Last updated 2 November 2026
Privacy policy.
This policy covers the Citizenly app for iPhone and this website (citizenlyapp.co.uk). Citizenly is made by Ajay Odedara, who is the data controller. Questions about privacy: info@softwarechefs.com.
The short version
- No account. We never ask for your name, email address or phone number.
- Your study data stays on your iPhone. Your plan, progress, answers, bookmarks and settings are stored on the device.
- No ads, no tracking, no selling data. We don't use the advertising identifier and there is no tracking prompt.
- Crash reports are automatic and anonymous, so we can fix bugs.
- Usage statistics are off unless you switch on "Share anonymous usage" in Settings.
- Notes about a question are sent only when you press Send.
What stays on your iPhone
The app keeps the following on your device only: your study plan, test date and daily minutes; lessons you have finished; your answers, mistakes, bookmarks and flashcards; mock exam results and your streak; reminder, daily fact, widget, appearance and reading settings; and any question notes waiting to be sent.
Your Home Screen widgets and the mock exam Live Activity read a copy of the relevant settings and a queue of facts and questions through storage shared between the app and its widgets on the same device. Nothing in it leaves your phone. To let you find lessons from iPhone search, the app adds lesson titles to Spotlight, which Apple handles on the device.
Study reminders, daily facts and the evening-before-your-test reminder are scheduled on your iPhone. No server is involved, and they only appear if you allow notifications.
Using Settings, Delete all my data in the app, or deleting the app, removes all of this immediately.
What we receive
Only the following ever reaches us. None of it includes your name, email address, answers or anything you type, apart from the question notes described below.
| What | When | What it contains | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crash reports | Automatically, if the app crashes | Phone model, iOS and app version, what failed, the time, and an anonymous installation identifier. Sent through Google Firebase Crashlytics. | To find and fix crashes. |
| Anonymous usage statistics | Only if you turn on "Share anonymous usage" | Simple counts: onboarding finished (and whether daily facts were chosen), a lesson finished, a mock finished (passed or not, and the score), a daily fact opened, and which screen is showing. Fixed event names only, no free text. Sent through Google Firebase Analytics. | To see what to improve. |
| Question notes | Only when you press Send on a report | Your message, its category, whether it came from practice or a mock, the question and its text, app and iOS version, and the time. No account or device identifier. Stored in Google Firebase. | To correct or improve questions. |
| Update check | When the app opens | The app reads one small public document to see whether a newer version exists. Like any internet request, the server can see your IP address; we don't store it. | To tell you about updates. |
| Natural voice download | Only if you choose to download it | A voice file downloaded from Hugging Face. Hugging Face can see the request and your IP address; we receive nothing. | An optional, more natural read-aloud voice. |
Our legal basis (UK GDPR): crash reports are in our legitimate interest of keeping the app working; usage statistics and question notes are based on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time (turn off the Settings switch, or simply don't send notes).
Who handles your data
Google (Firebase) processes crash reports, usage statistics, question notes and update information for us. Hugging Face serves the optional voice download. Apple provides the App Store, notifications and Spotlight on your device. Our website is hosted by Vercel. Some of these providers may process data outside the UK, for example in the United States or European Union, under safeguards such as standard contractual clauses and the UK data bridge.
How long we keep it
Google keeps crash reports for 90 days and usage statistics for 2 months, which are Firebase's standard settings. Question notes are kept while we use them to improve the questions and are deleted when they are no longer needed. Data on your phone stays until you delete it.
What we don't do
We don't show ads, we don't track you across other apps or websites, we don't sell or share your data with advertisers or data brokers, and we don't use your location, contacts, photos, camera or microphone.
Your choices and rights
- Turn usage statistics on or off in Settings, Privacy.
- Turn notifications off in the iPhone's Settings, Notifications.
- Delete everything on your phone with Settings, Delete all my data.
- Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct or delete personal data we hold about you, to object to its use, and to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk). Because we hold no account and the data above is anonymous, we usually can't tell which records are yours. If you wrote us a note and want it removed, email us with its wording and we will delete it.
Children
Citizenly is made for adults preparing for the Life in the UK test. It is not aimed at children, and we don't knowingly collect personal data from them. The only optional data sharing is the usage-statistics switch, which is off by default; if you are under 13, please ask a parent before turning it on.
This website
This website has no accounts, no advertising and no analytics cookies. When you sit a mock test, your answers are sent to our server to be marked and aren't linked to you. While a test is open, your answers are kept in your browser's session storage so a refresh doesn't lose them; this is deleted when you finish or close the tab. Your theme choice and whether you closed the small app panel are saved in your browser's local storage. Our host, Vercel, keeps standard server logs (including IP addresses) for security and reliability.
Changes
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use your data, we will tell you in the app.