Privacy policy for Zylos Duplicate Photos

Who we are and what this covers

This policy explains how Zylos Duplicate Photos (Android package com.zylos.duplicatephotos) handles information. The app is published by Zylos TechSolutions LLP (“we”, “us”) as part of the Zylos family of apps. Zylos Duplicate Photos finds exact copies, similar shots, screenshots and large photos on your Android phone so you can clear them. Photos are analysed on the phone only.

Android only for now. The iPhone build only explains that it isn't available yet and is not offered on the App Store.

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.

• Moving photos to the trash always goes through Android's own confirmation dialog. The app never deletes permanently and always keeps at least one copy of each set.
• On Android 8–10 the app can only show results (no trash), because Android's trash needs Android 11 or newer.

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): app settings (theme, colour mood, language, haptics). 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: photos, scan results, the scan setup (album ids) and cleanup history; launch and review counters, 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.
• 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:

• your photos or thumbnails
• photo names, locations or other metadata
• your contacts or location; your name and email only if you sign in to a Zylos account
• anything you create or open in the app, as part of 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

Not requested: videos, audio, All files access, write storage, camera, microphone, contacts, location, phone state, overlay, photo-location data and the list of installed apps.

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. This app is not offered on the App Store.
• 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 of the home, list, history and settings screens; native ads (clearly labelled “Ad”) appear on the results summary, between sets of duplicates and in History. A full-screen ad may appear occasionally when you leave a clean-up result or move forward to another screen, and sometimes when you open the app (not the first time, at most every 4 hours). Never during a scan, between a scan and its results, while you compare photos, or around Android's delete dialog.

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 (counts only; never photo names or content), 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 Duplicate Photos → Storage → Clear storage.
• Photos you moved to the trash are kept by Android for about 30 days (restore them from your Gallery's trash); Android then deletes them.
• 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.
• Android cloud backup is disabled.

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 Duplicate Photos support. Terms for using the app: terms of use.

Publisher: Zylos TechSolutions LLP.