Privacy Policy

No accounts, no servers

Cipher does not require an account. All encryption, decryption, and storage happens entirely on your device. Your notes, passphrases, and vault files never leave your device through Cipher. The only network activity is anonymised analytics and crash reports sent to Firebase (described below).

Vault filenames

Notes saved to the vault use randomly generated filenames (12-character hex IDs) rather than dates or titles, so no metadata is revealed by the filename itself.

Ads

The free version displays banner ads served by Google AdMob. AdMob may collect device identifiers and usage data in accordance with Google's privacy policy. Cipher Pro removes all ads entirely.

Analytics & crash reporting

Cipher uses Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics to collect anonymised usage statistics and crash reports. This data helps improve the app's stability and user experience. No note content, passphrases, or encrypted data are ever included in these reports. You can review Google's privacy policy for details on how Firebase handles this data.

Encrypted vault files

Your notes are stored as encrypted .cipher files in your app's private storage directory. The files are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before being written to disk. They are only readable with the correct passphrase inside the Cipher app.

App preferences

Cipher stores non-sensitive preferences locally (dark/light mode, ad snooze state, Pro status, rating prompt history). None of this data is transmitted to any server.

Device backups

Device backups (iCloud, Google One) may include your vault files. Your encrypted vault files are safe in a backup — they cannot be decrypted without your passphrase — but we recommend ensuring your device backup is protected with a strong passcode or encryption.

We do not collect, transmit, or store any of the following: note content, passphrases, encryption keys, file names, file contents, GPS location, contacts, photos (except when you explicitly pick one for steganography — which is processed locally), microphone input, or any other personal data beyond the anonymised analytics described above.

Google Firebase (Analytics + Crashlytics)

Anonymised usage and crash data. Governed by the Google Privacy Policy.

Google AdMob

Banner ads in the free tier. Governed by the Google Privacy Policy. Disabled permanently with Cipher Pro.

Google Play Billing / Apple App Store

In-app purchases are processed by Google Play or the Apple App Store. We do not handle payment information directly. Purchases are subject to the respective platform's privacy policy.

Questions about this policy? Email us at mail@applabs.llc.