In short
- Your savings data stays on your device. The app has no account, no sign in, no bank connection and no server of our own. We never receive your challenges, amounts or dates.
- The app shows ads using Google's ad SDK (Google AdMob). Google collects certain data, such as your IP address and advertising ID, to show ads, measure them and prevent fraud. This is described below.
- Where the law requires consent (for example in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland), you are asked before personalized ads are used, and you can change your choice at any time in Settings, Privacy choices.
- An optional one time purchase removes ads. Payment is handled entirely by Google Play.
- Backups you export are files you save where you choose. We never see them.
1. Who we are
Savings Challenge: 52 Weeks (“the app”, “we”, “us”) is published by manextapps. This policy explains how the Android app handles information. For questions, see Contact.
2. About the app
Savings Challenge is a tracker for money challenges such as the 52 week challenge, the 100 envelope challenge, a 26 payday challenge, custom grids and no spend days. You set money aside yourself and tap to record it; the app shows your progress, streaks and simple statistics, and can remind you once a week. The app does not hold, move or invest money, does not connect to any bank, and is not financial advice. An internet connection is used only for ads, for the ad consent form, for the optional purchase, and when you choose to open a link such as this policy.
3. Data we collect
We, the developer, do not operate a server for this app and do not collect, receive or store personal data about you. The app has no account or sign in, no analytics or crash reporting tools of our own, and does not use Firebase.
Ads in the app are provided by Google, which collects some data directly through its software development kit (SDK). That is explained in section 5. The optional purchase is processed by Google Play, see section 8.
If you email us, we will receive your email address and whatever you choose to write. We use it only to reply and keep it only as long as needed for that purpose.
4. Data stored on your device
The app saves the following information locally on your device so it works. It is not sent to us.
- Your challenges: their names, type, amounts, start dates, which cells you saved and when, and the envelopes you drew.
- Settings: theme, jar style and the styles you unlocked, currency, weekly reminder day and time, vibration, and whether ads were removed by a purchase.
- Counters used to pace ads (for example, how many milestones you reached since the last full screen ad).
Google's ad, consent and billing libraries also store some information on your device, such as your consent choices, so that they work correctly.
5. Advertising and Google's ad SDK
The app uses the Google Mobile Ads SDK (Google AdMob) to show ads and Google's User Messaging Platform (UMP) to request ad consent where required. The app shows:
- A small banner at the bottom of the home screen, from your second session on and only once you have created a challenge.
- Full screen (interstitial) ads, at most now and then when you close a milestone celebration, never when you tap to save and never in your first session.
- Rewarded ads, only when you choose to watch one to unlock an extra jar style. If no ad is available, the jar style unlocks anyway.
The banner and full screen ads stop after the remove ads purchase.
What Google's ad SDK collects
According to Google's data disclosure for the Google Mobile Ads SDK, the SDK automatically collects and shares the following data:
| Data | Description |
|---|---|
| IP address | Your device's IP address, which may be used to estimate the general location of the device. |
| Product interactions | Interactions such as app launches, taps and video views. |
| Diagnostic information | Performance data about the app and the SDK, such as app launch time, hang rate and energy usage. |
| Device and account identifiers | The Android advertising ID, the app set ID and, where applicable, other identifiers related to accounts signed in on the device. |
Your savings data is never passed to the ad SDK. Google states that the data above is used for advertising, analytics and fraud prevention, and that it is encrypted in transit. Google may also use information from apps that use its services as described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services and in the Google Privacy Policy. Google's handling of this data is governed by Google's own policies, not by us.
Personalized and non personalized ads
Personalized ads are based on information such as your interests and past activity. Non personalized ads are based on more limited context, such as the app itself and your general (not precise) location. Depending on your choices, your region and your device settings, Google may show you personalized, non personalized or limited ads. Learn more in How Google uses cookies and similar technologies in advertising.
6. Consent and your ad choices
Where it is required (for example in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, and, where enabled, certain U.S. states), the app shows Google's consent message when it starts. You can accept, decline or manage your choices.
When privacy options are available for your region, you can review or change your choices at any time in the app under Settings, Privacy choices. If your choices mean ads cannot be requested, the app still works fully and extra jar styles still unlock.
You can also manage ad personalization for your Google Account at My Ad Center.
