Privacy Policy
Messages needs the same access any full-featured default SMS app needs, plus a small, standard set of app-health and analytics tools. The table below is the complete list — nothing is accessed that isn't tied to a visible feature or to keeping the app working well.
| Data | Why Messages accesses it | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| SMS & MMS messages | Core function: read, send, receive, organize, and search your texts and picture messages. | On device To recipient |
| Contacts | Show a sender's saved name and photo instead of a bare number. | On device |
| Camera & photos/files you pick | Attach a photo or file to a message you're sending. | On device To recipient |
| Microphone | Record a voice message you choose to send. | On device To recipient |
| Location | A one-time, last-known position, only when you tap "Location" in the attachment tray — inserted as a map link into your draft. | On device To recipient |
| Phone/SIM state | List your active SIMs so the dual-SIM picker in Settings can show them. | On device |
| Notifications | Alert you to a new message. | On device |
| Feature usage (screens opened, message sent/received as SMS or MMS) | Firebase Analytics — understand which features are actually used. Never the message text, sender, or recipient. | |
| Crash & error reports | Firebase Crashlytics — catch and fix bugs, including a device/OS summary and the code path that failed. | |
| Push-notification token | Firebase Cloud Messaging — deliver optional app announcements. No message content ever travels through this channel. | |
| App usage & session analytics | Microsoft Clarity — see how screens are used to improve the app. Every place real message text appears is explicitly masked before Clarity records anything. | Microsoft |
| Advertising identifiers & device signals | Google's AdMob SDK, which serves the banner/native ads in the app. |
Messages never asks you to create an account, sign in, or hand over an email address or phone number for its own purposes.
Your messages and contacts live in Android's own messaging database on your device — the same store the phone's built-in Messages app would use. Messages reads from and writes to that store directly; it does not copy your messages into a private database of its own, and it has no server for that data to travel to.
Primary/Promotional/OTP/Transactional sorting, and the one-tap OTP-code copy, work by matching a message's text against a fixed list of keywords and patterns, entirely on your device. No message text is sent anywhere to be categorized, and no cloud or third-party AI model is involved.
Pinned/archived/muted/blocked threads, your swipe-action choices, language and theme, and ad-frequency timing are stored locally in the app's own preferences on your device and are removed when you uninstall Messages.
The Export/Import feature in Settings writes your SMS history (text only — not MMS attachments) to a plain file at a location you choose, using Android's standard file picker. That file goes exactly where you save it; Messages does not upload it anywhere on your behalf.
Messages uses a small set of well-known services to show ads, understand how the app is used, and catch bugs. None of them receive your message content, contacts, or attachments.
Messages is ad-supported. Banner and native ads (shown in the message list, conversation, compose, and a few settings screens) and occasional full-screen ads are served through Google AdMob. AdMob may collect an advertising identifier, general device information, and approximate location signals to select and measure ads, and may use this to show ads personalized to your interests. Google's own use of this data is governed by the Google Privacy Policy and, for the ad network specifically, the Google Partner Sites policy. You can review or reset your advertising identifier, or opt out of interest-based ads, from your device's Settings → Privacy → Ads (or Google Settings, on older Android versions).
Messages uses three Firebase (Google) services: Analytics logs which screens are opened and whether a sent/received message was SMS or MMS and part of a group — never the message text, sender, or recipient. Crashlytics reports crashes and handled errors, including a device/OS summary and the failing code path, so bugs can be found and fixed. Cloud Messaging gives your device a notification token used to deliver optional in-app announcements; no message content is ever sent through it. All three are governed by the Google Privacy Policy.
Messages uses Microsoft Clarity to see how people navigate and use the app's screens, so the experience can be improved. Every place real message text is shown or typed — conversation bubbles, the message you're composing, and search/preview snippets — is explicitly excluded (masked) from what Clarity records, before it ever leaves your device. Clarity is governed by the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
Android groups related access into named permissions. Here's what each one unlocks in Messages, and nothing more:
Messages shares data with a small number of third parties, each for one specific purpose described in Section 3: Google (AdMob for ads; Firebase for analytics, crash reports, and notifications) and Microsoft (Clarity for usage analytics, with message content masked). Messages has no other analytics SDK and no other advertising network.
When you send a message, photo, voice note, or location link, it travels through your carrier's SMS/MMS network to the person you addressed it to — the same path any text message takes. That delivery is not "sharing" by Messages; it's the message being sent, which is the app's entire purpose.
Messages does not sell your data, and does not use your messages or contacts for any purpose beyond displaying them to you and, where you explicitly send something, delivering it.
Your messages remain in Android's own messaging store for as long as you keep them — deleting a conversation or message inside Messages removes it from that store immediately. Because that store belongs to Android rather than to Messages, uninstalling the app does not by itself delete your message history; another SMS app (or reinstalling Messages) will still see it.
A backup file you've exported is yours to manage — Messages has no way to reach or delete a copy once it's saved to your chosen location.
Messages is a general-purpose SMS/MMS client and is not directed at children under 13. It does not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us using the details below and we'll remove it.
Because Messages keeps your message data on your device rather than on a server it operates, the main safeguard is Android's own app sandboxing and disk encryption, plus whatever lock screen you've set. There is no Messages-operated server to be breached, since none exists for your message content. No method of storage or transmission is 100% secure, and this policy describes our practices rather than guaranteeing an outcome.
If Messages' data practices change — for example, adding a new third-party service — this page will be updated and the effective date at the top will change. Continuing to use Messages after an update means you accept the revised policy.
Questions about this policy or how Messages handles data can be sent to:
Patoliya Infotech LLP
Info@patoliyainfotech.com