Sound Meter Privacy Policy

First Published: July 30, 2026 · This Revision Published: August 25, 2026

CodeSand Co., Ltd. (the "Company") handles the personal information of users of Sound Meter (the "Service") with care and complies with the Personal Information Protection Act of Korea and other applicable laws. This policy is written so that users can see what information the Company collects, when, where it is sent, what it is used for, and when it is deleted.

1. Personal Information Collected

Common to everything: the Company does not collect precise location (GPS), contacts, call or text logs, health information, payment-method information such as credit card numbers, or unique government identifiers such as resident registration numbers. The only permission the app requests is the microphone (on iOS, a separate prompt asks whether to allow ad tracking); it does not request location, contacts, photos, storage, or notification permissions. The Service has no accounts, so it does not collect names, email addresses, passwords, or social account information.

(a) Microphone input — sound is used only as numbers and is not stored

The Service accesses the microphone to compute the sound pressure level (decibels) of ambient noise. Sound picked up by the microphone is converted to dB values inside the app, and the sound data used for the computation is discarded immediately. With the default settings, sound is not stored on the user's device, let alone on the Company's servers.

There is exactly one exception. Only when the user personally turns on Settings → "Save audio while measuring" is the sound during measurement saved as an audio file (m4a). This setting is off by default, and while it is off the app does not even create a recorder.

• Where it is stored — the app's private storage area on the user's device. Other apps cannot read it, and there is no path by which it is transmitted to the Company's servers.
• Deletion — deleting the measurement session in the History tab also deletes the linked recording file. Deleting the app removes everything.
• Leaving the device — only when the user personally runs a share action (see (b) below).

When the app goes into the background, measurement and recording stop automatically — the microphone is not kept open while you are away from the screen. Because recording files never leave the device, they are not declared under the stores' "Audio / voice or sound recordings" data type.

(b) Information that stays on the device and is not collected by the Company

• Measurement sessions — measurement time, duration, noise-level (dB) samples recorded at the configured rate (5, 10, or 20 per second), statistics (minimum, average, maximum, Leq, Lmax, 1-minute Leq), and the microphone calibration offset applied to the measurement
• Record notes — the place label the user typed (e.g., "Bedroom"), noise-type tags (Footsteps / Dragging furniture / Slamming door / TV & music / Vibration & machinery / Other), and a one-line note
• Recording files — m4a files created only when the user has turned on the setting under (a) above
• App settings — microphone calibration offset, sampling rate, whether to save recordings, baseline selection, whether to show the note sheet when saving, the list of recently used place labels, and the app language
• Purchase status — whether the Remove Ads product is owned (only the fact of purchase is recorded; no payment-method information is included)

The information above is recorded only in the device's internal storage and has no path to the Company. It is deleted together with the app. Place labels and notes are optional input; every function can be used with them left blank.

Exporting and sharing. Users can export measurement records as CSV/PDF or share recording files. These files include the measurement time, the calibration offset applied, statistics and time-series values, and the place, type, and notes the user entered. The files are created directly on the device and handed to the app the user picks on the operating system's share sheet (mail, messenger, cloud, and the like), without passing through the Company's servers. Once handed over, further handling is the responsibility of the chosen app and the recipient.

The nature and limits of the decibel values the Service displays (they do not replace a certified sound level meter) are set out in Section 4 of the Terms of Service.

(c) Information the Company collects — by store-declared type

The information below is transmitted, at the time the relevant feature operates, over the network directly to each processor rather than to the Company. The Company does not separately accumulate this information on its own servers and does not view individual users' information.

The app provides no in-app contact feature; the only contact channel is the email address in Section 11. When a user sends an inquiry by email, the Company keeps that email address, the contents of the inquiry, and any materials the user attaches, in order to reply and handle it. This is not information collected by the app, so it is not part of the store declarations; its retention period is set out in Section 3(c).

2. Purpose of Use of Personal Information

The Company uses collected personal information only for the following purposes, and if a purpose changes, it notifies users in advance and obtains any required consent.

