Privacy Policy

The short version

Candelo measures light on your phone. Your readings, logs, plants and settings are kept in the app's storage on your phone. There is no account, no server and no analytics of our own, Candelo never asks for your location, and we (Aplogon) never receive, see or sell your readings. The camera is used only when you choose it, and only to read the exposure it picks: Candelo never records or saves an image. The free version shows ads from Google AdMob, which collects device identifiers and other data as described below.

Who we are

Candelo is made by Aplogon, an independent app developer based in Sri Lanka. Aplogon is responsible for this app and this policy. Privacy questions: apexfordinith@gmail.com.

The light sensor

Candelo reads your phone's ambient light sensor, which needs no permission, only while a screen that shows a reading is open (or while a log is recording), and stops when you leave the app. Readings are worked out on the phone and are not sent anywhere. Candelo also reads the sensor's name, maker, range and step, which it shows in Settings › Light Sensor.

The camera

Candelo asks for the camera permission only when you choose the camera: the Camera source on the Meter tab, the Spot meter on the Photo tab, or calibrating the camera. The live picture is shown on your screen, and Candelo reads only the exposure the camera chooses for it (exposure time, sensitivity and aperture) to work out a light reading or an exposure value. Candelo does not record, save or send pictures or video, and nothing from the camera leaves your phone. You can turn the camera permission off at any time in your phone's settings; Candelo keeps working with the light sensor.

Your logs, plants and settings

When you record a log, Candelo keeps its name, the time it started and ended, whether the light sensor or the camera measured it, one reading a second, its lowest, highest and average reading, and the light source and note you add. In My Plants it keeps each plant's name, kind, light target, hours of light, light source, and the last reading you saved for it with its time. Your settings (such as your unit, calibration, response speed, plant and camera choices, and theme) and whether you have finished onboarding are kept too. All of this is stored only in Candelo's private storage on your phone and is not sent to us or to anyone else. If your phone's Android backup is turned on, Android may include Candelo's app data in your own Google account backup so it can be restored on a new phone; that backup is managed by Google under your Google account settings.

The home-screen widget

The Light widget (Candelo Pro) reads the light sensor on your phone when you tap its button, and keeps that reading and its time, with your calibration, unit and whether Pro is on, in storage on your phone that the widget can read. Nothing is sent to us to draw it.

Exports and sharing

When you export a log or all your logs as a CSV file (Candelo Pro), Candelo writes the file in its private cache on your phone and opens Android's share sheet, so the file goes only to the app or place you pick, which then handles it under its own policy. The file holds the log's name, times and readings, and is not encrypted, so keep it somewhere safe. The copy in Candelo's cache is replaced by your next export and removed when Android clears the cache. When you share Candelo itself, the text goes only to the app you pick.

Advertising (free version)

The free version shows ads served by Google AdMob: a small ad card at the end of the Meter screen, an ad card at the end of the Logs screen, a full-screen ad now and then when you come back to the app, and a short video ad when you choose to watch one to use Plant and Photo for 24 hours. Candelo asks Google for ads rated PG at most. To show and measure ads, and to prevent fraud and abuse, Google's ads SDK in Candelo collects your device's advertising ID and app set ID, your IP address (from which Google estimates your approximate location), information about how you use the app and interact with ads (such as app launches, ad views and taps), and diagnostic data about the SDK's performance and crashes. This information goes to Google, which may share it with its advertising partners; where a consent message is shown, it lists them. Ad requests never include your readings, logs, plants or settings.

Where the law requires it (the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland), Candelo uses Google's consent tool to ask for your choice before any ad is requested. If you decline personalised ads, you may still see ads that are not personalised; depending on your choices, these can still use your IP address and, where you allowed it, device identifiers for frequency capping, aggregated ad reporting and fraud prevention. The consent tool uses your IP address to work out which rules apply to you, and stores your choice on your phone.

In US states whose privacy laws give you the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information for targeted advertising, you can opt out the same way. Where these choices apply to you, you can change them at any time in Settings › Ad Privacy Choices; the option appears only where the law requires it. You can also reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings (Privacy › Ads, or Google › Ads on some phones).

