Privacy Policy

About This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to the websites and apps developed and provided by Hinokoto Studio (collectively, the “Service”).

Privacy

Hinokoto Studio respects user privacy and strives to handle personal information and other user-related information appropriately.

Third-Party Services

The Service uses the following third-party services for advertising, usage analysis, troubleshooting, delivering in-app notices, displaying maps, checking for app updates, and service improvement:
- Google AdSense
- Google AdMob
- Google Analytics
- Firebase
- GSI Tiles (Geospatial Information Authority of Japan)
- App Store / Google Play (app update checks)

Our website uses Google AdSense and Google Analytics, and our mobile apps use Google AdMob and Firebase (Analytics, Crashlytics, Remote Config, and Installations). Some of our apps also use Firebase in their web and Mac versions. Firebase Remote Config and Installations are always active from the time the app is launched. Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics, depending on your region and the app version, are either active from launch or active only if you turn them on (see "Analytics" and "Crash and Diagnostic Information" below for details). In addition, apps with map features use GSI Tiles from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, and our mobile apps use the App Store or Google Play to check for updates (see "Communication with External Services" below for details).
In connection with the use of these services, information such as advertising IDs (Android only; we do not collect the IDFA on iOS), device identifiers, app instance IDs, approximate location information inferred from IP addresses, app and website usage data, crash information, device information, operating system information, cookies, and other information is automatically collected and transmitted to third-party service providers such as Google LLC.
The collected information is used for advertising and measuring advertising effectiveness, analyzing usage, troubleshooting, delivering in-app notices, and improving the quality of the Service. Details of the information collected by each service and its purposes are described in the sections below.
For information about how third-party services handle data, please refer to the Google Privacy Policy and the privacy policies and related documentation of the respective services.
Content you enter or save in our apps (such as favorites, viewing history, measurement records, timer names, and settings) is not sent to Hinokoto Studio or to any third-party service provider (see "Information Stored on Your Device" below for details).

Advertising

The Service displays advertisements using Google AdSense on our website and Google AdMob (together with its consent mechanism, the User Messaging Platform, or UMP) in our mobile apps.
To deliver these ads, information such as advertising identifiers (e.g., the Android advertising ID), cookies, device information, and approximate location inferred from IP addresses is automatically collected and transmitted to Google LLC. The collected information is used for ad delivery, measuring advertising effectiveness, and fraud prevention, and on our website also for ad personalization.
Our mobile apps always display non-personalized ads and do not use this information for ads based on your interests. In addition, on iOS our apps do not request permission through "Allow Apps to Request to Track," so they do not collect the advertising identifier (IDFA).
In regions where consent is legally required, such as the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, we obtain user consent through UMP (in apps) or the website's consent mechanism before collecting advertising-related data. Our apps request ads only after consent has been obtained, and our website displays personalized or non-personalized ads depending on the user's consent status and region. In other regions, we obtain consent or provide notice as required by applicable law.
Advertising-related information collected is retained for the period determined by Google and deleted in accordance with Google's policies. For details, please refer to the Google Privacy Policy.
Users can change or withdraw their consent, or disable personalized advertising, at any time through "Ad Privacy Settings" in the app's menu or settings screen (shown only in regions where consent is required), device advertising settings (such as advertising ID settings on Android), or Google Ads Settings.
Consent given or withdrawn through the app's "Ad Privacy Settings" (UMP) applies only to advertising-related data and does not apply to the collection and transmission of data by Firebase (Analytics, Crashlytics, Remote Config, and Installations). Collection by Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics is managed separately from advertising consent, through "Data Collection Settings" (see "Analytics" below for details).

