Privacy policy
Last updated: 30 October 2026
In short: QuietTrust has no account, no ads and no analytics. Everything your circle shares (names, numbers, messages, answers, locations) is sealed on your phone with a key only your circle's phones have, so our server stores it but can't read it. Your location is shared only after you tap, never in the background.
1. Who we are
QuietTrust is made and published by Controlled Systems Group Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17118598), registered office 58 Broton Drive, Halstead, England, CO9 1HB. QuietGuard™ is a brand of the same company. We are the controller of personal data for QuietTrust. You can reach us at support@quietguard.io.
2. What is sealed (we can't read it)
When a circle starts, the first phone makes a secret circle key. It reaches new members only inside the QR code or the 16-character code, never through our server in readable form. On the phones it is kept in Android's secure key store. These are sealed with it (AES-256-GCM) before they leave your phone:
- your name and phone number (your profile);
- your alerts, the answers to them, and the reasons people give when they vote on removing someone;
- your location, while you share it;
- the circle's trusted numbers.
3. What our server can see
To pass alerts between phones, our server (run on Cloudflare, in Western Europe) needs a few things it can read:
- an anonymous ID for your phone, the kind of phone (Android), and a secret token we keep only as a one-way hash;
- your phone's push address from Google, so your phone can be reached;
- which IDs are in which circle, who invited whom, when people joined and were let in, and who each person chose to get their alerts;
- the times of alerts and answers, which phones confirmed they showed an alert, and who voted yes or no on removing someone (not their reasons);
- open invites: the first 4 characters of the code, and the circle key locked with the rest of the code, which the server can't open;
- a one-way hash of your network address, kept for one hour, to limit how many new phones can sign up from one place.
We use this only to run QuietTrust: to pass on alerts, answers and locations, to keep circles and invitations working, and to stop misuse. We don't sell it, share it for advertising, or use it to build profiles.
4. How long things are kept
Only as long as needed:
- an alert is closed when you tap "I'm OK now", or after 24 hours. Closed alerts and their answers are deleted 7 days later;
- only your latest location point is stored, replaced each time. It is deleted as soon as sharing stops: when the time is up, when you tap Stop or "I'm OK now" (at most 4 hours);
- invitations work for 15 minutes and are deleted an hour after that;
- someone not let in within 7 days is taken out. A vote on removing someone ends after 7 days;
- when someone leaves or is removed, their alerts, answers, location, votes and the trusted numbers they added are deleted, and the circle gets a new key;
- when you delete your account, everything of yours is deleted from our server straight away.
5. Push messages
To make phones ring, we use Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging. A push carries only an ID and sealed data; your phone opens it and shows the alert itself. Google sees that a message was sent to a phone, not what it says. We have switched off Firebase's analytics and advertising features.
6. Your location
QuietTrust uses your location only after you tap Share my location (or add it to an alert), for the time you choose (15 minutes, 1 hour or 4 hours) or until you tap Stop. While it is shared, Android shows a notification. It is sealed before it leaves your phone, and only the people who get your alerts can open it. QuietTrust never asks for "all the time" location and never tracks you in the background. When someone taps Directions, their phone's map app opens with your latest point.
7. What stays on your phone
Your circle key, your settings, your messages list and a sealed copy of the circle (so it shows while you're offline) are kept in the app on your phone. They are not included in your phone's backup and are not copied to a new phone: a new phone joins again with a new invitation. Calls, "Text them instead" and Directions open your phone's own phone, messages and map apps; QuietTrust never sends texts itself.
8. Permissions, and why
Each is asked only when first needed. You can change them at any time in your phone's settings.
- Notifications and full-screen alerts: so an alert can ring and show on the lock screen.
- Do Not Disturb access (optional): so alerts from your circle can get through Do Not Disturb.
- Location while using the app: only when you share your location (see section 6).
- Phone calls (optional): so Call rings straight away. Without it, your phone app opens with the number ready.
- Internet: to pass alerts through our server.
- Not used: no contacts, no camera (QR codes are read by Google's scanner), no microphone, no text messages, no background location.
9. What we don't do
No ads, no analytics, no tracking libraries, no crash reports, no selling or sharing of data. When QuietTrust is installed from Google Play, it asks the Google Play app whether an update is available; QuietTrust sends nothing of its own for this.
10. Who sees what in your circle
Inside a circle nothing is hidden: everyone sees who is in it, who is waiting, who invited whom, open invitations, votes and their reasons, and who each person's alerts go to. Your alerts, answers and location go only to the people who get your alerts (everyone, unless you chose some people in Settings). Someone still waiting to be let in sees nothing of the circle.
11. Deleting your data
In the app: Settings → Delete my account. This deletes everything of yours from our server straight away and wipes the app's data on your phone. If you have lost your phone, see Delete your account.
12. This website
quiettrust.io has no cookies, no ads, no trackers and no visitor counting. If you choose dark mode, that choice is saved in your browser only. Like any website, our host (Cloudflare) handles your IP address to deliver the pages and keeps short-term technical logs for security; we do not use them to identify or follow visitors.
13. Age
QuietTrust is for people aged 16 and over. The app asks you to confirm this when you start.
14. Your rights
Under UK data protection law (UK GDPR), and the GDPR in the EU, you have rights over your personal data, including to see it, correct it and have it deleted. Most of it is sealed and only on your circle's phones; for the rest, delete your account in the app or email us. If you have a question or a complaint, email us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK (ico.org.uk) or to the data protection authority where you live.
15. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll publish the new version on this page with a new date.
16. Contact
Questions about privacy: support@quietguard.io.
See also: Terms of use · Delete your account