No. We are very conscientious about data privacy. We do not collect, share, or sell customer data. Our business model is to pay for the services we use and not use any free services. (Which tend to be the ones that track users). The service provider is outside of our control, however, and would have the tools to track a customer if they wished. But that should not be a problem if you’re using a reputable carrier. Here are the parties that could potentially track you.
- Sunbeam. We are opposed to this and have intentionally set up our business model to avoid free services. We control the software running on the phone and we do not have any “bloatware” or other unnecessary software installed. We do have an “Update” tool that pings our server to check for an update on a time schedule. (And if an update is available, it will notify you of this). We also have a “Bug Report” tool that can be used, if desired, to report a bug to us. But neither of these functions is used to spy on or track users.
- The carrier. The carrier would in theory be able to use tower triangulation to locate a user. However, this should not be a problem if reputable carriers are used. No customer information from our software is given to the carrier.
- Our Navigation feature. (On the Orchid model). We’ve built the Navigation function ourselves using the HERE Technologies software development kit. But the connections to HERE are limited and no customer details are available to them. You can also download the map data in advance (from within Navigation, preferably over WiFi to reduce cellular data), or purchase the SD card from us that has the map data preinstalled on it to further reduce your data usage and activity. There is a “Search” function to find nearby businesses or other POI that does need a network connection to be used. This data connection is also with HERE Technologies.
- Our Weather feature. (On the Orchid model). The data source for our Weather function is The Weather Company, by IBM. Again, this is a paid service and IBM is not provided any customer-specific information.
- Our Voice-to-Text Input feature. (On the Orchid and Daisy models). This function is powered by Microsoft. The audio is recorded and Microsoft analyzes it and converts it to text. (They are very good at this, by the way). They could, in theory, keep a record of those audio clips, but they’re a very reputable company and they are not provided with any customer-specific information.