Analytics

The Service uses Google Analytics on our website and Firebase Analytics in our apps to analyze how the Service is used.
These services automatically collect information such as page and screen views, user interaction events, device information, operating system information, and approximate location inferred from IP addresses, and transmit it to Google LLC. The collected information is used solely to understand how the Service is used, improve features, and investigate issues, and is not used for advertising or tracking. It is also not sold or provided to third parties for other purposes.
Firebase Analytics in our apps collects and sends information as follows, depending on your region and the app version:
- Versions with "Data Collection Settings," in regions where consent is determined to be required, such as the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, and Switzerland: Off by default. Information is collected and sent only if you turn on "Share usage analytics" in "Data Collection Settings" in the app's menu or settings screen, and you can turn it off again at any time in the same place.
- Versions with "Data Collection Settings," in other regions such as Japan: Collected and sent from the time the app is launched.
- Earlier versions without "Data Collection Settings": Always collected and sent from the time the app is launched, regardless of region.
Your region is determined by Google's consent management mechanism (UMP) in our mobile apps, and by your device or browser's region setting in web and Mac versions. In versions with "Data Collection Settings," nothing is collected or sent until the region has been determined (for example, at first launch).
What our apps send consists of screen views, events that Firebase collects automatically (such as app launches), and the fact that an in-app notice was displayed (the notice ID). We do not send what you enter or view in the app, such as search terms, the regions, companies, or stations you view, your favorites, or measurement values.
For Firebase Analytics in our apps, the retention period for user-level and event-level data is set to 2 months, and data older than that is deleted automatically (aggregated reports that do not distinguish individual users remain after this period; for details, see Google Analytics data retention). Information collected by Google Analytics on our website is retained for the period determined by Google and deleted in accordance with Google's policies.
On our website, you can disable data collection by using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on or by changing your browser settings.
In our apps, if you are in a region where consent is required and use a version with "Data Collection Settings," you can turn collection on or off at any time in that setting (if you use an earlier version, updating to the latest version makes this setting available). In other regions such as Japan, our apps do not provide a setting to stop this collection. If you do not want this information to be collected, please stop using (uninstall) the app.

Crash and Diagnostic Information

In our apps (excluding web versions), Firebase is initialized at launch, and when the app crashes (including native crashes) or a Flutter or Dart error occurs (including non-fatal errors from which the app continues running, such as a failure to retrieve notices or save settings), a report is automatically sent to Firebase Crashlytics.
The information sent includes diagnostic data such as the stack trace at the time of the error, app version, device model, operating system version, and memory usage, and does not include information that directly identifies you, such as your name or email address. This information is used solely to investigate and fix issues and to improve the quality of the Service.
Under Firebase's policy, crash reports (including stack traces and associated identifiers) are retained for 90 days, after which the deletion process begins (for details, see Privacy and Security in Firebase).
As with "Analytics" above, crash reports are sent depending on your region and the app version. In versions with "Data Collection Settings," in regions where consent is required, crash reporting is off by default, and reports are sent only if you turn on "Share crash diagnostics" in "Data Collection Settings." Turning it off stops future reporting and deletes unsent reports on your device.
In other regions such as Japan, and in earlier versions without "Data Collection Settings," our apps do not provide a setting to stop sending crash reports. In addition, we are unable to stop reports from a specific device even if you contact us. If you do not want crash reports to be sent, please stop using (uninstall) the app.

In-App Notices

Our mobile apps use Firebase Remote Config to retrieve notices, such as service disruption or maintenance announcements, and display them at launch.
To retrieve them, information such as an identifier issued for each app installation by Firebase Installations (instance ID), app version, operating system type, and language settings is transmitted to Google LLC. This information is used solely to deliver notices and is not used for advertising or tracking.
Collected information is retained for the period determined by Google (Firebase) and deleted in accordance with Google's policies.
Because retrieving notices is necessary for the app to function, there is no setting to stop it.

