Privacy Policy

1. Your learning records

AusStep stores selected answers, learning progress, exam records, bookmarks, learned lessons, an active study session and settings in private app storage on your device. These records let you resume study, review mistakes and see your progress. AusStep does not provide accounts or cloud synchronisation.

The app does not ask for your name, email address, citizenship application, identity documents or immigration status. It does not access contacts, a calendar, photos, a microphone or a camera. Questions about Australian law and values are knowledge checks; they do not ask you to declare personal religious or political beliefs.

Android backup and app data transfer are disabled. Some learning actions are also represented in analytics events if you separately allow analytics, as described below.

2. Optional AppMetrica analytics

Analytics helps us understand which learning features are used and improve the app's usability. It is provided by AppMetrica, a Yandex service. The AppMetrica SDK starts only after your affirmative choice to allow analytics has been saved. A refusal or an unanswered notice does not enable it.

After consent, the following may be sent to AppMetrica:

• App interactions: screen visits, study starts, pauses, resumes and completion, opening explanations and built-in source links, and changes to limited settings such as theme and daily goal.
• Learning actions: identifiers of built-in questions, topics and lessons; whether an answer was correct; question and result counts; duration; lesson completion; bookmarks and temporary review flags.
• Search characteristics: whether a catalogue search is text or a number, a range for its length and a range for the number of results. The search text or searched question number itself is not sent.
• App and device information: app/SDK and operating-system versions, device model and screen characteristics, technical information used for analytics and diagnostics, an installation/device identifier and the IP address used for the connection. AppMetrica can infer an approximate location from an IP address.

We do not include your selected answer options, free-form search text, complete local answer history or study-session UUIDs in custom event payloads. Technical identifiers mean analytics is not fully anonymous.

For AppMetrica analytics, AusStep disables advertising-identifier tracking, device location tracking, automatic purchase/revenue tracking, crash reporting and ANR monitoring. It does not request location permissions. The app does not run push campaigns or send account profiles to AppMetrica. The SDK still uses its own technical identifiers after consent.

Data is transmitted to AppMetrica for analytics and stored under the provider's applicable service terms and practices. Processing may occur outside your country. See the Yandex Privacy Policy and AppMetrica data-handling information.

Yandex native advertising on Home

AusStep contains native advertising supplied by Yandex Mobile Ads on the Home screen. The advertising SDK starts when you open the app and requests native ads on Home, independently of your optional analytics choice. Lessons, practice sessions and mock exams do not contain ad placements. Advertising is part of the app and has no separate consent prompt or setting.

The advertising service processes app and device information, connection information including your IP address, and ad requests, impressions and clicks for delivering, targeting and measuring advertising. Approximate location may be inferred from your IP address. We do not supply your learning records, selected answers, bookmarks or search text to the advertising service.

AusStep disables advertising SDK location tracking and removes Android advertising-ID and location permissions. The SDK's automatic AppMetrica advertising analytics reports are disabled. AusStep does not assert consent for personalized advertising. These restrictions reduce collection; technical and connection information may still be processed and advertising is not fully anonymous.

Advertising is independent of optional usage statistics. Turning off Settings → Usage statistics stops application analytics; it does not disable advertising or the advertising service. Closing the Activity cancels a pending ad request and releases the displayed ad. Closing, clearing storage or uninstalling the app does not erase records already received by the provider.

Advertising data is processed under the provider's applicable service terms and practices and may be processed outside your country. We do not promise a fixed automatic expiry for provider-held advertising records. For access, correction or deletion requests, use the privacy contact below and name AusStep. See the Yandex Privacy Policy and Yandex Mobile Ads data-handling information.

3. Your choice and withdrawal

You can choose No, thanks in the analytics notice and use every learning feature. To change your choice, open Settings → Usage statistics. Enabling analytics presents the disclosure again.

Turning analytics off stops new application analytics events and disables SDK sending. Learning actions performed while analytics is off are not held for later upload by the application. Study actions from an earlier consent period are not backfilled after a later opt-in.

Turning analytics off does not delete information already accepted by the SDK or already received by AppMetrica. Such information may remain in local SDK storage or on the provider's systems under the retention practices below. Withdrawal is separate from a data-deletion request.

The app stores your analytics choice separately from learning progress, together with the notice version, the time of the choice and a technical generation number. This prevents an old preference from being treated as new consent. If a choice cannot be saved, the app shows an error; a withdrawal closes the live analytics gate before the save is attempted.

4. Retention and deletion

Local records. Records remain on your device until changed or removed. Reset progress in Settings clears local learning activity and study history; it does not remove all bookmarks/preferences or delete provider-held analytics or advertising records. To erase all local app data, use Android's clear-storage control or uninstall AusStep.

Analytics already transmitted. Analytics is retained under the provider's applicable terms and configured service practices during use of the service and until deletion is carried out. We do not promise a fixed automatic expiry for all provider-held records. Turning off analytics, resetting progress or uninstalling the app does not itself delete those records.

Requests. To ask about access, correction or deletion of analytics or advertising associated with AusStep, email bappsdevelopment@gmail.com. Name AusStep and describe your request. We will explain which records can be identified and handled and work with the provider where necessary. Because the app has no account, technical information may be needed to identify an installation; we cannot promise to locate a record without sufficient information. Do not send identity documents, citizenship applications or your complete answer history.

Support correspondence. If you contact us, we use the email address and information you provide to address the request. Correspondence is retained for no longer than six months after the issue is resolved, unless legal obligations or the protection of legal rights require longer retention.

5. Security and external links

Local records use Android's private app storage. AppMetrica and Yandex Mobile Ads document encryption of transmitted data, and AusStep disables cleartext network traffic. These measures do not mean data is end-to-end encrypted or that any system is guaranteed secure.

Official Home Affairs sources and privacy links open in an external browser. AusStep does not include your learning records in these links. Destination websites and the provider hosting this public policy may receive normal connection information, such as an IP address, under their own practices. This page uses no analytics scripts, advertising scripts, cookies or external fonts.

6. Audience and policy changes

AusStep is designed for adults preparing for Australian citizenship and is not directed at children. It does not provide a social service, account registration or an age-verification feature.

We may update this policy when the app or its data practices change. The current date appears at the top. If an updated analytics notice requires a new choice, an old approval is not treated as approval of that notice.

7. Privacy contact