Privacy Policy for Broken Crimp

Last updated: 24 September 2026

Broken Crimp (“the app”) is a notebook for sport climbers and boulderers. You use it to record climbs and to draw beta maps — move-by-move sequences over a picture of the wall.

It comes in two forms, and this policy covers both:

• the Android app from Google Play;
• the web version, which runs in your browser at www.brokencrimp.com/app/ and, for now, also at www.alessandromasullo.com/broken-crimp/app/.

This policy explains what happens to information when you use the app. In short:

The climbs, photos, voice notes and notes you create stay on your device. They are never sent to us or to anyone else.

Both versions show advertisements, supplied by Google. The Android app uses Google AdMob, in two places: a banner under the climb list, and one full-screen ad after you export a beta. The web version uses Google AdSense, for a banner under the climb list only. To show ads, Google collects certain information about your device or browser, described in section 5 below.

The web version also uses Google Analytics to count how many people use it and which screens they open, described in section 4. The Android app does not.

Where the two versions differ, this policy says so. Where it does not say so, they behave the same way.

There is no account to create and no sign-in.

This policy covers privacy only. For the safety disclaimer and the terms on which the app is provided, see the Terms of Use.

1. Who is responsible

The app is published by Broken Crimp, an independent developer. For anything in this policy, contact laumosl.dev@gmail.com.

2. What the app stores on your device

Everything below is written to private storage belonging to the app, on your device only. None of it is transmitted to us or to any third party.

In the Android app that storage is the app’s own private area, which no other app can read. In the web version it is your browser’s own storage for this site (IndexedDB), which no other website can read. The web version’s two addresses are two separate sites to your browser, so each keeps its own storage: climbs saved at one do not appear at the other. In both cases the data never leaves the device it was created on unless you export it yourself — see section 6.

Climbs you create

• The climb’s name, grade, type (boulder, sport or trad), and a free-text Location note (for example a crag or gym name).
• Your written notes about the climb.
• A colour label you pick for the climb.

What you draw

• The holds you place, their type, position, size, angle and any nickname you give them.
• Section dividers and their names.
• Your beta maps: the moves, the limbs used, and any notes on a move.

Media you attach

• Photographs of the wall, and photographs attached to individual holds.
• Voice notes you record.
• Text notes.

Your settings

• Theme, language, vibration, and whether tips and instruction cards are shown.
• Which teaching cards and tips you have already read.
• How you like betas built: whether a new beta starts with a starting position, whether limbs the sequence stops using are dropped, and the default height of the drawn climber.
• Per-climb view preferences: layer visibility, the tab you last used, the playback position and speed, and recently used hold types.

About the “Location” field: this is a text box you type into. The app does not request location permission and does not read your device’s GPS or any other positioning signal. Note that the advertising component described in section 5 does receive your IP address, from which an approximate location can be inferred.

3. Permissions the app requests, and why

This section describes the Android app. The web version asks for no permissions: a browser has no advertising identifier, although Google may set and read cookies and similar browser storage for the advertising purposes described in section 5, which you can clear or block in your browser’s own site settings. It reaches the camera, your photos and your microphone only through your browser’s own file picker, which hands it the one file you chose. Your browser decides what it may ask for, and you can withdraw that in your browser’s site settings.

Internet. Used to load advertisements. The app’s own content — your climbs, photos and voice notes — is not uploaded over this connection.

Advertising ID. Used to request advertisements. This is a resettable identifier that Android provides for advertising. Section 5 explains what it is used for and how to reset or delete it.

Camera. Used only when you tap a camera button to photograph a wall or a hold. Android asks your permission the first time. Photographs are saved into the app’s private storage. If you decline, you can still add photos by picking them from your gallery.

Microphone. Used only when you tap the record button to add a voice note to a hold. Android asks your permission the first time. Recordings are saved into the app’s private storage. If you decline, you cannot record voice notes; nothing else is affected.

Vibration. Used for haptic feedback while you build a beta. It is granted automatically at install and gives access to no information. You can turn haptics off in Settings.

