Advocate DesksPrivacy policy
This policy describes exactly what the app stores, why, and what you can ask us to do about it. It is written to match what the software actually does, line for line — not to describe a more cautious app than the one you installed.
The short version: there is no account, and we do not know who you are. The app stores a random number it generates on your phone, the district you picked, and nothing that identifies you.
1. What is collected
Everything in this table, and nothing outside it.
| What | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Install ID — a random identifier the app generates on first launch (a UUID) | To rate-limit corrections so one device cannot flood the queue, and to address a notification to a device | Stored on your phone; sent to our server |
| The district you choose | Every cause list, roster and court link differs by district; without it the app has nothing to show | Stored on your phone; sent to our server |
| App version and platform (for example: 1.0.0, Android) | To tell you when an update is required, and to know which builds are still in use | Our server |
| Last-seen date | To retire records for installs that no longer exist | Our server |
| A correction you submit — the record, the field, the value you suggest, and any message you type | So a human can check it against the official source and fix the data | Our server, with your install ID attached |
| Notification token, if push notifications are ever enabled | To deliver a notification to your device | Our server and Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) |
Push notifications are not active in the current release. The row above is listed because the app can register a token, and this page should describe what the software is capable of rather than only what is switched on today.
A correction you submit is free text. Please do not type your name, your client's name, a case number, or anything else you would not want a stranger reading — the field exists to fix a phone number or a court room, and it is read by a person reviewing the queue.
2. What is never collected
- No name, email address, phone number, or any account. There is no sign-up.
- No location. The app does not request location permission and cannot read your position.
- No contacts, no call log, no SMS, no photos, no files.
- No advertising identifier, no IMEI, no MAC address, no hardware serial — the install ID is a random number, deliberately, so that it identifies a copy of the app and never a person or a handset.
- No analytics SDK and no advertising SDK. Nothing tracks how you move around the app.
- No search terms. What you type into the station search never leaves your phone.
3. Why, and on what basis
Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the small amount of data above is processed for the specified purpose of operating the app: showing you your district's information, letting you report an error, and telling you when an update is required. It is not used for profiling, advertising, or any purpose you have not been told about on this page.
Advocate Desks is the data fiduciary for that processing.
4. Who it is shared with
Nobody. The data is not sold, rented, traded, or shared with advertisers, data brokers, or analytics companies.
It is held on our own server, hosted in a commercial data centre. The only third party that would ever receive anything is Google, and only if push notifications are enabled, and only the notification token — Firebase Cloud Messaging cannot deliver a message without it.
We will disclose data if a court or a law requires it. Given what is actually stored, such a disclosure would reveal a random number and a district name.
5. Government sites you open
Most of what this app does is take you to an official page — a cause list
on a dcourts.gov.in site, a High Court display board, the
e-Filing portal. Those pages open in an in-app browser or in your own
browser.
Once you are on them, you are on a government website and this policy no longer applies. Those sites set their own cookies, keep their own logs, and follow their own privacy policies. We do not receive anything about what you do there, and we cannot control it.
6. How long it is kept
- The device record — install ID, district, version, last-seen — is kept while the install is active and removed once it has not been seen for twelve months.
- A correction is kept after review, because the record of why a value changed is what makes the data auditable. It carries no identifier beyond the install ID.
- Data on your phone — the install ID, your district, and the cached copy of the last screens you opened — is removed when you uninstall the app or clear its storage.
7. Your rights
The DPDP Act gives you the right to ask what is held about you, to have it corrected, to have it erased, and to have a grievance addressed. You can exercise all of these by writing to support@advocatedesks.com.
One practical difficulty, which is a consequence of collecting so little: we cannot connect a record to you without your install ID, because nothing else in the database has any link to a person. If you want a specific record found or erased, include the install ID in your email — and if you cannot find it, uninstalling the app already deletes everything held on the phone and stops the device record being renewed.
We answer within thirty days.
8. Children
This app is a working tool for practising advocates and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If you believe a child's data has reached us, write to us and it will be deleted.
9. Security
Everything between the app and the server travels over HTTPS. The server is access-controlled and backed up daily, and the backups are kept on the same server under restricted permissions. The administration panel is password-protected and used only by the people maintaining the data.
No system is perfectly secure. What limits the damage here is how little is worth stealing: a table of random identifiers and district names.
10. Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. A change that affects what is collected or why will be announced in the app before it takes effect, not slipped into a page nobody re-reads.
11. Contact and grievances
For any privacy question, request, or grievance — including anything under the DPDP Act — write to support@advocatedesks.com and address it to the Grievance Officer, Advocate Desks.
If you are not satisfied with the response, the Act allows you to complain to the Data Protection Board of India.