Privacy Policy
1. Who we are
Spirit Box: Ghost Talker is published on Google Play by Heaven miner ("we", "us"). Contact: info@heaven-overseas.com.
2. What the app keeps on your phone
| Data | What happens to it |
|---|---|
| Sensor readings | Magnetic field, motion, rotation, air pressure and light, read while a session or the Sensors screen is open. They are used on the spot to drive the signal and the meters and are never stored or sent anywhere. Your EMF calibration (one number) is saved on your phone. |
| Word history | The words that came through, with their time and signal strength. Saved only in the app's private storage on your phone. You can delete sessions in Word history; sharing a session sends its text only to the app you choose. |
| Spoken words | Read aloud by the text-to-speech engine installed on your phone. The app does not record or listen to you. |
| Settings | Language, voice, sound and display choices, horror effects, and your first-run answer to "What brings you here?". Saved on your phone. |
| Pro status | Whether Pro is active, saved on your phone. Purchases are handled by Google Play (section 4). |
The only server of ours the app talks to is the settings service in section 4, which logs each request as described there. Usage statistics (not the words themselves) go to Firebase as described in section 4.
3. Ads (free version)
The free version shows ads served by Google AdMob. AdMob may let these partners compete to show an ad: AppLovin, Meta Audience Network, Liftoff (Vungle), InMobi, Pangle, Mintegral, Digital Turbine (DT Exchange), ironSource (Unity) and BidMachine. To show, measure and protect ads from fraud, they may collect:
- your device's advertising ID,
- IP address and approximate location derived from it,
- device and app information (phone model, Android version, language, app version),
- how you interact with ads (views and taps).
In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland the app asks for your consent before personalised ads, using Google's consent message. You can change your choice at any time in Settings → Privacy options. Each partner's own privacy policy explains how it uses this data:
| Partner | Privacy policy |
|---|---|
| Google AdMob | How Google uses data from apps that use its services |
| AppLovin | legal.applovin.com/privacy |
| Meta Audience Network | facebook.com/privacy/policy |
| Liftoff (Vungle) | liftoff.ai/privacy-policy |
| InMobi | advertising.inmobi.com/privacy-policy |
| Pangle | pangleglobal.com/privacy |
| Mintegral | mintegral.com/en/privacy |
| Digital Turbine (DT Exchange) | digitalturbine.com/legal/privacy-policy |
| ironSource (Unity) | unity.com/legal/privacy-policy |
| BidMachine | bidmachine.com/privacy-policy |
Spirit Box Pro removes ads.
4. Settings and other services
- Our settings service lets us change app settings, such as how often ads appear or how long a free session lasts, without an app update. The app downloads its settings from our server, hosted on Cloudflare, when it starts and when you return to it after an hour or more away. Cloudflare privacy.
- Google Firebase Analytics tells us how the app is used, so we can fix problems and improve it: screens opened, the first-run pages and your answer to "What brings you here?", how long each listening session ran and how many words came through (not which words), settings you change, whether the Pro screen and reward ads were used, notification taps, plus app version, phone model, Android version, language, country and an app-instance ID that Firebase creates. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland it follows the consent choice you make in the app; until then nothing is stored. Google Analytics keeps event-level data for the retention period we set (2 to 14 months). Firebase privacy.
- Firebase Crashlytics and Performance Monitoring tell us when the app crashes, freezes or runs slowly, so we can fix it: the crash or error details, the steps in the app just before it (screen names and app events, never your words), how long startup, ad loading and listening sessions take, plus app version, phone model, Android version and an install ID that Firebase creates. They are not used for advertising. Crash reports are kept for 90 days. Firebase privacy.
- Firebase Cloud Messaging delivers notifications such as app news and new word lists. It uses a token tied to this app install and the topics the app joins (all users, your country, your language, the app version). The country comes from your SIM card or mobile network, or your phone's region setting; the app does not use your location. On Android 13 and later the app asks your permission first; you can turn notifications off any time in your phone's settings for Spirit Box: Ghost Talker.
- Google Play handles app updates and Pro purchases. We never see your payment details. Google Privacy Policy.
What our settings service logs
We log every settings request so we can see which app versions are in use, find problems with a release, and spot abuse or fraud (for example a flood of requests from one network). For each request we store:
| Data | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| IP address | Seen by the server, as with any internet request |
| Approximate location: country, region, city, postcode, rough coordinates and timezone | Worked out by Cloudflare from the IP address. The app never reads your phone's GPS or location settings |
| Internet provider and network number (for example "Reliance Jio, AS55836") | Worked out by Cloudflare from the IP address |
| App version, phone maker and model, Android version, phone language | Sent by the app |
| An install ID | A random code the app creates the first time it runs. It is not your advertising ID or any other identifier, and it starts over if you clear the app's data or reinstall |
| Which settings version the app had, and whether it asked at start-up or on return | Sent by the app |
| Time of the request and technical connection details (protocol, response time, the Cloudflare data centre used, user agent) | Seen by the server |
We keep these records for 90 days, after which they are deleted automatically. Only our team can see them, by signing in to our private dashboard. We do not sell them, share them with advertisers, or combine them with the ad data in section 3. We process them on the basis of our legitimate interest in running, securing and improving the app.
5. Permissions
| Permission | Why the app uses it |
|---|---|
| Notifications (Android 13+) | For app news and tips (section 4). Asked once, after your first words come through, never at launch. Optional. |
| Vibrate | For the EMF alarm on the Sensors screen, when you turn it on. |
| Internet and network state | To load ads, app settings and updates. Settings requests are logged as described in section 4. |
| Advertising ID | Used by the ad services in section 3. |
Motion, magnetic, pressure and light sensors need no permission on Android. The app does not request microphone, camera, location, contacts, phone or storage access. The approximate location in section 4 comes from your IP address, not from a location permission.
6. Your choices
- Change ad consent in Settings → Privacy options (shown where consent is required).
- Turn notifications off in your phone's Settings → Apps → Spirit Box → Notifications.
- Reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings, usually Settings → Privacy → Ads.
- Delete sessions in Word history, or everything the app stored by clearing the app's data or uninstalling it. Clearing the app's data also gives it a new install ID.
- Ask us for a copy of, or to delete, the settings-service records about you: email us with the approximate dates you used the app and your IP address if you know it. Records are deleted automatically after 90 days in any case.
7. Children
Spirit Box: Ghost Talker is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
8. Security and retention
Data the app keeps stays on your phone until you delete it. Our settings-service records are kept for 90 days, then deleted automatically; they are stored with Cloudflare and visible only to our team through a password-protected dashboard. Ad and Google services keep their data according to their own policies linked above. All data the app sends over the internet is encrypted in transit (HTTPS).
9. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update this page and the effective date above.
10. Contact
Questions or requests: info@heaven-overseas.com.