Privacy Policy.

Merlions is a free mobile app and website (merlions.app) made by Testware Informatics America LLC (“Testware Informatics”, “we”, “us”), 5724 Green Street, 2nd Floor, Brownsburg, IN 46112, United States. This policy explains how personal data is handled when you use the Merlions app, visit merlions.app, or contact us.

Where privacy laws use these terms, Testware Informatics America LLC is the controller (or “business”, or “data fiduciary”) only for the small amount of personal data we actually receive, described in section 3. We have no access to the information you keep inside the app.

Contact for all privacy matters: hr@testwareinformatics.com, +1 317-777-8809, or by post to the address above.

This is the complete list of personal data that reaches us. The legal basis column applies where laws such as the GDPR and UK GDPR require one.

We don’t collect any personal data through the app itself, we don’t collect sensitive data, and we don’t combine data from other sources to build a profile of you.

Everything you put into Merlions is stored only on your device: the people you add and their details, notes, tags, interactions, follow-ups, appointments, your own business card, and your settings. We never receive it.

• The database is encrypted. Its key is created on your phone and kept in the iOS Keychain; it is never exported or sent anywhere.
• Reminders are scheduled as local notifications on your phone. By default their previews don’t show names or notes; you can change this in Settings.
• App Lock uses Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode through iOS. We never receive biometric data.
• Business card photos are read on the phone and deleted after you review the result. They are never stored or uploaded.

Because your data never leaves your phone, losing the phone, deleting the app or resetting the Keychain can mean losing your data, and we can’t restore it. Keep a backup: you can save a backup file or turn on Google Drive backup in Settings.

Merlions asks for a permission only when you first use the feature that needs it. You can refuse and still use the rest of the app, and you can change your choice at any time in iOS Settings.

You can use Merlions without Google. If you choose to connect a Google account, Merlions asks only for the access each feature needs, at the moment you turn that feature on. Google processes this data as an independent provider under the Google Privacy Policy.

• Data travels directly between your phone and Google over an encrypted connection. It never passes through or is stored by us.
• Sign-in tokens are kept in the iOS Keychain on your phone.
• You can disconnect Google in Merlions at any time, and remove Merlions’ access at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
• Merlions’ use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We don’t use Google user data for advertising, don’t sell it, don’t allow humans to read it, and don’t use it to develop, improve or train AI or machine-learning models.

We don’t sell, rent or trade personal data, and we don’t “share” it for cross-context behavioural advertising as defined by California law. Personal data only goes elsewhere in these cases:

• When you choose to: sharing your business card, exporting a backup or CSV file, or opening WhatsApp, email or phone to contact someone. iOS hands the information to the app you pick, and that app’s privacy policy applies.
• Our service providers for the website and email (web hosting and email hosting), who process data only on our instructions and under confidentiality and data protection terms.
• If the law requires it, for example a valid court order, and only to the extent required.
• If Testware Informatics is ever reorganised or sold, to the successor, who must keep honouring this policy. You would be told in advance.

Backup and export files are not encrypted today. Store them somewhere you trust.

Merlions is for keeping notes about people you meet. That information stays on your phone and we never receive it, so we are neither its controller nor its processor. If you use Merlions for business, you are responsible for having a lawful reason to keep that information and for respecting those people’s rights, as you would with any address book or notebook.

Data inside the app stays on your phone, wherever you are. If you contact us, your message is processed in the United States, where Testware Informatics America LLC is based. Where the law of your country requires safeguards for such transfers (for example the GDPR or UK GDPR), we rely on the transfer being necessary to answer your request, and on the safeguards our service providers offer, such as standard contractual clauses.

• Data in the app stays on your phone until you delete it. You can delete items one by one, or everything at once in Settings → Data. Deleting the app also deletes its data from your phone.
• Google Drive backups stay in the hidden Merlions folder in your Drive until you delete them. You can remove them in Google Drive under Settings → Manage apps → Merlions → Delete hidden app data.
• Files you exported or shared are under your control and aren’t affected.
• Messages you send us are deleted once they’re resolved, unless the law requires us to keep a record.

Wherever you live, you can ask us what personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, and get an answer in plain language. For data inside the app you can do all of this yourself, at any time, without asking us. Depending on where you live, you also have the rights below.

To make a request, email hr@testwareinformatics.com with “Privacy request” in the subject. We may ask for information to confirm it’s you, only enough to protect your data. We reply within one month (45 days for US state law requests), and tell you if we need longer as the law allows. Requests are free. If we refuse a request, we’ll explain why and how to appeal or complain.

California notice at collection: in the last 12 months we have collected only identifiers and the content of messages you sent us, and internet activity in server logs, for the purposes in section 3. We have not sold or shared personal information, and we don’t use or disclose sensitive personal information. We honour Global Privacy Control signals, although there is nothing on this website for them to switch off.

Merlions is a tool for work contacts and isn’t directed at children. It is not meant for anyone under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA and UK where the law sets a higher age of digital consent). We don’t knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal data, contact us and we’ll delete it.

We protect data on the phone with an encrypted database, a key stored in the Keychain, optional App Lock and private notification previews, and every change made by voice is shown to you before it is saved. Our website is served only over HTTPS. No system is perfectly secure; known limitations, such as unencrypted backup files, are stated openly in this policy. If a security incident ever affected personal data we hold, we would notify you and the authorities as the law requires.

The privacy details we give on the Apple App Store and in the Google Play Data safety section describe the same practices as this policy. Where a store counts the optional Google features as data collection, because data you choose to back up or sync goes to your own Google account, the label lists that data as optional and used only for app functionality. Merlions never uses data for tracking or advertising, never sells or shares it, and doesn’t track you across other companies’ apps or websites, so it never asks for tracking permission.

If we change how Merlions handles personal data, we’ll update this page and the effective date at the top. If a change is significant, such as a new kind of data leaving your phone, we’ll tell you in the app before it takes effect and, where the law requires, ask for your consent.

For any question, request or complaint about privacy, contact us and we’ll reply as soon as we can. You also have the right to complain to the data protection authority where you live, but we’d appreciate the chance to help first.

• Company: Testware Informatics America LLC
• Address: 5724 Green Street, 2nd Floor, Brownsburg, IN 46112, United States
• Email: hr@testwareinformatics.com
• Phone: +1 317-777-8809
• Website: www.testwareinformatics.com