Privacy policy
In short: Randnotiz has no server of its own, no user account, no ads and no tracking. Your entries stay on your phone. Here is exactly which data is processed, and for what.
1. Controller
Tjorve Zankl
Email: moin@randnotiz.info
Randnotiz is a private, non-commercial hobby project with no profit motive. The easiest way to reach me is by email.
2. Principle: your data stays on your device
Randnotiz is a private photo diary. The app has no server of its own and no user account. Notes, moods, place names, weather details and smaller copies of your photos are stored in the app’s private storage area on your device. A copy of them only leaves the device if you switch on the optional backup to Google Drive – and then only end-to-end encrypted (see 4.5). I, as the provider, do not receive this data.
The app contains no ads, no analytics or tracking services and sends no crash reports to third parties.
3. Which data does the app process?
| Data | Purpose | Where it is processed |
|---|---|---|
| Photos from your gallery (display) | Choosing a photo for a note | on the device only |
| Smaller photo copies (approx. 800 px; for photos from the photo picker additionally up to 1600 px) | Diary, memories, widget – even if the original is deleted | on the device only |
| Note text, title, date, moods (emoji + name), optional place name, country (country code), weather (category, temperature) | Diary function, search, world map | on the device only |
| GPS position from the photo data (if present) | Determining the country and nearest place (offline, using bundled map data); determining the weather on the day the photo was taken | not stored – only country and place name; sent rounded to the weather service (see 4.1) |
| Earlier search terms in the diary | Suggestions while searching | on the device only, can be deleted individually or all at once |
| Settings (design, lock, widget text preview, whether the introduction has been shown) | App behaviour | on the device only |
| Search term for the place search | Finding the right place | sent to the geocoding service (see 4.2) |
| Language when dictating | Conversion to text | on the device or at the speech recognition service (see 4.3); no audio is stored |
| Song from an earlier app version (Spotify address, title, artist, album cover) – only for imported entries | kept unchanged so nothing is lost when you move; this version does not display it and does not contact Spotify | on the device only and, where applicable, in your backup (4.5) |
| Fingerprint/face/screen lock | Unlocking the app | exclusively by Android; the app only receives “successful / not successful” |
4. Transfer to third parties
4.1 Weather data (Open-Meteo)
If a photo contains location information or you choose a place, the app sends the date of the photo and an approximate location (coordinates, rounded to two decimal places, approx. 1 km accuracy) to the weather service Open-Meteo (open-meteo.com). For technical reasons, your IP address is transmitted as well. The app only stores the result (weather category and temperature), not the coordinates. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR (a function you requested). The service’s privacy information: open-meteo.com/en/terms.
4.2 Place search (Open-Meteo Geocoding)
If you enter a place name, this search term (and your IP address) is sent to the geocoding interface of Open-Meteo. The app only stores the name of the chosen place, no coordinates.
4.3 Speech recognition
When dictating, the app uses Android’s speech recognition. Depending on the device and system settings, recognition takes place directly on the device or via the Google speech recognition service (Google Ireland Ltd.). In the latter case, the audio of the dictation is sent to Google and processed there under Google’s terms (policies.google.com/privacy). Randnotiz itself does not record audio and stores no audio data; only the recognised text ends up in the note. Before first use, the microphone permission is requested with an explanation.
4.4 Photos from Google Photos (Android photo picker)
If you choose a photo via the Android photo picker (which can also show images from Google Photos), Android only provides the selected photo to the app. Randnotiz stores a private, smaller copy of it when you write a note for it. Communication with Google Photos is handled by Android or the Google Photos app, not by Randnotiz.
4.5 Backup to Google Drive (optional, end-to-end encrypted)
Only if you switch on the backup in the settings and sign in with your Google account:
- What: note texts, titles, dates, place and country, weather, moods, collections, where applicable songs from an earlier app version including cover, the smaller copies of your photos (approx. 800 px) and the private copies of photos from Google Photos (1600 px at most). Original photos from the gallery are not uploaded.
- Where to: into the hidden app folder of your own
Google Drive account (Google Ireland Ltd.; permission
drive.appdata). Only Randnotiz can read this folder; the app has no access to your other Drive files. There is no server of mine in between. - Encryption: everything is encrypted on your device before uploading (AES-256-GCM). The key is protected by your backup password (Argon2id) and an emergency key that the app shows you once. Both never leave the device and are known neither to Google nor to me. Even the file names in Drive reveal nothing about the content. Google only sees the number and size of the encrypted files and the times of the backup – and that your account uses Randnotiz.
- Consequence: without the backup password and without the emergency key, nobody can restore the backup – not even me.
- When: automatically at most once a day, when you open the app and something has changed, and via “Back up now”.
- On the device, the key stays in storage protected by the Android Keystore, so that automatic backups run without a password; signing out deletes it.
- Deleting: when signing out, you can have the backup in Google Drive deleted. Alternatively, in Google Drive (web) under Settings → Manage apps → Randnotiz → “Delete hidden app data”.
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (a function you requested). Google’s privacy information: policies.google.com/privacy.
5. Permissions
- Photos and videos (images only) / “Selected photos”: displaying the gallery
- Access to location in media: country, place and weather from the photo’s location information
- Microphone: dictation (only when used)
- Biometrics: unlocking the app
- Internet: weather, place search, where applicable speech recognition, backup to Google Drive (optional)
- Run at startup: updating the widget after a restart
Note on the widget: if you place the “Memory of the day” widget on the home screen, it shows a photo from your diary there (and, only if you switch on “Text preview in widget”, the beginning of the note text) – even when the app itself is locked. The widget is optional; without it, nothing appears outside the app.
6. Storage period and deletion
The data stays stored until you delete it in the app (delete a note, delete a mood; a note whose text, title and moods you remove completely is deleted when you close it) or uninstall the app or clear its data in the Android settings. Automatic system backups of the app data are disabled. A backup in Google Drive (4.5) remains until you delete it.
7. Protection of the data
App lock via biometrics/screen lock; as long as the lock is switched on, additional protection against screenshots, screen recordings and the preview in the app switcher (FLAG_SECURE). Without the lock switched on, screenshots are possible; the lock only works if a screen lock is set up on the device. Storage in the private app area, no transfer to servers of our own. The optional backup to Google Drive is end-to-end encrypted (4.5).
8. This website
This website sets no cookies, uses no tracking and no analytics and loads nothing from third-party servers – even the fonts are hosted here on the server. A small JavaScript of our own only provides animations (e.g. fading in while scrolling); it stores nothing and sends nothing.
When you visit, the web server processes technically necessary data: IP address, date and time, page requested, amount of data transferred, referrer and browser identifier. It is stored in server log files in order to deliver the site securely and reliably, and deleted after 14 days. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in secure operation). Hosting: STRATO GmbH, Otto-Ostrowski-Straße 7, 10249 Berlin, Germany.
Links to other sites (e.g. GitHub) are ordinary links: only when you click them do their privacy terms apply.
9. Your rights
You have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, data portability and objection (Art. 15–21 GDPR) as well as the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. Since I do not store any data from the app on systems of my own, you can exercise most rights directly in the app or via the Android settings. For anything else, just write to me (see 1.).
10. Changes
This policy will be updated if the functions of the app or of this website change.