Nook — Privacy Policy

Nook is a home Wi-Fi checker for iPhone and Android phones: it tests rooms, compares them on a simple floor plan, lists the devices on your network and, with Nook Plus, offers a VPN. This policy explains what leaves your phone when you use Nook, why, and how long it is kept. "We" means the publisher of Nook, shown as the seller or developer on Nook's App Store and Google Play pages. On Android, when the phone's language is Russian, Nook is shown as "Happ VPN Proxy"; this policy covers it under either name.

Nook itself has no accounts, no advertising and no third-party analytics or tracking code; the third-party payment pages described under "Russian-language payments on Android" are run by their own provider. We do not sell personal information and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

What stays on your phone

Your rooms, floor plan, room test results and history, and the names you give devices.
Your answers in the first-run questions and whether you have finished them.
The VPN settings and server credentials Nook installs when you turn the VPN on (on iPhone in the iOS Keychain and VPN settings; on Android in the system VPN profile, which Nook removes when you disconnect).

Nook stores these only on your phone. They are not uploaded to us and are excluded from device backups on Android, so we cannot see or restore them. Deleting the app removes them from your phone.

Devices on your network

When you scan for devices, Nook looks for devices that announce themselves on your current Wi-Fi (for example printers, speakers and TVs). On iPhone, iOS first asks for your permission to use the local network. The results stay on your phone and are never sent to us. Nook does not read your Wi-Fi network's name or your location.

Room tests

A room test measures the connection between your phone and the Nook server at nookapp.cloud. Your phone times a few small requests, downloads up to about 17.5 MB of random test data and uploads up to about 7.5 MB of random test data. The test data carries no information about you.

To answer these requests our server necessarily receives your public IP address. To keep the service fair and protect it from abuse, the server counts how many tests and how many bytes come from each address (an IPv4 address or an IPv6 /64 network) over the last hour. These counters exist only in the server's working memory, are not written to disk or logs, and are discarded within one hour. The test results themselves are calculated and kept on your phone only.

Nook Plus purchases

On iPhone, purchases are made and processed by Apple through the App Store under your Apple Account. On Android, purchases are made and processed by Google through Google Play under your Google Account. We never receive your payment details, name, e-mail address or account details. Nook reads your subscription status from the store on your phone to unlock Nook Plus.

Nook VPN (Nook Plus)

When you connect the VPN, Nook first loads the list of available servers from our server; this request carries no personal information. To get credentials for the server you pick, Nook sends our server proof of your Nook Plus purchase: on iPhone, the App Store's signed record of your subscription, which the server checks with Apple's signature; on Android, the Google Play purchase token and product, which the server checks with Google Play. The server uses this proof only to confirm that you have Nook Plus. To limit abuse, the server keeps a one-way hash of the subscription's original transaction identifier (iPhone) or of the purchase token (Android) and a keyed one-way hash of your IP address (or IPv6 /64 network), together with the time and the server you chose. The server deletes these records once they are more than 30 days old, as part of handling later VPN connection requests.

While the VPN is connected, your internet traffic travels encrypted to the VPN server you picked and continues to the internet from there. The Nook app and our server do not receive or record the websites you visit or the content of your traffic. Like any VPN or network server, the VPN server handles the technical connection data it needs to carry your traffic, such as the address you connect from and the amount of data transferred.

Russian-language payments on Android

When Nook runs in Russian on Android (the phone's first language, or the language chosen for Nook, is Russian), where it is shown as "Happ VPN Proxy", the first-run screen and the Nook Plus buttons open a payment and account service run by a third-party provider (the "Wata" service, served from the provider's own websites) inside Nook. There you can buy a VPN profile from that provider and set it up in a separate VPN app of your choice, or come back later to the profile you bought. This service is not Nook Plus: buying there does not change Nook Plus or unlock Nook's own VPN, and you can leave it at any time and keep using Nook's free features.

To find an available provider website, Nook asks each one for its status; this request carries no personal information. Nook then opens the provider's page with Nook's app name and your language.
The provider's pages, and the bank or payment pages they open, collect what you enter there (for example an e-mail address or payment details) and use their own cookies, analytics and support chat under the provider's own terms and privacy policy. Nook does not receive, read or store your payment details, the profile or link you buy, or anything you enter on those pages.
The provider's cookies and site data stay on your phone in Nook's web storage, so the provider can recognize you when you return. Deleting Nook or clearing its storage removes them.
If you choose to pay in your bank's app, or to add the bought profile to another app, Nook hands that link to the app you chose, whose own terms then apply.

Usage information

Nook sends limited usage information to our service: screens viewed, options and subscription plans selected, and purchase or restore outcomes. This information includes language, platform, app version and a temporary random identifier. We use it to understand and improve the app. These records do not include your name, e-mail address, Apple Account, Google Account, advertising identifier or device identifier.

Our servers and providers

Our server and these pages run on hosting and content-delivery providers that process network data, such as IP addresses, to deliver and protect the service. They act on our behalf and do not use this data for their own advertising. Apple processes App Store purchases under Apple's own privacy policy, and Google processes Google Play purchases under Google's own privacy policy. On Android, the Google Play Billing Library that Nook uses to read and make purchases also sends Google technical diagnostics about its own operation, such as whether a billing request succeeded, connection problems, the phone model, Android version, language, region and network type; Google uses them to run and improve Google Play billing under its own privacy policy.

Support messages

If you write to us through the support page, we receive the name (optional), e-mail address, subject and message you enter. We use them only to answer you and keep them while we handle your request and for as long as needed to follow up on it.

Your choices and rights

You can use room tests, device lists and the floor plan without Nook Plus and without the VPN.
On Android in Russian, you can close the provider's payment pages at any time; Nook's free features stay available.
On iPhone, you can deny or later turn off Local Network access in iOS Settings; device scanning then stops.
You can disconnect or remove the VPN at any time in the app or in your phone's VPN settings.
You can cancel Nook Plus at any time in your Apple Account subscription settings (iPhone) or in Google Play under Payments & subscriptions (Android).

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct or delete personal information about you, to object to or restrict its use, and to complain to a data protection authority. Because Nook has no accounts, we hold very little that can be linked to you; to make a request or ask a question, write to us through the support page.

Children

Nook is a general-audience utility. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

If Nook's data practices change, we will update this policy on this page before the change takes effect in the app.