Privacy Policy
1. Your photos stay on your phone
Shrinksmith compresses images on your device only. Photos are never uploaded to a server, and we operate no servers that see, store or process your images. The app sees only the images you pick yourself — through the Android Photo Picker, the system file browser, or when you share or open an image with Shrinksmith from another app. It does not scan or read the rest of your gallery.
Shrinksmith always saves a new copy (in Pictures/Shrinksmith) and never edits, overwrites or deletes your original photo. By default the compressed copy has its metadata removed — location, camera and device details, and other EXIF/XMP data — so it is smaller and more private; you can choose to keep only the date the photo was taken. The History tab keeps a small thumbnail and the size results of your last compressions in the app's private storage; deleting a History entry never deletes a photo from your gallery. Cloud backup of the app's storage is disabled. A compressed image leaves your phone only when you save it to shared storage, share it or copy it yourself.
2. Permissions
- No photo or storage permission. Shrinksmith does not ask for access to your photos, media or files. Images are opened through the Android Photo Picker, the system file browser or the share menu, which give the app access to the one image (or the images) you choose, and only for that session.
- Save to Pictures (no prompt) — saving a new copy to Pictures/Shrinksmith uses Android's shared media store and needs no permission.
- Notifications (Android 13 and later) — free users only, can be turned off: at most one short note a day.
- Internet and network state (no prompt) — only for ads, analytics, crash reports, purchases and the consent message. Your photos are never sent. The app compresses images fully offline, even in airplane mode.
3. Analytics and crash reports (Google Firebase)
With your consent where required, we use Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics to understand how the app is used and to fix crashes. We log anonymous events such as “paywall viewed” or “purchase completed”, plus device model, OS and app version, approximate region and an app-instance identifier. We never log your content; the app enforces this with an allow-list of event parameters. Crash reports contain the error type and stack trace only. Firebase Remote Config is used to tune paywall and ad settings.
4. Advertising (Google AdMob and Unity Ads)
The free version shows ads: a slim banner on the History and Settings screens only (never while you pick, compress or compare a photo), an occasional full-screen ad after a save or share has finished and you are back on the home screen (never when you came from another app's share menu), and optional rewarded ads you choose to watch to get an extra batch run or PDF export. Ads never cover onboarding or the paywall, and never appear in the first two minutes of first use. Shrinksmith Pro removes all ads.
Ads are served by Google AdMob, with Unity Ads competing through AdMob mediation and serving the banner directly. These partners may collect the advertising ID, device and usage information and approximate location derived from your IP address to serve and measure ads. See Google's and Unity's privacy policies.
5. Your choices (GDPR, UK GDPR, Swiss FADP, US state laws)
In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Shrinksmith asks for your consent through Google's consent message (IAB TCF) before personalised ads or analytics are used. If you decline, ads are non-personalised and analytics stays off. In US states with privacy laws (such as California, Virginia, Colorado), you can opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information and targeted advertising. You can change your choice at any time in Settings → Privacy choices.
Legal bases (GDPR): consent for analytics and personalised ads; performance of a contract for the features you use and for purchases; legitimate interest for crash diagnostics where consent is not required. You may request access, deletion, correction or portability of data we control, object to processing, or lodge a complaint with your supervisory authority. California residents (CCPA/CPRA): we do not sell personal information for money; ad partners may receive identifiers as described above, which you can opt out of in Privacy choices. We do not discriminate against users who exercise their rights.
6. Purchases
Subscriptions and the lifetime purchase are processed by Google Play. We never receive your payment details; Google tells the app whether Pro is active.
7. Retention and deletion
Your content remains on your device until you delete it or uninstall the app. Analytics data is retained by Google for up to 14 months. See how to delete your data.
8. Children
Shrinksmith is not directed to children under 13 (under 16 in the EEA) and we do not knowingly collect their data.
9. Changes
We will update this page if our practices change and revise the date above.