Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible

The controller for the processing described here (Art. 4(7) GDPR) is:

Dennis Donner
Eduard-v-Winterstein-Straße 11
14480 Potsdam
Germany

Email: app-support@donner.io

I have not appointed a data protection officer, because the law does not require one for a one-person business. Please send any privacy question to the address above.

2. Scope and overview

This policy covers the Find My Car apps for iPhone and Apple Watch (including widgets, the Live Activity and Siri shortcuts), for Android and Wear OS, and this website.

The sections below explain each data flow per feature, which provider receives what, on which legal basis, and how you can stop it.

3. Data stored on your device

The following data is stored on your device. It is not uploaded to any server of the developer and leaves your device only as described in sections 8 to 12:

• Parking spots: coordinates, date and time, your note, the spot type, a parking timer and an optional photo, in a local database. On iPhone the app also keeps a local backup copy of this database.
• Widget data: your last spot, its address and the timer, so widgets and the Live Activity can show them.
• Offline map areas that you download, and cached map tiles.
• Auto-Park car devices: on iPhone the names of the Bluetooth and CarPlay audio devices the app has seen while Auto-Park is on, and which of them you marked as your car; on Android the name and hardware (MAC) address of each Bluetooth device that connects or disconnects while Auto-Park is on, when it was last seen, and which one you chose as your car.
• Settings and status: for example the result of the install-source check (section 11), on iPhone your answer to the cancellation survey (section 12) and, on Android, whether you agreed to the location notice.

This data is part of your normal device backups (iCloud or Google backup and device transfer) if you have them switched on. The app itself does not sync to iCloud and does not use the Keychain.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR – it is needed to provide the app's features to you.

4. Location

Find My Car needs your location to save where you parked, to show your position on the map and to guide you back.

• iPhone: the app asks for access “While Using the App”. If you have turned off precise location, it can ask for precise location once, temporarily, when you save a spot. It asks for “Always” access only if you switch on Auto-Park (section 5); background location is used only for that feature.
• Android: the app first explains in its own notice why it needs your location, and only then shows the system dialog. It does not request background location.

Your location is not sent to any server of the developer. It leaves your device only as described in sections 8 to 10.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR for the features you use, and your permission in the operating system. You can withdraw it at any time in your device settings (section 21).

5. Auto-Park (optional)

Auto-Park tries to notice when you have parked and saves the spot for you. It is off until you switch it on.

• iPhone: the app uses motion activity (driving or walking), significant location changes and visits, and whether your audio is routed to a Bluetooth device or CarPlay. To avoid saving a spot at a bus or train stop, it asks Apple Maps whether public-transport stops are nearby; Apple receives the location for this query.
• Android: a foreground service with a visible notification runs while Auto-Park is on. It uses activity recognition, Bluetooth connection events (name and address of the connecting device) and, while it is actively detecting, your location every five seconds.

All of this is evaluated on your device. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) and (b) GDPR. You can switch Auto-Park off in the app or withdraw the permissions in your device settings at any time.

6. Camera and photos

You can add a photo to a parking spot, for example of the level sign in a garage. The photo is stored only with the spot in the app's local database and is never uploaded.

• iPhone: the app uses the camera, or lets you pick a picture from your photo library. Depending on your iOS version, iOS may ask for access to your photos.
• Android: the app uses the camera or the system photo picker, which gives the app only the picture you select.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) and (b) GDPR.

7. Notifications, widgets and watch

• Notifications: parking-timer and Auto-Park notifications are created locally on your device. No push token is sent to the developer or anyone else.
• Widgets and Live Activity read the widget data described in section 3 from your device.
• Apple Watch: spot, note and timer are synced between iPhone and watch through Apple's WatchConnectivity.
• Wear OS: phone and watch exchange the spot, note and timer through the Google Play services Data Layer; the watch can also send its own position to the phone to save a spot.
• Widgets and the watch apps themselves contain no analytics; their use is recorded by the phone app (section 10).

