Privacy

Your privacy, plainly.

Binocle keeps your history and your progress on your phone. Here is what stays with you, what leaves, and why.

Updated: November 6, 2026

The essentials

No account, no ads, no advertising ID. No data is sold.
What you read, your quiz answers and your reviews stay on your phone.
Usage statistics, without your name or email, are sent from the first time you open the app, to learn what works in it.
If the app crashes, a technical report is sent so we can fix the bug.
The audio versions of the texts are downloaded when you listen to them: nothing about you is sent for that.
New texts arrive without an app update: the app asks for them at most once a day, without saying anything about you.

Who is responsible

The data controller is Sefiane Makhoukh, sole trader (micro-entreprise), 173 rue de Courcelles, 75017 Paris, France. Binocle is published under the name “plazane” on Google Play.

A question, a request: contact@athlom.net.

What stays on your phone

This information is kept in Binocle's private storage, on your phone. It does not leave it, apart from what the usage statistics below describe.

the subjects and the reading length you chose;
the texts seen, opened and read, your list of texts saved for later, your 👍 and 👎;
your quiz answers and your review schedule;
your settings: the language, the background sound, the speed of the voice, the time of your reading date, your daily goal of texts;
your streak: the days in a row with at least one text read, your best, and the texts read on each of the last 31 days;
the audio versions already downloaded, and the new texts received.

Everything is erased when you uninstall the app, or when you clear its data in Android's settings.

Android backup. If it is turned on on your phone (Settings › Google › Backup), Android copies your progress and settings to your Google account, so you find them on a new phone or after reinstalling. Google keeps this copy, encrypted, in your account: we have no access to it. Nothing used for statistics is copied, nor the audio versions or the texts received, which download again.

Android permissions

Binocle asks for only one: notifications (Android 13 and later), when you start the background sound or choose the time of your reading date. It is used for the notification that pauses or stops the sound when you leave the app, and for the reading date reminder, once a day at the time you chose, if you chose one. The voice reading a text keeps its controls in the notifications and on the lock screen when you leave the app; it stops when you close the text.

When the phone restarts, Binocle sets the reading date alarm again (a permission Android grants without asking). The reminder is prepared on the phone: nothing is sent for it.

Binocle does not access your location, your contacts, your microphone, your camera, your photos, or what is on your screen.

What leaves, and why

1. Usage statistics

They are sent from the first time you open Binocle, without a question. Binocle sends Google Analytics for Firebase what you do in the app:

the first opening, the two welcome screens, the subjects chosen, the preferred reading length and your daily goal of texts;
where the installation came from, as Google Play passes it to the app: the source, medium and campaign written in the link that led you to Binocle (for example “tiktok”, “partage” or “google-play”), nothing else;
the cards seen, skipped or saved for later, and the texts opened and read up to the quiz (which text, its subject, its level, its length);
your quiz answers (right or wrong) and your scores, your 👍 and 👎, the glossary words you open;
the tabs you tap, calm mode, the background sound chosen;
listening to the audio versions: when it starts, the speed chosen, how much was listened to, and the download (successful or not, and how long it took);
the review sessions finished (the number of questions and of right answers);
your streak (the number of days in a row, and whether the joker was used) and the daily goal reached;
the reading date (offered, turned on, changed, turned off, reminder sent or skipped), never its time;
a text shared, a mistake report or “Write to us” opened, never what you write;
the request to rate Binocle on Google Play (when it was offered) and the “Rate Binocle” button; Google does not tell us whether you rated.

Google adds what any measurement tool receives: an identifier specific to this installation of Binocle (not an advertising ID, which is turned off), the phone model, the Android version, the language, the approximate country, and session length. This data does not tell us who you are, but it is linked to that installation identifier: under the GDPR, it is pseudonymous, not anonymous.

It is only used to understand how the app is used and to improve it: which texts people like, where they drop off, whether reviews help. It is never used to show you ads: Binocle shows none, and ad personalization is turned off. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in measuring and improving the app. Retention: Google keeps the detail of each event for 2 months, and what is linked to the installation identifier for 14 months after you last use the app; after that, only totals remain, with no identifier.