Detect screen capture. Used on Android 14 and later, so the app can offer a “share this climb” tip if you photograph your own screen. It is granted automatically at install. The app is told only that a screenshot happened — it cannot read the screenshot, and no record of it is stored or sent.

Technical permissions added by the advertising component. Google’s advertising library also declares network state, wake lock, foreground service, and the Android “ad services” permissions (ACCESS_ADSERVICES_AD_ID, ..._ATTRIBUTION, ..._TOPICS). These are granted automatically at install and are used by that library to fetch and measure ads. They give no access to your climbs, photos, voice notes, or files.

The app does not request location, contacts, phone, calendar, or permission to read your wider photo library. Choosing an existing photo uses Android’s own photo picker, which hands the app the one file you selected and nothing else.

4. What we collect

In the Android app, nothing. We operate no servers and receive no data about you or your climbing. Your content is not backed up to us, and we cannot see it, in either version.

In the web version, usage statistics, through Google Analytics. They tell us how many people use the web version and which screens they open, so we can see what is used and what is not. For this, Google Analytics collects:

• which screen of the app is open (for example the climb list, a climb, or the export screen) — never which climb, and never anything you have written, drawn or recorded;
• device and browser information, such as browser, operating system, screen size and language;
• an approximate location (country or city), derived from your IP address; Google Analytics does not log or store the IP address itself;
• a random identifier kept in a cookie in your browser, so that repeat visits can be counted as one person.

It is not used for advertising: Google signals and ad personalisation are switched off, so these statistics are not linked to a Google account and are not used to select ads. We see them only as totals in Google Analytics, and they are kept for two months. Google processes them for us under its own terms — see How Google uses information from partner sites and apps, linked in section 5.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, Google Analytics is not loaded at all unless you consent to it in the same consent form the ads use, and you can change that answer in the same place (Settings → Your data → Change your ad choices). Anywhere, blocking or clearing this site’s cookies stops it, and Google offers a browser add-on to opt out of Google Analytics on every site: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

The advertising data described in the next section is collected by Google, not by us.

5. Advertising

This section covers both versions. The Android app’s ads are served by Google AdMob, and the web version’s by Google AdSense. Where the two differ, this section says so.

The Android app shows ads in two places, and nowhere else:

• a banner across the bottom of the climb list;
• a full-screen ad when you leave the export screen, after you have built a PDF or a video. It is shown at most once every few minutes, and never if you did not export anything.

There are no ads while you are drawing holds, building a beta, editing a photo, or reading a beta at the crag. There is no ad when you open the app and none when you open a climb.

The web version shows one ad: the same banner across the bottom of the climb list. It shows no full-screen ad. The rest of the web version needs no connection once it has loaded, and nothing is shown in place of the banner when you are offline.

To select and measure ads, Google collects and processes information including:

• in the Android app, your device’s Advertising ID (a resettable identifier). A browser has no Advertising ID; in the web version Google may instead use cookies and similar browser storage for the same purposes;
• your IP address, from which an approximate location may be derived;
• device, browser and app information, such as device model, operating system version, browser, and the app or page you are using;
• ad interaction data, such as whether an ad was shown, viewed or clicked.

Google may use this information to serve and measure ads, to limit how often you see the same ad, to detect fraud, and — where permitted — to show you personalised advertising. Google may share it with its advertising partners.

None of your climbing data is shared with Google or any advertiser. Your climbs, photos, voice notes, notes and settings are not sent to the advertising system.

For details of how Google handles this information, see:

• Google Privacy Policy — https://policies.google.com/privacy
• How Google uses information from partner sites and apps — https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

Your choices about ads

• Reset or delete your Advertising ID. On most Android devices: Settings → Privacy → Ads, or Settings → Google → Ads. Deleting it stops personalised advertising across all apps on the device.
• Turn off ad personalisation. In the same settings screen. You will still see ads, but they will not be personalised.
• Change your consent choices. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the app asks for your consent before requesting ads. You can change your answer at any time: Settings → Your data → Change your ad choices. That row is shown only where a consent form applies, so you will not see it if you are outside those regions. It is in the same place in both versions.
• In the web version, use your browser’s controls. Clearing or blocking this site’s cookies and site data, or blocking third-party cookies, limits what the ad system can store in your browser.