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

8. Maps, addresses and routes

• iPhone: the map, the address of a spot and walking routes come from Apple Maps (MapKit). Apple receives the coordinates involved and your IP address. Apple processes this data under its own privacy policy.
• Offline maps (iPhone) and all maps on Android load map tiles from the OpenStreetMap servers. The OpenStreetMap Foundation receives your IP address and the map area you view, but not your saved spots.
• Android: addresses are looked up with the Android Geocoder, which may send the coordinates to Google.
• Android walking routes are calculated by Mapbox (Directions API). For each route request, Mapbox receives your current position, the position of your car, the app language and your IP address.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

9. Sharing and opening other apps

Only when you tap “Share” does the app create a link to your spot: an Apple Maps link on iPhone, an OpenStreetMap link on Android. It contains the coordinates (on Android also your note, if there is one) and goes to whoever you share it with. If you choose to open the route in Apple Maps, Google Maps or another navigation app, the coordinates are passed to that app, which processes them under its own privacy policy.

10. Analytics and crash reports

To find bugs and improve the app, the iPhone and Android apps use the following services. Widgets and watch apps do not.

Firebase Crashlytics, Performance Monitoring and Analytics (Google)

• Crash reports contain device model, operating system, language setting, app version, the number of saved spots, your answer to the tracking prompt (section 11), the stack trace and a log of the last steps in the app before the crash.
• On iPhone, this log can include feature details: when Auto-Park detects a visit, the coordinates rounded to four decimal places (about 11 m); when you select a spot on the map, its coordinates rounded to five decimal places (about 1 m); and the names of the audio devices (for example Bluetooth or CarPlay) that connect or disconnect while Auto-Park is on, including the ones you marked as your car. On Android the log contains event names and technical values such as location accuracy or a permission status, but no coordinates or device names.
• Performance Monitoring measures start-up time and network timings.
• Firebase Analytics collects only its automatic events (such as first open and app updates). The app sends no own events to Firebase.
• Collection of the advertising ID and ad personalisation are switched off.

Amplitude

The app uses Amplitude for product analytics, with data stored in Amplitude's EU region. The app sends events about how features are used: onboarding, permission answers, the purchase screen and purchases, parking spots saved, found or deleted, timer, Auto-Park, navigation, widgets, watch, offline maps, the cancellation survey and the review prompt. It also stores properties such as whether you have made a purchase, how many spots you have saved, which permissions are granted and the install source (section 11).

• Amplitude assigns a random device ID. The app sends no user ID, the iOS vendor ID (IDFV), GPS coordinates or an advertising ID.
• Amplitude uses your IP address to estimate country, region and city. It also records app sessions and, automatically, device model, operating system, language, app version and mobile carrier.
• On Android, purchase events contain the product, the price and the currency.

The data is pseudonymous: the developer cannot see who you are, but events from one installation are linked by the random ID.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The legitimate interest is a stable, working app and understanding which features are used. There is currently no switch in the app to turn this off. You can object at any time by email (Art. 21 GDPR); please include the ID from section 13 so that your data can be found.

11. Install attribution and tracking prompt

• iPhone: once after installation, the app asks Apple's AdServices framework for an attribution token and sends it to Apple. If the install came from an Apple Search Ads campaign, Apple returns campaign data. Only the source, the campaign, the country and whether it was a paid install are kept.
• RevenueCat (iPhone): RevenueCat (section 12) also collects the AdServices attribution token and uses it to get the same attribution data from Apple, so that purchases can be assigned to the install source.
• Android: the app reads the Google Play Install Referrer once and keeps only the source, the campaign and whether it was a paid install. A Google click ID is reduced to a yes/no flag.
• The result is stored on your device and in Amplitude as a property (section 10).
• Tracking prompt (iPhone): the app may show Apple's “Allow tracking” prompt. Whatever you answer, the app does not read the advertising identifier (IDFA) and does not track you across other companies' apps or websites. Your answer is recorded in the crash reports and in Amplitude (section 10). You can change it in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR – the interest in knowing which channels bring new users.

12. In-app purchases

Some features are offered as in-app purchases. Payment is handled entirely by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play); the developer does not receive your payment details.

• To check which purchases belong to your installation, the app uses RevenueCat. RevenueCat receives a random ID created for your installation, the purchase receipts and the store's transaction data, and on iPhone the AdServices attribution token (section 11).
• On iPhone, the app also sends RevenueCat attributes: app version and build, language and region, Auto-Park settings, the number of app opens, saved spots, found cars and navigations, the day you last parked, days since installation, whether the tutorial is completed and offline maps are on, whether an Apple Watch is paired and the watch app installed, location and motion permission states, widget and notification use, and – if you answer the cancellation survey – the reason you choose and any free text you enter (up to 500 characters).
• On Android, the reason you choose in the cancellation survey is sent to Amplitude (section 10), together with whether you entered free text; the free text itself is not stored or sent anywhere.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR for the purchase; Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR for the usage attributes; Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR for the survey answer, which you give voluntarily.

