Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2 September 2026
Auto-Mobile is built to keep your vehicle data on your device by default. This page explains exactly what we collect, why, and how you can delete it.
Who we are
Auto-Mobile ("we," "our," "the app") is a vehicle-maintenance tracking app for iOS and Android, published by Bluelanternstudio. Questions about this policy can be sent to supportauto_mobile@bluelanternstudio.com.
What we collect
Auto-Mobile is local-first: most of your data is stored only on your device, encrypted, and never sent anywhere unless described below.
| Data | What it's for | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle photos, parking-spot photos, scanned documents & receipts | Letting you record and find your vehicle's details, receipts, and where you parked | On your device only, encrypted at rest |
| Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) | Auto-filling vehicle details via a VIN lookup. Decoded results are cached on our server for up to 120 days, keyed by a hashed (not plaintext) form of the VIN, so repeat lookups of the same VIN — by you or any other user — don't re-query the government database. This cache is shared between all users and holds no link to your identity. Separately, to enforce per-tier lookup rate limits, we keep counter rows tied to a hashed form of your IP address or your anonymous account identifier — these hold counts only, no VIN and no plaintext IP. The short-lived daily/IP counters are purged within 30 days; the annual per-account counter persists for the year it covers (or until you delete your account, whichever comes first). | Encrypted on your device; briefly sent to our server to query the VIN |
| Maintenance & fuel cost records | Tracking spending over time | On your device only, except that when you turn on Calendar Sync a reminder's title and notes are written to your device calendar (see below) |
| Maintenance reminder title & notes (only when you enable Calendar Sync) | Adding your maintenance reminders to your device's calendar as a one-way copy | Written to your device calendar. On iOS, if your device has no on-device (local) calendar account, the event is created under your default calendar account instead, which may sync it to iCloud or Google via that account. The reminder text may therefore leave your device via your own calendar account. Turning off Calendar Sync stops new events being written; you can delete the app's calendar and its events at any time. |
| Accident report details you enter (driver/witness names & contact info, licence plate, insurance policy number, police report number, other-party details, incident description) | Letting you keep a record of an accident for your own reference and insurance claims | On your device only, encrypted at rest |
| Coarse (approximate) location | Dropping a pin at your parking spot so you can find your way back | Stored on your device only — we only ever ask for while-using location (never background or "always"), and we ask the system for approximate accuracy. On iOS, if you have granted this app precise location in your system settings, the saved pin can be as precise as your device provides; either way we never send the coordinates to our servers. If you tap "Directions" to a saved spot, that spot's coordinates are handed to your device's maps app (Apple Maps or Google Maps) to draw the route; that hand-off is governed by that app's own privacy policy. |
| An anonymous account identifier | Letting the app recognize your device for cloud features (e.g. account deletion) without asking for a name or email | Our authentication provider (Supabase) |
| Diagnostic error reports | Spotting crashes and failed data upgrades after an app update so we can fix them. Each report contains the app version and build number, your device platform and OS version, a random install identifier (separate from your account identifier), the error's type (for example "TypeError") and which part of the app was running, and one-way hashes of the error's message and stack trace — never the raw message or stack text. Our server also adds a hashed form of your IP address. No advertising or analytics; no third-party crash SDK. | Sent to our server (Supabase) only when the app hits a serious error; purged within 30 days |
| Subscription & purchase status | Unlocking paid features you've purchased | Processed by Apple/Google and our subscription provider (RevenueCat) |
What we don't do: we don't show ads, we don't use advertising or tracking SDKs, and we don't sell your data. We don't collect your name, email, or contacts unless you choose to enter them yourself into a note or document field.
How your data is protected
- Vehicle photos, documents, and VINs are encrypted at rest on your device, with the encryption key protected by your device's secure storage (hardware-backed on devices that support it). Briefly viewing or exporting one of these files decrypts a temporary copy, which is then protected by your device's own operating-system-level file protections (rather than the app's own encryption) until it's deleted.
- Sensitive folders are excluded from iCloud/Google device backups by design — your encrypted export (see below) is the intended way to back up your data.
- Viewing saved documents can require Face ID / fingerprint / passcode confirmation, depending on your settings.
Manual backup & export
You can export an encrypted copy of your data (a "Backup") from within the app, protected by a passphrase you choose. This file is created only when you ask for it, stays on your device or wherever you choose to save/share it, and is never automatically uploaded anywhere by us.
Third parties we use
| Service | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Supabase | Authentication and account deletion for the anonymous account identifier described above |
| RevenueCat | Managing and verifying in-app subscription purchases |
| NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) | Public VIN-decoding lookups, via our server |
| Apple App Store / Google Play | Processing subscription payments — we never see or store your payment details |
Before sharing any data with these providers, we confirm they provide the same or equal protection of your data as set out in this policy, and we require them by contract to use it only for the purposes described above. NHTSA is a public U.S. government VIN database that receives only the VIN you enter, not your identity.
Your choices
- Delete your data locally: remove records, photos, or documents individually at any time from within the app, or use Settings > Delete all data to erase everything the app has stored on your device at once (this keeps your anonymous account, any subscription, and the random install identifier used for diagnostic error reports; any error reports still waiting to be sent are discarded).
- Delete your account: use the in-app "Delete Account" option in Settings, or see our data & account deletion page if you no longer have the app installed. If the automated cleanup of your subscription record with our subscription provider permanently fails, an internal record (an internal user identifier, a subscription-provider customer identifier, and diagnostic error text — no name, email, or payment details) is kept in an internal error queue until support resolves it manually. Once resolved (or after retries are exhausted), that record moves to an internal audit log for our own reconciliation purposes, which is purged after 365 days.
- Uninstall: removing the app deletes all locally-stored data (photos, documents, records) from your device, unless you've saved an exported backup elsewhere.
Children's privacy
Auto-Mobile is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect data from children under 13 (or the relevant minimum age in your region).
Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page and, where required, notify you in the app.
Contact us
Questions, requests, or concerns about your data: supportauto_mobile@bluelanternstudio.com