Privacy policy
TextMeNot is a messaging app that screens junk texts and suspicious calls. This policy explains what the app does with your data, in plain language, and it describes the app as it is today. The short version: the screening happens on your phone, your messages and contacts stay on your phone, and in the current version the app makes no network connections at all.
Who we are
TextMeNot is published by Steven Solano, an individual developer in Illinois, United States, pending formation of a company that will take over this policy. Contact: sms@replatformradar.com.
What the app does on your phone
- Messages. When you make TextMeNot your default messaging app, it receives, stores, and sends SMS and MMS messages using Android's own message store, exactly as any messaging app does. Messages are not uploaded anywhere.
- Screening. Each message from a sender who is not in your contacts and who you have not written to is checked against a set of patterns on the device. If it matches, it is moved to the Screened tab without a notification, with a score and the reasons. You can move it back, mark the sender as not junk, report it, or delete it. Screened messages are deleted after 30 days by default; you can choose 7, 30, or 90 days, or keep them until you delete them yourself.
- Contacts. The app reads your contacts only to know who to trust and to show names instead of numbers. Contacts are never uploaded or copied out of the phone.
- Calls. With call screening turned on, Android asks the app whether an incoming call from a number not in your contacts should ring. The app answers using the carrier's caller-verification status, your block list, and whether that number recently sent you a screened text. It does not read your call log and does not upload call details.
- Your history. The app keeps a private, on-device record of what you did about each sender (kept, reported, blocked, allowed) so its score can learn from you. This record never leaves the phone.
- Pattern updates. The patterns ship inside the app and change with app updates. Downloading pattern updates separately is planned; when it arrives, that request will carry no personal data and this policy will say so.
What leaves your phone
Screening itself never sends anything: every message is judged on the phone. Two features talk to a server, both only when you use them. The rest of the table is planned, and each item will be off until you turn it on, described here before it ships:
| Feature | What is sent | Kept for |
|---|---|---|
| GIF search (the GIF button when writing a message) | The words you type in the GIF search box, a random id for your install, and the id of the GIF you pick go to KLIPY (KLIPY Inc.), the GIF library behind the tray, so it can return results and remember your recent picks. Nothing from the conversation, your number, or the recipient is sent. KLIPY's handling is covered by its own privacy policy at klipy.com. | Not stored by us |
| Feedback and help requests | Only when you send one, from Settings in the app or the support page: what you typed, the kind you picked, your email if you gave one, and the app version, Android version and phone model so we can reproduce a problem. Never any message content. | Two years |
| Junk reports, if you turn on "Help make junk filters smarter" | Off unless you switch it on during setup or in Settings. Then, when you mark a text as junk or not junk, that one message is sent: its text, the label, the score and rule names the app gave it, whether the sender was a short code, a ten-digit number or an email gateway, and the app, rules and Android versions. Never the sender's number, never your number, never any message you did not act on. Used only to improve the screening rules. | Two years |
| Beta signups | Only if you sign up on the beta page: the Google account email you give us, the phone you name, your note, and the campaign tag on the link that brought you to the page, if any. Used to add you to the closed test in Google Play and for nothing else. | Until the test ends, or sooner on request |
| Paid plans through Google Play | Google sends us a notification when a plan starts, renews, lapses or is refunded: the plan name, the event and a hashed purchase token. We never see card details or your Google account. | Life of the plan plus one year for disputes |
| Cloud second opinion (off by default) | Only when you turn it on, and only for a text the on-phone filters cannot decide on, from a number that is not in your contacts and that you never replied to: the message text, the sender type (short code, regular number, email gateway), and the app's own guess. Never the sender's number, never yours, never the install id. The text is passed to an AI model for one answer and is not written to our database; the only record kept is a count line (sender type, answer, timing) with no words from the message. | Message text: not stored by us. Count line: two years |
| Sending reports | Today, Report only records a note on your phone. When sending arrives: sender type, category, a hash of the message, and the text only if you tick the box. | Two years |
| Free-screen counters | An install id and the free-tier counters (texts and calls screened, and junk delivered after the free allowance, plus when the current three-month period started), so a reinstall does not reset the free tier. The install id is a one-way hash of your phone's app-scoped Android ID; it is not an advertising id, it cannot be turned back into anything, and it is never sent together with message text. | Until 90 days after uninstall |
What we never do
- Upload your contacts, your phone number, or your call history.
- Store message text on our servers, including for debugging.
- Show ads or include advertising, analytics, or crash-reporting software in the app.
- Sell or share personal data with anyone.
- Delete a message without first placing it in the Screened tab where you can see it.
- Screen messages from your contacts or one-time codes, regardless of what they say.
Permissions the app asks for
| Permission | Used for |
|---|---|
| SMS and MMS (receive, read, send, cell broadcasts) | Being your messaging app. Android requires all of these for any default messaging app. |
| Contacts | Knowing who to trust and showing names. Read only. |
| Notifications | Telling you about messages that passed screening. |
| Phone | Downloading picture messages on some carriers. Not used for anything else. |
| Call screening role | Silencing suspicious calls. Does not include call-log access. |
| Network state, wake lock, internet | Required by the picture-message (MMS) download path. No other network use in this version. |
Processors
The website is hosted by Vercel Inc. (United States). Google LLC processes analytics data on the website only if you accept cookies, and processes purchases through Google Play. KLIPY Inc. serves GIF and meme search results when you use the GIF button. The cloud second opinion, if you turn it on, sends the message text to Anthropic's Claude model through Vercel's AI Gateway; neither we nor Vercel store the text, and Anthropic does not train on it. Anthropic's own API terms govern its short-lived safety handling of what it processes.
Your rights
You can ask to see, correct, or delete any data we hold, and to receive a copy of it. Because the app keeps everything on your phone, deleting the app deletes the app's data; see Delete your data for the rest. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined in California law, and we will not treat you differently for exercising a privacy right. If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, our legal bases are contract (providing the messaging app), consent (analytics, the cloud second opinion and reports), and legitimate interest (fraud prevention and the free-tier counters); you may complain to your local supervisory authority. Data on our website is processed in the United States.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
The website treats a Global Privacy Control signal as a decline of analytics cookies. Browsers' older Do Not Track setting is honored the same way.
This website
textmenot.app uses cookieless page counts from our hosting provider and, only if you accept, Google Analytics. The full list, with retention periods, is on the cookies and analytics page.
Children
TextMeNot is not directed at children under 18 and does not knowingly collect data from them.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that matters, the app will show a notice before the change takes effect. The date at the top is the date of the latest version.
Contact
Questions about privacy: sms@replatformradar.com.