GripVid App — Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy describes how GripVid ("we," "us," or "our") handles information when you use the GripVid mobile application (the "App") available on Google Play Store. We are committed to protecting your privacy and being fully transparent about our data practices.
1. Information We Collect
1.1 Information You Provide
When you use the App, you may provide video URLs that you wish to download. These URLs are sent to our servers solely to retrieve video metadata (title, thumbnail, available quality options) and to process the download. URLs are processed in real-time and are not stored on our servers after the download session completes.
We do not require you to create an account, provide your name, email address, phone number, or any other personally identifiable information to use the App.
1.2 Advertising ID (Google AdMob)
The App is free and supported by advertising provided through Google AdMob. To serve ads, the AdMob SDK collects your device's Advertising ID (a resettable identifier provided by Google Play services) and standard ad-request information such as coarse network data and general device characteristics. This information is collected and shared with Google and its advertising partners for the purpose of displaying advertisements. Google's handling of this data is governed by the Google Privacy Policy.
You can reset or limit the use of your Advertising ID at any time via your device's Settings → Privacy → Ads. Aside from advertising, the App itself does not collect this identifier for its own purposes.
1.3 Information We Do Not Collect
Other than the Advertising ID described above, the App does not collect, transmit, or share any of the following:
- Personal identifiers (IMEI, hardware serial number, name, email, phone number)
- Location data (GPS, Wi-Fi-based, or network-based location)
- Contacts, call logs, calendar data, or SMS/MMS messages
- Camera or microphone input or recordings
- Your browsing history or search history from the in-app browser (see Section 1.6)
- Personal files, photos, or media beyond what you explicitly download through the App
- Health, fitness, or financial data
- Crash logs or analytics (the App does not include any analytics or crash-reporting SDK)
The App uses the device_info_plus package solely to read the Android SDK version number (e.g., API level 30, 33) on your device. This is used locally within the App to determine which storage permission model to use (legacy storage vs. scoped storage vs. granular media permissions). No hardware identifiers are collected, stored, or transmitted by the App itself.
1.4 Locally Stored Data
The App stores the following data locally on your device only using Android's SharedPreferences. This data is never transmitted to our servers or any third party:
- App Preferences: Your selected theme (light/dark), language, default download quality, concurrent download limit, speed limit setting, Wi-Fi-only download preference, and notification settings.
- Download History: A record of previously downloaded URLs, titles, platforms, formats, and timestamps — stored locally for your convenience. You can clear this at any time from the App's History screen.
- Completed Downloads List: A list of your most recent completed download tasks (title, format, quality, file size, and local file path) — stored locally so you can quickly re-access downloaded files. You can clear this from the Downloads screen.
- Shorts Preferences: If you use the Shorts feed, the App stores on your device which short videos you have liked, disliked, and already seen, so it can personalise the videos it shows you next and avoid repeats. This taste profile is stored only on your device, is never sent to our servers or any third party, and is removed when you uninstall the App.
- PIN/Biometric Lock Settings: If you enable App Lock, your PIN hash is stored locally using SharedPreferences. Biometric authentication (fingerprint/face) is handled entirely by Android's system BiometricPrompt API — the App never accesses, processes, or stores any biometric data.
- Onboarding/Disclaimer State: A simple flag indicating whether you have completed the onboarding flow and accepted the disclaimer, to avoid showing them again.
- Rate Us Prompt State: A counter tracking how many times the App has been opened, used locally to prompt you to rate the App on Google Play. No data is transmitted.
1.5 Downloaded Files
Videos and audio files you download are saved to your device's public media directories:
- Videos:
/storage/emulated/0/Movies/GripVid/ - Audio:
/storage/emulated/0/Music/GripVid/
These files are standard media files stored on your device and are accessible through your device's gallery, file manager, and any media player app. The App does not encrypt, lock, or restrict access to these files.
1.6 In-App Browser
The App includes a built-in web browser so you can open supported websites and download videos without leaving the App. When you use this browser, the pages you visit are loaded directly from those third-party websites, which may set their own cookies and collect information according to their own privacy policies. The App does not record, store, or transmit your in-app browsing history or the pages you visit to our servers. Standard web cookies created during browsing are managed by the Android System WebView on your device.
1.7 Shorts Feed
The Shorts feed displays short videos sourced from Dailymotion. Video playback streams directly from Dailymotion to your device. The only personalisation data involved (which videos you liked, disliked, or have seen) is stored locally on your device as described in Section 1.4 and is never sent to our servers.
