PermitReady Privacy Policy
Effective Date: August 6, 2026
Welcome
PermitReady is an educational app that helps teenagers study for their driver's permit exam. We built this app with privacy in mind—especially for teen users and their parents. This policy explains what information we collect (spoiler: not much!) and how we handle it.
The Short Version
- We don't collect your personal information. No names, emails, phone numbers, or accounts.
- Your study progress stays on your device. We don't have servers or databases.
- So does your driving hours log. You can send a copy to a parent yourself, but nothing is shared unless you choose to share it.
- We show ads through Google AdMob (unless you purchase the ad-free version).
- The ad SDK does track you. Google AdMob may use coarse location, device identifiers, and usage data to personalize ads and to track you across other apps and websites. That is separate from your log and study data, and it is declared on our App Store privacy label.
- The $4.99 ad-free purchase removes AdMob entirely, and with it the cross-app tracking.
What We Collect
Information Stored on Your Device
All your study data stays right on your phone or iPad. We use Apple's SwiftData to save:
- Quiz scores and history
- Study streaks
- How well you're doing in each category
- Which state you selected
- Driving sessions you log (date, duration, conditions, and any notes you add)
- Your permit test date, if you choose to save one
This information never leaves your device. We don't upload it anywhere, and we can't see it. The one exception is the driving log, which you can choose to send to someone else—that's explained below.
Sharing Your Driving Log
PermitReady lets you send a copy of your driving hours log to someone else—usually a parent or guardian who supervised the drives.
When you choose to share, the app writes your log to a file and hands it to iOS's standard share sheet. You pick where it goes: AirDrop, Messages, Mail, Files, or anywhere else you'd send a file.
- Sharing only happens when you start it. Nothing is sent automatically or in the background.
- The file goes directly to whoever you choose. It does not pass through us. We have no servers, so there is nowhere for it to go on our end.
- We never see the file or its contents.
- Receiving a log shows you a preview first. Nothing is added to your log until you confirm which drives to accept.
- Importing never deletes anything from your existing log.
This feature requires no account, no sign-in, and no internet connection.
How Driving Hours Are Recorded
Every drive in the log is typed in by hand—you enter the date, how long you drove, and the conditions. PermitReady does not use GPS, does not ask for location permission, and does not track where you drive or when. The app only knows what you tell it.
Notifications
PermitReady can remind you about your permit test date or nudge you if you've been away from studying. Notification permission is never requested when you first open the app—it's only asked after you've finished a quiz, and only if you tap "Remind Me." Reminders are scheduled locally on your device by iOS. We don't send push notifications, and we have no way to reach your device.
What TechSmog Doesn't Collect
These statements are about us, the developer. They are not about the advertising SDK, which is covered in the next section.
- We don't collect names, emails, or phone numbers
- We don't have user accounts or logins
- Your driving log and study data are stored only on your device and never leave it unless you choose to share them
- We don't run our own analytics on your study or driving data
- The app never asks for location permission and never uses GPS to record a drive
- We don't have servers or databases storing your info
Important distinction: the free version of PermitReady includes Google AdMob, and AdMob does collect data and does track across apps and websites. Two things are true at once: your driving log is genuinely private and local, and the ad SDK is a tracker. The section below explains exactly what AdMob does.
Advertising
Google AdMob
We display ads through Google AdMob to keep the app free.
Google AdMob may use coarse location, device identifiers, and usage data to serve personalized ads and to track you across other apps and websites, as declared in our App Store privacy label under "Data Used to Track You." This tracking occurs regardless of your login status.
Our App Store privacy label declares the following:
- Data Used to Track You: Location, Identifiers, Usage Data (collected by the AdMob SDK)
- Data Not Linked to You — Third-Party Advertising: Coarse Location, Device ID, Product Interaction, Advertising Data
- Data Not Linked to You — Analytics: Product Interaction
None of that data is your driving log, your quiz history, or your notes. AdMob collects ad-related signals from the device; it does not receive the contents of your log or your study progress, and neither do we.
