Privacy Policy

Information Collection and Use

The Application collects information when you download and use it. This information may include:

• Your device's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address)
• The pages of the Application that you visit (not external websites), the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages
• The time spent on the Application
• The operating system you use on your mobile device
• App Inventory (SafeGuard): For device protection, SafeGuard monitors installed packages to enable application suspension features.

Accessibility Service Usage

SafeGuard utilizes the Android Accessibility Service for the following technical functions:

• Content Filtering: Reading on-screen content (including web content rendered inside other applications) so it can be filtered according to your protection settings.
• Internal Browser Detection: Identifying when a user enters a built-in browser within other applications to ensure content filtering is maintained.
• Installation Monitoring: Detecting the installation of new applications to automatically apply protection policies in Smart Mode.
• Tamper Protection: Ensuring the protection remains active and detecting attempts to disable or circumvent it.

The Service Provider does not collect, store, or transmit any personal data or screen content processed via the Accessibility Service. It operates strictly locally on your device.

Automatic containment when disabled: If you disable the Accessibility Service while protection is active, SafeGuard automatically applies containment on your device until you re-enable it — disabling the system WebView component, suspending WhatsApp (when WhatsApp protection is enabled), and blocking new app installations. These changes are local to your device and are reversed automatically once the service is turned back on.

The Application collects your device's location, which helps the Service Provider determine your approximate geographical location and make use of in the following ways:

• Geolocation Services: The Service Provider utilizes location data to provide features such as personalized content, relevant recommendations, and location-based services.
• Analytics and Improvements: Aggregated and anonymized location data helps the Service Provider to analyze user behavior, identify trends, and improve the overall performance and functionality of the Application.
• Third-Party Services: Periodically, the Service Provider may transmit anonymized location data to external services. These services assist them in enhancing the Application and optimizing their offerings.

SafeSurf uses on-device AI (TFLite models) to classify images and video frames as part of the Smart Filter feature. This image/video analysis runs on your device; no images or video frames are sent to our servers for AI analysis. Some identifiers related to this analysis may be sent, as described below.

Image verdict feedback: To find and fix mistakes in the Smart Filter, SafeSurf may send us the web address (URL) of an image the filter blocked or nearly blocked, together with the model's score, and the same for a small random sample (about 2%) of images it allowed. The image itself is never sent. We remove everything after the “?” in the address first, and images loaded in private tabs are not reported. Because this feedback is recorded in our analytics (PostHog) under your account, it is linked to your account and email address. Only the SafeSurf developer can view it; we use it only to evaluate and improve the filter, and we may download a sampled image from its public address to review it. This feature is controlled by a server-side setting; to have your account excluded, or your data deleted, email [email protected].

Block statistics: when SafeSurf blocks something, it records which kind of rule or filter blocked it and the website’s domain name (never the full address, the page you were on, or what it contained). When the block is of a video on a supported platform, it also records that video’s public ID, and it records the AI filter strength you have set. Blocks in private tabs are counted without the domain or video ID. This is recorded in our analytics (PostHog) under your account and is used only to find and fix filtering mistakes; to have your account excluded, or your data deleted, email [email protected].

Video scan diagnostics: to keep improving how SafeSurf works across websites and video players, it records aggregated technical statistics about video scanning: the website’s domain name and a short technical code (never the full address, the page you were on, the video ID or what it contained). Nothing is recorded for private tabs. This is recorded in our analytics (PostHog) and is used only to improve SafeSurf’s performance and compatibility.

Video content-safety lookups: when you open a video on a supported platform (YouTube, Vimeo or TikTok), SafeSurf looks up that video's public ID on the platform (for example the YouTube video ID, not the full URL or the page you were on) in a shared list on SafeSurf's servers, to see if that exact video has already been flagged by other users' on-device scans. This lookup is not saved to your account. If you are signed in and SafeSurf's on-device AI flags a video as unsafe more than once, that identifier, a score and the model version are sent to SafeSurf's servers as a report linked to your account, so each account is counted once. A video is added to the shared block list only after reports from multiple independent accounts. The video itself, images and frames are never sent.

The Service Provider may use the information you provided to contact you from time to time to provide you with important information, required notices and billing updates.

