Privacy Policy: ExplAInBits

Last updated: 19 October 2026

1. Who we are

“ExplAInBits” is a learning app made by ExplAInBits, a small independent project in Austria. You can use it in your browser at explainbits.com or as an Android app.

• Contact: office@explainbits.com
• Address: Siedlergasse 20, 7331 Kalkgruben, Austria

For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the controller for the limited data described below, as far as we process any, is ExplAInBits (owner: Hannes Biribauer).

2. The short version

• The app has no accounts, no ads, no analytics and no tracking.
• The app does not send your progress or any other data about you to us or to anyone else. We run no server for it.
• Your progress, settings and activity log are stored only in your browser or on your device. On Android, your device’s own backup to your Google account can include them (Android backup, see section 3).
• We do not know who you are, and we do not collect your name, email address, location, contacts, photos or device identifiers.

3. What is stored in your browser or on your device

The app stores the following:

• Progress: which levels you have finished, your stars and attempts per level, the badges you have earned, and the days on which you learned.
• Settings: language, light or dark theme, sound, vibration, reduced motion, and which welcome screens and hints you have already seen.
• Activity log: a list of what you did in the levels, for example which explanation cards you viewed and which answers you chose, each with the time. It holds only taps and choices from the app, never text you type elsewhere, and keeps at most the last 5,000 entries.

Where it is stored:

• Web version: in your browser’s local storage for explainbits.com. It stays in that browser on that device.
• Android app: in the app’s own private storage on your device.
• Android backup: if backup is switched on in your Android settings, Android can copy this data into your device backup in your Google account (stored in Google Drive) and restore it when you reinstall the app or set up a new device. When you move to a new phone, Android can also copy this data over directly. This backup is controlled by your own Android and Google settings; we have no access to it.

We never receive this data. The app needs it to remember where you are, so it is stored only to provide the service you asked for (§ 165 (3) of the Austrian Telecommunications Act 2021, TKG 2021). It is not used to track you.

4. When something leaves your device

Apart from the Android backup described in section 3, which your own Android settings control, data leaves your device only when you choose to send it:

• Exporting the activity log. In the settings you can export the activity log as a file (ailu-events.json). The web version downloads the file; the Android app opens your device’s share menu. If that does not work, the log is copied to your clipboard instead. Where the file goes from there is up to you. Only if you send it to us (for example as a tester) do we see it.
• Takeaway cards. At the end of a level you can save or share a takeaway card as an image. The web version downloads the image; the Android app opens your device’s share menu, and you choose where it goes.
• Source links. Sources in the app link to the websites they come from. When you open a source, it opens in your browser (a new tab in the web version) on the other website, and that website’s own privacy policy applies. You can also copy a source link to your clipboard.

5. Technical notes

• Loading the web version. When you open the web version, your browser loads the app’s files from our web server at explainbits.com. This creates the same server log entries as any other page of our website, described in our Datenschutzerklärung (privacy policy of the website, in German). The web version loads its files only from explainbits.com.
• No network use by the app. The app’s own code makes no network requests and sends no data. It contains no advertising, analytics or crash-reporting libraries and no third-party SDKs that collect personal data.
• Google Play. If you install the Android app through Google Play, Google processes data about the installation and your device as described in Google’s own privacy policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy). If you opted in to share usage and diagnostics data with Google, Google may give us anonymous crash and performance statistics through the Play Console. These statistics do not identify you.
• Feedback. If you send us feedback by email or through the contact form on our website, we use what you write only to improve the app and to answer you. We delete such messages once they are no longer needed.

6. How long data is kept and how to delete it

• Data in your browser or on your device stays there until you delete it.
• Web version: delete the site data for explainbits.com in your browser’s settings (for example “Clear browsing data” or “Cookies and site data”). This removes your progress, settings and activity log.
• Android app: uninstall the app, or open Android Settings, Apps, ExplAInBits, Storage, Clear data.
• Android backup: to stop it, switch off backup in your Android settings (usually Settings, Google, Backup; the path differs by device). Uninstalling the app does not remove a backup that was already made; you can delete it in your Google account (Google Drive, Storage, Backups; this deletes the whole device backup).
• Because we hold no app data about you, there is nothing on our side to delete for the app itself. Feedback messages and activity logs you sent us are deleted on request.

7. Your rights

If GDPR applies to you (for example, you live in Austria or elsewhere in the European Union or European Economic Area), you have the right to:

• ask whether we hold personal data about you and receive a copy (Art. 15),
• have wrong data corrected (Art. 16),
• have your data deleted (Art. 17),
• have processing restricted (Art. 18),
• receive your data in a portable format (Art. 20),
• object to processing (Art. 21),
• withdraw consent you have given, at any time (Art. 7).

To use these rights, write to office@explainbits.com. You also have the right to complain to the supervisory authority. In Austria this is the Datenschutzbehörde (Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Vienna, https://www.dsb.gv.at). You can also complain to the authority in your own country.

Legal basis: where we process the limited feedback data described above (including an activity log you chose to send us), we do so to answer you and to improve the app (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR) or on your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)).

Providing feedback or contact data is voluntary. If you do not provide it, the only consequence is that we cannot answer you. There is no automated decision-making and no profiling (Art. 22 GDPR).

8. Who the app is for

ExplAInBits is made for adults. It collects no personal data from anyone, including children. If you believe a child has sent us personal data (for example in a feedback email), write to office@explainbits.com and we will delete it.

9. Changes to this policy

If we change how the app handles data, for example by adding online features or purchases, we will update this page and the date at the top before the change goes live. The Google Play Data safety section of the store listing will be updated at the same time.

10. Contact

ExplAInBits – owner:
Hannes Biribauer
Siedlergasse 20
7331 Kalkgruben
Austria
office@explainbits.com