Texpand Privacy Policy

Version 1.0

This privacy policy statement describes the privacy practices of Texpand, an abbreviation expansion typing aid for Android that assists users with impaired manual dexterity to input text in Android apps.

Overview

Texpand is an Android abbreviation expansion application designed to help users with impaired manual dexterity easily input text in Android apps. This is achieved by defining short abbreviations for frequently used phrases. To provide this functionality we tap into the accessibility service API provided by the Android operating system. We neither share nor sell user data to third parties, we use the information provided to us through accessibility service API only to help users with typing difficulty become efficient with their text input in Android devices.

Handling of text input

Texpand uses the accessibility service API to monitor what you type in text-fields. We do not store what you type in any form. This data is used only to search for user-defined abbreviations for the purpose of replacing them with user-defined matching phrases. We do not insert any other text into fields other than the user-defined phrases which are only inserted as a result of user action. Neither do we search for arbitrary text to understand what the user might be typing. Text input search is strictly restricted for user-defined abbreviations.

What does Texpand do with the accessibility service permission?

Granting the accessibility service permission will give Texpand the following capabilities along with explanations with why they are required.

1. Observe your actions: the accessibility service API notifies Texpand about the following user activities:
   • When the user starts typing: allows to start searching for abbreviations in the text you are typing.
   • When the user selects a text: allows to determine whether the selected text is an abbreviation.
   • When the user changes input-focus and window content changes: allows to remove overlay interfaces when users changes focus from one text-field to another, to avoid dangling overlay interfaces which may confuse users.
2. Retrieve window content: after Texpand receives a notification that the user is typing or selected a text (see No. 1), this permission allows Texpand to read contents of the text-field that the user is typing in, for purpose of searching this text for abbreviations to provide text input assistance in replacing them with phrases defined in Texpand's main user interface. Once the user chooses to replace the abbreviation with a phrase this permission allows Texpand to input text that contains the user-defined phrase in place of the abbreviation into text-fields.
3. Additionally in devices running Android Oreo or later granting accessibility permission, can use the accessibility button in the navigation area of devices that contain software navigation controls to launch an interface that gives users easy access to their phrases and allows using them in apps that can’t be accessed using the above permissions. This interface is by default configured to launch from the notification area but users can choose to launch it through the accessibility button.
4. This permission also allows Texpand to determine what app the is currently in the foreground, this is used to not allow Texpand to operate in apps that the user have excluded through Texpand’s settings.

What information do we collect and what do we use your information for?

Only the following information is collected:

1. How many times a user-defined phrase is used
2. The last time a user-defined phrase is used

We use this information to rank phrases by how frequently they are used, to put the user-defined phrases that are used most at the top of a suggestion window that appears when the user types text that match multiple abbreviations.

This information is stored locally, it is only transferred to another medium when a user initiated backup is performed. Texpand doesn’t make automated backups.

Texpand does not use any third party analytics services neither do we send any information to our servers. Texpand does not have a permission to connect to the Internet. You can check this on Texpand Play Store listing in the permissions section.

Do we disclose any information to third parties?

We put user privacy over everything else. As a result personally identifiable data made available by Texpand is not transferred to any other party, in short user data never leaves a user's device. We never sell, share or trade any user data to any third party.

Notification of Privacy statement Changes

We may update this privacy statement to reflect changes to our information practices. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.

Contact us

If you have any questions regarding this privacy policy you may contact us by sending an email to support@texpandapp.com.