — policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
• About AdMob data collection — support.google.com/admob/answer/6128543

5.4 Your choices and how to opt out

You are not powerless here. You can:

• Reset or delete your advertising ID. On Android: Settings → Privacy → Ads (the exact path varies by manufacturer), where you can reset the ID or delete it entirely. Deleting it stops apps from receiving a stable advertising identifier. On iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• Turn off ad personalisation. Use the same Android Ads settings screen, or visit adssettings.google.com. You will still see ads, but they will be non-personalised — selected using contextual signals rather than your interests.
• Withdraw or change your consent if you are in a region where a consent prompt is shown (see section 5.5).
• Use the app offline. Creating, editing, exporting, and backing up mind maps all work with no network connection, and no ad request can be made without one.

5.5 Consent in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, the app presents a consent message before requesting personalised ads, using Google's certified Consent Management Platform (Google UMP, part of the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework). Through that prompt you choose whether to allow personalised advertising and can review the vendors involved. Your choice is stored on your device and honoured on subsequent launches, and you can change or withdraw it at any time from the Privacy options entry in the editor's More menu. Declining personalised ads does not restrict your use of the app; non-personalised ads are used instead.

5.6 California and other US state privacy laws

If you are a California resident, the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising is subject to the CCPA/CPRA. Turning off ad personalisation (section 5.4) or deleting your advertising ID signals that you do not want your information used for personalised advertising. Google offers publishers restricted data-processing modes for US state privacy laws, and we rely on Google's compliance mechanisms for the advertising delivered through the AdMob SDK. You may also contact us at the address in section 18.

5.7 Retention of advertising data

We retain none of it, because we never receive it. Advertising data collected by the Google Mobile Ads SDK is retained by Google under Google's own retention schedules and policies, described in the Google Privacy Policy linked above. Questions about how long Google keeps that data, or requests relating to it, should be directed to Google.

6. Voice dictation and the microphone

The app can turn spoken words into nodes. This feature is entirely optional — every map can be built by typing, and the microphone is never opened unless you press the microphone button.

• The permission is asked for at the moment you first press the button, never at launch. If you decline, the rest of the app is unaffected. The microphone is declared as an optional device feature, so a device without one can still install the app.
• Recognition is performed by your device's own speech service, through Android's standard SpeechRecognizer. The app does not run its own speech engine, does not send audio anywhere itself, and does not record, save, or export audio. No audio file is ever written.
• That system service is a third party. On most Android devices it is provided by Google (the Google app or the device's speech services), and what it does with your speech — including whether audio is processed on the device or on the provider's servers, and how long anything is retained — is governed by that provider's privacy policy, not ours. On a Google recogniser, see the Google Privacy Policy and your Google Account's Web & App Activity settings. Some devices and languages support fully on-device recognition; whether yours does is a property of the device, not of this app.
• What the app receives is text. Recognised phrases become node text in the map you are dictating into, stored locally like anything else you type. Partial results are shown on screen while you speak and are discarded.
• Your dictation language choice is remembered locally so the sheet opens in the right language.
• Dictation is never used for advertising, and dictated text is never sent to Google's ad systems.

If you would rather not have the speech service involved at all, do not use the microphone button — or revoke the microphone permission in Settings → Apps → MindMap Competitive → Permissions.

7. Backups, import, and sharing

7.1 Automatic local backups

The app keeps a safety net for your maps:

• Roughly once a day, when you open the app, and only if something has changed, it writes a JSON bundle containing all of your maps into its own private storage on your device. A small number of the most recent bundles are kept and older ones are deleted automatically.
• This is a local copy, not a cloud backup. It is not uploaded anywhere, we never see it, and clearing the app's data or uninstalling the app removes it along with everything else.
• Automatic backups are on by default and can be turned off in the app. They require no network connection, no account, and no permission.

7.2 Sending a backup off your device

The app can hand a backup file to the system share sheet, so you can put it in Google Drive, e-mail it to yourself, or save it wherever you like. This only ever happens when you explicitly choose it. Once you pick a destination, the file leaves our control and is handled by the app or service you chose, under its privacy policy.

7.3 Restoring and importing

You can bring a backup back in two ways: by picking the file through the system file picker, or by opening a .json backup from another app (Files, Drive, Gmail) and choosing MindMap Competitive.

In both cases the operating system grants the app access to only the single file you selected. The app has no ability to browse, list, or read anything else in your storage or your cloud accounts, and it never uploads the file — it is parsed on your device and merged into your maps.

8. Permissions the app declares, and why

The app also declares a package query for Android's speech-recognition service, so it can tell whether a recogniser exists on your device before offering dictation. This reveals nothing about you to us or to anyone else.

The app does not request access to your contacts, camera, location, photo library, calendar, call logs, or SMS.

9. Network activity

The app has no back end of its own. It does not log in, sync, upload, or download your content. Network activity is limited to:

• Advertising requests to Google's ad servers, carrying the device and ad-interaction information described in section 5.
• A daily update check: the app fetches the app's own public Google Play listing page to read the latest published version number, so it can tell you an update exists. It is an ordinary anonymous web request — no account, no identifier, and nothing about you or your maps is sent. Google, as the operator of that page, sees it as it would see any visit: your IP address and standard request headers. The check happens at most once a day, and you can ignore or dismiss the resulting prompt.
• A connectivity check performed by the operating system's network-status library to determine whether the device is online, so the app can display its "no internet" notice. It contains no personal information and no content from your mind maps.
• Images you add by web address. If you put an image into a node using an http(s) URL, the app loads that image from whatever server hosts it, exactly as a browser would — and that server sees your IP address and request headers. This is your choice and is under your control: images embedded as data, or referenced as local files, involve no network at all. We have no relationship with, and no control over, third-party image hosts.