If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland

Before any ad is requested, the app presents a consent form, so you can choose whether your data is used for personalised advertising. In the Android app the form is provided by Google’s User Messaging Platform; in the web version by Google’s Funding Choices (the “Privacy & messaging” consent tool). It is shown the first time you open the app, after the welcome card. Ads are still shown if you decline, but they are not personalised. The legal basis for processing advertising data is your consent, which you may withdraw at any time from the Settings page.

If you are in California

We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act. Google’s handling of advertising data under that Act is governed by Google’s own policies, linked above, and by your ad personalisation settings.

6. When your climbing data leaves your device

Only when you ask it to. The app never initiates a transfer by itself. The ways you can move your own data out are:

• Sharing a climb (.beta file). Creates a file containing that climb, its holds, its betas and its notes, and hands it to Android’s share sheet so you can send it however you choose. Under Export options you decide what media goes with it: the wall photo (included by default), the hold photos, and the voice notes (both off by default). Where the file goes from there is governed by the app you send it with, not by Broken Crimp.
• Exporting a PDF or a video of the sequence, or sharing the moves as plain text.
• Backing up (.bcbackup file). Creates one file containing your whole database and all attached media, and lets you save it wherever you choose.
• “Save to device”. Copies one photo or voice note into your device’s Pictures or Downloads folder, where other apps can see it.

In each case you choose the destination.

Photo metadata

When you add a wall photo, the app decodes and re-compresses it to produce the working copy it draws on. That process discards the original file’s embedded metadata, including any GPS coordinates your camera recorded.

The app also keeps an untouched copy of the original photo in its private storage, so you can re-edit it or zoom into it later. That copy is the file exactly as your camera or gallery produced it, and it keeps whatever metadata was in it — which can include the GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken.

That original copy can leave your device in two ways, both of which you start yourself:

• in a full backup file (.bcbackup), which by design contains everything;
• in a shared climb (.beta file), when Wall photo is ticked in Export options. It is ticked by default, and wherever the app still holds an original the tickbox says so: “Includes the full-size original (bigger file)”.

Hold photos and voice notes are sent only if you tick them, and they are also stored as you recorded or picked them.

If a wall photo’s location matters to you, untick Wall photo before sharing a climb, or share a photo you took without location tagging enabled. Nothing here is sent anywhere automatically, and none of it ever reaches us.

7. Android’s own backup

This section is about the Android app only; a browser has no equivalent, so the web version’s data is backed up only if you export it yourself.

The app permits Android’s standard Auto Backup feature. If you have device backup enabled in your Android settings, the operating system may copy the app’s data — your climbs, media and settings — to your own Google Drive backup, so it can be restored if you change phone. This is a function of Android and Google, under your Google account and your control, not a transfer to us. You can disable it in your device’s system settings.

Temporary working files and generated exports are excluded from that backup.

8. Children

The app is a climbing notebook and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Because the app shows advertising, it is not suitable for use by young children without a parent’s involvement.

9. Keeping and deleting your data

Your climbing data stays on your device for as long as you keep it. You can:

• delete an individual climb, hold, beta, photo or voice note inside the app;
• clear the app’s data — from your device’s system settings in the Android app, or by clearing this site’s data in your browser’s settings in the web version, which also removes any cookies the ad system and Google Analytics stored for this site; or
• uninstall the app, which removes the database and all attached media. Uninstalling the web version, or simply clearing its site data, does the same.

Because we hold no copy, there is nothing on our side to request, correct or delete. To have advertising data removed, use the Google settings described in section 5. Files you have already exported or shared are yours to manage wherever you sent them.

10. Google Play

Google Play itself may collect information about the installation, and diagnostic data such as crash reports, under Google’s privacy policy — https://policies.google.com/privacy. That is a function of the Play Store, separate from the app.

11. Changes to this policy

If the app changes what it does with your information, this policy will be updated and the “last updated” date above will change.

12. Contact

Broken Crimp laumosl.dev@gmail.com