Flashwipe Privacy Policy

Effective 29 October 2026 (updated the same day for Recreate, widgets, sharing, backups and Firebase). Developer: AppNest Utility Labs. Contact: info@appnest.site

Flashwipe ("Photo Cleaner - Flashwipe" on Google Play) shows you a forgotten moment from your own photos every morning and helps you clear selfies, screenshots, bills and other clutter from your gallery. This policy explains what happens to your information.

The short version

• No account. You never sign up or sign in.
• Your photos never leave your phone. Flashwipe reads your gallery on the phone to pick memories and sort clutter. We have no server for photos and cannot see them. They are never uploaded, sold, shared or used for ads.
• The free version shows ads from Google AdMob. Google may use your phone's advertising ID to show and measure ads. Nothing from your photos (faces, places, dates, text, categories) is ever given to Google or used to choose ads.
• App statistics and crash reports go to Google Firebase so we can fix crashes and see how many people use the app. They never include your photos or anything about them.
• Premium removes ads. You buy it through Google Play or the App Store.

Photos and videos

With your permission (all photos, or only the ones you select), Flashwipe reads the photos and videos on your phone and their details: the date taken, the location saved in the photo, the camera and lens, the album or folder, size and favourites. It uses them only on the phone to:

• group photos into days, trips and events and choose the daily memory;
• fill the Smile Jar with photos where a face is smiling (the chance of a smile, not who it is);
• sort Smart Clean categories: selfies (by detecting that a face is present, not who it is), screenshots, bills and receipts, documents, chat forwards, blurry or dark shots, similar shots, large videos and recordings;
• read the shop, date and total from bills so you can keep them after the photo is cleared. Warranty and tax bills and ID cards are never suggested for clearing.

Face and text detection use Google ML Kit, which runs on your phone. ML Kit does not send your photos, the faces or the text anywhere. Like other Google Play services components, it may send Google basic usage and diagnostic information (for example, which ML Kit feature ran, how long it took and the device model) so Google can keep it working. This never includes photos, faces or text.

Flashwipe does not recognise or identify people, and it does not build face templates.

Place names

To title a trip ("Weekend in Murree"), Flashwipe asks your phone's built-in geocoder for the town name of a photo's location. On Android this geocoder is a Google service, so the centre of a roughly 5 × 5 km area around the place is sent to Google to get the name, never the exact spot where the photo was taken. Each area is looked up once and the name is kept on your phone. With no internet connection, the date is used as the title instead.

Clearing photos

Nothing is cleared without your review. On Android 11 and later, cleared photos go to the system trash, where you can restore them for 30 days. On older phones, Android deletes them after your confirmation. Flashwipe never deletes anything from Google Photos or any cloud service.

Information stored on your device

• Which memories were shown and when, the photos you loved, and the photos you chose to keep or clear.
• What you write: notes on memories and notes to next year, which stay sealed on your phone until the date they open.
• Special dates you add (birthdays, anniversaries, countdowns) and what you chose to hide or pause.
• The bill summaries (shop, date, total, currency).
• Your settings, such as the memory time, theme, language and the app lock.

App lock. If you turn it on, Flashwipe asks your phone to check your fingerprint, face or screen lock. The phone does the check; Flashwipe never receives or stores your fingerprint or face.

Camera (Recreate). If you use Recreate, Flashwipe opens your camera with an old photo laid over it. The picture you take and the Then & Now image are made on your phone, and are saved to your gallery only when you tap Save. Flashwipe never records sound.

Home-screen widgets. If you add a widget, Flashwipe keeps small copies of the photos it shows in its own folder on your phone. Anyone who can see your home screen can see them; you can choose loved photos only, or a blur until tapped. Hidden memories and paused periods never appear on a widget.

Files you choose to share. When you share a memory card, photos, a Then & Now image, a note, a bill summary (PDF or CSV) or a backup, your phone's share sheet sends it only where you choose. We never receive a copy, and we never read your contacts.

Backup file. Settings → Back up makes a file of your notes, special dates, hide and clean-up choices, bill summaries and settings (never your photos), encrypted with a password you choose (AES-256). You decide where it goes, for example your own Google Drive or email. We cannot open it and cannot recover the password. Restoring it replaces what Flashwipe saved on that phone.

Advertising (Google AdMob)

The free version uses the Google Mobile Ads SDK. To show and measure ads and to prevent fraud, Google may collect:

• your device's advertising identifier
• approximate location from your IP address
• information about ad views and taps
• basic device and diagnostic information

Ad requests never include anything about your photos or the screen you are on. Ads are limited to a teen-appropriate rating, sensitive categories are blocked, and there are no ads in the first 24 hours, during setup, in a memory story or while you review a clean-up.

In the European Economic Area, the UK, Switzerland and US states with privacy laws, we ask for your choice first through Google's consent message. You can change it any time in Settings → Privacy & ad choices. Anyone, anywhere, can switch on Settings → Non-personalized ads. You can also reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings.

How Google uses this information: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

App statistics and crash reports (Google Firebase)

On Android, the app uses Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics, run by Google as our service provider:

• Analytics counts installs, app opens, how long the app is used, app version, phone model, operating system and approximate country (from the IP address), linked to a random app-instance ID. It does not read your advertising ID.
• Crashlytics sends a crash report when the app crashes: the technical stack trace, app version, phone model, operating system and a random installation ID.

Neither ever receives your photos, faces, places, dates, notes, special dates, bills or clean-up choices, or the screen you were on. We send no custom events, no user properties and no extra crash details. This information is not used for ads and not sold. Google keeps Analytics data for up to 14 months and crash reports for 90 days.

How Google uses this information: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy

Purchases, reviews and updates

Premium (monthly or yearly) is bought through Google Play or the Apple App Store. They process the payment; we never see your card details. The app only asks the store whether Premium is active. Ratings and app updates use Google Play's own in-app review and update screens, under Google's privacy policy.

Notifications

The morning memory, special-date reminders and the day a note to next year opens are all scheduled on your phone. On the lock screen the memory shows no photo. While memories are paused there are no notifications and no ads. Nothing is sent to us.

Children and teens

Flashwipe is for people aged 13 and over. It is not directed to children under 13.

Your choices and deleting data

You can change the photo and camera permissions any time in your phone's settings, and unhide anything in Settings → Hidden memories. Uninstalling the app removes everything it stored, except backup files you saved elsewhere. We hold no copy of your photos or data, so there is nothing for us to delete on a server.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will update it here and change the effective date.

Contact

AppNest Utility Labs, info@appnest.site