Dictation may cause additional network activity outside this app, performed by your device's speech service; see section 6.

The app also uses a hidden, offline WebView component to render high-resolution PDF and PNG exports. This WebView loads only HTML generated locally inside the app. It loads no remote pages, no remote scripts, and no remote fonts, it displays no ads, and it has no access to your browsing data, cookies, or history.

10. Third-party services

There is no analytics provider, no crash-reporting service, no social login, no attribution or mediation partner, and no other advertising network. Any cloud service that receives a backup or an exported file does so because you sent it there through the share sheet. The remaining open-source libraries the app is built with (React Native, React Navigation, and related components) run entirely on your device and transmit nothing.

11. Data sharing and selling

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data, and we never share your mind maps, dictation, backups, or exported files with anyone.

The one disclosure of data that occurs automatically through this app is to Google, via the AdMob SDK, for the advertising purposes described in section 5. Google may in turn share that information with its advertising partners and, in the case of personalised advertising, use it to build interest profiles. Under some laws — notably the CCPA/CPRA — the use of advertising identifiers for cross-context behavioural advertising may itself be treated as a "sale" or "sharing" of personal information; section 5.6 explains how to opt out.

Your speech reaches your device's speech provider only when you choose to dictate, and your files reach another service only when you choose to share them.

We may also disclose information if required to do so by law, though in practice we hold no user data that could be disclosed.

12. Data retention and deletion

Your data is retained on your device for exactly as long as you keep it, and you are in full control of removing it:

• Delete one mind map: use the delete option on the home screen. It is removed from the app's storage immediately.
• Delete a backup: remove it from the backup list in the app. Old automatic backups are also pruned on their own as new ones are written.
• Delete all app data: Android Settings → Apps → MindMap Competitive → Storage → Clear data. This erases every saved map, every local backup, every preference, and your stored consent choice.
• Delete everything: uninstall the app. All app-private data, including all saved mind maps and local backups, is removed by the operating system.
• Advertising data: delete or reset your advertising ID in the device's system Ads settings (section 5.4). Data already collected by Google is subject to Google's retention policy; direct such requests to Google.
• Dictation data held by your speech provider: on a Google recogniser, review and delete voice activity in your Google Account's Activity controls.

Files you previously exported to your Downloads folder, and backups you sent elsewhere yourself, are not removed by uninstalling the app, because they belong to you. Delete them with your file manager or in the destination service if you wish.

Because we hold no copy of your data, there is nothing for us to delete on our side, and no data-deletion request needs to be made to us.

13. Children's privacy

This app is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Because the app integrates third-party advertising, it is intended for a general audience of teenage and adult users and is not enrolled in Google Play's Designed for Families programme.

If you believe a child has used the app and you wish to have any associated advertising identifier removed from use, delete the advertising ID in the device's system Ads settings and contact us at the address in section 18.

14. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights under laws such as the GDPR, the UK GDPR, the CCPA/CPRA, or India's DPDP Act — including the right to access, correct, port, or delete your personal data, to object to its processing, and to withdraw consent.

• Against us: we collect and hold no personal data, so there is nothing for us to provide, correct, export, or erase. Your mind map content sits on your own device, and section 12 explains how to remove it. Your maps are already portable: the backup file is plain JSON you can export at any time.
• Against Google: the advertising data described in section 5, and any speech data processed by a Google recogniser under section 6, are held by Google as an independent controller. To exercise rights over them, use the Google ad settings and opt-outs in section 5.4, your Google Account's Activity controls, or contact Google directly using the mechanisms in the Google Privacy Policy.

Where we rely on your consent for personalised advertising, you may withdraw it at any time (section 5.5) without affecting your ability to use the app.

15. Security

Your mind maps and local backups are stored in the app's private storage area, which the Android and iOS operating systems isolate from other apps. Because your content is never transmitted off your device by us, there is no server-side breach risk to it. Communication with Google's ad servers and with the Play listing uses encrypted HTTPS connections.

Note that a backup file is unencrypted JSON by design, so that it can be read and rescued by anything, including a future version of this app. Once you copy one off your device, treat it like any other document containing your notes: it is readable by whoever can open it.

Please also note that the physical and account security of your device is your responsibility. Anyone with unlocked access to your device, or a device that has been rooted or jailbroken, may be able to read app data. We recommend keeping a device lock enabled and your operating system up to date.

16. International data transfers

Google operates globally, so information collected by the AdMob SDK — and speech processed by a Google recogniser — may be transferred to and processed on servers in the United States and other countries whose data-protection laws differ from those where you live. Google states that it uses approved transfer mechanisms, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, for such transfers. See the Google Privacy Policy for details. No data we control is transferred anywhere, since we collect none.

17. Changes to this policy

If this app's functionality changes in a way that affects privacy — including any change to the advertising it serves — we will update this policy and revise the "Last updated" date above. Material changes will also be reflected in the app's Data Safety declaration on Google Play. Continued use of the app after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy. We encourage you to review this page occasionally.

18. Contact us

For any question, concern, or request regarding this privacy policy or the app:

• Abhijeet Nigoskar
• E-mail: abhi.nigoskar17@gmail.com