Privacy policy for German Citizenship Explained

At a glance

• No user account: German Citizenship Explained does not run an account system of its own.
• No ads, no tracking and no third-party analytics tools.
• Your content is stored on your device and, if you back it up, in your device backups. We never receive a copy.
• As a rule, we only receive personal data when you send us an email.

This privacy policy applies to the app “German Citizenship Explained.” Our general privacy policy applies when you visit our website. Below, we explain which data is processed and when, on which legal basis, and what rights you have. This is how we meet our information obligations under Art. 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Controller

The controller responsible for data processing in connection with the app “German Citizenship Explained” within the meaning of the GDPR is:

We are not legally required to appoint a data protection officer. For any questions about privacy, you can reach us directly at info@aploapps.com.

What the app processes

The app works fully offline and requires no registration. We ourselves receive no personal data through the app, use no tracking and show no ads. Up to version 1.5, the app’s name on the App Store is “Der Einbürgerungstest App”; the app’s privacy policy applies to every version.

• Your learning progress, saved questions, incorrectly answered questions, test results and settings⁠—such as your federal state⁠—are stored locally on your device; if you back up your device, they may also be included in those backups.
• PDF exports of your results (Premium) are created on your device. Whether and with whom you share them is entirely up to you.
• Translation (on iOS 18 or later): you can translate questions and answers with Apple’s translation feature (the Translation framework). The translation happens on your device; the app doesn’t send any text to us or to other providers for it. If a language isn’t installed yet, iOS offers a one-time download of its language pack from Apple; Apple’s terms and privacy policy apply to that download.
• From version 1.6, Premium is also available as a one-time purchase, in addition to the monthly subscription; the section “Downloads and purchases” applies to both. If you share a one-time purchase through Apple’s Family Sharing, Apple manages the sharing; we receive no information about your family members.
• The app contains no ads and no third-party analytics or tracking services.

Legal bases: The app processes your content and settings on your device; we have no access to them ourselves. To the extent we are the controller of this processing within the meaning of the GDPR, the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR: the processing is necessary to provide the app’s features to you under the license agreement for the app. This also covers the reminders you set up and checking through StoreKit whether a purchase is valid. Storing your content and settings on your device, and the app reading that information, is permitted without consent under Section 25(2) no. 2 of the German Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act (TDDDG), because it is strictly necessary for us to provide the app you explicitly want to use.

Permissions on your device

For some features, German Citizenship Explained asks for access to parts of your device:

• Notifications⁠—for reminders

These permissions are granted through the operating system’s standard prompt. You decide whether to allow them and can revoke them at any time in your device’s Settings. The app uses any access you grant only for the feature concerned.

Downloads and purchases

You download German Citizenship Explained from Apple’s App Store. Apple is responsible for downloads, your Apple Account and payment. German Citizenship Explained offers Premium, an optional subscription with additional features.

Purchase, payment, renewal, cancellation and refunds are handled entirely by Apple through the App Store. We never receive payment details such as card or bank information, nor the names or contact details of buyers. The app merely checks through Apple’s purchase interface (StoreKit) whether a purchase is valid in order to unlock the relevant features. Apple provides us with aggregated sales reports that do not identify individuals.

Apple’s terms and Privacy Policy⁠(opens in a new tab) apply to processing by Apple.

Crash reports and statistics from the stores

If you have agreed on your device to share analytics with app developers, Apple provides us with crash reports and usage statistics for German Citizenship Explained. This data is collected and processed by Apple; according to Apple, the data developers receive does not identify you personally (Device Analytics & Privacy⁠(opens in a new tab)). We cannot link it to any individual ourselves and use it solely to fix bugs and improve the stability of the app. You decide in your device’s analytics settings whether to share data with developers and can change this at any time; Apple explains how at the same link.

Support by email

When you email us at info@aploapps.com⁠—for example with a question about German Citizenship Explained or a privacy request⁠—we process your email address, your name (if provided) and the content of your message, including any details you choose to share, such as your device model, system version or screenshots. We use this data only to handle your request and reply to you.

The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR where your request relates to the use of our apps or a purchase, and otherwise Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest is answering inquiries. We handle requests concerning your data protection rights to meet our legal obligations (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR).

