Carlume

Privacy Policy

Effective November 3, 2026 (version 1.0) · 日本語の要約 · 한국어 요약

Carlume is an iPhone app that puts widgets you design on the CarPlay screen and plays a startup sound from your iPhone when CarPlay connects. Carlume has no account and no developer server, and it does not collect your name, email or contacts. Your widget designs, photos and texts stay on your iPhone. Carlume uses Apple's services for weather, place lookup and purchases, Google Firebase for anonymous usage statistics and crash reports (section 5, can be turned off in the app), and Google AdMob for optional rewarded ads (section 6).

The developer responsible for this app is indiehack, an independent developer based in South Korea. Contact: support@indiehack.kr

1. What stays on your iPhone

Carlume saves the following in storage shared between the app and its widgets (an App Group container) on your device:

• Your widget designs: theme, the title and date of a D-Day countdown, the text of a message widget, photo captions and the 24-hour clock setting.
• The photos you add to the photo slideshow widget. Carlume saves a reduced-size copy (up to 640 pixels on the long side) for the widget; your original photo is not changed.
• The place for the weather widget (its latitude, longitude and city name) and the last weather result, so the widget can still show something when it is offline.
• Your startup sound choice, and when and whether the startup sound last played, locked or failed.
• Whether Carlume Pro is active (copied from Apple's purchase information on your device) and until when each 24-hour unlock from a rewarded ad lasts.

Carlume also keeps small settings in the app's own storage: whether you finished the introduction, whether usage statistics are on, how many rewarded ads you watched today, whether the ad consent steps in section 6 have already been shown, whether the one-time subscription offer has been shown, and the build type (App Store or TestFlight) detected on your device.

CarPlay widgets are drawn while the iPhone is often locked in a pocket or a mount. So that the widgets can read these files without unlocking the phone, Carlume saves them with iOS file protection turned down to the lowest level (no data protection). This means these files are not encrypted with your passcode while the phone is locked, although the device itself and the app sandbox still protect them from other apps. The files are not sent anywhere by Carlume. They may be included in your device backups, and deleting the app deletes them.

2. Location and place search

The weather widget needs a place. You can tap Use My Current Location, or type a city name. Location is used only when you tap that button, and only while you are using the app: iOS asks for your permission (“While Using the App”), Carlume requests a single, approximate (kilometer-level) location, turns it into a city name with Apple's Maps service (MapKit), and saves the coordinates and the city name as described in section 1. The widget itself never asks for your location, Carlume does not track your location over time, and it does not read your location in the background. If you type a city name instead, the text is sent to Apple's Maps service to find the place. You can change or turn off location access any time in iPhone Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Carlume. Apple handles these requests under Apple's privacy policy.

3. Weather

When the weather widget is unlocked and has a saved place, Carlume sends that place's coordinates to Apple WeatherKit to get the current temperature, condition and today's high and low. This request goes to Apple, not to the developer, and it does not include your name, your Apple Account or other personal details. The result is kept on your iPhone as described in section 1, and refreshed about every 30 minutes. Weather data is provided by Apple Weather; see the data sources.

4. Photos

To add photos, Carlume shows the iOS photo picker. Carlume can only read the photos you pick there; it cannot browse the rest of your library. The photos you pick are reduced and kept on your iPhone for the widget (section 1). Carlume never uploads them or sends them to any server, to the developer, or to advertising or analytics providers. Remove a photo from the widget's editor to delete its saved copy.

5. Anonymous usage statistics and crash reports

To find bugs and see which features are used, Carlume uses Google Firebase Analytics, Firebase Crashlytics and Firebase Remote Config (Google LLC, USA). They are on by default. You can turn them off any time in Settings › Share Anonymous Usage Data. When it is off, Carlume stops collecting usage statistics and crash reports, deletes crash reports that have not been sent yet, and does not download Remote Config settings (it uses built-in defaults instead). Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in finding and fixing bugs and understanding which features are used. Because the data is anonymous and you can switch it off at any time, the impact on you is minimal; you can object at any time by turning the toggle off.

What is sent while it is on:

• App events such as “app launch”, “introduction started or completed” (with the kinds of widgets chosen), “widget saved” (widget type and theme), “startup sound selected” (which sound), “Shortcuts opened”, and paywall, purchase and rewarded-ad events (sections 6 and 7).
• Purchase events when you buy Carlume Pro: product, price, currency and the Apple transaction ID, plus whether the purchase started a free trial.
• Crash reports and errors: the code location, device model, iOS version and app version.
• Basic device and app details that Firebase collects automatically (device model, iOS version, app version, language), a random app-instance identifier created by Firebase, and an approximate country or region that Google derives from your IP address. Carlume also sets a few labels: whether you have Carlume Pro, and whether the build came from the App Store or TestFlight.

