Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 17, 2026

EastEcho is an audio travel guide for exploring places in China. This policy explains how EastEcho ("we", "us", or "our") handles information when you use the app, this website, or contact our support team.

Contact us

For questions, privacy requests, or concerns about this policy, contact EastEcho at support@eastecho.app.

Information we collect

• Account information. If you sign in with Apple or Google, we receive the sign-in identifier and, where provided by that service, your name, email address, and profile image. If you register with email, we receive the email address and account information you provide. Password authentication is handled by Firebase Authentication; EastEcho does not store your password in readable form. We use account information to create and maintain your EastEcho account.
• App content and activity. We store information needed to provide account features, including saved stories, likes, listening history, account preferences, and purchase entitlements.
• Location data. With your permission, the app accesses your location while you use map and nearby-place features. Location can be sent to our service to find relevant nearby places. EastEcho does not request background-location permission.
• Purchase information. When you buy content, Apple App Store or Google Play processes the payment. We receive transaction and entitlement information needed to verify the purchase and give you access; we do not receive or store your full payment-card details.
• Usage, device, and diagnostic information. We collect app events, a generated installation identifier, device model, operating-system version, app version, and diagnostic information such as crash reports. This helps us understand app reliability and feature use.
• Support communications. If you email us, we collect the information in your message and the contact details you provide so that we can respond.

How we use information

• Operate the app, authenticate you, and sync account-based features across devices;
• Provide maps, nearby recommendations, audio stories, and saved content;
• Verify purchases, prevent misuse, and provide purchase-related support;
• Maintain, secure, troubleshoot, and improve EastEcho; and
• Respond to questions, feedback, and data-rights requests.

We do not sell your personal information or use it for third-party targeted advertising.

Google user data and Limited Use

If you choose to sign in with Google, EastEcho receives your Google account identifier, name, email address, and profile image through Google Sign-In. We use this information only to create and authenticate your EastEcho account, display your profile in the app, and keep your saved stories, listening history, and purchases associated with your account. We store it in Google Firebase Authentication and on our servers.

We do not sell Google user data, do not use it for advertising, and do not share it with third parties except the service providers that host and operate EastEcho for us, or where required by law. You can delete this information by deleting your EastEcho account as described below.

EastEcho's use of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Legal bases for EEA, UK, and Swiss users

If you are in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we process your personal information only where a lawful basis applies. We process account, service, and purchase information to provide the Service and perform our agreement with you. We process optional location information with your consent when you choose to use the relevant permission-based feature. We process security, diagnostic, and limited usage information for our legitimate interests in keeping EastEcho reliable, secure, and useful. We may also process or retain information when necessary to meet legal obligations or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Permissions and your choices

Location access is optional. You can decline or later change this permission in your device settings. If you do, nearby results or the current-location map feature may not work. You can use the rest of the app without granting location access.

Service providers and sharing

We share information only as needed to operate EastEcho, provide a feature you request, comply with law, or protect our rights and users. Our providers include Apple and Google for sign-in and app-store purchases; Google Firebase for authentication, analytics, and crash reporting; Google Maps for map functionality; and infrastructure providers that host our app services. These providers may process information under their own privacy terms. We do not permit them to use data from EastEcho for their own independent marketing.

Retention and deletion

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described here, including maintaining your account, resolving support issues, preventing fraud, and meeting legal or accounting obligations.

You can request deletion of your EastEcho account and associated data through our account deletion page. Account deletion from the app normally takes effect immediately. We complete requests submitted by email within 30 days. Residual copies may remain in encrypted backups for up to 90 days before being overwritten.

Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live and subject to applicable law, you may have the right to ask us to access, correct, delete, or receive a portable copy of your personal information; restrict or object to certain processing; and withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawing permission or consent does not affect processing that occurred before its withdrawal and may prevent a permission-dependent feature from working.

To make a request, email support@eastecho.app. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request. EEA, UK, and Swiss users may also complain to their local data-protection authority. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right.

Additional information for U.S. residents

During the preceding 12 months, we may have collected the categories described above: identifiers and account information; commercial information relating to purchases; approximate or precise location when you enable location features; internet or electronic network activity; device information; and diagnostics. We use these categories for the purposes described in “How we use information” and disclose them to the service providers described in “Service providers and sharing.”

We do not sell personal information and do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of people under 16. Where applicable U.S. state privacy law grants you a right to access, correct, delete, or obtain information about personal information, you can make that request by emailing us. An authorized agent may submit a request where allowed by law, subject to appropriate verification of authority and identity.

You can request deletion of your EastEcho account and associated data. Please use our account deletion page. Purchase and transaction records may need to be retained where required for tax, accounting, fraud-prevention, or legal reasons. We may also retain de-identified service event logs to maintain, secure, and improve EastEcho; these records are no longer associated with your EastEcho profile. Deleting an EastEcho account does not change completed purchases managed by Apple App Store or Google Play.

Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect information, including encrypted transmission of data in transit. No service can guarantee absolute security, so please keep your device and sign-in credentials secure.

International processing

EastEcho and its service providers may process information in countries other than the one where you live. Where we do so, we take steps intended to protect information in line with this policy and applicable law. For transfers of personal information from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland to countries without an adequacy decision, we rely on appropriate safeguards where required, such as contractual commitments used by the relevant service provider.

Children

EastEcho is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, please contact us so we can investigate and take appropriate action.

Changes and contact

We may update this policy as EastEcho changes. We will post the revised version here and update the date above. For privacy questions or requests, email support@eastecho.app. Please also read our Terms of Use.