Learn how Google uses information from apps that use its services: policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

No ad is placed on the Plant or Photo tools, on a sheet, during onboarding, on the Candelo Pro page, or over a log that is recording or the camera while it meters. Candelo Pro removes all ads.

Purchases

Candelo Pro is sold through Google Play as a one-time lifetime purchase or a monthly subscription, and Google Play processes your payment under Google's own privacy policy. Google Play tells the app what your Google account has bought (a product ID, order number and purchase token) so Candelo can unlock Pro. Candelo keeps only whether Pro is active, which plan unlocked it (its product ID) and when it last checked, on your phone, and re-checks with Google Play from time to time. If you watch an ad to use Plant and Photo for 24 hours, Candelo keeps when that day ends, on your phone. We never receive your card or payment details.

What Aplogon receives

Aplogon has no server and never receives your readings, logs, plants or settings. We receive information only in these cases:

• If you email us from Candelo, we get your email address, your message, and what Candelo writes at the bottom of the email: the app version, the Android version, your phone's maker and model, and the maker and name of its light sensor, because light sensors differ by phone. You see all of it before sending, and you can delete it.
• When you buy Candelo Pro, Google Play gives us an order record (such as the order number, product, price, date and country).
• Google Play and AdMob give us statistics and crash reports about the app, which do not include your readings, logs or plants.

We use this only to provide support, handle purchases and improve the app, and we never sell it.

Data retention and deletion

Your logs, plants and settings stay on your phone until you delete them (a log or plant one by one, or all of them in Settings › Delete All Logs and Delete My Plants; an exported file's copy in Candelo's cache goes with the next export or when Android clears the cache) or uninstall Candelo, which removes everything it stores. Files you exported or shared stay wherever you saved or sent them. If Android backup is on, a copy may stay in your Google account backup after you delete them or uninstall, and may be restored if you reinstall; Google manages that copy under your Google account's backup settings.

Aplogon never receives your readings, so we have no copy to delete. If you email us, we keep your message only as long as needed to help you, and you can ask us to delete it. Purchase records are kept by Google Play under its own policies. Data collected by Google for ads is kept under Google's own policies; you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings.

Security

Your logs and plants are kept in Candelo's private app storage, which other apps cannot read. Ad and Google Play requests travel over encrypted HTTPS (TLS) connections.

Children

Candelo is meant for people aged 16 and over and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16, or under the minimum age that applies where they live. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, for example by email, write to apexfordinith@gmail.com and we will delete it.

Your choices

• Delete any log or plant, or all of them, in the app or in Settings.
• Use the light sensor only, and keep the camera permission off, or turn it off later in your phone's settings.
• Change your ad privacy choices in Settings › Ad Privacy Choices (where the law requires the option), reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings, or upgrade to Pro to remove ads.

If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland

Aplogon is the controller for Candelo. Google is an independent controller for the ad data its SDK collects. Personalised ads, and storing or reading identifiers on your device for ads, rely on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time in Settings › Ad Privacy Choices. Ads that are not personalised, ad measurement and fraud prevention rely on legitimate interests: ads pay for the free version, and fraud prevention keeps them safe. We answer your emails and handle purchases to provide the service you asked for. Google may process ad data outside your country, including in the United States, with the safeguards described in Google's privacy policy.

You have the right to access, correct or delete your personal data, to restrict or object to its use, to data portability, and to complain to your local data protection authority. Ad data is held by Google, so requests about it are best made to Google at myaccount.google.com/data-and-privacy. For anything we hold, such as your emails, write to apexfordinith@gmail.com.

US state privacy rights

In the free version, Google's ads SDK collects these categories of personal information: identifiers (advertising ID, app set ID, IP address), internet or other electronic network activity (app and ad interactions, SDK diagnostics) and approximate location. They are disclosed to Google for advertising, ad measurement and fraud prevention. Some state laws treat this as a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information for targeted advertising. You can opt out in Settings › Ad Privacy Choices where the option is shown, by deleting your advertising ID in your phone's settings, or by upgrading to Candelo Pro, which shows no ads.

You can ask us what personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it, by writing to apexfordinith@gmail.com. We will not treat you differently for using these rights. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes we will update this page and its effective date. Questions: apexfordinith@gmail.com.