2. Permissions We Request
The App requests the following Android permissions. Each permission is necessary for a specific, core feature of the App:
| Permission | Purpose | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| INTERNET | Required to connect to our servers, fetch video metadata, and download video/audio files from supported platforms. | Yes |
| ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE | Used to check whether the device has an active internet connection before attempting downloads. Also used for the "Wi-Fi only" download setting. | Yes |
| WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE (Android 9–12 only) |
Required on Android 9–12 to save downloaded video and audio files to the device's Movies and Music folders. Not requested on Android 13+. | Yes (Android 9–12) |
| READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE (Android 9–12 only) |
Required on Android 9–12 to read and display downloaded files in the App's Gallery view. Not requested on Android 13+. | Yes (Android 9–12) |
| READ_MEDIA_AUDIO (Android 13+ only) |
Granular permission on Android 13+ to read audio files from the device's media store for display in the App's Gallery. | Yes (Android 13+) |
| FOREGROUND_SERVICE | Declared by a standard Android background-work library (WorkManager) bundled with the App. It is not used to collect data or track you. | Included by dependency |
| RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED | Allows the App to re-register scheduled reminders/notifications after your device restarts. | Yes |
| AD_ID (com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID) | Allows Google AdMob to access your device's Advertising ID to display ads. See Section 1.2. You can reset this ID in your device settings. | Yes (for ads) |
| POST_NOTIFICATIONS (Android 13+ only) |
Used to display download progress notifications and download completion alerts. This permission is optional — you can deny it without affecting download functionality. | Optional |
| WAKE_LOCK | Prevents the device's CPU from sleeping during active downloads, ensuring that large file downloads complete successfully. | Yes |
| VIBRATE | Used for haptic feedback on button presses, download completion, and user interactions to enhance the user experience. | Yes |
| USE_BIOMETRIC / USE_FINGERPRINT | Used only when you enable fingerprint or face unlock for the App Lock feature. The App does not store, process, or access any biometric data — all authentication is handled by Android's secure BiometricPrompt system API. | Optional |
3. Share Intent (Receiving URLs from Other Apps)
The App is registered as a share target for text content. This means when you tap "Share" on a video URL in another app (such as Instagram, TikTok, or a web browser) and select GripVid, the shared URL is received by the App to initiate a download. The App only processes text/plain content and only reads the URL text. No other data from the sharing app is accessed.
4. How We Use Information
The video URLs you submit (either by pasting or sharing) are used solely to:
- Send a request to our server to retrieve video metadata (title, thumbnail, duration, available quality options) from the source platform
- Process and deliver the video/audio file stream for download to your device
The video URLs themselves are not used for advertising, analytics, user profiling, or behavioral tracking. Advertising is handled separately by Google AdMob using your device's Advertising ID, as described in Section 1.2 and Section 5.
5. Data Sharing and Third Parties
The App uses the following third-party service:
- Google AdMob (advertising): The App displays ads through Google AdMob. To do so, AdMob collects and shares your device's Advertising ID and standard ad-request data with Google and its advertising partners for the purpose of serving advertisements. This is the only user data shared with any third party. See the Google Privacy Policy.
Aside from Google AdMob, we do not sell, rent, trade, or disclose user data to any other third parties. The App does not contain:
- Third-party analytics SDKs (no Google Analytics, Firebase Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, etc.)
- Social media tracking pixels or login SDKs
- Crash reporting SDKs that transmit data (no Crashlytics, Sentry, Bugsnag, etc.)
- Attribution or install tracking SDKs
6. Data Retention
- Server-side: Video URLs submitted for download are processed in real-time and are not retained on our servers after the download session ends. All temporary processing data (video streams, metadata) is automatically purged immediately upon session completion.
- Device-side: All locally stored preferences, download history, Shorts preferences, and settings remain on your device until you clear them manually within the App, clear the App's data through Android Settings, or uninstall the App.
7. Data Security
- All network communication between the App and our servers uses HTTPS/TLS encryption.
- Downloaded files are stored in your device's standard public media directories with the same level of security as any other media file on your device.
- If you enable App Lock, your PIN is stored as a hash using Android's SharedPreferences. We recommend enabling device-level encryption (enabled by default on most modern Android devices) for additional security.
- Biometric authentication uses Android's secure hardware-backed BiometricPrompt API. The App never directly handles biometric data.
8. Children's Privacy
The App is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or the applicable age of digital consent in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has used the App in a way that provided personal information to us, please contact us and we will take steps to delete such information.
9. Google Play Data Safety Alignment
In accordance with Google Play's Data Safety requirements, we confirm the following:
| Data Safety Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Does the App collect user data? | Yes. The App collects one data type: the device Advertising ID, via Google AdMob, for advertising. It collects no other personal or sensitive data. |
| Does the App share user data with third parties? | Yes. The Advertising ID is shared with Google AdMob and its advertising partners for the purpose of serving ads. No other data is shared. |
| Does the App use third-party analytics or advertising? | Advertising: Yes (Google AdMob). Analytics: No - the App includes no analytics or crash-reporting SDKs. |
| Is data encrypted in transit? | Yes. All network communication uses HTTPS/TLS encryption. |
| Can users request data deletion? | Yes. Users can reset the Advertising ID in Android Settings, clear all locally stored data (history, preferences, Shorts likes) from within the App or via Android Settings, and remove everything by uninstalling the App. |
| Does the App handle financial or payment data? | No. |
| Does the App access location data? | No. |
| Does the App access contacts, SMS, call logs, or calendar? | No. |
| Does the App access camera or microphone? | No. |
10. Your Rights and Choices
You have full control over your data within the App:
- Clear Download History: Delete your download history at any time from the History screen in the App.
- Clear Completed Downloads: Remove the recently completed downloads list from the Downloads screen.
- Reset Shorts Preferences: Your Shorts likes, dislikes, and watch history are cleared when you clear app data or uninstall the App.
- Reset Advertising ID: Reset or opt out of ad personalisation at any time via Android Settings → Privacy → Ads.
- Reset All Preferences: Uninstalling the App removes all locally stored preferences and data permanently.
- Manage Permissions: You can revoke any permission at any time through your device's Settings → Apps → GripVid → Permissions.
- Disable Notifications: Turn off download notifications from the App's Settings screen or from your device's notification settings.
- Disable App Lock: Turn off PIN/biometric lock from the App's Settings → Security section.
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the App, our practices, or legal requirements. When we do, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. Continued use of the App after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
12. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: gripvid.proofmatcher.com/contact