Privacy Policy

1Introduction

This Privacy Policy applies specifically to InnerSelf: Diary with Lock ("InnerSelf", "the App"), developed by PixelVolt ("we", "our", or "us"). It explains what information the App collects, how it is stored and used, and the choices you have.

InnerSelf is a private journaling app. Your diary entries, photos, and voice memos are stored locally on your device and are never uploaded to our servers. Some optional features rely on third-party services, which are described in detail below. By using InnerSelf, you agree to the practices described in this policy. For PixelVolt's general practices across all products, see our main Privacy Policy.

2Information We Collect

Local Diary Data

Account & Referral Data (Optional)

3Permissions We Request

InnerSelf only requests permissions needed for the features you choose to use. You can revoke any of these at any time in your device settings without losing access to your existing diary entries.

• Microphone & Speech Recognition — used only when you tap the voice-to-text button to dictate an entry or record a voice memo. Audio is processed on-device or via your device's speech recognition service and is not sent to us.
• Photos / Media Library — used when you attach a photo to a diary entry or change your profile picture.
• Location — used only if you enable the optional weather tag on an entry, to fetch local weather conditions. Location is not stored on our servers.
• Notifications — used to deliver the daily journaling reminder you can enable in Settings. Reminders are scheduled and triggered entirely on your device.
• Biometrics (Fingerprint / Face Unlock) — used only to unlock the app if you enable biometric lock. Biometric data itself is handled entirely by your device's operating system and is never accessible to us.

4How We Use Your Information

We use the information described above to:

• Provide core journaling features — writing, editing, organising, and securing entries
• Unlock the app via your PIN or biometrics
• Convert speech to text when you use voice entry
• Show local weather tags on entries, if enabled
• Back up and restore your diary to your personal Google Drive, if enabled
• Track referral codes and manage Premium rewards, if you use the referral system
• Process Premium subscription purchases and verify entitlement status
• Send local daily reminder notifications, if enabled
• Display advertisements to free-tier users
• Understand app usage and fix crashes/bugs via analytics
• Comply with applicable laws and respond to legal requests

5Advertising — Google AdMob

Free-tier users of InnerSelf see advertisements served by Google AdMob, including banner, native, and app-open ads. AdMob may collect and use data from your device — including your advertising ID, IP address, and usage data — to serve relevant advertisements.

Where required by law, we request your consent for personalised advertising before ads are shown. If consent is not granted, non-personalised ads may be displayed instead.

Premium subscribers do not see ads. You can opt out of personalised advertising on Android via Settings → Google → Ads → Opt out of Ads Personalisation. For more details, see Google's Privacy Policy.

6Analytics — Firebase

InnerSelf uses Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics to understand how the app is used and to diagnose crashes. These tools collect anonymised usage data such as screens visited, session length, feature interactions, and crash logs. This data cannot be used to identify your diary content and is governed by Google's Privacy Policy.

Firebase is also used for the referral system and is governed by the authentication-related data described in Section 2.

7Subscriptions & In-App Purchases

InnerSelf offers an optional Premium subscription (monthly, yearly, or lifetime) that removes ads and unlocks extra features such as custom home screen icons. Purchases are processed through Google Play Billing and managed via RevenueCat. We do not handle or store your payment details directly.

Subscriptions automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. You can manage or cancel at any time through Play Store → Subscriptions. Refunds are governed by Google Play's refund policy.

8Optional Features & Third-Party Services

The following features are entirely optional and only activate when you choose to use them:

All third-party services process data under their own privacy policies. We encourage you to review them independently.

9Custom Home Screen Icons

InnerSelf offers an optional feature that lets you change the app's home screen icon to an alternate style (e.g. Calculator, Notes, Weather, Music, Files, or Clock) for personalization and home screen customization. Depending on your app version, this feature may be included with Premium or available without a subscription.

• On supported devices, alternate icon styles may include different launcher labels for customization purposes.
• Regardless of the selected icon style, the application remains InnerSelf and provides the same functionality — opening it still launches your diary after any PIN or biometric unlock.
• This feature is provided for personalization and home screen customization.
• Alternate icons and labels are provided only as visual customization options and do not represent affiliation with, endorsement by, or impersonation of any third-party application, brand, or service.
• Your icon preference is stored locally on your device. We do not collect, transmit, or store this choice on our servers.
• You can switch back to the default icon at any time from Profile → Custom App Icons.
• Changing the launcher icon does not encrypt your device, hide data from device owners or administrators, or prevent access through backups, screen recording, or lawful device inspection.

10Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data or diary content to any third party. We share limited data only with the third-party providers required to operate InnerSelf's features — namely Google (AdMob, Firebase, Sign-In, Drive), RevenueCat, and Open-Meteo — and only to the extent necessary for the relevant functionality.

Your diary entries, photos, voice memos, PIN, and security answers are never shared with anyone, including PixelVolt, except as part of an encrypted backup you choose to store in your own Google Drive.

11Children's Privacy

InnerSelf is not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at [email protected] and we will take steps to delete such information promptly.

12Data Retention

Diary entries, photos, voice memos, PIN, and settings remain on your device until you delete entries, clear app storage, or uninstall the app. Google Drive backups remain in your Drive account until you delete them. Referral and account data stored via Firebase is retained for as long as your referral account is active.

If you request deletion of your account data, we will process your request within 30 days and delete all personally identifiable information we hold, except where retention is required by law. Third-party services may retain anonymised usage data according to their own policies.

13Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights under applicable laws including GDPR (EU/UK) and India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023:

• Access — Request a copy of the account data we hold about you
• Correction — Request correction of inaccurate account data
• Deletion — Request deletion of your referral account and associated data within 30 days
• Portability — Request a machine-readable copy of your account data
• Withdraw Consent — Withdraw consent for personalised ads, location, referrals, or cloud backup at any time via in-app settings
• Local Control — Edit, export, or delete your diary entries directly within the app at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [email protected].

14Data Protection & Security

Diary entries, photos, and voice memos stored on your device are encrypted using AES encryption with a key held in your device's secure storage. Your app lock PIN and security question answers are never stored in plain text — only as SHA-256 hashes.

We use secure SDKs (Firebase, Google Sign-In, RevenueCat) and review our security practices regularly. However, no system is 100% secure. The physical security of your device — including who has access to it and whether biometric/PIN lock is enabled — is your responsibility.

15Account & Data Deletion

If you signed in with Google to use the referral system or cloud backup, you can request deletion of your account and associated Firebase data (email identifier and referral records) at any time.

• Diary entries, photos, and voice memos stored locally on your device are not affected by account deletion — remove them by deleting entries in-app, clearing app storage, or uninstalling InnerSelf.
• Data backed up to your personal Google Drive must be deleted by you directly from Drive.
• Account deletion requests are typically processed within 7 days.

Request account & data deletion →

16Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to InnerSelf or applicable legal requirements. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we will notify you through the app or via a notice on this page. Continued use of InnerSelf after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.