Legal
Privacy Policy
Effective 19 October 2026 · Version 1.1
Draft, awaiting legal review. This describes how Pricey works today. An Australian lawyer hasn't reviewed it yet, and one will before the app goes on sale.
Who we are
Pricey is a mobile app run from Australia. In this policy, “we” and “Pricey” mean the people who run the app. You can contact us at support@priceyapp.com.au.
We handle personal information under the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
You don't need an account
When you first open Pricey, it registers your phone with our servers using a random installation ID and gets an access token back. That's how we recognise your phone from then on. There's no sign-up form and no password, and you can use every feature this way.
If you want, you can sign in with Google or Apple from the Profile screen. Your watches then belong to an account instead of one install, so they survive a reinstall and show up on your other devices. Every signed-in device gets the same notifications.
Sign-in runs through Firebase Authentication, a Google service. Firebase keeps the details your provider shares with it, normally your email address and, for Google, your name and photo. Pricey's own servers store just a Firebase user ID and an internal account number. We don't use your email address to contact you or for marketing. When you delete your account, we delete the Firebase record too.
If you'd rather not sign in, a recovery key lets you move your watches to a new install. You create one in the app and keep it yourself. We store only a hashed copy, so we can't look it up or send it to you again.
What we collect, and why
| What | Why | Kept for |
|---|---|---|
| Installation IDA random ID Pricey creates the first time you open it. It isn't your phone's hardware or advertising ID. | To register your phone with our servers and keep your watches attached to it, without you needing an account. | Until your data is deleted |
| Access tokenIssued when your phone registers and kept in your phone's secure storage. Our servers only keep a scrambled (hashed) copy. | So our servers know requests really come from your phone. | Until your data is deleted |
| Sign-in details (only if you sign in)If you sign in with Google or Apple, Firebase Authentication (run by Google for us) holds the details your provider shares, usually your email address and, for Google, your name and profile photo. Pricey's own servers store only a Firebase user ID and an internal account number. | To link your watches to an account, so they survive a reinstall and sync across your devices. | Until you delete your account |
| Push tokenA Firebase Cloud Messaging token for this install. | To send the price alerts you asked for. | Until your data is deleted |
| WatchesThe products you watch, your target prices, the stores you picked, and whether you included used stock. We also keep a record of each alert we send for 30 days. | To run your daily price checks and send alerts. | Until you remove the watch or delete your data |
| SearchesWhat you type into search. Our servers pass it to our product data providers and don't keep a history of it. Your recent searches are saved on your phone only. | To find products and prices. | Not stored on our servers |
| Photos for photo searchThe one photo you take or choose for a photo search. We count how many you use each day. | To identify the product, and to apply the free plan's daily limit. | Photo: about 2 minutes. Count: until your data is deleted |
| Purchases and savingsWhether you told Pricey you bought something after an alert, the price you paid and the price you were watching from. | To show your savings, and to stop alerting you about something you've already bought. | Until you remove the watch or delete your data |
| Subscription statusWhether you have Premium, and the IDs RevenueCat uses to keep track of it. | To apply your plan. Our servers check it, so it can't be changed by tampering with the app. | Until your data is deleted |
| Listing reportsIf you report a listing: the product, store, price, the reason you picked and any note you add. | To fix bad matches and wrong prices. | 6 months |
| Usage analyticsEvents such as screens opened, watches created and the paywall being shown, plus app version, device model and OS version. | To see what's confusing or broken. Never used for advertising. | Up to 14 months |
| Crash and error reportsTechnical details when something fails, such as the error, app version and device type. We remove search text, tokens and identifiers before they're sent. | To find and fix bugs. | Up to 12 months |
Kept on your phone only
Recent searches, achievements, which deals you've already seen, and what the home screen widget shows are stored on your phone and never sent to us. Uninstalling Pricey removes them.
What we don't collect
- Card or bank details. Apple and Google handle all payments.
- Your contacts, calendar, microphone or precise location.
- Your photo library. Pricey only sees a photo you pick or take for a photo search.
Pricey shows no ads, and we don't use or sell your information for advertising.
Camera and photo search
Pricey only uses the camera while you're taking a photo for a search. The photo goes to our server, which hands it to SearchApi to identify the product. Our server holds it in memory for about two minutes while that happens, then throws it away. We don't save your photos.
