Privacy Policy: Owser: Private Browser

In short: Owser has no accounts and no history, and we (Viorta) do not collect, receive or sell your personal data. What you browse stays on your phone until you clear it. The app is free and shows ads from Google AdMob on its own screens, never on the websites you open; AdMob collects some device data as described below.

Owser: Private Browser (Android, package com.viorta.owser)
Developer: Viorta. Contact: support@viorta.com

Information stored on your device

Owser keeps no list of the sites you visit. While you browse, it keeps in its private storage on your phone:

your open tabs, and the cookies, site storage, cache and form data that websites set, until you clear the session;
the list of open tabs (page addresses and titles), saved when Owser goes to the background so your tabs come back if Android closes the app on its own. The list is encrypted with a key held in the Android Keystore and, by default, needs your fingerprint, face or screen lock to be restored.

Tapping Clear, choosing Clear & exit, or swiping Owser away from Recents erases all of the above. You can also turn on Auto-clear in the background.

Owser keeps on purpose, until you uninstall it or clear its storage in Android Settings:

your settings, including your search engine, theme and lock options;
the Favorites you add;
the sites where you allowed all ads, and the filter lists you added;
which themes you unlocked, and how much Block Web Ads time is left;
the number of ads blocked today and an estimate of the data saved (a count, not a list of sites);
when the last ads were shown, so ads follow the limits described below;
your ad privacy choices, kept by Google's consent tool.

Files you download are saved to your phone's Download folder and stay there after you clear the session.

None of this is sent to us or to anyone else.

Websites, search and safe browsing

The pages you open are loaded directly from the websites you visit, which handle your data under their own privacy policies. What you type in the address bar goes to the search engine you picked (Google, DuckDuckGo or Bing) only when it is not a web address.

Owser browses with Android's system WebView, whose Google Safe Browsing feature checks the addresses you open against Google's lists of dangerous sites and warns you before a harmful page loads. Google describes how this works in its Safe Browsing privacy notice. Owser refuses pages with invalid security certificates, and denies websites' requests for your camera, microphone, location and similar permissions.

Block Web Ads

While Block Web Ads is on (each optional ad you watch turns it on for one hour, up to three hours), Owser blocks requests to known ad hosts on web pages using filter lists stored on your phone. A few ads can still get through. The lists are downloaded over HTTPS from the Block List Project about once a week, and from any list address you add yourself. Checking a page against the lists happens on your phone: the pages you visit are not sent to us or to anyone else.

Advertising (Google AdMob)

The app is free and shows ads from Google AdMob (Google LLC), only on Owser's own screens: a native ad on the New Tab page, a full-screen ad when you leave Settings or Downloads (at most once every 30 minutes), and an optional rewarded ad when you choose to turn on Block Web Ads or unlock a theme. Owser never places ads on top of or around websites, and you never have to watch a rewarded ad.

To serve and measure ads, Google's Mobile Ads SDK collects and shares with Google:

your Android advertising ID and app set ID;
your IP address, used to estimate an approximate location;
information about your device and the app, such as model, Android version and language;
interactions with ads, such as ads shown and tapped;
crash logs and diagnostics from the ads library.

Ads never receive the pages you visit or your tabs. Google uses this data as described in its privacy policy and in how Google uses information from apps that use its services. You can reset or delete your advertising ID, or opt out of personalized ads, in Android Settings under Privacy, Ads.

The app checks Google's consent requirements when it starts, and requests ads only when that check allows it. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, it shows Google's consent form first, and personalized ads are shown only if you agree. You can change your choice at any time in Settings, under Ads in Owser, Ad privacy options.

Permissions

Internet and network state, to load web pages, ads, Google's consent form and the Block Web Ads filter lists.
Storage, only on Android 9 and older, to save the files you choose to download. On newer versions, downloads go through Android's download manager without this permission.
Fingerprint or screen lock, through Android's own prompt, only when you turn on App lock.

Children

The app is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children.

We hold no personal data about you, so we have nothing to retain, share or sell. Your browsing data is protected by Android's app sandbox, which keeps other apps from reading it, and the saved tab list is encrypted on the device. Ad and filter list traffic uses HTTPS.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, laws such as the GDPR, the CCPA and Indonesia's Personal Data Protection Law (UU PDP) give you rights over your personal data, including access and deletion. Because we hold none, there is nothing for us to access, correct or delete: Clear erases your session, and uninstalling the app erases everything it kept. For data held by Google, use the controls described above or your Google Account.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version is published at this address with a new effective date. Significant changes are also mentioned in the app's release notes on Google Play.

Contact

Questions about this policy: support@viorta.com.