App Tracking Transparency: iOS asks for your permission before an app can track you across other companies' apps and websites. If you decline, or if you have "Allow Apps to Request to Track" turned off in Settings, AdMob is not permitted to use your device's advertising identifier for cross-app tracking, and you will see less-personalized ads. You can change this at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
We don't control what Google collects—they operate under their own privacy policy.
Learn more: Google Privacy Policy
Removing Ads Removes the Tracking
You can purchase the ad-free version for $4.99 (one-time purchase). This does more than hide the ad banners.
- AdMob is removed from the app entirely. The ad SDK is not initialized, no ad requests are made, and no ad-related data is sent to Google.
- The cross-app tracking described above stops with it. With no AdMob in the app, there is no coarse location, device identifier, advertising data, or product-interaction data going to an advertising network.
- What remains is a fully offline app. No accounts, no servers, no third-party SDKs collecting anything—just your study data and your driving log on your device.
The purchase is processed entirely through Apple's App Store. We never see your payment information—Apple handles everything. We only store a simple yes/no flag on your device to remember that you've removed ads.
In-App Purchases
Our $4.99 ad-free purchase is handled by Apple. Here's what that means:
- Apple processes the payment, not us
- We never receive your credit card or payment details
- We only store a local flag on your device indicating your purchase
- No payment information is ever sent to us
Learn more: Apple Privacy Policy
Children's Privacy
PermitReady is designed for teenagers aged 15-17 learning to drive. Our app:
- Is designed for teens aged 15–17 preparing for their learner's permit
- Complies with COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act)
- Shows only family-safe ads approved by Google AdMob's policies
- Does not collect personal information from users of any age
Third-Party Services
We use two third-party services:
| Service | Purpose | Their Privacy Policy |
|---|---|---|
| Google AdMob | Displaying ads. Collects coarse location, device identifiers, advertising data, and product interaction. Used to track across apps and websites. Removed entirely by the $4.99 ad-free purchase. | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Apple App Store | Processing purchases | apple.com/legal/privacy |
Your Rights and Choices
Removing Ads
Purchase the ad-free version for $4.99 to stop seeing ads entirely.
Deleting Your Data
Since all data is stored locally on your device, simply delete the app to remove everything. There's nothing on our end to delete because we don't have your data. If you've already shared a driving log file with someone, that copy is theirs—you'd need to ask them to delete it, the same as any other file you sent.
Requesting Information
We don't collect personal information, so there's nothing for us to provide. If you have questions about what Google or Apple collects, please refer to their privacy policies linked above.
Data Security
Your study progress is stored locally using Apple's SwiftData framework, which is protected by your device's built-in security features (like your passcode or Face ID). Since we don't transmit or store your data on external servers, there's no risk of a data breach on our end.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. If we make significant changes, we'll update the "Effective Date" at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
For minor changes (like fixing typos), we won't necessarily notify you. For major changes that affect how we handle your information, we'll do our best to let you know through the app.
August 4, 2026: Updated to cover the driving hours log, the option to share that log with a parent or guardian, and test-date reminders.
August 6, 2026: Rewrote the advertising and "what we don't collect" sections so they match our App Store privacy label exactly. Earlier versions of this page said the app did not track you across apps or websites and did not collect location. Those statements were written about TechSmog and were inaccurate as a description of the Google AdMob SDK bundled in the free version, which does collect coarse location and device identifiers and does track across apps and websites. This page now separates what we do from what the ad SDK does, and explains that the ad-free purchase removes AdMob entirely.
Contact Us
Questions about this privacy policy? We're happy to help.
Developer: TechSmog
Email: [email protected]
Summary
We built PermitReady to help you pass your permit test and log the hours that come after, not to collect your data. Your study progress and your driving log stay on your device—we have no servers and we never see them. The one thing that does collect data is Google AdMob, the advertising SDK in the free version, which may use coarse location, device identifiers, and usage data to personalize ads and track you across other apps and websites. Purchasing the ad-free version for $4.99 removes AdMob, and the tracking with it.
Good luck on your test! 🚗
Last updated: August 6, 2026