Privacy policy for Zylos Direct Message

Who we are and what this covers

This policy explains how Zylos Direct Message (Android package com.zylos.directmessage, iOS bundle com.zylos.directmessage) handles information. The app is published by Zylos TechSolutions LLP (“we”, “us”) as part of the Zylos family of apps. Zylos Direct Message opens a WhatsApp chat with any phone number without saving it to your contacts. You type a number (and, if you like, a message); the app builds WhatsApp's documented click-to-chat link and hands it to WhatsApp, where you review and send. The app never sends messages itself. It is not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta Platforms, Inc.

Available for Android and iOS. The two versions handle data the same way, except where noted. The Zylos account, cloud backup, push notifications, analytics and crash reporting described below are currently active in the Android version only; on iPhone and iPad they are switched off until a later update.

Information the app uses on your device

The app needs the following information to work. It is read, processed and stored on your device. It reaches us only if the table or “Your Zylos account and cloud backup” below says so.

• The app does not read your contacts and does not ask for contacts, storage, location, camera, microphone or phone permission.
• Phone numbers, message text, favourite names, history and templates are never sent to the ads SDK, analytics or crash reports.

Your Zylos account and cloud backup (optional)

• Optional. Every feature works without an account. In the app's Settings → Account you can sign in with Google, create an account with email and password, or continue as a guest.
• What we receive when you sign in: a user ID (a random identifier from Firebase Authentication). With Google sign-in, also your name, email address and profile-photo link from your Google account. With an email account, your email address and the name you enter, if any; your password is handled by Firebase Authentication and never seen by us. A guest gets an anonymous user ID only, with no name or email. We record the sign-in method and when your profile was last updated.
• Cloud backup (only while you are signed in): message templates; settings (theme, colour mood, language, preferred WhatsApp app, history on/off, last used country). It is saved to your account so you can restore it on another phone. Uploads happen only when this data changed, at most every 10 minutes while the app is open and when it goes to the background; one backup per app, at most 32 KB.
• Never backed up: favourites (names and phone numbers); the history of chats you opened; the number and message you are typing; launch counter and ad timing.
• Where it is stored. Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore, run by Google LLC as our service provider (Firebase project zylos-techsolutions; Firestore region asia-south1 (Mumbai, India)). Security rules let only the signed-in owner read or write their profile and backups.
• One Zylos account works across the Zylos apps; each app keeps its own separate backup.
• Deleting. Settings → Account → Delete account removes your sign-in, your profile and every Zylos backup at once. You can also ask for deletion on the web at apps.zylostechsolutions.com/delete-account. Signing out keeps your backup for the next sign-in; a guest account can't be recovered after signing out.

Push notifications

• The app uses Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google) to receive occasional announcements, such as new features or tips. To do this, Firebase gives the app a registration token (a random device identifier).
• Messages are sent from the Firebase console to topics only — everyone with any Zylos app or game, everyone with a Zylos utility app, or everyone with this app — never to a person picked by name, email or behaviour. No personal data is used to target them.
• A message may include a link to a screen in the app, which opens when you tap it. Messages that arrive while the app is open appear as a short in-app notice.
• On Android 13 and later, the app asks for notification permission once, never before your third launch, and not again if you say no. You can turn notifications off at any time in your device's settings.

Information that leaves your device

• Advertising. The Google Mobile Ads SDK contacts Google to request and show ads; through AdMob mediation, the ad networks named under “Advertising and consent” may also receive ad requests and show ads. See that section below.
• Your Zylos account and backup, only if you sign in — see above.
• Analytics, crash reports and Remote Config (Firebase, Google) — see “Analytics, crash reporting and app configuration”.
• Push notifications (Firebase Cloud Messaging) — see above.
• To WhatsApp, on your phone. When you tap Open WhatsApp, the number and message go to WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business (Android: the whatsapp://send intent; iOS: a wa.me link). You review and send inside WhatsApp; WhatsApp's own privacy policy applies there.
• We run no servers of our own. Firebase and AdMob are Google services; Firebase processes data for us as a service provider. Apart from Google and the ad networks named under “Advertising and consent”, we don't share your information with anyone, and we never sell it.

What we never collect

We never sell your information. Without signing in, nothing you create in the app reaches us. In particular, the app never uploads:

• the message history (it stays on the phone even when you sign in)
• the number or message you are typing, except to WhatsApp on your phone
• your contacts or location; your name and email only if you sign in to a Zylos account
• phone numbers, names or message text as part of ads, analytics or crash reports

Permissions and why they are needed

Android asks for your permission where the system requires it. You can change any permission at any time in your device settings; the app keeps working without the optional ones and explains what stops working.

Permissions present in every Zylos app

iPhone and iPad

• Notifications (optional) — for tips.
• The app declares whatsapp in LSApplicationQueriesSchemes only to check that WhatsApp is installed.
• No other iOS permission is requested. No App Tracking Transparency prompt (non-personalised ads only).

Not requested: contacts, storage, location, camera, microphone, phone state (READ_PHONE_STATE is blocked in app.json) and overlay permissions. Vibration is blocked too.

