Pulse privacy policy

1. Who we are

This policy covers the Pulse app for Android (package com.cybs.pulse), available on Google Play. It is made by Cybs Innovations, Main Road, Near KBC Building, Champa, Chhattisgarh 495671, India.

Email: info@cybsinnovations.com · Phone: +91 76971 34405

There is no sign-up and no account. We do not run our own servers for this app. Data leaves your phone only through the outside services listed in section 4, or when you choose to send, share or open something yourself.

2. Phone permissions

• Default SMS app and messages: Pulse asks to be your default messaging app, so it can read, send, receive and store SMS and MMS in Android's message store.
• Contacts: to show names and photos, pick who to message and share contact cards.
• Phone: to list your SIMs for dual SIM, and to find your own number for group messages.
• Microphone: only for voice notes, asked the first time you tap the mic.
• Location: only when you tap Location in the attachment tray. It takes your current position once and puts a map link in your message, which you can edit before sending. Nothing is sent until you send it.
• Notifications and alarms: for message notifications, scheduled messages and reminders.
• Fingerprint or face: the optional app lock and private vault. Android handles it, and the app never sees your fingerprint or face.
• Advertising ID: used by Google AdMob and Meta Audience Network, described below.

3. What stays on your phone

• Your messages, in Android's own SMS and MMS store.
• Chat settings: pinned, archived, muted, spam, vault, nicknames, colors, drafts and wallpapers.
• Starred messages, reactions, scheduled messages, reminders and quick replies, some with a copy of the message text.
• Your block list and blocked words, your signature and settings.
• Your backup password, if you set one, locked with Android's secure key store.
• Voice notes and contact cards you send, for a short time in the app's cache.

4. Outside services

• Google AdMob: shows ad cards in the inbox list, banners in Settings and the Archive, Spam and Unknown senders lists, a full screen ad on every third return from a chat to the inbox, an ad when you open the app or come back after 30 seconds away, and a video ad you can choose to watch to get 3 extra wallpapers. Full screen ads are at least 90 seconds apart, and there are none in your first 45 seconds. There are no ads inside a chat, in notifications, in the widget or on the watch. The ad when you come back can cover whatever screen was open, including a chat. AdMob may use your phone's advertising ID, your IP address (which gives a rough location), ad views and taps, and basic device and crash data to show ads, count them and stop fraud. AdMob never receives your messages, numbers or contacts. Where the law asks for it, Pulse asks for your consent with Google's consent form. You can change your answer from Ad privacy choices in Settings, under Privacy and security. Google AdMob privacy.
• Meta Audience Network: an ad network that can offer ads through AdMob. It receives the same kind of data as AdMob, only to show and count ads. Meta Audience Network privacy.
• Google Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics: count which screens are opened, such as the inbox, a chat or settings, and ad views with what they earned, plus Firebase's standard app open and session events. Crashlytics sends a report if the app crashes. Neither receives your messages, numbers or contacts. Analytics starts when you open the app and does not wait for the consent form. Google Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics privacy.
• Wear OS sync: if you use the watch app, your phone sends your watch up to 25 conversations (name and a short preview) and, for a chat you open, its last 40 messages, through Google Play services. The watch sends back replies and read marks. Vault and spam chats are never sent. You can turn this off in Settings, under Privacy and security, then Wear OS watch. The watch app has no internet access and shows no ads. Wear OS sync privacy.

We do not sell personal data.

Pulse has no account, no sign-in, no in-app purchases and no server of its own. It shows no link previews and makes no network calls except for ads and Firebase.

Backups hold your SMS messages, block list and quick replies, not MMS. They are saved only to the file or folder you pick. If you pick a cloud folder, such as Google Drive, the file goes there. Without a password the backup is plain text, so set one if you want it encrypted.

Automatic backups can run daily or weekly and keep the 5 newest.

Pulse is left out of Android's cloud backup.

5. Children

Pulse is not made for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them. If you think a child has given us data, email us and we will delete it.

6. Deleting your data

• Delete a chat from the inbox by long-pressing or swiping it, or from the chat's menu. Long-press a message to delete it.
• Turn on Auto-delete verification codes in Settings, under Privacy and security.
• Delete backup files from the place you saved them.
• Uninstall Pulse, or clear its storage in Android settings, to remove its own data. Your messages stay in Android's message store for your next messaging app.
• To ask us to delete analytics data linked to your app instance, email us.
• To reset or delete your advertising ID, open your phone's Settings, then Google, then Ads.

For anything else, see app help and support or email us. We reply within 7 working days.

7. Your rights

Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and laws like it where you live, you can ask what data we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, and complain to us or to your data protection authority. Email info@cybsinnovations.com.

8. Changes to this policy

If the app starts handling data differently, we update this page and the date at the top. The privacy policy for our website is separate: website privacy policy.