Privacy policy

Who we are

FieldWork Sync is a web panel and an Android app for collecting data in the field: an organisation designs its forms in the panel, its team fills them in on their phones, with or without a connection, and the records reach the organisation when a connection is available.

In this policy, "we" means the operator of FieldWork Sync, published on Google Play as the developer of the FieldWork Sync app. You can reach us at [email protected].

Two kinds of data

It matters which is which, because it decides who you should ask about it.

• Account data is what we need to run your account: your name, email address and how you sign in. We decide how it is used, and this policy covers it fully.
• Field data is what an organisation's team collects with the forms: records, photos, signatures, positions, files. It belongs to that organisation. We store it, synchronise it and make it available to them, and we do nothing else with it. If you were the subject of a data collection, or you collect for an organisation, questions about that data go to the organisation first; we will help them answer.

What we collect

Your account

• Name, email address, organisation name and your language preference.
• Your password, stored only as a one-way hash that cannot be turned back into the password. If you sign in with Google instead, we receive your Google account identifier and email address, and no password is stored.
• For people invited to an organisation: who invited them and when.

Phones that sign in to the app

• The device name and model reported by the phone, the platform, the app version, and the IP address of its most recent connection.
• A sign-in token for the phone, stored on our side only as a hash.

Field data, on behalf of the organisation

• Whatever the organisation's forms ask for: text, numbers, dates, choices, photos, signatures, scanned barcodes and files.
• A GPS position, only when a form contains a location field and the person filling it in taps to record the position.
• When each record was collected and which account and phone sent it.

Keeping accounts safe

• Sign-in attempts: the email address used, the IP address, the time, and whether the attempt succeeded. We use these only to stop password-guessing.
• Server logs: IP address, time, the address requested and the browser's identification, used to keep the service running and investigate abuse.

Integrations the organisation sets up

• For API tokens, the IP address that last used each one. For webhooks, a record of each delivery attempt to the address the organisation chose.

What we do not do

• We do not show advertising, and there are no analytics or tracking scripts on the site or in the app.
• We do not sell or rent personal data, to anyone.
• We do not use field data for any purpose of our own, and we do not use it to train models.
• We do not read an organisation's field data, except when the organisation asks us to help with a problem, or the law requires it.

The Android app

The app asks for a permission only when a form needs it, and only at the moment it is used:

• Camera: to take the photos a form asks for and to scan barcodes.
• Location: to record a position when you tap to fill in a location field. The app does not track location in the background.
• Files: only the files you choose to attach.

What you collect is saved on the phone first and sent when there is a connection. Until then it exists only on that phone. After sending, the app keeps a short history of recent records for your reference. Signing out deletes everything the app stored on the phone, including anything not yet sent; the app warns you before it does.

The app also has a demo that works without an account. Nothing entered in the demo leaves the phone, and leaving the demo deletes it.

Cookies

The site uses two cookies of its own, and no third-party cookies:

• fws_sid: keeps you signed in to the panel. Without it you could not sign in.
• fws_lang: remembers the language you chose for the site.

The panel also remembers, in your browser's local storage, whether you left the side menu open or closed. That never leaves your browser.

Who processes it

We use a small number of service providers to run FieldWork Sync. Each one receives only what its part of the service needs:

• Contabo: the servers that run the panel, the API and the database.
• Backblaze: storage for photos, signatures and files, and a daily encrypted backup of our database. These are kept in Backblaze's United States (US East) region. The backup is encrypted before it leaves our server, with a key Backblaze does not have.
• Cloudflare: the network in front of the site, which protects it and delivers it, and which receives email sent to our addresses.
• Purelymail: sends the email the service needs, such as invitations to join an organisation.
• Google: signing in with Google, if you choose to, and distributing the app through Google Play.

Because of this, your data may be processed in countries other than your own, including the United States. We rely on each provider's data processing terms for those transfers.

We disclose data to anyone else only when the law requires it, and we will tell the organisation concerned unless the law forbids that.

How long we keep it

• Account data: for as long as the account exists.
• Field data: for as long as the organisation keeps its account. When an organisation closes its account, its field data and files are deleted within 30 days.
• Phones: device details are kept while the phone remains registered to the account.
• Sign-in attempts: 90 days, then deleted automatically.
• Server logs: 30 days, then deleted automatically.
• Backups: we keep a daily backup of the database for 30 days, then it is deleted automatically. A backup taken before you asked us to delete something still contains it, and ages out within those 30 days.
• On the phone: until the records are sent, and until you sign out.

Your rights

You can ask us to give you a copy of the personal data we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, or to stop using it. Much of it you can do yourself: your name, language and password are in your profile in the panel, and organisations can export their field data at any time.

To delete your account, follow the steps on Delete your FieldWork Sync account, which also says exactly what is deleted and what is kept.

For anything else, including deleting your account, write to [email protected] from the email address of the account. We answer within 30 days.

If your request is about field data an organisation collected, we will pass it to that organisation, because the decision is theirs. You also have the right to complain to the data protection authority where you live.

Security

• Every connection to the site, the API and the app is encrypted (HTTPS).
• Passwords, phone sign-in tokens and API tokens are stored only as one-way hashes.
• Access to the servers is restricted to the people who operate the service.
• The database is backed up every day. The copy that leaves our server is encrypted first, so that the backup is of no use to anyone who obtains it alone.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your data, we will tell you and the organisation concerned without undue delay.

Children

FieldWork Sync is a tool for organisations and their teams. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly create accounts for anyone under 16.

Changes

When this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. If a change affects how your data is used, we will tell account owners by email or in the panel before it takes effect.