Privacy policy

What this policy covers

This policy covers the Music for Noisy Places app and the quietshrine.com website. The app and the website collect different things, so each has its own section.

Music for Noisy Places is an iPhone app published by Quiet Shrine, LLC, a limited liability company registered in California, USA ("we", "us"). Contact: info@quietshrine.com.

The app

No account

The app has no login or account. It does not ask for your name, email address, phone number, date of birth, contacts, photos, location, microphone or health data, and it does not request permission for any of them.

What stays on your device

The app stores your mix settings for each song, your position in the app, whether you have seen the listening-safety notice, and your privacy settings. These are stored on your iPhone only and are deleted when you delete the app.

Anonymous usage data

The app sends usage events to Google Analytics for Firebase when the "Share anonymous usage data" setting is on. It is on by default and can be turned off in the app's Settings. The events include: which screens are opened; which songs are played, from where, for how long, and whether in the foreground or background; changes to the mix controls; how long the instrument is played and how many notes were played (not which notes); use of the sleep timer; the steps of an All Access purchase; and whether a download started, finished, failed or was removed.

Google also records the device model, iOS version, app version, language, region and approximate country, and assigns each installation a random identifier so that events from the same installation can be grouped. This identifier is not connected to your name, email address, Apple Account or phone number, and the app does not collect any of those. It is reset when you delete the app. The app does not use Apple's advertising identifier and does not request App Tracking Transparency permission.

Crash reports

When the "Send crash reports" setting is on, the app sends a report to Firebase Crashlytics after a crash or hang. It is on by default and can be turned off in the app's Settings. A report contains the stack trace, device model, iOS version, app version, free memory and storage at the time, and the app's log of which screen and song were open before the crash.

The app also reads Apple's MetricKit summaries of hang time, background playback time and background exits. It attaches three totals from these to crash reports and keeps the summaries on your device for 14 days.

Separately, if Share iPhone Analytics is on in iOS Settings, Apple may share anonymised crash and performance data with us. That setting is under Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements.

Experiments

The app may fetch a short list of settings from Firebase Remote Config to test small variations in its design, for example how a card is drawn. The variation you were shown is recorded with your usage events. The choice of variation is random and does not use any information about you.

New songs and downloads

The app checks a catalog file on our content server when it starts, when it returns to the foreground, and when you pull down the home screen to refresh. The server is Google Cloud Storage. This is how new places and songs appear without an app update. When you download a song, its audio files are copied from the server to your phone. Nothing is streamed during playback.

These requests include your device's network address and the app's version, which the server may keep in access logs for a short time. They include no account or identifier of yours. Removing a download deletes its files from your phone and keeps your mix settings for that song.

Each request also includes a short-lived Firebase App Check token. Firebase issues this token only to a genuine copy of the app running on a real device, using Apple's App Attest service, and the server refuses requests without one. The token identifies the app and the device to Firebase for that purpose. It contains no account, advertising identifier or listening information.

All Access and purchases

The All Access subscription is sold by Apple through your Apple Account, and Apple is the merchant of record. We do not receive your payment card, billing address or Apple ID. The app asks Apple whether a subscription is active on the current Apple Account and uses the answer to unlock songs. Restore Purchases asks Apple again.

To download an All Access song, the app sends the subscription record signed by Apple to our content server. The server verifies Apple's signature, confirms the subscription is current, and returns download links that expire after a few hours. The record contains the product, the purchase and expiry dates, an Apple transaction number and the app's identifier. It does not contain your name, email address, Apple Account or payment details. The server does not store the record. Apple provides us with aggregate sales reports that do not identify individual customers.

Processors

Google processes the usage data and crash reports for us through Google Analytics for Firebase, Firebase Crashlytics and Firebase Remote Config, and hosts the catalog and downloads on Google Cloud Storage and Google Cloud Run. Google's privacy policy is at policies.google.com/privacy. We use this data in aggregate to find crashes and to see how the app is used, and we keep it for as long as that requires. We do not sell it or use it for advertising.

The website

Analytics

This site uses PostHog to count visits. It sets no cookies, stores nothing on your device, does not record sessions, and does not store your IP address. It records the page viewed, the referring site, the browser and device type, and the campaign link if you arrived from one. PostHog processes this data for us; its privacy policy is at posthog.com/privacy.

The email list

If you enter your email address to hear about the launch, it is stored by Kit, the service we use to send email, along with a tag recording the page you signed up from and the campaign link you arrived on.

We use your address to send email about Music for Noisy Places. We do not sell or rent it, and we do not share it with anyone other than Kit, which processes it for us. Kit's privacy policy is at kit.com/privacy. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing removes you from the list. You can also email info@quietshrine.com to have your address deleted.

The support form

The support page has a contact form. It collects your email address so we can reply, and optionally your name, device, app version and message. Submissions go to our own mailbox through this website's server. No third-party form service is involved. We use them to answer you. They are not added to a mailing list and are not shared or sold. We keep them for as long as needed to resolve the request and keep a support record, normally no longer than 24 months.

Fonts

This site loads its typefaces from Google Fonts. Requesting the font files sends your IP address to Google. No cookie is set.

Hosting

The site is hosted by Bluehost, whose servers keep standard access logs including IP addresses. The site is served over HTTPS.

What we do not do

• We do not sell or rent personal information.
• We do not share information with advertisers, data brokers or analytics resellers. The processors named on this page are the only ones.
• We do not show advertising in the app or on this site.
• We do not build advertising profiles or track you across other apps and websites. The app does not use the advertising identifier and does not request App Tracking Transparency permission.
• We do not collect your name, email address, contacts, photos, precise location, microphone or health data in the app.

Your rights

You can ask what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it by emailing info@quietshrine.com. Such a request normally concerns the email list or support correspondence, because those are the only records tied to a person. App analytics are tied to a random installation identifier, not to you, so we cannot usually find a particular person's events. Deleting the app stops collection and resets the identifier.

Privacy laws including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA) and the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) give you rights to access, correct, delete and port personal information, and not to be discriminated against for exercising them. Where GDPR applies, our lawful basis for the processing described above is legitimate interest in operating and securing the app and this website, and consent for the email list.

Security and retention

Data stored by the app on your iPhone is protected by iOS device encryption. This website is served over HTTPS, and form submissions are encrypted in transit. Correspondence you send us is kept for as long as needed to answer it and to keep a record of support issues.

Children

The app and this site are not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has given us their email address, write to info@quietshrine.com and we will delete it.

Changes

If this policy changes we will update the date above. Changes that affect the email list will also be sent to the list.

Contact