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. | |
| Message text (for AI writing tools only) | Proofreading, rewriting, and thread summarization — processed by Google's on-device Gemini Nano model, only when you tap to use one of these optional tools. | On device |
| App configuration values | Firebase Remote Config — lets Messages adjust a small set of ad-timing settings without an app update. Contains no message content, contacts, or personal identifiers. |
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.
Messages includes optional AI-assisted writing tools: proofreading a message you're composing, rewriting its tone (friendlier, more professional, or shorter), and summarizing a long unread conversation into a few bullet points ("catch me up"). All three run using Google's on-device generative AI (Gemini Nano, via Android's AICore system service) directly on your phone. The draft or messages involved are processed locally and are never uploaded to a server — by Messages, by Google, or by anyone else — to provide this feature. These tools only appear on devices whose hardware and Android version support on-device AI; on other devices they're simply not shown.
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 four 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. Remote Config lets Messages fetch a small set of ad-timing values from Google's servers without needing an app update; that fetch carries no message content, contacts, or personal identifiers. All four 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.
If you're located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, the following applies in addition to everything above.
Patoliya Infotech LLP (contact details in Section 12) is the data controller for the limited data described in this policy — principally the analytics, crash, and configuration data described in Section 3, since your message content itself never reaches us at all.
Subject to the conditions set out in the GDPR, you have the right to access the data we hold about you, request its correction or deletion, restrict or object to its processing, receive a copy in a portable format, and withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent. Because Messages keeps your message content on your device rather than on a server we operate, most of these rights are already exercised directly on your device — see Section 9, "Your choices." For anything else, including the limited analytics/crash/configuration data described in Section 3, contact us using the details in Section 12 and we'll respond within the timeframes GDPR requires.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority at any time.
Google (Firebase, AdMob) and Microsoft (Clarity) may process the limited data described in Section 3 outside the EEA/UK, including in the United States. Both companies publish their own standard contractual clauses and data-processing terms covering these transfers — see the Google Privacy Policy and Microsoft Privacy Statement for details.
Ad personalization in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland requires your consent under applicable law before personalized ads can be shown. Messages does not yet present a dedicated in-app consent prompt for these regions — this is an in-progress addition. In the meantime, you can prevent personalized advertising at any time via your device's Settings → Privacy → Ads, which applies across all apps on your device, including Messages.
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