For a better experience, while using the Application, the Service Provider may require you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information, including but not limited to Email, User ID, Device ID, and Diagnostics. The information that the Service Provider requests will be retained by them and used as described in this privacy policy.

Third Party Access

Only aggregated, anonymized data is periodically transmitted to external services to aid the Service Provider in improving the Application and their service. The Service Provider may share your information with third parties in the ways that are described in this privacy statement.

Please note that the Application utilizes third-party services that have their own Privacy Policy about handling data. Below are the links to the Privacy Policy of the third-party service providers used by the Application:

• Google Play Services
• Google Analytics for Firebase
• Firebase Crashlytics
• PostHog (product analytics and feature flags — Privacy Policy)

The Service Provider may disclose User Provided and Automatically Collected Information:

• as required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena, or similar legal process;
• when they believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect their rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request;
• with their trusted services providers who work on their behalf, do not have an independent use of the information we disclose to them, and have agreed to adhere to the rules set forth in this privacy statement.

Sponsor Feature

The Application offers an optional sponsor feature that you may choose to enable. When you do, you designate another person as your sponsor and set a passcode known only to the two of you. You can ask to loosen a protection or change a setting by having the Application open WhatsApp with a pre-filled message addressed to that sponsor, which you send yourself — or you can generate a persistent management link and share it with your sponsor through any channel you choose (WhatsApp, SMS, email, or otherwise). The Application does not transmit the request, the link, or any data to the sponsor on its own; you choose to generate and share it yourself.

Once your sponsor opens the management link and enters the passcode you set, they can view your current SafeSurf and SafeGuard settings, filtering rules, and blocked-word lists, respond to your pending approval requests, and — for SafeSurf — change certain settings and filtering rules directly. SafeGuard's protection settings remain view-only through this link. You can invalidate a previously shared link at any time by generating a new one, which revokes the old one immediately.

You choose who your sponsor is, and by sending a WhatsApp request or sharing the management link you decide what to share and with whom. Access always requires both the link and the passcode you set, and you can stop at any time by disabling the feature (subject to your self-imposed accountability settings). The Service Provider is not responsible for how your chosen sponsor handles the information they view or the changes they make using this feature.

Payments & Subscriptions

SafeSurf and SafeGuard are offered as a paid subscription, billed monthly or yearly per device, with SafeGuard included at no extra cost on the same device as its paired SafeSurf app. Billing is handled by Grow, a licensed Israeli payment processor; the Service Provider does not store your full card number. See Third Party Access above and the Terms & Conditions for the processor's own privacy practices.

Account and billing information you provide (such as your email and subscription status) is retained for as long as your subscription is active and for a reasonable time thereafter, for accounting and legal-compliance purposes, even after you cancel or request deletion of other data.

Opt-Out Rights

You can stop all collection of information by the Application easily by uninstalling it. Note: If SafeGuard's advanced protection features are active, uninstallation may be restricted according to your self-imposed accountability settings.

Data Retention Policy

The Service Provider will retain User Provided data for as long as you use the Application and for a reasonable time thereafter. If you'd like them to delete User Provided Data, please contact them at [email protected].

Children

The Service Provider does not use the Application to knowingly solicit data from or market to children under the age of 13.

Security

The Service Provider provides physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect information. SafeGuard further utilizes Device Owner privileges to enforce security policies and prevent unauthorized tampering.

Saved Passwords: SafeSurf's built-in password manager stores saved logins locally on your device using industry-standard encryption (Android Keystore). This data is never transmitted to the Service Provider or any third party. Viewing or copying a saved password requires your device's screen lock (biometric or PIN/pattern/password).

Cookies

The safesurfsite.com website uses Google Analytics (GA4), which sets cookies (e.g. _ga) to measure site traffic and usage. These cookies load only after you accept them in the cookie banner shown on your first visit; if you decline, no analytics cookies are set. You can change your choice at any time by clearing your browser's cookies for this site, which will show the banner again.

See Google's Cookies policy for details on what Google Analytics collects.

Changes

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time for any reason. Continued use is deemed approval of all changes.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, please contact the Service Provider at [email protected].