Privacy Policy – SoundScope
Effective date: October 18, 2026
This privacy policy explains what information the SoundScope sound level meter for Android (the "App", package com.decibelmeter.soundmeter1) collects, why, and the choices you have. The App has no sign-up or login and never asks for your name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos, files, camera or GPS location.
1. The microphone
Measuring a sound level requires listening, so the App asks for microphone access. Audio arrives in short blocks of about fifty milliseconds; each block is filtered, turned into one decibel value and discarded. No audio is recorded, stored, transcribed or sent anywhere, and none of it is shared with the ad networks or any other company. Measuring stops when you leave the meter screen, and while a full-screen ad is open. You can decline or withdraw the permission in Android Settings; the App still opens but has nothing to measure.
2. Information stored only on your device
The App keeps in its private storage: the measurements you save (minimum, average and maximum level, duration and comparison label, never the audio), your calibration offset, your language choice, whether you have Premium, and when a feature you unlocked with an ad stops being unlocked. Deleting a saved measurement removes it at once. If you have Android backup turned on, Android may include these in your device backup under Google's own privacy policy. Uninstalling the App or clearing its data deletes them.
The share button hands a short text summary of a measurement to Android's share sheet; you choose where it goes, and that app's privacy policy then applies.
3. Advertising
The free version of the App shows ads (banners, full-screen ads, app-open ads and, only when you choose to watch one, rewarded ads). Premium removes all ads. Ads are served by Google AdMob, which may pass ad requests to the partner networks listed below ("mediation"). To show, measure and protect ads, these companies collect information from your device, such as:
- the advertising ID of your device (you can reset or delete it in your phone's settings: Settings → Privacy → Ads);
- your IP address and the approximate location derived from it;
- device and app information (device model, Android version, language, app version);
- how you interact with ads (impressions and taps) and diagnostic data such as crash information from the ad SDKs.
Your consent. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and US states with privacy laws, the App asks for your choice with Google's consent form before personalised ads are shown. You can change your choice at any time in the App: Settings → Privacy options. Where you don't consent, ads may still be shown without personalisation.
4. Ad partners
Each partner handles information under its own privacy policy:
- Google AdMob – policies.google.com/technologies/ads
- AppLovin – applovin.com/privacy
- Digital Turbine (DT Exchange) – digitalturbine.com/privacy-policy
- InMobi – inmobi.com/privacy-policy
- ironSource (Unity LevelPlay) – unity.com/legal/game-player-and-app-user-privacy-policy
- Liftoff (Vungle) – liftoff.io/privacy-policy
- Meta Audience Network – facebook.com/privacy/policy
- Mintegral – mintegral.com/en/privacy
- Pangle – pangleglobal.com/privacy
- Unity Ads – unity.com/legal/game-player-and-app-user-privacy-policy
5. What our settings service logs
When the App starts (and when you return to it after more than an hour), it downloads its ad and update settings from our own server. Each of these requests is logged with:
- your IP address, and the approximate location (country, region, city) and internet provider derived from it;
- the app version, device model, Android version and language;
- a random install ID created by the App on first launch (it is not your advertising ID, and it is replaced when you clear the App's data);
- connection details such as the time of the request.
We use this log to deliver the right settings, to keep the service working and to detect abuse. It is kept for 90 days and then deleted automatically. Only our team can see it. It is not sold, not shared for advertising and not combined with the information the ad networks collect. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in running the App securely. You can ask us to delete the log entries for your install (see section 11).
6. Firebase Analytics
The App uses Google's Firebase Analytics to understand how it is used: which screens are opened, which features are used (for example "measurement saved"), app opens, purchases started and, once linked to AdMob, ad impressions. No sound levels or audio are sent. Firebase records these events with an app-instance ID, device information and approximate location. In the EEA and the UK, analytics storage and ad data use stay off until you agree in the consent form. Google keeps this data for 2 to 14 months depending on the setting. Google acts as our service provider here; see firebase.google.com/support/privacy.
7. Notifications (Firebase Cloud Messaging)
If you allow notifications, the App can receive messages such as tips and updates through Firebase Cloud Messaging. For this, Google creates a messaging token for your install, and the App joins a few topics so a message can be sent to everyone, to one country, one language or one app version: your country (from your SIM card, mobile network or phone region – not GPS), the App's language and its version number. You can turn notifications off in your phone's settings.
8. Purchases
Premium is sold through Google Play. Payment is handled entirely by Google; we never receive your card or payment details. The App asks Google Play which purchases you own so it can turn Premium on or off.
9. Permissions
| Permission | Why it is used |
|---|---|
| Microphone | Calculating the sound level, as described in section 1. Audio is never stored or sent. |
| Internet and network state | Loading ads, the App's settings and Google Play purchases. |
| Notifications | Asked once, after you first save a measurement. |
| Advertising ID | Used by the ad networks as described in section 3. |
10. Children
The App is intended for users aged 13 and over and is not directed at children. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has used the App, contact us and we will delete what we hold.
11. Your choices and data deletion
- Change your ad consent: Settings → Privacy options in the App.
- Reset or delete your advertising ID: your phone's privacy settings.
- Stop notifications: your phone's notification settings for the App.
- Delete what the App stores on your device: uninstall it, or Settings → Apps → SoundScope → Storage → Clear data.
- Ask us to delete the settings-service log for your install, or ask any privacy question: email the developer address shown in the "Contact developer" section of the App's Google Play page. We answer within 30 days.
12. Changes to this policy
If the App changes in a way that affects your privacy, we will update this page and its effective date before the change takes effect.