Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Kansel (“we”, “us”) operates the Kansel apps and this website, and is the controller of the personal data described in this policy.

For anything related to privacy, write to support@kansel.app.

2. The short version

• Your contacts are never uploaded. Kansel does not request the contacts permission.
• Your call history is never uploaded, and call audio is never accessed.
• We do not collect your location.
• The community list is downloaded to your device, and incoming calls are matched against it on the device.
• By default you use Kansel with an anonymous account. We only receive an email address or a name if you choose to sign in with Google or Apple.
• Payments are handled by the App Store or Google Play. Card details never reach us.
• We do not sell personal data and we do not show third-party advertising.

3. Data we process

Account identifier

When you first open the app, it creates an anonymous session: a random account identifier with no name, email address or phone number attached. If you choose to sign in with Google or Apple (required before sending a report or subscribing), we receive the email address and, where the provider shares it, the name associated with that sign-in. Apple lets you hide your real email address behind a relay address, which we accept. Signing in links to the same account identifier.

Spam reports you submit

When you report a number we store the reported phone number, the category you chose (marketing, real estate, loans, fraud or other), the time of the report, and the account that sent it. We also keep an internal trust score and a count of your reports, which are used only to weigh reports and detect abuse.

Subscription status

If you subscribe to Kansel Pro, we receive from Apple or Google the information needed to verify and maintain the subscription: the product, a store transaction identifier or purchase token, the status (trial, active, in grace period, expired, refunded), the expiry date and whether it renews. We never receive your card number, billing address or any other payment details.

Push notification token

If you allow notifications, we store the push token of your device together with its platform and app language, so we can notify the app that a new list is available and send service reminders in your language.

App language, platform and version

Requests from the app carry basic technical information: the app language, whether the device runs iOS or Android, and the app version. We use it to serve the right list format and to fix bugs.

Daily count of blocked calls (Android only)

On Android, the app sends one number per day: how many calls Kansel blocked on the device that day, optionally broken down by spam category. It never includes which numbers called, when they called or anything about calls that were not blocked. On iPhone this count does not exist, because iOS does not tell apps which calls it blocked.

App usage events

To understand which parts of Kansel work and which do not, the app records a small set of usage events: that the app was opened, that setup was completed, that the subscription screen was shown and from where, that a purchase was started, completed or cancelled, that a report or a “not spam” vote was sent (with its category, never the number), and that a number was checked (with the result, never the number). On Android the “app opened” event also carries how many calls Kansel warned about or blocked in the last seven days. These events are linked to your account identifier and are stored on our own servers and in Google Analytics for Firebase. They never contain a phone number, a contact, or anything about your calls, and they are not used for advertising.

Appeal form

If you submit an appeal on kansel.app or in the app, we store the number you are appealing, the contact you give us and the reason you write. To limit abuse of the form (five submissions per day), we compute a salted cryptographic hash of your IP address and store only that hash. We do not store the IP address itself, and the hash cannot be turned back into it.

Support email

If you email us, we process your email address and whatever you choose to include in the message in order to reply.

4. What we do not collect

• Contacts. Your address book is never read or uploaded. The app does not request the contacts permission.
• Call history. We do not read or upload your call log. We do not know who called you, whom you called, or when.
• Call audio. Kansel has no access to the content of any call.
• Messages. Kansel does not read SMS or any other messages.
• Location. We do not collect GPS or network location.
• Advertising identifiers. We do not use them: their collection is switched off in the app, the app never asks for permission to track you across other apps, and it contains no third-party advertising.
• Your own phone number. Kansel does not ask for it and does not need it to work.

5. How blocking works on your device

The community list of reported numbers is downloaded to your phone and refreshed periodically. When a call arrives, the operating system compares the caller's number with the list stored on the device: through the call-screening role on Android and through a Call Directory extension on iOS. This comparison happens locally. Kansel's servers are not contacted when a call arrives and never learn that the call took place.

Numbers you add to your personal block list are stored on your device only.

When you look up a number in the “Check a number” screen, that number is sent to our servers to return its status. We use it to answer the query and do not build a history of your look-ups.

6. Why we process this data

• To provide the service: maintain your account, deliver the community list, and activate Pro features after the store confirms a purchase (performance of our contract with you).
• To build and protect the community list: aggregate reports, weigh them by reporter trust, detect coordinated or malicious reporting, and handle appeals (our legitimate interest, and that of users and number owners, in an accurate list).
• To communicate with you: service notifications and replies to support requests (performance of contract; consent for push notifications, which you can withdraw in your device settings).
• To measure whether Kansel works and improve it: aggregate statistics such as the total number of calls stopped, and the usage events described above (legitimate interest).
• To comply with the law: where we are legally required to retain or disclose information.

