This Privacy Policy describes how PriceCheckFirst ("we," "our," or "us") collects, uses, and shares your information when you use our mobile application PriceCheckFirst (the "App") on Android and iOS.
By downloading and using our App, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.
1. Information We Collect
We want to be perfectly clear: Our App is designed with your privacy in mind. We only collect the minimum information necessary to provide you with our price comparison services.
- Email Address: We collect your email address when you create a support request. This allows us to communicate with you about your inquiries and provide customer support.
- Postcode: We collect your postcode to help provide location-specific price information and improve the relevance of search results in your area.
- We do not collect: We do not ask for or store your full name, phone number, street address, or any other personally identifiable information beyond email and postcode.
- No sensitive data access: We do not access your contacts, photos, media, or any other sensitive data on your device.
2. Information We Collect for Functionality
For the App to function and provide its core service of checking product prices, it needs to process certain non-personal information. This includes:
- Product Information You Provide: This includes the barcode numbers, product names, or URLs that you manually enter or scan using the App's camera to search for prices.
- Device Information (Non-Personal): We may collect non-identifiable information about your device to ensure compatibility and improve performance. This includes:
- Device type (e.g., Samsung Galaxy S23)
- Operating system version (e.g., Android 14)
- Language and regional settings
- Usage Data: We may collect anonymous information about how you interact with the App. This includes:
- Features you use most frequently (e.g., barcode scanner, manual search).
- Crash reports and performance data to help us fix bugs and improve stability (this is typically collected by third-party services like Firebase Crashlytics, see Section 4).
- Camera Permission: The App requests camera access only for the purpose of scanning barcodes. We do not record, store, or transmit video footage. The camera feed is processed in real-time on your device solely to extract the barcode number, and is then immediately discarded.
3. How We Use Your Information
The limited information we collect is used strictly for the following purposes:
- Email Address: Used solely to respond to your support requests, send you updates about your inquiries, and communicate important service notifications. We will never use your email for marketing purposes without your explicit consent.
- Postcode: Used to provide location-based price comparisons and improve the relevance of product search results in your area.
- To Provide the Core Service: To fetch and display current product prices and information from various online retailers and databases.
- To Improve Our App: To analyze anonymous usage trends and crash reports to enhance the App's functionality, user interface, and performance.
- To Ensure Security: To monitor and prevent app misuse.
Important: We do NOT share your email address or postcode with any third parties for marketing, advertising, or any other purposes. Your information stays with us.
4. Third-Party Services
The App uses third-party services that may collect anonymous information. These services have their own privacy policies governing how they use data.
- Google Play Services: The App is distributed via Google Play and may interact with Google's services.
- Crash Reporting & Analytics: We use services like Firebase Crashlytics and Google Analytics to collect anonymous crash logs and usage data. This helps us diagnose problems and understand how to improve the App.
- Product Data Providers: The App fetches price data from public APIs or web services of various retailers and price comparison engines. When you make a search, a request containing the product identifier (e.g., barcode) is sent to these providers. We are not responsible for the data practices of these external websites or services. We encourage you to review their privacy policies.
5. Data Sharing and Disclosure
We do NOT sell, trade, rent, or share your personal information (email address and postcode) with any third parties for any purpose.
Your email and postcode remain strictly confidential and are used only by PriceCheckFirst for the purposes described in this policy.
- No Third-Party Sharing: We do not provide your email address or postcode to advertisers, marketers, data brokers, or any other third parties.
- Service Providers: We may share non-personal, aggregated, or anonymized data (NOT including email or postcode) with trusted third parties who assist us in operating our App (e.g., Firebase for crash reporting), so long as they agree to keep this information confidential and use it only for the purposes we specify.
- For Legal Reasons: We may disclose your information only if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., court order, subpoena).
6. Data Security
We value your trust and strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect the information processed by the App. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
7. Children's Privacy
Our App does not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we can take necessary action.
8. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Thus, you are advised to review this page periodically for any changes. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date.
9. Your Rights (GDPR / CCPA Considerations)
By using our App and providing your information, you consent to our Privacy Policy.
- Right to Access: You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you (your email address and postcode).
- Right to Deletion: You can request deletion of your personal information at any time by contacting us. We will promptly remove your email and postcode from our systems.
- Right to Correction: If any of your information is inaccurate, you can request that we update or correct it.
- Do Not Sell My Personal Information: We do NOT sell your personal information to anyone, ever.
- To Exercise Your Rights: Contact us at info@pricecheckfirst.com with your request.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions or suggestions about this Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us at: