This policy explains how Fascinative Labs Ltd. ("we", "us", "our") handles personal information in connection with the Canadian Sales Tax Calculator mobile app (the "App") and the canadiansalestaxcalculator.com website (the "Website").
It is written to comply with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Quebec’s Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (Law 25), the corresponding private-sector privacy laws in British Columbia and Alberta, and the applicable Apple App Store Review Guidelines (5.1).
Availability. The App is distributed exclusively in Canada and the United States. References below to Canadian privacy laws reflect the regulatory framework applicable to that audience. Users outside of those jurisdictions are not the intended audience of the App; the Website is reachable globally but is a static page that sets no cookies and collects no personal information (see section 4).
Contents
- The short version
- Who we are
- Information collected through the App
- Information collected through the Website
- How we use information
- Sharing with third parties
- Advertising (Google AdMob)
- Where data is stored and processed
- Retention and deletion
- Security safeguards
- Your privacy rights
- Children’s privacy
- Changes to this policy
- Privacy Officer and complaints
1. The short version
The App’s calculations run entirely on your device. We do not operate user accounts, do not run analytics, and do not track you across apps or websites. We also do not sell, rent, or share your information for marketing.
The App does display a single, non-personalized banner advertisement supplied by Google AdMob. To deliver that banner Google receives a limited set of technical information from your device. The App does not show Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt and does not share your IDFA. See section 7 for the full picture and how to limit it further.
Apart from the AdMob banner and App Store / in-app-purchase traffic handled by Apple, the App makes no network requests on our behalf. The Website is a static page that sets no cookies and collects no data.
2. Who we are
Fascinative Labs Ltd.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Privacy Officer contact: support [at] fascinative [dot] ca
Fascinative Labs Ltd. is the data controller responsible for your personal information under PIPEDA and Quebec Law 25. Our Privacy Officer oversees compliance with this policy and handles any questions, access requests, or complaints (see section 14).
3. Information collected through the App
The App stores the following information locally on your device only. None of it is transmitted to us or to any server we operate:
- Your selected province or territory and your tax-calculator preferences (for example, default tip percentage, pre-tax vs. post-tax toggle).
- The contents of your current calculation — line items, subtotal, tax breakdown, tip and split values — so the App returns you to where you left off.
- Apple-issued entitlements for in-app purchases you have made (so that the App knows which features you own).
This information is held in the App’s sandboxed storage on your device. It is automatically removed when you delete the App.
Share sheet: when you tap a Share control, the App hands a formatted summary of your current calculation to iOS’s system share sheet so you can pass it to another app (Mail, Messages, Notes, etc.) of your choice. We do not see or store this content. Where it ultimately ends up is governed by the privacy policy of the receiving app and any account or service it uses.
What we do not collect: we do not collect your name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos, or any account or identity information. We do not embed third-party analytics SDKs, attribution SDKs, social-media SDKs, or crash-reporting services.
Important exception — Google AdMob: the App embeds Google’s AdMob SDK to deliver one banner advertisement. That SDK transmits a defined set of technical information directly to Google. We never receive that information ourselves, but it leaves your device. The complete list of what AdMob transmits, why, and how you can opt out is set out in section 7.
4. Information collected through the Website
The Website is a static page served over HTTPS. It does not set cookies, does not embed analytics, does not include third-party trackers, beacons, fingerprinting scripts, or social-media pixels, and does not host any web forms that collect data. Email links open in your mail client — messages you choose to send us are handled as described in section 14.
Standard web-server access logs (IP address, request time, page requested, user agent) may be retained by our hosting provider for normal operational and security purposes for a limited period. These logs are not used by us to identify you and are not combined with App data.
5. How we use information
We use the limited information described above only for the following purposes:
- To provide the App’s calculator, tip, split, and share functions on your device.
- To remember your preferences and your current calculation between sessions.
- To recognize and honour any in-app purchases you have made.
- To display a banner advertisement through Google AdMob (see section 7).
- To respond to messages you send us at the support address.
We do not use information we hold for behavioural advertising, profiling, or automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects. Where Google uses information collected through its AdMob SDK, that use is governed by Google’s privacy policy and your AdMob preferences (described in section 7).
6. Sharing with third parties
We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information. We do not share it with third parties for their own purposes. The third parties whose services are integrated into the App are described below. Each operates under its own privacy policy and is responsible for the information it collects directly from your device.
Apple Inc.
- App distribution and updates are handled by Apple through the App Store, under Apple’s terms and Apple’s privacy policy.
- In-app purchases are processed entirely by Apple. Payment, billing, receipt handling, refunds, and family sharing are governed by Apple. We receive only an anonymized entitlement confirmation (for example, "this Apple ID has purchased feature X") — never your name, email, billing address, or payment details.
Google LLC (AdMob) — for the in-app banner advertisement. The full description, including the data collected, the legal basis, and your opt-out options, is in section 7.
If you contact us by email, your message and email address are processed by our email provider solely for the purpose of replying to you. We do not subscribe you to marketing or share your address with anyone.
7. Advertising (Google AdMob)
The App displays a single banner advertisement supplied by Google AdMob, a service operated by Google LLC. We use AdMob to help cover the cost of building and maintaining the App.
