Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 9, 2026
1. Who We Are
The AI Mechanic: Engine Sound Scan Android application (the "App") and the website checkengine.space (the "Website", together the "Service") are operated by Yurii I., an individual developer resident in Poland ("we", "us", "our"). We are the controller of the personal data described in this Privacy Policy under the EU General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR").
You can contact us about any privacy matter at contact@checkengine.space. We will provide our full name and postal address for formal requests on request. We have not appointed a data protection officer because we are not required to do so.
2. Summary
- We do not sell your personal data. The App does not show ads.
- Engine recordings you submit are sent to Google's Gemini API for AI analysis. We use the paid Gemini API, so Google does not use your recordings to improve its products (see Section 5). Record engine sounds only, not conversations.
- Analytics and advertising measurement on the Website run only after you agree in the cookie banner. You can change your choice at any time using "Cookie settings" in the Website footer.
- You can ask us to access, correct, export or delete your data by emailing contact@checkengine.space.
3. Information We Collect
3.1 In the App
- Identifiers: an app-generated user or installation ID and, if you sign in, the account identifier provided by the sign-in method you use.
- Vehicle information you enter, such as make, model, year and mileage.
- Audio recordings of engine or vehicle sounds that you choose to record or upload, and related metadata (time of recording, duration, file size, device model). The App uses your microphone only while you are recording. A recording can also capture voices or other background sounds.
- Analysis results, your scan history and any feedback you give on results.
- Terms acceptance records: the version of the Terms of Service you accepted and when.
- Purchase information: the product you bought, subscription and trial status, renewal and expiry dates, order and transaction identifiers, and store country. Payments are processed by Google Play. We never receive your card or other payment details.
- Device and usage data: device model, operating system and App version, language, approximate location (country or region) derived from your IP address, the features you use, session times and scan frequency.
- Crash and diagnostic data such as error logs and the state of the App when it crashed.
- Support messages you send us and our replies.
3.2 On the Website
- Server logs: when you visit, our hosting provider processes your IP address, browser user agent, the page requested, referring page and time of the request to deliver the Website and keep it secure.
- Analytics (only with your consent): pages viewed, clicks (including on Google Play buttons), scrolling and other interactions, referrer and campaign parameters, device and browser type, approximate location derived from your IP address, page performance and cookie identifiers. Amplitude Session Replay records a sample of about 10% of visits, capturing how the page looked and how you moved, clicked and scrolled. Text typed into form fields is masked.
- Advertising measurement (only with your consent): whether you arrived from one of our Google Ads and then clicked through to Google Play, using an ad click identifier.
- Your cookie choices, stored in your browser.
The Website does not offer accounts and does not record or analyze audio.
4. How We Use Information and Our Legal Bases
- To provide the App's analysis, scan history and paid features, including sending recordings and vehicle details to our AI provider and verifying your subscription. Legal basis: performance of our contract with you (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
- To keep the Service working and secure: crash reports, debugging, preventing abuse and fraud. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in a stable and secure Service (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
- To improve the App using usage statistics. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in understanding which features are used, or your consent where the law requires it. You can object at any time (see Section 10).
- Website analytics and advertising measurement. Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), which you can withdraw at any time in "Cookie settings".
- To answer support requests. Legal basis: our contract with you or our legitimate interest in responding to you.
- To keep records of Terms acceptance and purchases, and to meet legal obligations such as tax and consumer law, and to establish or defend legal claims. Legal basis: legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR) and our legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
We do not use your recordings to train our own AI models. The App's AI analysis is automated, but it is informational only and does not produce legal or similarly significant effects on you.
Providing vehicle details and recordings is voluntary, but the App cannot analyze a sound without a recording.
5. AI Processing by Google Gemini
When you request an analysis, the App sends your recording, the vehicle details you entered and our instructions to Google's Gemini API, which returns the AI-generated result.
We use the Gemini API through a Google Cloud project with an active billing account, which Google's Gemini API Additional Terms of Service treat as a paid service. For paid services, Google processes this content on our behalf to return the result and does not use your recordings, the details you enter or the results to improve its products or train its models. Google may keep prompts and responses for a limited period to detect abuse and meet legal obligations, as described in its terms.
