Privacy Policy for StegoVault

1. Overview & Zero-Knowledge Architecture

StegoVault is a privacy-focused utility designed to hide encrypted files, messages, and audio within carrier images using advanced steganography and military-grade cryptography (AES-256-CBC, PBKDF2, HMAC-SHA256).

We operate under a strict zero-knowledge architecture:

• All encryption, decryption, embedding, and file processing happen 100% locally on your device.
• We do not operate servers that store, process, or transmit your carrier images, embedded secrets, decryption passwords, or decrypted files.
• We do not create user accounts, require registration, or maintain any user database.

2. Information We Do NOT Collect

We do not collect, read, or share any of the following:

• Your photos, carrier images, or embedded payloads;
• Your encryption passwords, keys, or seeds;
• Your contacts, phone number, real name, or email address;
• Your exact physical GPS location.

3. Third-Party Services and Data Collection

The free standard version of StegoVault integrates third-party services that may collect information used to identify you or provide services:

A. Google AdMob (Advertising)

The free version of the App uses Google AdMob to display advertisements. AdMob may collect and process certain information, including:

• Google Advertising ID (AAID on Android, IDFA on iOS);
• IP address (used to infer coarse geographic region, such as city or country);
• Device and diagnostic information (device model, operating system version, screen resolution);
• Ad interaction data (such as views and impressions).

This data is used by Google to serve contextual or personalized advertisements and to prevent invalid ad traffic. For more information on how Google handles advertising data, please review Google’s Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy and https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

Note: If you purchase the “Remove Ads” In-App Purchase, all AdMob SDK requests and advertisements are completely disabled.

B. Google Play In-App Billing (Google Play Store)

We offer an optional In-App Purchase to permanently remove advertisements. Payments and transactions are handled entirely by the Google Play Store (Google LLC). We do not collect or store your payment card numbers, bank details, or billing addresses. We only receive verification tokens confirming whether the ad-removal product has been purchased.

4. Device Permissions

StegoVault may request certain device permissions solely to provide core application features:

• Storage / Photos / Media: Required to allow you to select an image from your device gallery to hide data within, or to save the processed steganographic image back to your device storage.
• Camera (Optional): Only requested if you choose to take a new photograph directly with the camera to use as a carrier canvas.
• Microphone (Optional): Only requested if you choose to record an audio note to attach as an encrypted payload within an image. Audio recordings remain stored only within your encrypted steganographic file.
• Internet & AD_ID Permission: Required by Google AdMob to deliver advertisements and by Google Play Billing to verify purchases.

Permissions are only requested when needed and can be revoked at any time via your device settings.

5. Data Retention & Deletion

Because EnraliSoftware does not store or process your personal data or files on any server, there is no personal data stored by us to retain or delete. All user-generated content resides entirely on your own local device storage and is deleted whenever you delete the files or uninstall the application.

For data collected by third parties (Google AdMob and Google Play), data retention and deletion policies are governed directly by Google's Privacy Policy.

6. Children’s Privacy

StegoVault does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 (or under 16 in the European Economic Area). The App is intended for a general audience. If you believe that a child has provided personal data through third-party services within the App, please contact us so we can investigate.

7. European Privacy Rights (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) grants you specific rights regarding your personal data processed by third parties (such as Google AdMob):

• The right to access and receive details about the personal data processed;
• The right to object to or restrict processing (including opting out of personalized advertising via your device settings);
• The right to withdraw consent for advertising cookies and identifiers at any time via the in-app consent dialog.

8. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable legal requirements. The updated policy will be posted on this page with an updated “Last updated” date.