We keep your message only for as long as we need it to handle your request and any follow-up questions, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. If an email becomes part of the records we must keep under tax law, the statutory retention periods apply, in particular under Section 147 of the German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung, AO): six years for business letters received and copies of those sent, eight years for accounting vouchers such as invoices, and ten years for books and records. The legal basis for this retention is Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR. While only a statutory retention obligation remains, we block the data from any other use. Once neither a purpose nor a legal obligation remains, we delete it.

Our mailbox

Emails to info@aploapps.com arrive in our Microsoft 365 mailbox. The provider is Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited, One Microsoft Place, South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, Ireland (“Microsoft”). Microsoft stores and transmits your messages and our replies on our behalf (data processing under Art. 28 GDPR), under the Microsoft Customer Agreement and Microsoft’s Data Protection Addendum⁠(opens in a new tab). We buy the service through GoDaddy; under GoDaddy’s terms, it is subject to the Microsoft Customer Agreement, including its data protection terms. The legal bases are the same as for handling your request.

Under its Data Protection Addendum, Microsoft also processes certain data for its own business operations incident to providing the service, such as billing and account management, internal reporting and financial reporting. Microsoft is an independent controller for this processing; according to Microsoft, it does not access the content of the mailbox for these purposes and does not use the data for profiling or advertising.

GoDaddy provides the authoritative DNS services for our domain aploapps.com, which among other things route email sent to our address to Microsoft, and is involved in provisioning and administering our Microsoft 365 account. Which data GoDaddy processes in this context, and in which data protection role, depends on the services booked and the account configuration.

Microsoft stores the contents of our mailbox (messages and attachments) only in data centers in the EU. Even so, personal data may also be transferred to the United States and to other countries outside the EU and EEA in which Microsoft or its subprocessors operate. Under Microsoft’s Data Protection Addendum, such transfers are subject to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses between Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited and Microsoft Corporation (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR). In addition, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond (USA), is certified under the EU-⁠U.S. Data Privacy Framework⁠(opens in a new tab), so transfers to it are also covered by the European Commission’s adequacy decision (Art. 45 GDPR). For more information, see Microsoft’s privacy statement⁠(opens in a new tab).

Data security

Content in the app is protected by your device’s built-in encryption. We do not run a server of our own that stores app content.

We hold personal data ourselves only in the emails you send us. We access our mailbox only over encrypted connections.

How long data is kept

• Content in the app: stays on your device until you delete it in the app or delete the app.
• Device backups: If you back up your device, for example with iCloud Backup or to a computer, those backups can also contain copies of the app’s data (for iCloud Backup, see Apple’s information⁠(opens in a new tab)). These copies remain until the backup concerned is replaced or deleted. You manage your backups yourself; we have no access to them (see Delete your data: Einbürgerungstest).
• Emails: we keep them only for as long as your request requires; where statutory retention obligations apply, until the relevant period ends (see Support by email).
• App Store data: Apple decides how long it keeps data about downloads and purchases.

Deleting your data

We explain step by step how to delete German Citizenship Explained data on your device, and how to ask us to delete any data we hold, on the page Delete your data: Einbürgerungstest.

Your rights

Where we process personal data about you, the GDPR gives you the right to:

• access the data we process about you (Art. 15 GDPR)
• rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data (Art. 16 GDPR)
• erasure of your data (Art. 17 GDPR)
• restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
• data portability⁠—receiving your data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (Art. 20 GDPR)
• withdraw any consent you have given, with effect for the future (Art. 7(3) GDPR)

To exercise your rights, simply send an informal email to info@aploapps.com. Because most data in the app lives on your device or in your device backups, you can often view and delete it yourself⁠—the page Delete your data: Einbürgerungstest explains how.

Right to lodge a complaint

If you believe that the processing of your personal data infringes the GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR)⁠—in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement. The authority responsible for us is:

Further information

No obligation to provide data

You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide us with personal data. Without your email address, however, we cannot reply to you.

No automated decision-making

We do not use automated decision-making, including profiling, within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR.

Changes to this privacy policy

We update this privacy policy whenever German Citizenship Explained, the stores through which we offer the app or the legal requirements change. The version currently published on this website applies; you can see when it was last changed under “Last updated” at the top. This privacy policy is also available in German; both versions have the same content.