• Providing the Service — noise measurement, saving and viewing measurement records, period reports, PDF/CSV export (processed only on the device)
• Classifying records and tallying frequencies by the place, type, and notes the user entered (processed only on the device)
• Saving and playing back recordings when the user has turned the setting on (processed only on the device)
• Serving ads and measuring their performance, and preventing invalid traffic — the funding for operating the Service
• Checking and applying the purchase status of the Remove Ads product
• Securing the stability of the Service and analyzing the causes of errors
• Responding to customer inquiries and handling disputes

The Company does not use users' measurement records, recording files, or notes for advertising or marketing. That information never reaches the Company in the first place.

3. Retention and Use Period, and Destruction

(a) Information stored on the device

Measurement records, recording files, notes, and app settings exist only on the user's device and are kept until the user deletes them. Since the Company does not hold them, the Company has nothing to destroy and no destruction procedure on its side. You can delete them at any time as follows.

• Individual records — delete the measurement session in the History tab. The linked recording file is deleted with it.
• Everything — delete the app. All measurement records, recordings, notes, and settings stored on the device are removed.

The Service has no accounts, so there is no membership withdrawal procedure.

(b) Items with a defined period

• Error diagnostic information — destroyed 30 days after collection. This period follows the retention policy of the error-collection service provider, and the currently applicable period is 30 days.
• Information processed for ads — retained by Google under its own policies and applicable laws. The Company does not hold it and sees only aggregated ad performance such as impression counts and revenue.

(c) Items kept as required by law

• Records concerning the handling of consumer complaints or disputes (including inquiries received by email) — 3 years (the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, etc. of Korea)
• Any other information whose retention is required by applicable laws — for the period prescribed by those laws

Payment and refund records for Paid Products are kept by the sellers of record, the Apple App Store and Google Play, under their own policies and applicable laws; the Company does not hold them.

(d) Method of destruction

Information whose retention period has passed or whose processing purpose has been achieved is permanently deleted by methods that make recovery or reconstruction from electronic files impossible.

4. Provision of Personal Information to Third Parties

The Company does not provide users' personal information to third parties, with the following exceptions.

• Where the user has consented in advance
• Where the law so provides, or where an investigative agency makes a request for investigative purposes following the procedures and methods prescribed by law

When the contents of CSV/PDF files or recording files a user exported and passed on become visible to the recipient, that is disclosure by the user's own choice, not provision to a third party by the Company. The transmission of information to external companies for ad serving and error diagnostics constitutes the outsourced processing described in Section 5, and its details are set out in Sections 5 and 6.

5. Outsourcing of Personal Information Processing

The Company outsources the processing of personal information to the following companies to provide the Service. If a processor or the scope of outsourced work changes, the Company discloses it through this policy.

The sellers of record for Paid Products are the Apple App Store and Google Play, which process payments under their own terms and privacy policies. The Company does not collect or store payment-method information; it only records on the device the fact that a purchase was completed, to determine whether to remove ads. Detailed transfer information for companies whose processing location is outside Korea is set out in Section 6.

6. Overseas Transfer of Personal Information

In the course of providing the Service, the Company transfers personal information abroad as follows. These transfers constitute outsourced processing and storage for the conclusion and performance of a contract with the data subject under Article 28-8(1)3 of the Personal Information Protection Act of Korea, and disclosure of the following matters through this policy serves as the related notice.

Time and method of transfer (common to the companies below): transmitted over the network from time to time as the user uses the relevant feature. Error diagnostic information, however, is transmitted only when an error occurs. Each company's contact details can be found via the privacy policy link on its card.

Users who do not want their personal information transferred abroad may express their refusal to the Data Protection Officer in Section 11. Ad-related transfers stop from the moment you purchase the Remove Ads product — the app does not even initialize the advertising SDK. There is currently no in-app setting to turn off the transmission of error diagnostic information. If you do not want this transmission, please stop using the app and delete it. The noise measurement and recording features themselves can be used without any overseas transfer.

7. Advertising Identifiers and Personalized Advertising

The Service is provided free of charge and is funded by advertising revenue. Users who have not purchased the Remove Ads product are shown Google AdMob ads (banner, interstitial, rewarded, native, and app-open).

