Badge BackUp — Privacy Policy
The short version
- Your work stays on your phone. Notes, photos, video, audio, chats and your partner list are stored on your device, not on our servers.
- No account, no ads, no analytics of our own. The app has no sign-up, no advertising, and no analytics or crash-reporting service of ours. We do not sell or share your data. (Google’s on-device text-recognition component sends Google anonymous performance statistics; see section 5.) Location is shared only while you have LINK switched on.
- Locked and encrypted. The app locks behind your PIN (or fingerprint), and your files are encrypted on the device.
- You are in control. You can erase the app’s profile data in the app, or remove everything by uninstalling.
1. Who we are
Badge BackUp is made by Titanus LLC (“we”). Badge BackUp is a commercial, independently maintained mobile app built to make duty more efficient. It is not issued by, endorsed by, or affiliated with any government, law-enforcement agency, or military branch.
Questions or requests: support@mybadgebackup.com
2. What the app stores — on your device only
- Field notes and case/incident numbers you type or dictate.
- Photos, video and audio recordings you capture or attach.
- Messages, shared files and partner names/callsigns you create inside the app.
- Your own profile (name, agency, radio callsign and badge) that you enter the first time you use partner features. It is shown on your partners’ phones when you connect, and is kept on your phone otherwise.
- Your settings, and your PIN (kept in the phone’s protected storage, not as plain text).
- If you turn on One-Tap Backup: your backup email address and backup code, kept on your phone (the code in its protected storage).
- People and vehicles you add to field notes: names, dates of birth, physical descriptions, addresses, phone numbers, license plates, VINs, notes, and their photos (including photos of IDs).
- An unsaved person or vehicle entry, kept so your work is not lost if you leave the screen before saving. It is cleared when you save or discard it.
- Your work area: approximate locations taken from the ZIP codes of addresses you save and from location fixes when you use cross-street lookup. They are used only to show address suggestions near where you work, and older points fade out automatically.
- The last city, state and ZIP code you entered, so the app can suggest them next time.
- A few small settings that make subscriptions work: which plan Google Play says you have (so paid features work without signal), the date you first opened the app (to time any first-week offer), and whether you have unlocked a special offer.
And because this deserves absurd repetition: it’s encrypted. It’s protected. When you share it, it’s encrypted again. Yes, we know we just said “encrypted.” It’s encrypted.
We (the developer) cannot see any of this. It is not uploaded to us.
We do not view it. We do not share it. We do not store it on our servers. It belongs to you, and you alone.
Your data stays on your phone. Files are encrypted on your device, and sensitive areas are protected by your PIN. When you choose to send a file to a partner, it is encrypted before it leaves your phone, so only you and the partner you choose can open it. We use open, publicly reviewed encryption (TweetNaCl, XSalsa20-Poly1305), not a secret custom scheme. No system is perfectly secure, so we work to follow current industry best practices, and we cannot guarantee that any system can never be breached.
3. Permissions, and why
The app asks only when a feature needs it. You can say no or change it later in Android Settings.
| Permission | Used for |
|---|---|
| Camera | Photos and video; reading the text on an ID, registration, license plate or VIN. Text recognition runs on your phone; the photo and text are not sent anywhere. |
| Photos and media | Only the photos you choose when you tap FROM PHONE / MY DEVICE to add an existing picture to a person or vehicle. |
| Microphone | Audio recording, video sound, and dictation. Speech-to-text runs on your device’s own speech service. |
| Location | Field notes: to fill in the nearest street when you tap the locate button, and to show address suggestions near where you work (see section 2). LINK (partner location sharing) — coming in a future update, not active in the current version: only when LINK is switched on for your name tile, your location is shared with the partner you chose. It keeps sharing while the phone is put away or the screen is off, until the person who turned it on switches it off or its timer ends. LINK needs a PIN confirmation so it cannot be turned on by accident. When LINK is off, the app does not track your location. |
| Contacts | Only the contacts you choose to import (for Quick Dial and partners), and the one contact you pick when you tap INVITE. An invitation is sent as a text message through your phone’s own messaging app and includes your referral code. We do not upload or store your contacts. |
| Phone call | To place a call when you tap a Quick Dial contact. |
| Fingerprint | Optional unlock instead of typing your PIN. Your biometric data never leaves Android. |
| Vibrate, notifications | Alerts you turn on in Settings, and a reminder to back up your files near the end of your shift. To time it, the app keeps a simple count of which hours of the day you use it. That count stays on your phone and is never sent to us. |
4. How your data is protected
- App lock: PIN or fingerprint, with auto-lock when the app goes to the background or sits idle. Sensitive areas (Field Note, My Files, Partner Chat) need your PIN.
