Privacy Policy — GPS & Satellite Check

This privacy policy is written to be read, not skimmed. It is short on purpose.

Location — why the app asks, and what happens to it

The app's whole purpose is to show you the GNSS (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS, etc.) satellites your phone can see and how strong their signals are. Android will only hand an app the per-satellite signal data (GnssStatus) and a position fix if the app holds the precise-location permission. So the app requests:

• android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION — a runtime permission you grant (or deny) yourself. Coarse location is technically insufficient for per-satellite diagnostics, which is why fine location is required.

With that permission, the app reads, and shows you on screen:

• Each visible satellite's constellation, identifier, signal strength (C/N0), azimuth, elevation and carrier frequency.
• Your current position fix when one is available — latitude, longitude, altitude, accuracy — on the fix-details screen.
• Raw NMEA sentences from the GNSS receiver, if you open that screen.

On the live diagnostic screens this data is processed in real time, displayed to you, and discarded. GPS & Satellite Check does not upload your location or satellite data to us or to any server, and it does not use the separate Android background-location permission. The one case where a fix is written to storage is when you start a recording — described next.

If you deny the location permission, the diagnostic screens simply show an honest "permission needed" state; the rest of the app still works.

Recording, history and export (Pro)

The Pro version adds an optional feature that lets you record a GNSS session. Recording only happens when you deliberately start it, and only then does the app write location data to storage. While a recording is active the app runs a foreground service with a visible, ongoing notification so the session can keep logging with the screen off; you can stop it at any time from that notification or in the app. It does not use the Android background-location permission.

A recording is a track saved in a database on your device: a series of position points (latitude, longitude, altitude, accuracy and time) together with satellite and signal statistics for the session. You can review your recordings in the History tab, rename them, and delete them individually.

These recordings stay on your device. They are never sent to us, to Firebase, to AdMob, or to anyone on our behalf. You can choose to export a recording as a GPX or CSV file and share it through Android's standard share sheet — at that point the file goes wherever you send it (for example your own cloud drive, email, or another app). That transfer is initiated and controlled entirely by you. Deleting a recording in the app, or uninstalling the app, removes it from your device.

Settings and recordings stored on your device

Your in-app preferences (such as coordinate format and display options) are saved locally using Android DataStore, and your recordings (if any) are saved in a local database. Both live only on your phone, are never transmitted by the app, and are removed when you uninstall it.

Purchases (Pro)

Pro is a single one-time purchase — there is no subscription. The payment is handled entirely by Google Play Billing; Nordic Node never sees or stores your payment details. The app only asks Google Play whether you own the Pro product and keeps a simple on-device flag recording that Pro is unlocked, so your ads are removed and the Pro features stay available (including after you reinstall and restore the purchase). Google's handling of the transaction is governed by Google's own privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Permissions

The app declares:

• android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION — to read GNSS satellite data and your position fix, as described above.
• android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE and android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_LOCATION — so that a recording you start can continue logging with the screen off, shown by an ongoing notification.
• android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS — to show the ongoing recording notification, and (if you opt in) occasional GNSS tips. You can decline or turn these off at any time.
• android.permission.INTERNET and android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE — used by Firebase, AdMob and Play Billing to send analytics/crash data, load ads and process the purchase. The app itself does not upload your location, satellite data or recordings over the network.
• com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID (and the related Android Ad Services permissions) — the Advertising ID, used by Google AdMob and Firebase Analytics. You can reset or opt out of the Advertising ID at any time in your Android system settings, and you can withdraw or change your ad consent inside the app via Settings → Privacy options.

Analytics and crash reporting (Firebase)

To understand how the app is used and to find and fix bugs, GPS & Satellite Check uses two Google Firebase services:

• Firebase Analytics — records aggregate, pseudonymous usage events (for example which screens are opened, app opens, session length, app version, device model, operating-system version, and coarse region derived from your IP address). It also uses the Advertising ID described above.
• Firebase Crashlytics — if the app crashes, it sends a crash report containing the stack trace, the device model and OS version, and the app state at the time of the crash, so we can fix the problem.

This data is processed by Google as our data processor and is governed by Google's privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. It does not include your name, your account, the precise GNSS location the app shows you, or the contents of your recordings — your latitude/longitude, satellite measurements and saved tracks are never sent to Firebase. The coarse region Google may infer comes from your IP address, not from the app's GNSS reading.

We use this data only in aggregate to improve the app. We do not sell it, and we do not use it to identify you personally.

Advertising and consent (UMP)

The free version of GPS & Satellite Check displays advertisements on supporting screens (never overlaid on the live satellite diagnostics). Ads are served by Google AdMob. Buying Pro removes all ads.

In regions covered by the EU GDPR, EEA, UK, Switzerland and similar jurisdictions, the app shows the Google User Messaging Platform (UMP) consent form on first launch, and again whenever you choose Privacy options in settings. Your choice is stored by Google's UMP SDK on your device and respected on subsequent launches.

When you grant consent, AdMob may collect your Advertising ID and limited request metadata (e.g. approximate timestamp, coarse country derived from your IP address) to serve personalised ads. Note that AdMob's coarse location for ad targeting is derived from your IP address by Google — it is not the precise GNSS location the app shows you, which never leaves your device. AdMob's handling of ad data is governed by Google's own privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

When you deny, or where consent isn't required, AdMob serves non-personalised ads.

Data we do not collect

To be explicit:

• Your GNSS location, position fix, raw satellite measurements and any recordings you make are never sent to us or to any server, and are never shared with Firebase or AdMob. Recordings are written only to your device, only when you start them, and only leave the device if you choose to export or share them.
• No account, no sign-in, no contacts, no photos, no other files.
• No payment details — the Pro purchase is handled by Google Play; we never see your card or billing information.
• No servers of our own. Nordic Node operates no backend; the only data leaving the app goes to Google's Firebase, AdMob and Play Billing services described above.

Children

GPS & Satellite Check is a utility for people inspecting their phone's GNSS hardware. It does not knowingly collect data from children. Under-13 users in the US should not use the in-app "Privacy options" form to grant ad consent without a parent or guardian.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a material way, we will update the date at the top and announce it in the app's release notes. The current version is always available at https://nordicnode.nl/gpscheck/privacypolicy.html

Your rights

You can:

• Revoke the location permission at any time in Android system settings (Settings → Apps → GPS & Satellite Check → Permissions).
• Delete any recording individually inside the app, from the History tab.
• Withdraw or change ad consent at any time via Settings → Privacy options inside the app.
• Reset your Advertising ID in Android system settings (Settings → Privacy → Ads).
• Uninstall the app at any time — this removes everything, including your local settings, your recordings, and the locally-stored UMP consent record.

Because Nordic Node holds no user data on its own side, there is nothing to request, export, or delete from us under GDPR/CCPA — your recordings and settings are on your device and under your control. Requests about the data held by Google's Firebase, AdMob and Play Billing services should be directed to Google via the privacy-policy link above; you can also reset your Advertising ID to limit analytics and ad personalisation.

Contact

Sven van der Pennen — Nordic Node
Email: nordicnode26@gmail.com