Privacy Policy

Effective Date: February 28, 2026

The Visual Snow Data Project ("we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring transparency regarding our data practices. This policy details our approach to sensitive permissions and user data.

1. Prominent Disclosure: Camera Permission

The Visual Snow application requests access to your device's Camera (android.permission.CAMERA).

• Purpose: The camera is used solely to provide a real-time, live-video background for the visual snow simulation overlays. This allows users to visualize how their symptoms appear in their actual environment.
• Access & Collection: The app accesses the camera stream in real-time. We do not collect, capture, save, or record any images or video from the camera.
• Usage: The camera data is processed ephemerally on your device for immediate display purposes only.
• Sharing: No camera data is ever transmitted off the device or shared with any third parties.

2. Health Connect Integration (Android)

On Android, the app can optionally read data from Health Connect to automatically populate your symptom log. This is entirely opt-in — data is only read when you explicitly tap "Import from Health Connect" in the Save Log dialog.

The app requests the following Health Connect permissions:

• Steps (READ_STEPS): Your step count from the last 24 hours is mapped to an Energy Score (0–10). Physical fatigue is a commonly reported trigger for worsening Visual Snow Syndrome symptoms. Importing steps automatically fills this field without manual entry, so you can correlate daily activity with symptom severity.
• Sleep Session (READ_SLEEP_SESSION): Your sleep duration from the previous night is read and automatically fills the Sleep Hours field in your symptom log. Sleep deprivation is a known VSS trigger, and this allows accurate correlation without requiring you to manually calculate or recall sleep time.
• Heart Rate (READ_HEART_RATE): Your average heart rate from the last 24 hours is mapped to a Stress Score (0–10). Elevated heart rate reflects physiological stress, which correlates with worsened visual snow episodes. This replaces manual stress estimation with an objective measurement.

Health Connect data is never transmitted off your device, never shared with any third party, and is not stored by us in any form. The app has no internet permission and is architecturally incapable of sending data to any server.

3. Zero-Knowledge Architecture & Self-Reported Data

The application operates on a Zero-Knowledge principle, specifically regarding your Health Data:

• No Personal Data Collection: We do not collect names, email addresses, or any identifiers.
• No Network Transmission: The app does not request internet permissions and cannot send data to any server.
• Self-Reported Data (Collection & Usage): We collect self-reported health telemetry, including sleep hours, stress levels, depression/anxiety scores (PHQ-9), and Visual Snow severity parameters. This data is collected solely to provide you with a personal tracking diary and simulation preset mechanism.
• Local Storage: All symptom logs, configurations, and notes are stored strictly in your device's private sandbox storage using local database technologies (e.g., Room database on Android, UserDefaults on iOS). For a complete list of exactly what data is collected, please see our Configuration Guide.

4. Data Safety Summary

Data Type	Accessed	Collected	Shared	Purpose
Camera	Yes	No	No	Core App Functionality (Simulation)
Steps (Health Connect)	On-device only, opt-in	No	No	Auto-fill Energy Score in symptom log
Sleep Session (Health Connect)	On-device only, opt-in	No	No	Auto-fill Sleep Hours in symptom log
Heart Rate (Health Connect)	On-device only, opt-in	No	No	Auto-fill Stress Score in symptom log
Symptom Logs	Yes	No	No	User-controlled tracking
Device IDs	No	No	No	N/A

5. Data Retention & Deletion

Data Retention Period: Because all data is stored exclusively on your device, your data is retained indefinitely for as long as you keep the application installed. We do not maintain any centralized records or backups of your data.

Data Deletion Methods: You have full control over your data. You may delete your data at any time using one of the following methods:

• In-App Deletion: Open the "About" screen in the app and tap the "Delete All Data" button. This will instantly erase all logs from the local database.
• Device Settings: Clear the application's storage/cache using your device's OS settings.
• Uninstallation: Uninstalling the application will permanently and automatically remove all associated health data from your device.

6. User Responsibility & Data Portability

Data Portability: You may export your logs as PDF or ZIP files using the export tool inside the app. Once exported, the security and privacy of these files are entirely your responsibility.

7. Contact

For privacy-related inquiries, please visit szpeter.pages.dev.

By using this software, you acknowledge and agree to this Privacy Policy and the associated Medical Disclaimer.