- Encryption at rest: your files are sealed on the device with XSalsa20-Poly1305 (authenticated encryption, from the open-source TweetNaCl library). Tampered or damaged files are rejected rather than opened.
- Encrypted attachments: large attachment bundles are zipped and encrypted with the message PIN before they are handed off.
- Key storage: keys and your PIN are held in Android’s secure storage.
No method is perfect. Use a strong PIN, keep your phone updated, and follow your own agency’s privacy and records policies — you remain responsible for how you collect and share case material.
5. What goes over the internet
Today the app uses the internet only to download reference data you ask for and to check for corrections:
- The statute (code search) database update check.
- Code search and street maps: the California code search database and street map download from GitHub (Microsoft’s public file hosting) the first time you open Code Search, and the app checks there occasionally for corrections. Street maps for other states download the same way when you choose that state.
- Text recognition: reading IDs, plates, VINs and registrations uses Google’s ML Kit and runs entirely on your phone; the photos and their text are never sent. ML Kit may contact Google to receive updates, and it sends Google anonymous performance and usage statistics (such as device model, Android version and app version) under Google’s own privacy policy.
- Opening links you tap (Google Play, this policy, email).
- Subscription purchases and checks, which go through Google Play (see section 6).
- Install link tag: if you install the app from a link on our website, Google Play hands the app a short tag (for example, which plan or offer the link was for) the first time it opens, so it can show you that offer. The tag is read on your phone and is never sent to us.
These requests do not include your notes, files, location or contacts. Like any web request, the hosting service can see a standard connection record (such as IP address and time) under its own privacy policy.
Sharing you choose. When you send a file or note using your phone’s share sheet or email, it goes to the app or person you pick, under that app’s rules, not ours.
Future online features. Partner messaging, partner location linking between devices, and a lookup that tells you whether someone you invite already has Badge BackUp are being built. Before any such feature sends data off your phone (for example, a phone number used for that lookup), this policy will be updated and the app will tell you what is sent and to whom.
6. Subscriptions and payments
Paid plans (current plans and prices are shown in the app and on Google Play before you buy) are purchased and billed entirely through Google Play. We never see or store your card details, and we do not receive your name or email from your purchase. Manage or cancel a subscription in Google Play. The app asks Google Play which plan your Google account has so it knows which features to unlock, and remembers the answer on your phone. See our Terms of Service for plan details.
7. Your choices and deletion
- In the app: Settings → Edit My Profile → Delete My Account and Data erases your profile and settings from the phone after you confirm.
- Everything: uninstalling the app removes all of its data from your phone. Files you exported or shared elsewhere are outside the app and are not removed. They remain wherever you saved them, and you can find them with your phone’s file explorer.
- Keep your files safe: because your files live only on your phone, a lost phone or an uninstall means they are gone. Use BACKUP MY FILES to send a copy to your email or cloud storage; the backup is encrypted with a code you choose. The app reminds you near the end of your shift when a backup is due.
- Because we do not hold your data, there is nothing on our servers to delete today. If that changes, this policy and the in-app deletion will cover it.
8. Open source and testing
Badge BackUp is built with open-source software, including React Native, Expo, TweetNaCl (encryption), and Barlow Condensed (font, SIL OFL). Street data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line files (public domain) and GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Text recognition uses Google ML Kit. Full credits are in the app under Credits & Licenses. The encryption methods we use are open, published and publicly reviewable, and the encryption code has automated tests. The app’s own source code is not published.
9. Children
The app is for adults (18 and older) working in public safety and is not directed to children or anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13 (and we collect no personal information through the app today).
10. Support emails and your rights
If you email support, we keep your message and address only to answer you and improve the app. We do not sell it. Because the app does not send your content to us, we hold no notes, files, location or contacts about you. If you live somewhere with privacy rights (for example, access or deletion), you can still write to us at the address below and we will respond within a reasonable time.
11. Changes
If we change how data is handled, we will update this page and the effective date, and tell you in the app before new data-sharing features are used.
12. Contact
support@mybadgebackup.com · 4333 Corbett #1152, Fort Collins, CO 80525