7. Your advertising ID
Android provides a resettable advertising ID. On most devices you can reset or delete it in Settings, Privacy, Ads (menu names vary by device and Android version). Deleting it stops apps from accessing it for advertising; resetting it replaces it with a new random ID. Some devices also offer ad privacy settings for the Android Privacy Sandbox in the same area.
8. In app purchase
You can buy a one time “Remove ads” upgrade, which also unlocks every jar style. The purchase is made through Google Play Billing: Google handles the payment and your payment details, and we never see them. The app only receives confirmation from Google Play that the upgrade belongs to your Google account, so it can turn off ads and restore the purchase on a new device. Google's handling of purchases is described in the Google Privacy Policy and the Google Play terms.
9. Android permissions
The app does not ask for location, camera, contacts, microphone or storage access. Backups are saved and opened through Android's own file picker, which gives the app access only to the one file you choose. The installed app includes these permissions:
- Notifications (
POST_NOTIFICATIONS): asked only when you turn on the weekly reminder, so the reminder can appear. You can turn it off in the app or in Android settings. - Run at startup (
RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED): keeps your weekly reminder scheduled after the phone restarts. - Internet access and network state: to load ads, the consent form and the purchase screen.
- Advertising ID (
com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID): lets the ad SDK read the advertising ID. - Android ad services (
ACCESS_ADSERVICES_AD_ID,ACCESS_ADSERVICES_ATTRIBUTION,ACCESS_ADSERVICES_TOPICS): let the ad SDK use Android's Privacy Sandbox advertising features where the device supports them. - Google Play billing (
com.android.vending.BILLING): lets the app offer the optional purchase. - Wake lock and foreground service: required by the Android WorkManager library, which schedules the weekly reminder and is also used by the ad SDK for background tasks. The app itself does not run a foreground service.
10. Children
The app is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children, and the app itself does not collect personal information from anyone. Ads in the app are served by Google, which collects the data described in section 5. If you are a parent or guardian and have questions or concerns, please contact us.
11. Data retention and deletion
- Our servers: we have none, so we keep no copy of your data.
- On your device: your challenges stay until you delete them in the app, clear the app's data in Android settings or uninstall the app.
- Backup files you exported stay where you saved them until you delete them.
- Google: data collected by Google's ad SDK and by Google Play is retained according to Google's policies. See the Google Privacy Policy and How Google retains data.
12. Backups
Backup file: in Settings, Your data you can save a backup file of your challenges and restore it later, for example on a new phone. The file is created only when you ask for it and is saved to the place you pick in Android's file picker (your phone, a memory card or a cloud drive you use). It is a plain text file; anyone with the file can read your challenges, so keep it somewhere you trust.
Android backup: your challenges are never included in Android's cloud backup to your Google Account. Only app settings (such as theme and reminder time) may be backed up there if backup is turned on in your device settings. When you move to a new phone with a direct phone to phone transfer (cable or local connection), Android may copy your challenges straight to the new phone.
13. Sharing and links
We do not sell or share your personal data, because we do not receive any. Apart from Google's libraries described above, the app sends information only when you choose to:
- Open a link, such as this privacy policy. This policy is hosted on GitHub Pages; GitHub may log visitors' IP addresses for security purposes under the GitHub General Privacy Statement. This page uses no cookies, analytics or tracking scripts.
- Contact us: the app opens your email app with our address filled in. You decide what to send.
- Save a backup file to a location you pick, as described in section 12.
14. Security
Because we do not collect your data, there is no copy of it on our side to protect or lose. Data on your device is protected by Android's app sandbox. Google states that the data its ad SDK collects is encrypted in transit. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
15. Your rights
Depending on where you live, privacy laws such as the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Israel's Protection of Privacy Law, 5741 (1981), and U.S. state privacy laws may give you rights over your personal data. These can include the right to access, correct or delete it, to object to or restrict certain processing, to withdraw consent, and to complain to a data protection authority.
- We do not hold personal data about you, so in most cases there is nothing for us to access or delete. Your savings data is on your device and you can delete it as described in section 11.
- For data collected by Google, use your ad choices in the app (section 6), your device's ad settings (section 7), and Google's tools described in the Google Privacy Policy.
- You can always contact us, and we will help as far as we are able.
16. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy, for example if the app or the services it uses change. We will post the updated version on this page and change the effective date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also take reasonable steps to let you know, for example through the app's release notes.