Please record only engine and vehicle sounds. Avoid capturing conversations or other people, and do not enter personal information, licence plates or VINs in free-text fields.
If we change AI provider or the way your data is used, we will update this Policy.
Gemini API terms: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms
Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
6. Service Providers and Other Recipients
We share personal data only with the providers below, to the extent they need it to provide their services to us, or where the law requires.
- Google: Gemini API (AI analysis), Firebase (database storage, authentication and crash reporting for the App), Google Analytics and Google Ads (Website, with your consent) and Google Play (App distribution and payments). How Google uses information from sites that use its services: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
- Amplitude, Inc.: product analytics for the App and, with your consent, Website analytics and Session Replay. Website data is stored in Amplitude's EU data center. Privacy policy
- RevenueCat, Inc.: manages in-app purchases and subscription status (App user ID, purchase receipts and entitlement status). Privacy policy
- Vercel Inc.: hosts the Website and processes server logs. Privacy policy
- Authorities and advisers: public authorities when we are legally required to disclose data, and professional advisers bound by confidentiality.
- A successor: if the Service is transferred to another operator (for example a company we set up), your data may be transferred with it. We will notify you in advance.
We do not sell personal data. The only Website data that could count as "sharing" for cross-context behavioral advertising under some US state laws is Google Ads conversion measurement, which runs only if you opt in.
7. International Transfers
Some of our providers process data in the United States or other countries outside the European Economic Area. Where a country does not have an EU adequacy decision, we rely on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework for providers certified under it, or on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses. You can ask us for more information about these safeguards.
9. Data Retention
- Recordings, vehicle details and scan history: kept until you delete them in the App or ask us to delete your data. Deleted data is removed from our active databases within 30 days. Google may keep content sent to the Gemini API for a limited period under its terms (see Section 5).
- Purchase records: for as long as you have an active purchase or subscription, and afterwards for as long as tax and accounting law requires.
- Terms acceptance records and support messages: while you use the Service and afterwards until the limitation period for possible legal claims expires.
- Analytics and crash data: Google Analytics event data is kept for 14 months. Other analytics and crash data is kept only as long as needed to understand usage trends and fix problems, and is then deleted or aggregated so it no longer identifies you.
- Website server logs: kept by our hosting provider for a short period under its retention policies.
10. Your Rights
Under the GDPR and the UK GDPR you have the right to access your personal data, have it corrected, deleted or restricted, receive it in a portable format, object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and withdraw consent at any time without affecting earlier processing.
To exercise these rights, email contact@checkengine.space. We will respond within one month. We may ask for information to confirm the request is yours, such as your Google Play order number or the account you signed in with.
Deleting your data: you can delete individual scans in the App, or email us to delete all data linked to your App user ID. Uninstalling the App does not delete data stored on our servers, and deleting your data does not cancel a subscription. Manage subscriptions in Google Play.
Complaints: you can lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the EU country where you live or work. Our lead authority is the President of the Personal Data Protection Office (Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Danych Osobowych), ul. Stawki 2, 00-193 Warszawa, Poland, https://uodo.gov.pl. We would appreciate the chance to address your concern first.
US residents: depending on your state, you may have the right to know what personal information we collect, to access, correct and delete it, and to opt out of its sale or sharing for targeted advertising. We do not sell personal information. You can opt out of Website advertising measurement in "Cookie settings" or with a Global Privacy Control signal. You may use an authorized agent, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.
11. Children
The Service is not intended for anyone under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
12. Security
Data is encrypted in transit (TLS), and our providers encrypt stored data at rest. Access to personal data is limited to what is needed to run the Service. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If a breach affects your personal data, we will notify you and the supervisory authority where the law requires.
13. Changes to This Policy
We will update the "Last updated" date when we change this Policy. We will tell you about material changes in the App or on the Website before they take effect and, where the law requires, ask for your consent again.
14. Contact Us
Questions about this Policy or your data: contact@checkengine.space