AdGuard for Android Privacy Notice
May 17, 2024
Keynote: This Privacy Notice lists all the information that we may collect and explains why we do it and how we use this information. We only collect essential information for AdGuard products to function fully and properly. We do not share or sell your personal information. We are strongly committed to protecting user privacy and being as transparent as possible.
What data AdGuard for Android can collect and when
Here we describe all cases when and what data is sent to our server, so you can be sure that we only collect the minimum necessary for the application to work properly. The information we collect about you depends on how you interact with our application.
Registration of a new user
When we create an AdGuard account for the user, the following information is sent to our servers:
- Password
- App identifier
Why we need this information: We need your email address because this is the login of your AdGuard account. We use the app identifier to control the simultaneous use of multiple applications.
User authorization
Users have the option to activate the license by logging into their personal account in the app. The following information is sent to our servers:
- Login (email address)
- Password
Upon authorization, the app receives an active license for that account from the server.
License status check
To validate the license status AdGuard connects to its servers. When it happens, the following information is sent:
- App identifier
- App version
- Device name (used in the AdGuard account so that the user can see the list of devices activated with their license keys)
- License key
- App language
- Build identifier
Why we need this information: We use this data to check the license status and to bind the license to the device. This information is also used to display the user’s license keys in the AdGuard account.
Users may also enter their AdGuard account credentials (login and password) to activate the functionality of the full version of the app. In this case, the app will also send this login and password pair to the server in order to authenticate the user.
License reset
The license is reset upon user request. When it happens, the app identifier is sent.
Why we need this information: In order to know which app to do the license reset for.
Trial period request
When a user requests the trial period, the following information is sent to our server for activation:
- App identifier
- User’s email address (the activation instructions and other pre-reading materials will be sent to the email address provided)
- App language
- Marketing consent
- Build identifier
- Webmaster ID
Why we need this information: To know which device to disable the trial features for.
App updates check
To check for app updates, AdGuard connects to its servers. When it happens, the following information is sent:
- App identifier
- App version
- App language
- SDK (OS version of the device)
- Update channel
Update checks are performed periodically or when prompted by the user. We do not store or use this data in the future, but we aggregate it in an anonymous form to count the total number of AdGuard products installed.
Checking for filter updates
To check for updates of blocking filters, AdGuard connects to its servers. When it happens, no information is sent. The application periodically downloads a file with all filter versions and their available updates.
When updating custom filters, we access the resources specified by the user when adding the custom filter.
Userscripts
When updating userscripts, we first check for a new version and then download the update. Pre-installed userscripts are stored on our servers. We also access the resources specified by the user when adding the userscripts.
Sending a web page complaint
The user can submit a report of a website problem directly from the app. The app will automatically open reports.adguard.com and forward some information about its configuration. The user can then alter or delete it.
Unless the user agrees to submit this information by clicking Next, none of this information is stored or sent anywhere. If the user agrees, the report will become public (but anonymous) on GitHub.
Sending a message to support
Users can send messages to support directly from the app. In that case, the following information will be sent along with the message and the email address provided:
- App identifier
- App version
- Device name (which includes both device manufacturer name and device model name)
- Android version
- Android kernel version
- List of enabled filters
- App configuration
If Send app logs and system info is enabled, the program will also send additional information:
- List of app threads and their stack traces
- Log file contents
- List of installed apps
This detailed information is used by the support team to help solve more complicated problems.
Automatic crash reports
The first time the app is launched, users are asked if they want to allow AdGuard to send automatic crash reports. If they do (and only if they do), the following information will be sent to our servers when the app crashes:
- Device name and model
- OS version and kernel build
- ROOT status
- Unidentifiable Android ID
- Amounts of total and free RAM
- Screen orientation
- Screen resolution and density
- App name and version
- Information related to the crash (error message and stack trace)
- The last lines of the log file
Why we need this information: To troubleshoot critical issues. It keeps us aware of new problems not reported by users.
Crash report data is stored only on our servers. We do not use any third party services to collect and store crash reports. All crash reports are stored for 30 days.
Technical and interaction data
The first time the app is launched, users are asked if they want to allow AdGuard to send technical and interaction data. If they do, the following information is sent:
- App configuration (enabled features and activation status)
- Device information (type, screen size, language, and OS version)
- Names of the screens viewed inside the app
When the data is sent to AdGuard, your IP address may be temporarily collected as part of our server logs.
This data is used only internally and is not shared with third parties.
Why we need this information:
- To find out which features are used the most
- To find issues that one may face while using the app
- To fix mistakes in the UI/UX
- To learn what people like or don’t like about our app
Browsing Security website check
If Browsing Security is enabled, AdGuard will check each website before the user visits it. We use the Safe Browsing API for this purpose, and the information about the visited website is sent in the form of hash prefixes. This doesn’t allow us to determine which website is being visited. In addition, we periodically pull database updates from our servers.
The information described above, when collected by AdGuard for Android, is generally not correlated with any other personal information and is used anonymously aggregated with similar information from other users of the AdGuard software for analytical purposes.