We do not use your data for advertising profiles, and we do not make decisions about you that produce legal effects by purely automated means. Reports can automatically lower or raise a reporter's internal trust score; an account is only banned from reporting after repeated abuse.

7. Who we share data with

We do not sell personal data. We use a small number of service providers that process data on our behalf:

• Supabase hosts our database, authentication and server functions.
• Apple provides Sign in with Apple, App Store payments and subscription notifications, and delivers push notifications to iPhones.
• Google provides Google Sign-In, Google Play payments and subscription notifications, delivers push notifications through Firebase Cloud Messaging, and processes the usage events described above through Google Analytics for Firebase, with advertising features switched off.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to establish or defend legal claims. If Kansel is ever transferred to another company, this policy continues to protect the data that moves with it, and we will tell you beforehand.

The community list that is distributed to users contains phone numbers, a status and a category. It contains no information about who reported them.

8. International transfers

Our providers may store and process data on servers outside the country you live in. Where we transfer personal data across borders, we rely on the contractual safeguards those providers offer and limit the data to what is described in this policy.

9. How long we keep data

• Account data: for as long as your account exists. Anonymous accounts that are never used again may be removed after a long period of inactivity.
• Reports: for as long as they are relevant to the list. When you delete your account, your reports are detached from you and kept without any link to your identity.
• Subscription records: for the life of the subscription and afterwards as long as tax, accounting or dispute-handling obligations require.
• Push tokens: until they are replaced, you sign out, or you delete your account.
• Daily blocked-call counts: linked to your account while it exists; after that only aggregate totals remain.
• App usage events: for up to 13 months on our servers and up to 14 months in Google Analytics for Firebase.
• Appeals: for up to 12 months after the decision, so we can handle repeat requests consistently.
• Support emails: for up to 24 months after the conversation ends.

10. Deleting your account

You can ask for your account to be deleted at any time from inside the app: Settings → Account → Delete account (الإعدادات ← الحساب ← حذف الحساب). If you cannot access the app, follow the instructions on the delete account page.

When you confirm, you are signed out and the request is reviewed by a person on our team; the account is deleted within 7 days. Until then, signing in again lets you withdraw the request. We keep a minimal record that a request was made and how it was decided, without your email address once the account is deleted. Deleting your account removes your profile, your sign-in details, your push tokens, your daily counts, the usage events stored on our servers and the link between your store subscription and Kansel. Reports you submitted are kept without any link to you. Deleting the account does not cancel a store subscription: cancel it in the App Store or Google Play. Residual copies in backups are purged within 30 days at most.

11. Your rights

Depending on the data protection law that applies where you live, you may have the right to:

• know whether we hold personal data about you and obtain a copy of it;
• have inaccurate data corrected;
• have your data deleted;
• object to or restrict certain processing;
• withdraw consent where processing is based on consent, such as push notifications;
• complain to the competent data protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, email support@kansel.app from the address linked to your account. We answer within 30 days. If you use Kansel with an anonymous account only, we may be unable to identify your data without the account identifier shown in the app.

12. If your number appears on the list

A phone number can appear on the community list even if its owner has never used Kansel, because users reported calls from it. This section is for you.

What is stored about a listed number

• the phone number itself;
• a category (marketing, real estate, loans, fraud or other);
• report counts and a score derived from them, the dates of the first and latest report, and the resulting status (suspected or confirmed).

We do not store the name of the owner of a listed number, and we do not try to find out who the owner is.

Reporter identities are never disclosed

We do not reveal who reported a number, to the owner of the number or to anyone else, unless a court or competent authority lawfully orders us to.

How to appeal

If you believe your number was listed by mistake, submit the form on the appeal page. Every appeal is reviewed. If it is accepted, the number is removed from the list within 24 hours and disappears from users' devices with their next list update. Numbers of essential services and verified businesses can be placed on an allow list that always overrides reports.

13. Security

All traffic between the app, the website and our servers is encrypted in transit with HTTPS. Access to the database is restricted by row-level security rules, and administrative access is limited to the people who need it. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your personal data, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

14. Children

Kansel is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has given us personal data, email us and we will delete it.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the product evolves. The date at the top shows the latest revision. If a change materially affects how we handle your data, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.

16. Contact

Kansel. Email: support@kansel.app.