Stedora Privacy Policy

Who is responsible

Stedora is developed and operated by Fatih Kunak ("I", "me"). You can reach me at info@fatihgo.com. This page is hosted on fatihgo.com, whose own website analytics are described in that site's privacy policy; the app does not use them.

The short version

• Stedora detects a fall on your phone. The motion data is analysed on the phone and is never stored or sent anywhere.
• There is no account, no advertising and no analytics or tracking SDK.
• If a fall is not answered in time, the phone texts and calls the contacts you chose. The text contains your name, the time and a map link to where you are.
• If you pair a caregiver, they can see that you are okay, and during an alert where you are. Your location is deleted from the server when the alert ends.
• Heart rate from a smartwatch is read only if you connect it, and shared only if you switch that on.
• You can remove any caregiver, and delete everything the server holds about your phone, from inside the app.

What stays on your phone

• Your emergency contacts (name, phone number, relationship), stored encrypted on the phone.
• Your settings, your activity history (for example "false alarm" and "help requested" entries) and the last known location, kept so an alert can still say roughly where you were if a fresh position is not available.
• Sensor readings (accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer) are processed in memory to recognise a fall and are not saved.
• If you are a caregiver, phone numbers you save for the people you look after stay on your phone only.

Uninstalling the app removes all of this.

What is sent when an alert is not answered

After the countdown ends (or you press "I need help") the app sends an SMS through your phone to each emergency contact and calls your primary contact. This uses your own SIM and plan. The SMS contains your name (if you entered one), the time and a Google Maps link with your coordinates. Messages go from your phone to the contact; they do not pass through my server.

The app never contacts emergency services (such as 112 or 911).

Caregiver pairing (optional)

Pairing is off until you open it. If you use it, the phone registers with the Stedora server using a random identifier and a random secret (stored encrypted on the phone; the server keeps only a hash of the secret). There is no e-mail address, password or phone number.

• Always, once paired: the name you entered, the pairing links, your phone's battery level and whether monitoring is on (sent about every 15 minutes), and the time the phone last checked in.
• Only while an alert is open: your position (refreshed about every 15 seconds), the time the alert started, who acknowledged it ("on my way"), and your latest heart rate if you turned that on.
• For push notifications: a notification token issued by Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) to the caregiver's phone, so that the alert can wake it.

A caregiver sees only what is listed above about the person they are linked to. A caregiver cannot end your alert. Pairing codes are single-use and expire after 10 minutes.

Smartwatch heart rate (optional)

If you connect a smartwatch or band, Stedora reads heart-rate readings through Android Health Connect, with your permission. Readings are used to show the latest value in the app. If you switch on "Share heart rate during an alert", the latest value is sent to your caregivers while an alert is open and deleted with it. Stedora does not write health data (the debug build used for testing is not distributed) and does not use it for advertising or sell it.

Services involved

• Google Play services (location) to find your position when an alert starts.
• Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google) to deliver push notifications to caregivers. Google receives the notification token and message metadata. See Google's privacy policy.
• Android Health Connect (Google, on your phone) if you connect a smartwatch.
• The Stedora server, which stores the data listed above. It may run behind a network provider (for example a CDN or tunnel) that sees connection metadata such as the IP address. The server itself does not write IP addresses to disk; they are held in memory for abuse protection only. If the hosting provider changes, this policy will be updated.

How long data is kept

• Location and heart rate: deleted from the server the moment the alert ends, and in any case within 24 hours.
• An alert left open is closed automatically after 12 hours.
• Alert records (time, outcome; no location) are deleted after 30 days.
• A phone that has not contacted the server for 365 days is deleted with everything linked to it.
• Pairing codes: 10 minutes.

Your choices and rights

• Remove a caregiver, or stop watching someone, at any time (Settings → Caregivers).
• Turn off heart-rate sharing, or disconnect the watch in Health Connect, at any time.
• Delete everything the server holds about your phone: Settings → About → "Delete my data on the server".
• Ask me by e-mail for a copy of, or the deletion of, data about you. Because the server holds no name-and-address style identity, I may ask you to prove you control the phone (for example by showing a pairing code).
• If you live in the EU, UK or Turkey you have rights under the GDPR / UK GDPR / KVKK to access, correct, erase and restrict your data, and to complain to your data protection authority.

Security

Connections to the server use HTTPS. Contacts on the phone are stored encrypted. The server stores only a hash of each device secret, rate-limits pairing attempts and refuses access to anyone who is not linked to the person. No system is perfectly secure; please keep your phone updated and locked.

Children

Stedora is not directed at children and I do not knowingly collect data from children.

Important safety notice

Stedora is not a medical device and cannot guarantee that a fall is detected or that help arrives. It does not call emergency services. Please keep other safety measures in place.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, the app will say so and the date above will change.