Use of Device Features

Some of our mobile apps use the following device features to provide their functions. Each feature is used only if you allow it on the operating system's permission prompt, and you can revoke permission at any time in your device settings (the related function will then be unavailable).
- Location (e.g., searching for nearby stations in Hinokoto Station Data): Used to find stations near your current location. Location information is used only on your device to match against data included in the app; it is not sent to Hinokoto Studio or to any third-party service provider and is not stored on your device. However, when the area around your current location is shown on a map, map images for that area are retrieved from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, so the displayed area is conveyed to it through that communication.
- Microphone (e.g., Hinokoto Noise Meter and Hinokoto Spectrum Analyzer): Used to calculate the loudness and frequencies of surrounding sound. Audio is processed in real time on your device and is not recorded, saved, or transmitted. Where an app can save measurement records, only numerical values such as measurements are saved, and they are stored on your device.
- Notifications (e.g., Hinokoto Timer): Used to schedule and display notifications on your device, such as when a timer finishes. Notification content is not sent externally.

Communication with External Services

In addition to the communications described in the sections above, our apps communicate with the following services:
- GSI Tiles (Geospatial Information Authority of Japan): Apps with map features (e.g., Hinokoto Regional Statistics, Hinokoto Company Data, Hinokoto Country Data, and Hinokoto Station Data) retrieve map images from GSI Tiles provided by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. In doing so, information included in ordinary network communication, such as the position of the map images for the displayed area (tile coordinates), your IP address, and the type of device, app, or browser, is sent to its servers. Location information obtained from your device's GPS or similar is not itself sent.
- App Store / Google Play: To check whether a new version is available, our mobile apps send the app's identifier and your device's country and language settings to Apple Inc. (App Store) or Google LLC (Google Play), for example at launch. This communication does not include what you enter or view in the app.
Information sent through these communications is handled in accordance with the terms of the respective providers.

Information Stored on Your Device

For convenience, our apps store information such as favorites, recently viewed items, measurement records such as noise levels, timer names and settings, and display and map settings on your device (or in browser storage for web versions). This information is not sent to Hinokoto Studio or to any third-party service provider, and Hinokoto Studio does not view or obtain it. Depending on your device's backup settings (such as iCloud or Google backup), it may be included in your own backups.
You can delete this information using in-app features (such as clearing history, removing favorites, or turning off the "Save viewing history" setting; available features vary by app) or by uninstalling the app. For web versions, you can delete it by clearing your browser's site data.

Management, Retention, and Deletion of Information

Information obtained directly by Hinokoto Studio through the Service will be appropriately managed to the extent necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected and will be deleted or anonymized using appropriate methods when it is no longer needed.
For information collected by third-party services, in addition to what is described in the sections above, the retention periods and deletion methods are governed by the privacy policies and other applicable terms of the respective service providers.
Through their device settings or settings provided by the respective services, users can withdraw their consent to advertising, change personalization settings, and disable analytics on our website. In regions where consent is required, analytics and crash reporting in our apps can be changed in "Data Collection Settings" in versions that have it; in other regions such as Japan, and in earlier versions, they cannot be stopped (see the sections above for details). Notice retrieval in our apps cannot be stopped.
Our apps have no accounts or sign-in, and do not collect information that directly identifies you, such as your name or email address. As a result, Hinokoto Studio cannot match information sent to third-party services (such as Firebase and Google AdMob) to a specific user, and is unable to fulfill requests to access or delete a specific user's information individually. This information is deleted when the retention periods described in the sections above expire. Information stored on your device can be deleted by you, as described in "Information Stored on Your Device."
If you wish to request access to or deletion of user information directly held by Hinokoto Studio (such as the content of your inquiries), please contact us through the contact page below.

Security Measures

Hinokoto Studio strives to implement reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorized access to, disclosure, alteration, or loss of information handled through the Service.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

Hinokoto Studio may update this Privacy Policy in response to changes in the Service, the third-party services we use, applicable laws and regulations, or other circumstances.
If significant changes are made, we will provide notice through the Service, our website, or other appropriate means.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how information is handled through the Service, please contact us through the Contact Us page.

Last Updated: October 10, 2026