Non-personalized ads only. The App is configured to request only non-personalized ads from AdMob on every ad request. The banner you see is selected from contextual signals — principally the App you are using and your coarse, IP-derived location — not from a profile of your interests built across other apps and websites.
We do not request your IDFA. The App does not call Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) API, which means iOS will never show you the “Allow [App] to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites?” prompt for this App. Because that prompt is never shown, the App never receives permission to access your Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), and the IDFA is therefore never shared with Google through this App.
What Google does receive. When the AdMob SDK is active in the App, it transmits the following technical information directly from your device to Google’s servers in order to deliver a non-personalized banner:
- IP address (Google uses this to derive approximate location at the city or region level for locale-appropriate ad selection and for fraud prevention).
- Device information — model, operating system version, language, time zone, screen size.
- App identifiers — the App’s bundle identifier and version.
- A pseudonymous, on-device identifier that AdMob uses for fraud prevention and frequency capping (so you do not see the same banner repeatedly). This identifier is not the IDFA.
- Ad-event signals — impressions, clicks, and viewability for the banner shown to you.
- Diagnostic and performance information generated by the AdMob SDK itself.
Why Google receives it. Google uses this information to select and deliver a contextual, non-personalized advertisement, measure ad performance, prevent fraud and abuse, cap how often the same ad is shown, and operate and improve the AdMob service. Google’s use of the information is governed by Google’s privacy policy. A summary of how Google partners use data is available at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
How to limit it further. Because the App does not request tracking permission, there is no in-App or iOS Tracking toggle to disable for this App — that switch is only meaningful for apps that ask. You can, however:
- Limit Google’s use of any data its services collect about you generally: visit adssettings.google.com while signed in to your Google account, or while signed out to set browser-level preferences.
- Turn off Apple’s own ad personalization (independent of AdMob): iOS → Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising → turn off Personalized Ads.
Legal basis. Under PIPEDA we rely on your implied consent for the limited technical processing necessary to display a non-personalized banner in a free, ad-supported app. Because the App does not request your IDFA and serves only non-personalized advertising, no express tracking consent is collected for this App and none is required. If, in future, we ever change this approach — for example by enabling personalized ads or requesting your IDFA — we will update this policy first and surface a clear in-App consent prompt before any change takes effect.
8. Where data is stored and processed
App data lives on your device and does not leave it. Email you send us is stored with our email provider. App Store and in-app purchase transactions are processed by Apple on Apple’s infrastructure. Information transmitted by the AdMob SDK is processed by Google on Google’s infrastructure. Apple’s and Google’s servers are located in multiple countries, including the United States. This means information transmitted to Apple or Google in connection with the App may be subject to the laws of the country in which it is processed, including any government access requests permitted by those laws. You can review their practices in Apple’s privacy policy and Google’s privacy policy.
9. Retention and deletion
Because the App does not transmit data to us, there is nothing for us to delete on your behalf relating to your use of the App. To remove all App data, delete the App from your device.
Emails you send us are retained only as long as needed to respond to and resolve your inquiry, plus a reasonable additional period for our records, and then deleted. You may ask us to delete your email and any reply thread at any time by writing to the Privacy Officer.
10. Security safeguards
Information stored by the App is held within the iOS application sandbox provided by Apple and is protected by the security and encryption features built into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, including device-level encryption when your device is locked with a passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID. The Website is served over HTTPS. Our email is hosted by a reputable provider that applies industry-standard administrative, technical, and physical safeguards. No security measure is perfect; in the unlikely event of a breach involving personal information, we will notify affected individuals and the appropriate regulator as required by PIPEDA and Quebec Law 25.
11. Your privacy rights
Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:
- Access — ask whether we hold personal information about you and obtain a copy.
- Correction — ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Deletion — ask us to delete personal information that we are not legally required to retain.
- Withdraw consent — withdraw consent for any future processing, subject to legal or contractual limits. For App data this can be achieved by uninstalling the App.
- Portability (Quebec residents) — receive personal information you have provided in a structured, commonly used technical format.
- Complain — to our Privacy Officer or to the relevant regulator (see section 14).
To exercise any of these rights, contact our Privacy Officer at support [at] fascinative [dot] ca. We will respond within 30 days, or tell you why we need more time. We may need to verify your identity before responding.
12. Children’s privacy
The App and Website are not directed at children, and the App is not classified as a "kids" or child-directed app on the App Store. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 14 (the age of consent for personal-information processing under Quebec Law 25; PIPEDA does not set a specific minimum age). The AdMob integration is explicitly configured for a general (adult) audience and is not flagged for child-directed treatment. If you believe a child has used the App, please contact the Privacy Officer and we will take appropriate steps.
13. Changes to this policy
If we make a meaningful change to this policy, we will update the Effective date at the top and, where the change is material, surface a notice on the Website or in the App. Continued use of the App or Website after a change takes effect indicates acceptance of the updated policy.
14. Privacy Officer and complaints
Questions, access requests, corrections, and complaints can be sent to our Privacy Officer:
Privacy Officer
Fascinative Labs Ltd.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
support [at] fascinative [dot] ca
If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to file a complaint with the appropriate regulator:
- Canada (federal): Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada — priv.gc.ca
- Quebec: Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec — cai.gouv.qc.ca
- British Columbia: Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC — oipc.bc.ca
- Alberta: Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta — oipc.ab.ca