Privacy Policy

Unbadge is built to do one small thing well, and to do it privately. This policy explains, in plain language, what the app and this website do and do not collect. It applies to the Unbadge Android app and to unbadge.app.

01Who we are

Unbadge is developed and operated by Stepzu, a sole proprietorship registered in Seoul, Republic of Korea (postal address available on request). Unbadge is published on Google Play under the developer name elpalaiso. Stepzu is the data controller for the processing described in this policy. For privacy matters, contact our privacy officer (Stepzu privacy team) at hello@stepzu.com.

02What Unbadge does with your notifications

Unbadge works through Android’s Notification access setting. While that setting is on, Android lets Unbadge see the notifications currently shown on your device — this is continuous access, not a one-time prompt, and you can turn it off at any time in Android Settings.

Unbadge looks only at which app sent each notification, its category and flags (for example, whether it is an ongoing notification like music playback), and the sending app’s display name. It does not read, store, or transmit the title, message text, images, or attachments of any notification.

When you tap Clear in the app or on the widget, Unbadge dismisses the clearable notifications on your device — the same as swiping them away. Dismissed notifications cannot be restored by Unbadge. Ongoing notifications (such as navigation, calls, or media playback) are left alone.

03Data stored on your device

Some information is kept locally so the app can work and show your stats:

• Clear history — each time you clear, Unbadge records, for every app that had notifications, that app’s package name and display name, how many of its notifications were cleared, and the date and time. This powers the “cleared today” counter and the weekly Stats, including the “Top apps this week” list. Entries are deleted automatically 90 days after they are recorded. The content of notifications is never part of this history.
• App state — small local settings such as the widget’s last-known count and connection state, a counter of how many times you have cleared (used to decide when to show an occasional full-screen ad and when to ask for a Play Store review), and flags recording that setup screens have been shown.

This data lives in Unbadge’s private app storage and is removed when you clear the app’s storage or uninstall Unbadge. Android backup: if you have Android backup enabled on your device, Android may include Unbadge’s local data in your Google account backup and restore it when you set up a new or reinstalled device. This is controlled by your device settings (Settings → Google → Backup), not by Unbadge.

04Permissions the app uses

• Notification access — so Unbadge can see which apps currently have notifications and dismiss them when you tap Clear. Used solely for this purpose.
• Installed-app visibility — Unbadge asks Android for the names and icons of apps that sent notifications, so it can label them in your stats. It does not collect a list of your installed apps.
• Home-screen widget — so the 1×1 widget can show a live count and clear badges when tapped.
• Internet and network state — used only by the advertising, analytics, and crash-reporting services described below. Unbadge itself makes no network requests.
• Advertising ID — read by the Google advertising SDK to deliver and measure ads, subject to your choices in section 06.

05Services built into the app

Unbadge includes the following third-party services. This is the complete list.

• Google AdMob and User Messaging Platform (Google LLC) — shows banner and occasional full-screen ads and manages the consent prompt. Receives your Google Advertising ID, IP address, device and app information, and ad interactions. Google acts as an independent controller for this data under its Privacy Policy; see also How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.
• Google Analytics for Firebase (Google LLC, acting on our behalf) — pseudonymous usage measurement, described in section 06.
• Firebase Crashlytics (Google LLC, acting on our behalf) — crash reports so we can fix bugs, described in section 06.
• Google Play In-App Review (Google LLC) — occasionally lets you rate Unbadge without leaving the app. Google Play processes this under its own terms.
• Google Play services fonts (Google LLC) — the app’s typefaces are downloaded once through Google Play services rather than bundled in the app; this involves a request to Google that includes your IP address.

06Analytics, crash reporting, and advertising

Usage analytics and crash reports. To understand how the app is used and to fix crashes, Unbadge sends pseudonymous data to Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics. This includes a random per-install identifier, your device model and Android version, app version and language, your light/dark setting, whether the widget is added and whether notification access is on, coarse counts of clears, and — if the app crashes — a technical crash log. It never includes the text of your notifications or the names of the apps that sent them. Analytics is configured with ad-personalization signals turned off, so this data is not used to personalize ads. The data is not anonymous in the strict sense (it carries a per-install identifier), but we cannot link it to you as a person, and we do not try to. These services run whenever the app is used; they are not switched off by the ad-consent choices below. If you would rather not send this data, you can stop using the app or uninstall it, and Google’s retention limits (section 08) apply.

Advertising. To keep Unbadge free, it shows ads through Google AdMob. Google and its advertising partners may use your Advertising ID, IP address, and device information to deliver, personalize, and measure ads. What Google collects and how it uses it is governed by Google’s advertising policies.

