Overview & Purpose
Welcome to Find My Phone with Clap, an Android utility application developed by Roshan Varma under the developer brand JEWEALITY. The sole intended purpose of this application is to assist users in locating misplaced mobile devices within their immediate physical surroundings by detecting a series of acoustic claps.
This Privacy Policy explains how our application accesses device hardware, handles real-time audio analysis, interacts with third-party advertising SDKs (Google AdMob), and complies with the latest Google Play Developer Policies and global privacy standards.
100% Offline Core
Clap detection algorithms operate entirely on-device without requiring internet connectivity.
No User Account
No registration, login, phone number, email, or credentials are required or requested.
Zero Audio Storage
Audio frames exist in volatile memory for mere milliseconds and are never written to disk.
Microphone & Audio Safety (Crucial Disclosure)
To provide the core functionality of finding your phone, Find My Phone with Clap requests runtime access to the device microphone (android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO). We understand that microphone access is one of the most sensitive permissions on Android. We handle it with complete transparency:
- Transient Energy Analysis: The audio stream is read into a temporary in-memory buffer (RAM) at standard sample rates.
- Mathematical Peak Recognition: The algorithm evaluates amplitude spikes, rise times, and frequency profiles indicative of a clap.
- Immediate Buffer Overwrite: Once the energy calculation completes (typically in under 100 milliseconds), the buffer is immediately overwritten or discarded.
- Zero Audio Storage: No audio files (such as .mp3, .wav, or raw PCM streams) are ever generated, saved to internal memory, cached, or written to external storage.
- Zero Audio Transmission: Audio data never leaves your device under any circumstance. It is never uploaded to any remote server or third-party cloud.
Microphone sampling occurs only when listening mode is actively switched ON by the user. When listening mode is paused or stopped, audio capture halts immediately, and the microphone hardware is fully released back to the Android operating system.
Information We Never Collect
In accordance with Google Play's User Data policy on data minimization, our app does not collect, harvest, sell, or share any of the following personal or sensitive data:
- No Voice or Conversation Data: We never record human voices, ambient speech, conversations, or acoustic logs.
- No Personal Identifiable Information (PII): We do not ask for or collect names, home addresses, phone numbers, or dates of birth.
- No Camera or Photos: We do not take photos or record videos. The camera hardware feature is used exclusively to trigger the LED flashlight alert (
android.hardware.camera.flash). - No Precise or Approximate Location: We do not access GPS, network geolocation, or Wi-Fi scanning.
- No Contacts, SMS, or Call Records: We have zero access to your address book, messages, or phone calls.
- No Files, Media, or Scoped Storage Access: The app does not read your private photos, videos, or documents.
Android Permissions Disclosed
Below is an itemized breakdown of every permission declared in our AndroidManifest.xml, including the system justification and data retention policy:
| Permission | Classification | Purpose & Necessity | Data Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
RECORD_AUDIO |
Dangerous (Runtime) | Required to capture live acoustic audio samples in volatile RAM for clap peak analysis. | Never saved. Volatile RAM buffer overwritten in milliseconds. |
FOREGROUND_SERVICE |
Normal | Enables background clap listening so the app works when your screen is locked or another app is open. | No data collected or stored. |
FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MICROPHONE |
Normal (Android 14+) | Mandatory foreground service type declaration on Android 14+ when listening in the background. | No data collected. User sees prominent persistent notification. |
POST_NOTIFICATIONS |
Runtime (Android 13+) | Displays the ongoing foreground service notification with instant "Stop Listening" control. | No user data collected. |
VIBRATE |
Normal | Triggers physical vibration motor when a clap is detected to assist finding the phone. | No data collected. |
WAKE_LOCK |
Normal | Keeps CPU active during listening mode and wakes the display when an alarm is triggered. | No data collected. |
USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT |
Special / Normal | Launches the high-priority alarm ringing screen over the lock screen when a clap is found. | No data collected. |
android.hardware.camera.flash |
Hardware Feature | Toggles the rear LED flashlight pulse when an alarm triggers. No camera lenses accessed. | No images or video recorded. |
INTERNET & ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE |
Normal (AdMob SDK) | Required strictly by the Google Mobile Ads (AdMob) SDK to load banner and interstitial ads. | Handled exclusively by Google AdMob according to Google's Privacy Policy. |
Foreground Service & Microphone Transparency
Starting with Android 14 (API level 34), Google requires specialized foreground service declarations (foregroundServiceType="microphone") for apps that process audio while running in the background. We fully comply with these standards:
- Explicit User Activation: The foreground service is initiated only when the user taps the primary "Start Listening" button on the Home screen.
