Becoming Canadian

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-07-18

Becoming Canadian is an independent study app for the Canadian citizenship test, developed and operated from Canada by Oleksandr Zarochintsev.

What we collect

Your study data stays on your device. The app offers two separate, optional data streams. Both are off by default and nothing is sent unless you turn one on and save your choice. The app works the same if you choose neither.

We ask for that choice rather than assume it: until you answer, both streams stay off and nothing is collected. If you have already told us no, we do not ask again.

Neither stream includes your questions, answers, notes, bookmarks, deck names, province, or test history. The app uses no advertising identifier (IDFA), advertising, or cross-app/cross-site tracking. We do not sell your personal information and we do not share it for advertising. Firebase is the only third party these two streams send to, and only while you have that stream turned on. Two things sit outside these switches entirely — buying a subscription, which involves Apple, and emailing us — and both are described below. Pseudonymous identifiers and IP-derived location may still be personal data under applicable privacy law even though we do not know your identity.

What stays on your device

The following study data is stored locally:

Settings → Reset All Progress clears the progress covered by that action. Other preferences and user-authored data remain until you clear them through their controls or delete the app. Deleting the app removes its local data.

Network activity and providers

When enabled, crash and performance diagnostics are sent to Google Firebase and analytics to Google Firebase Analytics. The one other piece of automatic activity is Apple’s: the App Store framework checks whether you hold a subscription when the app starts, whatever your privacy choices — that exchange is between your device and Apple, under Apple’s privacy policy, and we neither see nor control it. Beyond those, the app makes no network calls of its own. Links you choose to open use Safari and are then governed by the destination website.

Provider information:

Crash and performance diagnostics

Reports include the stack trace, device model, OS/app versions, and a short trail of generic actions such as starting a test. Performance data covers app-start, screen-render, and network timings. We never set a user identifier; Firebase uses its own anonymous per-install identifiers.

Diagnostics start only after you opt in through the privacy prompt or Settings → Privacy & Data. Turning them off stops delivery immediately — in the app you are already using, not just the next time you open it — and deletes any report that was waiting to be sent.

One detail worth stating plainly: Crashlytics still writes a crash to a file on your device while the setting is off. That is what makes an opt-in possible at all, since a crash cannot be recorded after the app has already stopped. Turning the setting on is what would release those saved files — so a new opt-in deletes them first, and a crash recorded while you had diagnostics off is never sent by a later opt-in. Re-opening the app with the same choice already in place does not delete anything, so a crash from a session you had already consented to is still sent. Performance data has no equivalent: it is only ever recorded while the setting is on.

Apple’s MetricKit diagnostics stay on your device unless you explicitly export them.

Usage analytics

Firebase records feature interactions such as tabs, practice/test starts and completions, answer outcomes, paywall views, and purchase outcomes. Parameters are limited to coarse tokens; user-authored text is never sent. Firebase also records standard app lifecycle and in-app-purchase events, creates a pseudonymous app-instance identifier, and derives coarse location from a masked IP address. Automatic screen-view tracking is disabled.

Usage Analytics starts only after you opt in. Turning it off under Settings → Privacy & Data disables future collection immediately and resets locally held Firebase analytics state and its app-instance identifier. It does not delete data Google received previously.

On a fresh install, interactions that happen before the final onboarding privacy choice — including earlier onboarding pages and reminder permission — are not stored or replayed after consent.

When you contact us

Emailing support@zarochintsev.com sends us your email address and whatever you put in the message. It arrives in the developer’s mailbox: it is not part of either diagnostic stream, it never reaches Firebase, and it is unaffected by the switches above. Your email is used in the event of providing a response to your inquiry. All users are encouraged to report bugs and include a description of the problem they are facing. There is no need to include anything sensitive — a description of the problem will suffice.

Purchases

Premium subscriptions are sold and billed by Apple. We never see your card details or your Apple Account credentials. Apple takes the payment and tells the app, on your device, whether you hold a subscription; nothing about your purchase is stored on a server of ours, because we do not run one. What we see is Apple’s own sales reporting, which is aggregated and does not identify you. If you have usage analytics turned on, Firebase also records that a paywall was shown or a purchase completed — with no payment details attached.

When we would disclose it

We hold no account and no server-side copy of your study data, so in practice there is very little for us to disclose. Beyond the providers named above, we would disclose information only where the law requires it — a court order or a lawful demand from a public authority — and only what that demand actually covers. If the app were ever transferred to another developer, information covered by this policy would transfer with it, and this page would be updated to say so before that took effect.

Your choices and rights

You can grant or withdraw either choice at any time through Settings → Privacy & Data. Withdrawal takes effect immediately and does not affect the app’s study features.

Your choice applies to the disclosure you were shown. If we change what is collected, what it is used for, or who processes it, we ask again before anything new is collected — a choice made under an older disclosure is not carried forward to a new one.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, port, or object to processing of personal data and to complain to your privacy regulator. Because the app has no account and does not know your Firebase identifier, we may need information from you and the provider to evaluate a request.

International processing and retention

Google is based in the United States and may process data there or in other countries where it or its subprocessors operate, under its data-processing terms and safeguards. Analytics and diagnostics are retained under Google’s retention policies and any controls configured for those services. Study data on your device remains until you clear it or delete the app.

Children

Becoming Canadian is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

Changes to this policy

If data handling changes, this page and its displayed update date will be revised. Material changes may also be described in App Store release notes or an in-app notice.

Questions

Email support@zarochintsev.com with privacy questions or requests.

This is an independent project, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Government of Canada.