Privacy Policy

Effective 30 October 2026

This policy covers Clean SMS (the "App"), an SMS app for Android made by Praveen Puglia (the "Developer"). Its source code is public on GitHub.

In short: your messages are read and organised only on your phone. The App has no internet permission, so it cannot send your messages, contacts or anything else to the Developer or to anyone else. The Developer receives none of your data.

What the App accesses, and why

• SMS and MMS (read, receive and send, as your default SMS app): to show, receive and send your messages. The App writes to Android's message store to save the messages you receive and send, mark them read, and delete messages when you ask it to or when you turn on automatic OTP deletion.
• Contacts (read only): to show names and photos next to conversations. The App never changes your contacts; "save contact" opens your contacts app.
• Phone state: to know which SIM cards you have, so messages show and send on the right SIM.
• Notifications: to tell you about new messages.
• Run at startup: so automatic OTP deletion, if you turned it on, carries on after your phone restarts.
• Battery optimisation exemption (asked during setup): so messages arrive without delay.

The App does not use your location, camera, microphone or accounts.

How your messages are processed

Everything happens on your phone: sorting messages into categories using their registered sender headers, finding OTPs, spotting operator spam labels, search, and matching sender logos against a list bundled with the App. No message, sender or contact is looked up online.

What leaves your phone

Only messages you choose to send:

• SMS you write, to the people you send them to.
• Spam reports to TRAI. When you choose "Report spam to TRAI", the App sends one SMS to 1909 from the SIM that received the message. It contains that message's text, its sender and the date, as TRAI's complaint process requires. Your mobile operator and TRAI handle it under their own policies.

Copying an OTP puts it on your clipboard, where Android's usual clipboard rules apply. Links such as this policy open in your browser.

What is stored, and where

• Your messages stay in Android's message store, which other SMS apps on your phone can also use. They stay there if you uninstall the App.
• The App keeps its settings, the messages you starred, and a cache of message categories in its private storage on your phone. Uninstalling the App or clearing its data removes them.
• If you turned on backup on your phone, Android may include the App's settings and starred messages in your Google account backup. That backup is managed by Google, not the Developer.

Deleting messages

You can delete conversations and messages at any time. If you turn on "Delete OTPs automatically", the App deletes OTP messages from your phone after the time you choose; starred OTPs are kept. Deleted messages cannot be recovered by the App.

What the App does not do

No analytics, no advertising, no trackers, no accounts and no sign-in. The Developer does not collect, sell or share personal data, because the App does not send any.

Google Play

If you install the App from Google Play, Google handles the download and may collect information under Google's Privacy Policy. Google gives the Developer aggregated statistics, such as install counts, and crash reports if you allowed your phone to share them. These do not include your messages.

Children

The App is not directed at children under 13, and it collects no personal information from anyone.

Sender Logos

Business sender logos and the list of registered sender headers are bundled with the App and matched on your phone. The App makes no network requests to identify senders, so no information about who sends you messages leaves your phone. You can turn logos off in Settings.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email praveenpuglia+playstore@gmail.com.