Socket & Steel
Know your machine.
Keep it running.
Privacy Policy
Your service history lives on this phone. Socket & Steel has no server and no account, so nothing of yours is on ours. When you export a machine's history, where the file goes is up to you.
The one place the app connects to is NHTSA, the US vehicle safety agency. When you add a machine, it asks NHTSA for the makes and models that fit the type and year you pick, and if you type a VIN, it sends that VIN so NHTSA can fill in the details. You can leave the VIN blank and pick them yourself. A machine's own screen also asks NHTSA which recall campaigns have been issued for that make, model and year, and that question carries no VIN.
Your phone's own backup (iCloud, a computer backup, or Google) copies the app's data like any other app's, under Apple's or Google's terms. That is what brings your garage to a new phone.
We do not sell your data, share it for advertising, or use it to train anything. If sync ever arrives it will be your choice, and this screen will name exactly what leaves before anything does.
The rest of this page is the long version of those four paragraphs.
What we collect
Nothing. Socket & Steel has no account system, no server, no analytics and no crash-reporting service. The developer cannot see your machines, your service history, your reminders, or anything about how you use the app. The one thing that can reach us is Apple's or Google's, described under “Who else is involved” below.
Where your information lives
The machines you add, the work you record and the reminders you set are stored in the app's own storage on your phone. They are not uploaded, synced, or copied to any service run by the developer.
What the app sends, and to whom
The app talks to one organization: NHTSA, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Two of its free public services, the vehicle database at vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov and the recall list at api.nhtsa.gov. Both are run by a government agency, not by us.
- Make and model lists. When you pick a vehicle type and year, the app asks NHTSA which makes and models fit. That request names the type, the year and the make you chose. It says nothing about you.
- A VIN, only if you type one. When you leave the VIN field, the app sends that VIN to NHTSA so it can fill in the year, type, make and model. A VIN identifies one specific vehicle, so if you would rather it not leave your phone, leave the field blank and choose the details yourself.
- Recall campaigns for a machine. A machine's screen asks NHTSA which recall campaigns have been issued against that make, model and year. That request carries those three things and nothing else, no VIN among them. NHTSA publishes no way to ask about one specific vehicle, and a campaign stays on its list whether or not yours ever needed the work, which is why the app shows you the list rather than telling you what is outstanding.
Like any request on the internet, these reach NHTSA from your phone's network address. NHTSA handles them under its own policies. Nothing else about you, your history or your other machines is included.
Backups
If your phone backs itself up to iCloud, to a computer, or to Google, the app's data is included in that backup the same as any other app's. That is how your history moves to a new phone. The backup is yours and is governed by Apple's or Google's terms, not ours.
Exports
You can export a machine's history as a PDF or as a JSON file. The export happens only when you start it, and your phone then asks where it should go. The app does not choose the destination and does not keep a copy anywhere else.
Reminders
Reminders are scheduled by your phone itself. The app does not use push notifications and does not register a push token, so no reminder passes through our systems or anyone else's.
What we never do
We do not sell your data. We do not share it for advertising. We do not use it to train anything. We do not look at it to build a picture of you or anyone else. If this app ever changes hands, these terms go with it, and you will be told before anything about them changes.
Who else is involved
Apple and Google distribute the app and collect their own data about your use of it, under their policies, not ours. We would stop that if we could.
If you have turned on sharing with app developers in your phone's analytics settings, Apple or Google passes crash reports and basic usage statistics for this app on to us without identifying you. That is your phone's setting, not the app's, and turning it off stops it. Crash reports never contain your service history.
This website is served by Cloudflare. Like any web host, it sees the network address of whoever loads a page. The pages carry no analytics, no cookies and no third-party scripts, and the type you are reading is served from this site rather than from a font service.
If the law requires it
Every promise on this page has one exception, and it belongs in writing rather than in small print. If a court order or other legal process compels us to hand over data we hold, we will comply, and we will tell you unless the law forbids it. Today we hold nothing of yours, so there is nothing to hand over. A backup held by Apple or Google is subject to their own handling of such requests.
Children
Socket & Steel is not directed at children and collects no information from anyone, including children.
Deleting your data
You can delete records, reminders and machines in the app. Deleting the app removes everything it stored on your phone. Copies in your phone's backup follow that backup's own rules. Because nothing is held on a server, there is nothing to request deletion of.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the revised version will be posted here with a new date, and a change to what leaves your phone will appear in the app before it takes effect. A change that weakened the promises above would be a change to what this app is, so it is not something to expect quietly.
Contact
Questions about this policy: support@socketandsteel.com