Advertising and consent (Google AdMob)

• The app is free and shows ads from Google AdMob, provided by Google LLC (Google Ireland Limited for users in the EEA and Switzerland).
• Consent first. Before ads load, the app uses Google's User Messaging Platform (UMP). Where the law requires it (for example in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, and in US states with privacy laws), you see Google's consent form and can accept, reject or customise. Where Google tells the app that privacy options are required, Settings → Privacy → Ad privacy choices lets you change your choice at any time.
• What Google collects. When ads are requested or shown, the Google Mobile Ads SDK collects information such as your device's advertising identifier (on Android), IP address, app and device information, ad interactions and diagnostic data. Google uses it to show ads (personalised only if you consent), measure them, and prevent fraud and abuse. This happens under Google's own policies: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and the Google Privacy Policy.
• Other ad networks (AdMob mediation). To fill an ad request, AdMob may let these networks bid, and the winner shows the ad: Liftoff Monetize (Vungle), Meta Audience Network, Mintegral, Unity Ads. Their SDKs are part of the app. When a network requests or shows an ad, it receives information such as your device's advertising identifier, IP address, app and device information and ad interactions, and uses it under its own privacy policy (linked above) to show and measure ads and prevent fraud. They receive your choice from Google's consent form (IAB consent and US privacy signals) and show personalised ads only where you allowed it.
• Which ads. The ad networks, ad formats and how often ads appear can be adjusted remotely (Firebase Remote Config, below), within fixed limits built into the app. Your account, backup and analytics data are never given to ad networks.
• iPhone and iPad. The app requests non-personalised ads only and does not use Apple's advertising identifier (IDFA), so it does not show the App Tracking Transparency prompt.
• Your controls. On Android you can reset or delete your advertising ID in Settings → Privacy → Ads (wording varies by phone). You can also manage Google ad personalisation at adssettings.google.com.
• Ads are limited to content suitable for a general audience (maximum ad content rating “PG”). Banners appear below the content on Home, Favourites, Templates, History, Settings and More apps; a native ad (labelled "Ad") may appear in a longer favourites list (after the 5th favourite). A full-screen ad may appear when you move from Home to Favourites or Templates (at most one per two such moves), and at most once per 4 hours when the app starts (never the first time). No ads while you type, while a chat is opening or when you come back from WhatsApp.

Analytics, crash reporting and app configuration

• Firebase Analytics (Google) records how the app is used: which screens and features are used, settings chosen, counts and similar events (enums and yes/no values only; never phone numbers, names, message or template text), together with an app-instance ID, the advertising ID where available, device model, operating system and version, app version, language and an approximate country or region derived from the IP address. We use it to see which features help people and what to improve — not for advertising, and we don't share it.
• Firebase Crashlytics (Google) receives a report when the app crashes, and the app's own warnings and errors in release builds: the technical trace, device model, operating system, app version, free memory and storage, and a Crashlytics installation ID. Reports never include your content.
• Firebase Remote Config (Google): when the app starts, it downloads settings such as which ad formats are on and how often ads may appear. The request carries a Firebase installation ID and app and device information, but no personal information.
• Firebase keeps analytics data for the retention period set in our Firebase project (at most 14 months) and crash reports for 90 days. See Firebase privacy and security.

Children

The app is a general-audience utility and is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Ad requests are not tagged as child-directed. If you believe a child has created a Zylos account, contact us and we will delete it.

Keeping and deleting your information

• Everything the app stores on your device lives in its private storage. Uninstalling the app deletes it. You can also use Android's Settings → Apps → Zylos Direct Message → Storage → Clear storage.
• History → Clear all and Settings → Clear history delete the history at once.
• Android cloud backup of the app's data is turned off, so no copy is made in your Google account by Android.
• Your Zylos account and backups are kept until you delete them (in the app, or at apps.zylostechsolutions.com/delete-account). Deleting removes them from Firebase right away; copies in Google's encrypted system backups expire within Google's standard backup cycle.
• Analytics data is kept for at most 14 months and crash reports for 90 days. Information collected by Google for ads is retained and deleted under Google's policies; see the links above.

Security

• All connections to Firebase and to Google's ad services use encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS). Google encrypts stored Firebase data at rest.
• Firestore security rules allow only the signed-in owner to read or write their profile and backups; nobody else, including other users, can read them.
• Your password, if you create one, is handled by Firebase Authentication; we never receive or store it.
• Logs are redacted: phone numbers and message text are never written to logs or crash reports.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR, UK GDPR, India's DPDP Act or US state privacy laws), you may have rights to access, correct, export or delete your personal information, to object to or restrict its processing, and to withdraw consent. You can delete your account and backups yourself in the app or at the web link above, see your account details in Settings → Account, and change your ad consent in the app. For anything else, including a copy of your account data, contact us at the address below. You may also complain to your local data-protection authority.

Changes to this policy

If the app's data practices change, we will update this page and the date at the top before the change ships. Significant changes will also be noted in the app's release notes.

Contact

Questions or requests: support@zylostechsolutions.com. If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you write (the app's feedback link adds only the app version and Android/iOS version). We use it only to reply and delete it when the conversation is finished.

Help and frequently asked questions: Zylos Direct Message support. Terms for using the app: terms of use.

Publisher: Zylos TechSolutions LLP.