13. Support email

If you contact the developer from the app, it opens an email draft in your mail app. The draft contains your RevenueCat ID, device model, operating system and app version, so that your request can be handled. You can see and remove this information before sending. Your email is used only to answer it.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR.

14. This website

• Hosting: when you visit this website, the web host processes technical access data (IP address, time, page, browser) in server logs to deliver and secure the site (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
• No cookies, no analytics, no tracking. The pages load no fonts, scripts or images from other servers.
• Language choice: if you switch the language, your choice (“en” or “de”) is stored in your browser's local storage under findmycar-lang, so the start page opens in that language next time. This is strictly necessary for the function you request (§ 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG). You can delete it in your browser settings. If your browser prefers German and you have made no choice, the start page opens the German version.

15. Processors and other recipients

Data processing agreements are in place with all processors. Apple, Google (for its own services) and the OpenStreetMap Foundation process data as independent controllers under their own privacy policies.

Privacy policies of the providers: Google (also for Firebase), Amplitude, RevenueCat, Mapbox, Apple and the OpenStreetMap Foundation.

16. Transfers to third countries

Google, Amplitude, RevenueCat and Mapbox are based in the USA or may process data there; Amplitude stores the app's data in its EU data centre. Transfers to the USA are based on the provider's certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (Art. 45 GDPR), where available, or on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR). For the United Kingdom (OpenStreetMap) there is an adequacy decision of the European Commission.

17. Retention and deletion

• Data on your device stays there until you delete it. “Delete all Markers” removes all saved spots, including photos, notes and timers. It does not remove the Auto-Park device list, offline map areas, the install-source result or the analytics and purchase IDs. Uninstalling the app removes all of its data from the device. Copies may remain in your device backups until they are replaced.
• Crash reports are kept by Firebase Crashlytics for 90 days.
• Analytics and purchase data are kept as long as needed for their purpose and deleted on request where they relate to you. Purchase records are kept as long as tax and commercial law require.
• Support emails are deleted when your request is resolved, unless the law requires keeping them.

18. Your rights

You have the right of access (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18), data portability (Art. 20) and to object to processing based on legitimate interests (Art. 21). You can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future (Art. 7(3) GDPR). Write to app-support@donner.io.

Because there is no account, you cannot be identified by name or email (Art. 11 GDPR). Please include the ID shown in the app's support email (section 13), so that the data belonging to your installation can be found.

19. Right to lodge a complaint

You can lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR), for example in the EU country where you live. The authority responsible for the developer is:

Die Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und für das Recht auf Akteneinsicht Brandenburg
Stahnsdorfer Damm 77
14532 Kleinmachnow
Germany

20. Children

Find My Car is not aimed at children under 16. Data of children is not knowingly processed. If you think a child has provided data, please get in touch and it will be deleted.

21. Permissions and how to revoke them

The app asks for permissions only when a feature needs them. You can withdraw any of them at any time: on iPhone in Settings › Find My Car, on Android in Settings › Apps › Find My Car › Permissions.

iPhone

• Location (While Using; temporarily precise; Always only for Auto-Park)
• Motion & Fitness (Auto-Park)
• Camera and Photos (spot photo)
• Notifications (parking timer, Auto-Park)
• Tracking prompt (see section 11; the advertising identifier is never read)

Android

• Precise and approximate location (no background location)
• Physical activity (Auto-Park)
• Nearby devices / Bluetooth (Auto-Park car device)
• Camera (spot photo)
• Notifications and alarms & reminders (parking timer)
• Foreground service (Auto-Park, with a visible notification)
• Network access and Google Play billing

22. Security

Because there is no account and no server of its own, there is no central database of your parking spots that could be breached. Your data is protected by the app sandbox and the encryption of your device. Connections to the services listed above use HTTPS.

23. Changes to this policy

This policy is updated when the app or the law changes. The current version is always on this page, with the date at the top. If a change affects how data you have already provided is used, you will be informed in the app.