• Android — AdMob may use the Advertising ID to personalize ads. You can reset your Advertising ID or turn off personalized ads in device settings → Google → Ads.
• iOS — the app asks whether to allow tracking via the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt. If you do not allow it, the advertising identifier (IDFA) is not used and non-personalized ads are shown, and declining does not affect any of the app's features. You can change your choice at any time in device settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• European Economic Area and the UK — when you first launch the app, you can choose whether to consent to personalized ads through Google's certified consent management platform (User Messaging Platform).
• Purchasing Remove Ads — all ad placements in the app disappear, and because the advertising SDK is not initialized, the consent flow and tracking prompt are not shown and no ad-related collection or transmission of information takes place.

For details, see the Google Privacy Policy and Google's advertising terms.

8. User Rights and How to Exercise Them

Users may at any time request access to, correction of, deletion of, or suspension of processing of their personal information, and may withdraw consent. These rights can be exercised as follows.

• Directly in the app — delete measurement records and recording files in the History tab; deleting the app removes all information stored on the device. Turn off "Save audio while measuring" in Settings to stop further recordings from being created.
• In device settings — resetting the advertising identifier, turning off personalized ads, and changing the iOS tracking permission (Section 7)
• By email — contact the Data Protection Officer in Section 11, and the Company will handle your request without delay and reply with the result.

Because the Service has no accounts and sends no measurement data to servers, the Company holds no per-user information in the first place. Error diagnostic information carries no user identifier set by the Company, so it may be difficult to single out a specific user's reports, and this information is automatically destroyed 30 days after collection. If the Company has legitimate grounds to limit a request, it will explain those grounds.

The legal representative of a child under 14 may exercise the above rights on the child's behalf.

9. Measures to Secure Personal Information

The Company implements the following measures.

• A structure that does not collect — measurement records, recordings, and notes are not transmitted to the Company's servers. The app has no communication path that sends this information outside, so there is no path through which it could leak.
• Isolation on the device — measurement records and recording files are kept in the app's private storage area, inaccessible to other apps.
• Encryption in transit — all of the app's external communication (ads, payments, error collection) is encrypted with HTTPS.
• No accounts or passwords — the Service creates no accounts, so the Company does not collect or store users' login credentials or passwords.
• No handling of payment-method information — payments are processed by the app stores, and the Company's systems never touch payment-method information.
• Minimization of error diagnostic information — the email and IP address fields are removed from error reports before transmission, no screenshots are attached, file names in file paths are masked, and the logs the app writes during development are not sent along with error reports. The point of an error is marked only with fixed, predefined phrases so that nothing a user typed can be mixed in.

10. Personal Information of Children under 14

The Service is not directed at children under 14 and does not knowingly collect children's personal information. If the Company learns that personal information of a child under 14 has been collected, it destroys that information without delay.

11. Data Protection Officer and Remedies for Infringement of Rights

The Company has designated a Data Protection Officer, and users' inquiries, complaints, requests for remedy, and access requests concerning personal information are handled by the department below.

• Department: Privacy Team, CodeSand Co., Ltd.
• Email: noise-meter@reply.codesand.co.kr
• Hours: Weekdays 10:00–18:00 (KST, excluding public holidays)

Users may apply to the following bodies for dispute resolution or counseling to obtain remedies for infringement of their personal information rights.

• Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee — +82-1833-6972 (kopico.go.kr)
• Personal Information Infringement Report Center — 118 in Korea (privacy.kisa.or.kr)
• Supreme Prosecutors' Office — 1301 in Korea (spo.go.kr)
• National Police Agency Cyber Investigation Bureau — 182 in Korea (ecrm.police.go.kr)

12. Changes to This Policy

Effective Date: August 25, 2026 (originally effective July 30, 2026)
The contents of this policy may be added to, deleted, or amended in response to changes in laws, policies, or the Service, and when it changes, the reason and the effective date are stated and the change is posted on the Service website.

© 2026 CodeSand Co., Ltd. Business Registration No. 368-87-03020.