Privacy Policy - Swift Translate

This policy covers the apps made by YDZ Labs Limited ("we", "us"):

Swift Translate Keyboard for Android and for iPhone, a keyboard that translates, with its app;
Swift Translate Screen & Chat for Android, which translates text on your screen.

The first part applies to all of them. Each app then has a short section of its own.

For all our apps

The text you translate

When you ask an app to translate, it sends the text you chose to a translation service over an encrypted connection and shows you the result. The same goes for text you ask it to read aloud. We don't store this text, and the service uses it only to return the translation or the audio.

Usage statistics and crash reports

To see how the apps are used and to fix problems, they send usage statistics and crash reports to our analytics and crash-reporting service, which is Google Analytics for Firebase. Google's page "How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services" (https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites) explains how it handles this data.

What is sent: which features you use and how often, the languages you pick, how long things take, your device's model and system version, crash reports, an identifier for your installation of the app, and an approximate location (such as your country) worked out from your IP address.
What is never sent: the text you type, copy, say or photograph, or your passwords.
Your choice: the keyboard apps have a switch to turn this off (named in their section below); it's on unless you turn it off. Swift Translate Screen & Chat has no such switch; see its section below.

App settings updates

The apps check our configuration service now and then for updated settings, for example to keep translation working without an app update. Each check sends an identifier for your installation of the app and basic information such as the app version and your device's language. These checks happen whatever the statistics switch says, and never include anything you translate.

The advertising identifier

On Android, our analytics service can receive your device's advertising ID, to measure which of our ads brought you to the app. You can reset or delete it in your phone's Settings › Privacy › Ads. On iPhone, the app asks first; see its section below.

Who receives data

Only service providers working for us: a translation service, an analytics and crash-reporting service, a configuration service and, where an app says so below, a speech recognition service, a music recognition service, a subscription service, advertising services or an ad-measurement service. They may use the data only to provide their service to us, and may process it outside your country, including in the United States. We do not sell your information.

How long data is kept

We keep no text you translate. Usage statistics tied to your installation are kept for no more than 14 months and crash reports for no more than 90 days. Subscription and ad-measurement records are kept for as long as needed to manage subscriptions and measure our ads. What an app stores on your device, such as your history and settings, stays there and is removed when you delete the app.

Children

Our apps are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example the EU, the UK or California), you may have the right to access, correct or delete data about you, or to object to how it's used. Because our apps have no accounts, we can only find data tied to your installation's identifiers; write to us and we'll help. In the EU and the UK we rely on providing the service you asked for (translation), our legitimate interest in improving the apps and fixing problems (statistics and crash reports), and your consent where the law asks for it. You can also complain to your data protection authority.

Changes and contact

We'll update this page when an app changes how it handles data, and change the date above. Questions: support@ydzlabs.com.

Swift Translate Keyboard (Android and iPhone)

The keyboard reads the text field only when you tap Translate. Suggestions and corrections are worked out on your device. It never records your keystrokes, and nothing you type is sent until you tap Translate. Password fields are never translated, learned or counted in statistics.
Copied text: on Android, the keyboard checks the language of something you copy on your phone; text in your own language is never sent, and other text is sent only when you tap "Translate copied text". On iPhone, the keyboard only notices that the clipboard changed, and the text reaches it only when you tap Paste.
Voice: your device's speech recognition turns what you say into text; only that text is translated.
Photos, camera and (on iPhone) screenshots and Translate Screen: text is read from images on your device, and images never leave it. On Android, the camera's text reader sends its maker reports on how it is used, with identifiers for your phone and the app, but never your photos or their text.
Crash reports: on Android, a report from a crash in the keyboard's word engine can include what was in its memory at that moment.
Your history and learned words stay on your device. On Android they are included in your phone's backup; you can leave learned words out in the app's Settings.
Statistics switch: Android, Settings › Privacy › Share usage statistics; iPhone, Settings › Privacy › Share Analytics.
iPhone: iOS requires "Allow Full Access" for a keyboard that uses the network; the keyboard uses it to translate and to send usage statistics. The app asks for your permission before tracking; if you allow it, our service providers may receive your advertising identifier, used only to measure which ads brought people to the app. You can change this in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking.
Measuring our ads (iPhone): while Share Analytics is on, an ad-measurement service receives device identifiers, basic device and app information, app usage events and subscription events, to tell us which ads brought people to the app. It never receives your text or anything from the keyboard, and it shares information only with the ad networks that ran our ads. Turning Share Analytics off stops it.
Subscriptions: purchases are handled by Apple or Google Play, and we never see your payment details. A subscription service checks whether your subscription is active and, on iPhone while Share Analytics is on, reports subscription events to our analytics and ad-measurement services.

Swift Translate Screen & Chat (Android)

Screen content: the app uses Android's Accessibility permission to read the text on your screen when you drag the bubble over it and, if you turn on chat mode for WhatsApp or Instagram in Settings, to read the messages of the conversation you have open so it can translate them. What it reads is processed on your phone; only the text being translated is sent to the translation service, and nothing it reads is stored. You can turn the permission off at any time in your phone's Settings.
Text in images and subtitles: when there is no readable text under the bubble, or when you use Subtitles, the app takes a screenshot of the screen (or of the box you placed) and reads the text on your phone. The screenshots never leave your phone; only the text read from them is translated.
Screen and Camera buttons: these hand a screenshot of your screen, or the camera, to the Google app's Lens, which handles it under Google's own privacy policy.
Voice and audio captions: on the Voice screen, what you say is sent to a speech recognition service to turn it into text. For audio captions, speech is turned into text on your phone or, on some phones, by a speech recognition service. Capturing another app's sound needs your permission each time, which Android asks for.
Song: the app makes a short audio fingerprint of what's playing on your phone and sends only that fingerprint, never the recording, to a music recognition service to find the song.
Usage statistics in this app also include the name of the app you were using when you translated (for example, a messaging app), the languages and how long translation took, but never the text. They include measurements of how fast the app and its network requests are. This app has no switch to turn statistics off; to stop them, uninstall the app, or write to us as described under "Your rights".
Ads: the free version shows ads from Google AdMob and the ad networks that work with it, which may use your advertising ID and information about your device to show ads and measure them. Where the law requires, the app asks for your consent to personalised ads.
Measuring our ads: to learn which of our ads brought you to the app, the app reads the install referrer from Google Play and from Meta, and Meta's SDK reports app installs, app opens, purchases and trial starts to Meta, with your advertising ID.
Subscriptions: payments are handled entirely by Google Play; a subscription service tells us whether your Premium subscription is active. Purchase records are kept as the law requires for financial and fraud-prevention purposes.
On your phone: your Translate history (the last 100 translations), your settings and the language you chose for each chat contact (stored under the contact's name) stay on your phone and are included in your phone's backup. Swipe a history item to delete it; uninstalling the app removes everything.
No account: the app has no sign-up or sign-in.