- Persistent Status Notification: While listening, Android displays an ongoing notification informing the user that the clap detector is actively running.
- One-Tap Termination: The notification contains an action button that allows the user to immediately terminate the service and microphone access without needing to reopen the full app.
- No Silent or Hidden Execution: The service never runs silently or invisibly in the background.
Third-Party Advertising & Google AdMob
To provide Find My Phone with Clap as a free utility for all users, we display third-party advertisements delivered by Google Mobile Ads (AdMob).
Google AdMob is operated by Google LLC. When you use the app, the AdMob SDK may collect and process certain non-personal device information to serve relevant ads, prevent ad fraud, and cap ad repetition frequency.
| Data Type | Collected By | Purpose | Google Policy Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising ID (AAID) | Google AdMob SDK | Frequency capping, fraud prevention, ad attribution, and personalized ads (if enabled). | Google Ads Policy |
| IP Address | Google AdMob SDK | General country/city-level ad localization and network diagnostics. | Google Privacy Policy |
| Device & OS Info | Google AdMob SDK | Device model, screen resolution, OS version, and network connection type. | AdMob Data Disclosures |
| Ad Interaction Data | Google AdMob SDK | Views, taps, ad loading latencies, and crash logs. | Google Partner Sites |
We strictly adhere to official Google AdMob publisher policies:
- No deceptive or misleading ad placements.
- No ads overlaying core functional buttons or alarms.
- Strict frequency capping on full-screen interstitial ads to protect user experience.
- Safe, anchored adaptive banners that prevent layout shifting.
How to Control or Reset Your Advertising ID
You maintain complete control over how Google serves advertisements to your device. You can reset your Google Advertising ID or opt out of personalized ads at any time directly through your Android system settings:
Children's Privacy (COPPA Compliance)
Find My Phone with Clap is designed as a general-utility productivity tool for users of all ages. The application does not intentionally target children under the age of 13 (or under 16 in applicable European Union jurisdictions).
Because our core utility does not request personal accounts, does not collect names, and does not transmit voice recordings, we do not knowingly solicit or collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 in compliance with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Google Play Families Policy.
International Privacy Rights (GDPR & CCPA/CPRA)
Regardless of where you reside, we honor fundamental user data rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR - EU/UK) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA):
- Right to Know / Access: You have the right to know what data is collected. As disclosed, JEWEALITY stores zero personal data on any server.
- Right to Erasure / Deletion: Because we do not store personal profiles or audio logs, there is no personal data held by us to erase. Local app settings can be deleted at any time by uninstalling the app or clearing App Storage in Android Settings.
- "Do Not Sell My Personal Information": We do not sell, rent, trade, or monetize your personal information to third parties.
- Non-Discrimination: We never discriminate against any user who exercises their privacy rights.
Data Storage & Security Standards
User preferences—such as selected alarm sound tone, flashlight enable/disable, vibration enable/disable, sensitivity level, and dark/light theme preference—are stored strictly locally on your device using Android DataStore preferences.
These settings remain sandboxed within the application's private internal storage directory and cannot be accessed by other applications. If you clear the application data or uninstall the app, all stored preferences are permanently deleted from your device.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect app enhancements, Android operating system updates, or Google Play policy revisions. Any updates will be published directly to this URL with an updated "Last Updated" date at the top of this page.
We encourage you to periodically review this page to stay informed about how we safeguard your privacy.
Developer Contact Information
If you have any questions, concerns, feedback, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or the security practices of Find My Phone with Clap, please contact us directly:
Lead Developer: Roshan Varma