Measuring our own ads. Binocle may advertise itself with Google Ads, outside the app. To know whether those ads work, Google Ads receives from Google Analytics the number of first opens, subjects chosen and first texts read that follow a click on one of our ads. These numbers are only used to measure and improve our campaigns: never to target you or show you ads, and they are not used to personalize ads.

There is no switch in the app to turn them off. You can object to these statistics by writing to us (see “Your rights”); since they carry neither your name nor your email, the only sure way to stop anything from being sent is to uninstall Binocle.

2. Crash reports

If Binocle crashes, a report is sent through Google Firebase Crashlytics. It contains the place in the code where it happened (the stack trace), the phone model, the Android and Binocle versions, and an identifier specific to this Crashlytics installation. Never what you read or your answers.

It is only used to find and fix bugs. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in making the app work. Crashlytics keeps reports for 90 days. Development versions send nothing.

3. Audio versions

The first time you tap the headphones on a text, Binocle downloads its audio version from Google Firebase Storage (servers in the United States), then keeps it on your phone: listening again downloads nothing. The request contains only the name of the file, nothing about you. As with any website or app, your IP address is seen by the server in order to answer. Legal basis: the legitimate interest of making the app work.

The voices are synthetic voices (Google Cloud Text-to-Speech), prepared in advance for each text: nothing you do in the app is sent to them.

4. New texts

Since version 1.0.1, Binocle checks at most once a day whether there are new texts or corrections, and downloads them from Google Cloud Firestore (servers in Paris). The request contains only the name of what is asked for (the list of published texts, then each bundle of texts): nothing about you, nor about what you have read. As with any website or app, your IP address is seen by the server in order to answer.

So that only the real Binocle app can read these texts, each request carries a Firebase App Check token. To issue it, Google Play checks with its Play Integrity API that the app is the one from Google Play and that it runs on a genuine Android device: for this it receives the app's name, version and certificate, its Google Play license status, and a device attestation produced by Google Play services. According to Google, this data is only used for that check, is passed to no one, and is deleted after a fixed retention period. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in making the app work and protecting its servers from abuse.

5. What you share yourself

“Share this text” and “Share my stats” open Android's share sheet: the title of the text and Binocle's Google Play link, or the summary of your reading, only go to the app and the person you choose. Binocle itself sends them nowhere.

6. If you write to us

“Report a mistake” and “Write to us” open your email app, with an email ready for contact@athlom.net: it contains the text concerned and the app version, and you read it before sending. We then receive your email address and your message, only to answer you and fix the texts. We keep them for the time of the exchange, then one year at most. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in answering and fixing the texts.

What we don't do

No advertising, no selling or renting of data.
No advertising ID.
No profile of you, no automated decision about you.
No account, no password.

Who receives data

Google (Firebase: Analytics, Crashlytics, Storage, Firestore, App Check and Hosting; Google Play for the Play Integrity check; Android backup, if you turned it on) processes the data described above on our behalf, under its data processing terms. Part of it is processed in the United States: these transfers rely on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, to which Google has signed up, and on standard contractual clauses. Google Play, through which the installation goes, applies its own rules. We pass this data to no one else.

Your rights

You can ask for access to your data, its correction or erasure, the restriction of or objection to its processing, and its portability. Write to contact@athlom.net: we answer within one month.

One detail: the statistics and crash reports carry neither your name nor your email. So we cannot find “your” data from your name; you start from scratch by clearing the app's data or reinstalling it.

If you think your rights are not respected, you can also complain to your data protection authority (in France, the CNIL: cnil.fr).

Deleting your Binocle data

What is on your phone: uninstall Binocle, or clear its data (Android Settings › Apps › Binocle › Storage › Clear data). Everything is gone at once, audio versions included.
Usage statistics: they are only linked to an installation identifier, never to your name, and Google erases them 14 months after you last use the app (the detail of each event, after 2 months).
Crash reports: they are only linked to a Crashlytics installation identifier, and are erased after 90 days.

Children

Binocle is meant for people aged 13 and over. We do not seek to collect data about younger children.

This website

This website uses no cookie, no script and no measurement tool. Its host, Google Firebase Hosting, keeps the usual technical logs of a server (IP address, page requested).

Changes

If what leaves the phone changes, this page will be updated before the new version of the app, with its date at the top.