Notifications
Pricey doesn't ask for notification permission when you first open it. It asks right after you set up your first watch, and explains what you'll get before your phone shows its own prompt. If you say no, the app still works, but you'll need to open it to see price drops. You can change this any time in Profile, then the settings icon, then Notifications.
Who we share information with
We don't sell personal information. We share it only with the service providers below, and only what each one needs to do its job.
| Who | What they do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Azure | Hosts Pricey's servers and database, and our server monitoring. | Australia |
| Google Firebase | Sign-in (Firebase Authentication), push notifications, usage analytics and remote settings. | United States |
| Google and Apple sign-in | Confirm who you are when you choose to sign in. They don't receive your watches or searches. | United States |
| RevenueCat | Processes subscription purchases and tells us whether you have Premium. | United States |
| Apple and Google Play | Take payment for Premium. They hold the payment relationship and we never see your card. | United States and elsewhere |
| Sentry | Collects crash and error reports so we can fix bugs. | United States |
| SearchApi | Returns search results, prices and product details, and identifies products in photo searches. Receives your search text, product IDs and the photo, but not your installation ID, account or push token. | United States |
| DataForSEO | Looks up which stores sell a product. Receives product details only. | Europe |
We also read publicly available product pages on some retailer websites to check prices and variants. We don't send them anything about you.
We may also share information if the law requires it, or if we need to in order to investigate fraud, abuse or a security incident.
Information sent overseas
Pricey's servers and database are in Australia. Several of the providers above are overseas, mainly in the United States, with one in Europe, so some of your information is handled outside Australia. We take reasonable steps to make sure they treat it in line with the Australian Privacy Principles, but their own privacy policies and local laws also apply.
When you tap through to a store
Tapping Buy takes you to the retailer's website, where their privacy policy applies instead of ours. Some of these links are affiliate links, so the retailer or affiliate network can tell the visit came from Pricey. The link says which part of the app you came from, but nothing about you: no installation ID, no account and no watches. On our side, we record the store and affiliate program for each click, without linking it to you. See the affiliate disclosure.
How long we keep things
The table above gives the period for each kind of information. In short, we keep your data while you use Pricey and delete it when you delete your account or ask us to. Database backups roll over within 35 days, so deleted data drops out of them within that time.
Price history isn't personal information. It's about products, it's shared by everyone and it isn't linked to you, so we keep it indefinitely.
Keeping it secure
- Your access token is kept in your phone's secure storage (the iOS Keychain or Android Keystore), not in ordinary app settings.
- Our servers store only hashed copies of access tokens and recovery keys.
- Everything between the app and our servers goes over HTTPS, and every request except first-time registration has to be authenticated.
- Passwords and keys for our database and providers are kept in a managed secret store, not in the app or our code.
- We strip search text, tokens, IDs and IP addresses out of our server logs.
No system is perfectly secure. If a data breach is likely to cause serious harm, we'll tell the people affected and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires.
Seeing, correcting and deleting your information
Most of what we hold is in the app already: your watches, targets, purchases and savings. You can edit or remove any watch whenever you like.
To get a copy of what we hold, or to correct something, email support@priceyapp.com.au. So we can find your data, include either the email address you signed in with, or a recovery key (in the app, open Profile, tap the settings icon, then Back up your watches). We'll respond within 30 days. If we say no to a request, we'll tell you why in writing.
To delete your data, see the account deletion page. If you've signed in, you can do it in the app under Profile, then the settings icon, then Delete account.
Children
Pricey isn't aimed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you think a child has been using Pricey and you want their data removed, email us and we'll delete it.
Complaints
If you think we've mishandled your personal information, email support@priceyapp.com.au with the details. We'll acknowledge it within 2 business days and reply in writing within 30 days.
If you're not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle your information, we'll update this page and the date at the top. For significant changes, we'll also tell you in the app before they take effect.
Version history
- 1.1, 19 October 2026. Rewritten in plainer English. Added Sentry, SearchApi, DataForSEO, listing reports and alert records. Corrected how sign-in works (it runs through Firebase Authentication), how the installation ID is made, and how long photos are held.
- 1.0, 31 July 2026. First published.