What is never sent to Firebase: your photos, the text of your D-Day title or message, your saved place, your name, email or contacts. Carlume does not set a user ID, and Firebase's advertising features (ad personalization, advertising storage, the identifier for vendors) are switched off for Firebase. Firebase statistics are separate from the advertising data in section 6.

While usage statistics are on, the app also downloads settings from Firebase Remote Config at launch (for example, paywall and ad settings such as the daily number of rewarded ads) so we can adjust them without an app update. This request carries the same random app-instance identifier and standard app and device details, and no other personal data.

Google processes this data on our behalf under the Firebase privacy terms, and may process it in the United States under the safeguards described there. Analytics data is kept for up to 14 months and crash reports for 90 days. Because this data is anonymous, we cannot look up a specific person's data. The easiest way to stop it is to turn the toggle off. You can ask us about access, correction, deletion or objection at the address in section 11, and if you are in the EU or UK you may complain to your local data protection authority.

6. Rewarded ads and privacy choices

If a widget or the startup sound is locked, you can choose to watch one short rewarded ad to unlock that widget type (or the startup sound) for 24 hours. There is a daily limit, normally three ads per day. The unlock is granted only when the ad reports that the reward was earned; closing early grants nothing. Carlume Pro subscribers and lifetime owners are not offered ads. Ads are never shown unless you tap to watch one.

Ads are served by Google AdMob (Google LLC, USA). Carlume does not use ad mediation, so no other advertising network is called. Google may process device and advertising identifiers (including the IDFA if you allow tracking), your IP address and approximate location, device and app details, and ad impressions, interactions and performance. Google uses this to deliver and measure ads, prevent fraud and, where you consent, personalize ads. This information can be linked to a device identifier, and Google may transfer it to other countries, including the United States. See how Google uses information from apps that use its services and Google's privacy policy.

The advertising software is started only for people who may see ads (not for Pro users), and only after the following steps. First, Google's consent form (User Messaging Platform) appears where the law requires it, such as in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and some US states. Then iOS asks whether Carlume may track you across other companies' apps and websites (App Tracking Transparency). Ads are requested only after these steps. These steps first appear when Carlume offers you the ad (the screen that appears after you close the Carlume Pro screen for a locked widget or sound), before you decide whether to watch it. Where required, we rely on your consent for tracking and personalized ads; elsewhere we rely on our legitimate interest in funding the free version with ads you choose to watch. If you decline tracking, you can still watch ads, but they will not be personalized.

To change your consent where Google's consent form applies, open Carlume › Settings › Ad Privacy Choices (it appears when your region requires it). To turn off iOS tracking permission, open iPhone Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking › Carlume. You can avoid ads by not watching them or by getting Carlume Pro. The usage-statistics toggle in section 5 controls Firebase separately and does not change your advertising consent.

The number of ads you watched today and the unlock expiry times are stored on your iPhone. If usage statistics are on, events that an ad was offered, that a reward was earned or that an ad failed to load (with the widget type and an error code) are sent to Firebase. You can ask us about access, deletion or objection for advertising data at the address in section 11; because we do not receive Google's advertising data, we will also point you to Google. Where US state law gives you the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information or of targeted advertising, use Ad Privacy Choices or turn off tracking as described above. If you are in the EU or UK you may complain to your local data protection authority.

7. Purchases

Carlume Pro subscriptions (weekly and yearly) and the one-time lifetime purchase are processed by Apple. The developer never receives your payment details or Apple Account information. The app only asks Apple (StoreKit), on your device, whether you have an active purchase. Through App Store Connect the developer sees only aggregated sales statistics from Apple that do not identify you. If usage statistics are on, a purchase event is also sent to Firebase as described in section 5.

8. Your car

Carlume does not read data from your car. It only draws widgets on the CarPlay screen, which iOS provides, and plays a sound from your iPhone. The startup sound runs from a Shortcuts automation that you add yourself; Carlume does not create automations for you.

9. This website

This website (carlume.indiehack.kr) is hosted by Cloudflare, Inc. (USA). To serve pages, Cloudflare processes standard connection information such as your IP address under its own policies. The app opens this privacy policy in your browser when you tap Privacy Policy in the app.

10. Children

Carlume is not directed to children and does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country). The app is not designed for children, so its ads are not aimed at them. Usage statistics can be turned off in Settings.

11. Changes and contact

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date. If the app starts collecting any new kind of data, this page will say exactly what, why and how to turn it off before that version is released.

Questions or requests: support@indiehack.kr. If you email us, we use your address and message only to reply, and delete them on request and in any case within 12 months.

Carlume is not affiliated with Apple Inc. Apple, CarPlay, iPhone and Apple Weather are trademarks of Apple Inc.