Step Counter Privacy Policy

Effective 1 November 2026. Developer: AppNest Utility Labs. Contact: info@appnest.site

Step Counter ("Step Counter: Walking Tracker" on Google Play) counts your steps, shows your history, streaks and badges, and guides walks. This policy explains what happens to your information.

The short version

• No account. You never sign up or sign in.
• Your steps, walks, routes and weight stay on your phone. We have no server for them and cannot see them. They are never sold, never shared and never 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 the app measures or you enter is ever given to Google or used to choose ads.
• Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics) tell us when the app breaks. They never contain your steps, walks, routes or weight.
• Premium and "Remove ads" are bought through Google Play.

Where your steps come from

The app reads steps only on your phone:

• Android's Recording API (Google Play services) records steps from the phone's sensor on the phone itself, without a Google account.
• The phone's step sensor, as a backup.
• Health Connect, only if you allow it: the app reads Steps (including steps from a watch or another app) for today and the past 30 days, also while the app is in the background so your count and widgets stay current. It reads no other Health Connect data and writes nothing to Health Connect. Health Connect data is used only to show you your own step count, history, streaks, badges and estimates. It is never used for ads, never sold or shared, and never leaves your phone.

Information stored on your device

• Steps per hour and per day, the sources they came from, your daily goal, days you edited, paused periods, streak freezes.
• Walks: time, steps, distance and, for outdoor walks, the GPS route.
• Profile: height, optional weight entries, step length, units and settings such as reminders and theme.
• Badges, challenges and journeys are worked out on your phone from this data.

Location

Location is used only during a walk you start (outdoor walk or plan), to measure distance and draw your route. It is not used in the background between walks and never leaves your phone.

Backups

Android may copy the app's data into your own Google account backup (Android Auto Backup). Your Google account controls that copy, not us.

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 your steps, walks, routes, weight, goal or plans. Ads are limited to a teen-appropriate rating. There are never ads when you open the app, during a walk, in setup or on the help screens.

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. Where that applies, you can change it any time in Me → Ad privacy choices. 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

Maps (Google Maps)

During an outdoor walk and on its summary, the route is drawn on a Google map. To show the map, the Google Maps SDK sends Google the map area being viewed and standard device and network information (such as your IP address). Your route and steps are not stored by us and are not sent to us. How Google uses this information: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Crash reports (Google Firebase Crashlytics)

The app uses Firebase Crashlytics to find and fix crashes. When the app crashes it may send Google:

• what the app was doing when it crashed (the error and where it happened in the code)
• the device model, the Android version and the app version
• a random app-installation ID

It never contains your steps, walks, routes, location or weight. We do not use Google Analytics. Learn more: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy

Purchases

Premium (monthly, yearly or lifetime) and "Remove ads" are bought through Google Play. Google processes the payment; we never see your card details. The app only asks Google Play which purchases are active.

Notifications and widgets

Reminders and the steps notification are created on your phone. Home-screen widgets read from the app's storage on your phone. Nothing is sent to us.

Children and teens

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

Your choices and deleting data

You can edit any day in the app, and Me → Delete all my data erases everything the app stored on this phone. Uninstalling the app also removes it. You can withdraw Health Connect access any time in Health Connect's settings. We hold no copy of your data, so there is nothing for us to delete on a server.

Health data laws

Because your step and health data never leave your phone unless you send them somewhere yourself (for example a walk summary you share), we do not collect, share or sell consumer health data as defined by laws such as Washington's My Health My Data Act.

Changes

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

Contact

AppNest Utility Labs, info@appnest.site