Consent in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland. Before showing personalized ads, Unbadge asks for your consent through a Google-certified consent prompt (User Messaging Platform). If you decline, you will see non-personalized or limited ads where available.

US state privacy laws. If you are in California or another US state with a comprehensive privacy law, you can opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of your personal information for targeted advertising (“Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information”). If you opt out, you may still see non-personalized ads.

Where to find these controls. When Google’s consent tool determines that a choice applies to you, an “Ad privacy options” entry appears in Unbadge’s Settings (gear icon). Use it to review or withdraw your consent or to opt out. The entry needs a network connection to appear and is not shown in regions where no choice is required. You can also reset or delete your Advertising ID at any time in your device settings (Settings → Privacy → Ads), which limits ad personalization across all apps.

07Where your data is processed

Unbadge runs no servers of its own. The data described in sections 05 and 06 is sent directly from your device to Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, and its affiliates (including Google Ireland Limited for users in the EEA), and is processed in the United States and other countries where Google operates data centers. For transfers out of the EEA, UK, and Switzerland, Google relies on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses; details are in Google’s data transfer frameworks. For users in the Republic of Korea, this constitutes an overseas transfer of personal information to Google LLC (USA) for the purposes of advertising, usage analytics, and crash reporting, at the time the app is used, retained as described in section 08. Stepzu itself does not receive or store your personal data; we only see aggregated dashboards.

08How long data is kept

• On your device — each clear-history entry is deleted automatically 90 days after it is recorded. App state is kept until you clear the app’s storage or uninstall.
• Google Analytics for Firebase — event-level data is retained for 2 months and user-level data for 14 months, per our Firebase settings, after which Google deletes it.
• Firebase Crashlytics — crash reports are retained by Google for 90 days.
• Google AdMob — retained according to Google’s data retention policy.

09Legal bases (EEA, UK, and Switzerland)

• Reading and clearing notifications on your device — necessary to provide the service you asked for (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)). No data leaves the device for this.
• Personalized advertising — your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), given through the consent prompt and withdrawable at any time.
• Non-personalized advertising, usage analytics, and crash reporting — our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) in funding a free app, understanding how it is used, and keeping it stable. You may object as described in section 10.

Providing personal data is never a contractual or legal requirement; the app works without any of it. We make no automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects.

10Your rights

Wherever you are, you can ask us to access, correct, delete, or restrict the personal data we process about you, object to processing, request a copy of your data, and withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing that already took place. We will not treat you differently for exercising these rights. Email hello@stepzu.com; we respond within 30 days. Because we hold no user database, in most cases we will help you exercise your rights directly with Google, whose own controls are linked in section 06.

• Deleting your data — uninstalling Unbadge or clearing its storage removes all local data. Resetting your Advertising ID (device settings) breaks the link between past ad data and your device. For data held by Google, you can use My Ad Center or contact us.
• EEA and UK — you may also lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (EEA list; the ICO in the UK). We have not appointed an EU or UK representative, as our processing is occasional and low-risk.
• Republic of Korea — you have the rights to access, correct, delete, and suspend processing of your personal information under the Personal Information Protection Act, exercisable by email to the privacy officer named in section 01. You may also contact the Personal Information Protection Commission (privacy.go.kr, 182) or KISA (privacy.kisa.or.kr, 118).
• United States — residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws have the rights described above and the opt-out in section 06. We do not knowingly sell personal information of anyone under 16.
• Brazil, Japan, Turkey, and others — the rights above apply; contact us and we will follow the procedure required by your local law.

11Children

Unbadge is a general-audience utility and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, under 14 in the Republic of Korea, or under the age of digital consent where you live (up to 16 in parts of the EEA). If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.

12Security

Local data is stored in Unbadge’s private app storage, protected by Android’s app sandbox and your device lock. Data sent to Google services is encrypted in transit (TLS). We run no servers and keep no user database; access to our Google Play, Firebase, and AdMob consoles is limited to the operator and protected by two-factor authentication.

13This website (unbadge.app)

unbadge.app is a static site hosted by Cloudflare, Inc. When you visit, Cloudflare processes your IP address, browser type, and the pages requested in short-lived logs to deliver the site and protect it from abuse, under Cloudflare’s privacy policy. The site loads its typefaces from Google Fonts, which means your browser sends a request including your IP address to Google when a page loads. The website sets no cookies and uses no analytics or advertising trackers. Links to Google Play and other third-party sites are governed by those sites’ own policies.

14Changes to this policy

If we update this policy, we will revise the “Last updated” date above. For material changes we will also describe the change on this page for at least 30 days. Previous versions are available on request.

15Contact

Questions about your privacy or this policy? Reach us at hello@stepzu.com. Postal address available on request. Our Terms of Use describe the rules for using the app and this site.