Privacy Policy for Stages Mobile

Last updated: 6 August 2026

This policy explains what Stages Mobile (“Stages”, “the app”) does with information. It is published by Stages Software Solutions LLC, a Florida limited liability company (“we”, “us”).

---

---

Information stored on your device

Everything you create in Stages is stored in the app’s private storage on the device:

• Audio and video recordings, and photographs
• Text notes, transcriptions and language data
• People, locations, culture events, activity plans and timesheets
• Your app settings, and the user profile you create inside the app

Stages has no online account. The “user” you create when you first open the app is a record in the app’s local database on that device. There is no password held by us, no server-side profile, and nothing for us to look up about you.

Syncing between your devices

When you sync, Stages connects directly to your own installation of Stages Desktop on the same local network. You start the connection by scanning a QR code shown by the desktop app.

• The connection is established directly between the two devices. Your content does not pass through our servers, and we never receive a copy of it.
• The connection is encrypted. The devices verify each other using the code you scan, and everything they exchange — your notes and records as well as your recordings, photos and videos — is encrypted in transit.
• Because the connection is on your local network, iOS asks your permission the first time Stages tries to find devices on that network.

Information sent to us

Error and diagnostic reports

When the app encounters an error, it sends a report to our server at api.stagessoftwaresolutions.com over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection so that we can diagnose and fix problems. A report contains:

• Error information — the error message, the place in the app where it occurred, any context the app attached to it, and the technical stack trace.
• App information — the app version and build number, and the app’s identifier.
• Device information — device brand and model, operating system name and version, available and total storage, memory in use, battery level and charging state, screen and hardware characteristics (such as whether the device is a tablet, or has a notch), and connected input devices.
• Limited app state — the identifier of the active Stages user on that device, that user’s assigned unit, the app’s language setting, screen orientation, text size setting, audio and video recording settings, the video resolutions the device’s cameras support, and the currently selected task box and timesheet.
• Screen history — the names of the screens open in the app when the error occurred, and the names (but not the values) of the parameters passed to them.
• An optional contact email address, only if you have chosen to provide one — described in the next section.

The user identifier included in these reports is an internal database identifier created on your device. It is not a login and not an account, because Stages has no accounts. We use it only to recognise that several reports came from the same app user, which helps us understand a sequence of failures. Where a contact email address has been set, described below, reports can also be associated with you directly.

The contact email address

Providing an email address is entirely optional. Stages Desktop invites you to enter one and explains at that point that it will be attached to error reports; you are free to leave it blank, and the app works exactly the same either way. If you never enter one, no address is ever sent.

If you do provide one, it is copied to your phone the next time the two devices sync, and included in the error reports the app sends, so that we know who to reply to about a problem.

You can withdraw it at any time by clearing the address in Stages Desktop. The desktop copy always takes precedence, so the next sync removes it from your phone as well, and later reports carry no address.

Diagnostic information you send deliberately

The About screen contains a hidden gesture that lets you send us a diagnostic summary when we ask you to during support. This sends counts and summaries of the records in your database along with the device information listed above. It is only sent when you perform that gesture.

How we use it

We use this information solely to find and fix defects in the app and to support you. Specifically, we do not use it for advertising, marketing, profiling, or tracking you across other apps or websites, and we do not sell it or share it with data brokers.

What we deliberately do not collect

We have specifically excluded a number of things the app could technically gather:

• No advertising identifier, no device identifier (such as the iOS vendor identifier or Android ID), no hardware serial number or MAC address
• No location data. Stages does not request or use your geographic location. Where the app refers to a “location”, that means a place you have named yourself as part of your fieldwork records — it is your text, not a GPS reading.
• No contacts, calendar or health data
• No mobile network or carrier information
• No third-party analytics, advertising or tracking software of any kind

Permissions the app asks for

Permission	Why
Camera	To take photographs and record video, and to scan the QR code that starts a sync
Microphone	To record audio and spoken notes
Photo library	To use photographs you did not take with Stages
Local network (iOS)	To connect to your own copy of Stages Desktop when syncing

You can decline or later revoke any of these in your device settings. Declining a permission disables the corresponding feature but does not otherwise prevent the app from working.

Recordings of other people

Stages is a tool for recording language and culture, so the material you create will often include other people — their voices, images and words. You are responsible for obtaining whatever consent is appropriate, and for complying with the laws and customs that apply where you work.

That material stays on your device and on your own desktop computer. We never receive it, and we cannot access, retrieve or delete it for you.

Children

Stages is intended for adult fieldworkers and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect information from children. Note that the recordings you make may include children in the communities where you work; consent for that material is your responsibility, as described above.

Security

Your content is held in the app’s private storage, protected by the operating system’s app sandbox and by device-level encryption where you have a passcode or biometric lock enabled. We strongly recommend keeping a device lock enabled, because anyone with access to an unlocked device has access to the app’s contents.

Sync sessions between your phone and your desktop are encrypted as described above. Error reports are transmitted over HTTPS.

No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

How long we keep information

We keep error and diagnostic reports for as long as they remain useful for diagnosing and fixing defects in the app, and no longer than necessary for that purpose. We do not keep them for any other reason. You can ask us to delete reports associated with your device at any time, using the contact details below.

Your own content is kept on your device for as long as you keep it. Deleting the app removes it from that device. Because we never receive that content, deleting it is entirely within your control.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights over personal information we hold — including to request access to it, correct it, delete it, or object to how it is used.

In practice we hold very little: the error and diagnostic reports described above. If you would like us to identify or delete reports associated with your device, contact us at help@stagessoftwaresolutions.com. If a contact email address was set on your desktop, your reports carry it and we can find them from that. Otherwise they carry only an internal identifier, so please include enough detail — such as the approximate date and the device model — for us to locate them.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.

Do Not Track

Some browsers and devices can send a “Do Not Track” signal. Stages does not track you across other apps or websites in the first place, so there is nothing for such a signal to change, and we do not respond to it differently.

International users

Stages is used internationally. Error and diagnostic reports are processed on servers operated on our behalf in the United States. If you are located elsewhere, submitting a report involves transferring that limited technical information to the United States.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will update the date at the top and publish the revised version at this address. Material changes will also be noted in the app’s release notes.

Contact

Questions about this policy or about privacy in Stages: