Privacy policy

We do not run our own servers for the app and we do not collect your name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos or other personal information. There is no sign-up and no account.

The app uses three outside services, all from Google: Google AdMob, which shows the ads, and, from version 1.0.2, Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics, which send us anonymous usage statistics and crash reports. They are described below, and they process some information under Google's own policies. None of them receives the answers you type. The only time we receive anything from you directly is when you choose to email us, for example by sending a report.

You practise by typing answers to interview questions. Each answer is marked by an AI model (“the coach”) that is part of the app and runs on your phone. The coach does not use the internet: your answer is not uploaded to be graded, and neither we nor any of Google's services in the app (advertising, usage statistics or crash reports) receive it.

Your answers, the marks and the coach's notes are saved in the app's own private storage on your phone, so that your attempts and best scores are still there the next time you open the app. We cannot see them. An answer may say a lot about you, so it is worth knowing that it stays where you typed it.

The app is free and is paid for by ads provided by Google AdMob. There are two kinds: a banner at the top of the screen, and a full-screen ad that appears from time to time when you move from one question to another. To deliver and measure these ads, and to prevent fraud, the Google Mobile Ads software in the app automatically collects and sends to Google:

• device identifiers, such as your Android advertising ID;
• your IP address, which may be used to estimate your general location;
• how you interact with the ads and the app, such as app launches, taps and ad views;
• diagnostic information, such as app launch time and performance.

The answers you type are not part of this. Google and its advertising partners may use the information above to show ads, including personalised ads where you allow them, to measure how ads perform and to detect fraud. This is covered by Google's privacy policy; see also how Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services. We do not receive this information in a form that identifies you.

Where privacy law requires it, for example in the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, the app shows Google's consent form before any ads are loaded. The same choice decides whether usage statistics and crash reports are switched on, as described in the next section. If that applies to you, a “Privacy options” row appears in the app under About, and you can use it to change your choice at any time. You can also manage how Google personalises ads for you in Google's ad settings, and on any Android phone you can reset or delete your advertising ID in the phone's settings, under Privacy, then Ads.

From version 1.0.2, the app uses two more Google services, so that we can see whether the app is useful and fix the faults that make it crash. Neither of them receives the text of your answers, the coach's notes, your name or your contact details.

Google Analytics for Firebase records anonymous usage events and sends them to Google:

• when an answer is marked: the number of the question, the mark out of 10, which attempt it was and how long the marking took;
• when you use “Try again”, open the model answer, are shown the request to rate the app, or use the share button;
• what the Analytics software collects in every app that uses it: a random identifier for this installation of the app, your phone model, Android version, country, language and app version, the first time you open the app, and your sessions and the screens you visit.

Where your consent choice allows it, Google may link these statistics with your advertising ID in order to measure ads.

Firebase Crashlyticssends a crash report when the app stops working. A report contains diagnostic information: the stack trace (the place in the app's code where it failed), your phone model, Android version, the amount of free memory and a random identifier for this installation of the app.

Both services are provided by Google (Google LLC, and Google Ireland Limited for users in Europe), which processes this information for us. See Google's privacy policy and privacy and security in Firebase. We see the results as statistics and crash reports, not tied to your name or contact details.

In the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, usage statistics and crash reports are switched on only if the choice you make in Google's consent form allows it, and you can change that choice with the “Privacy options” row under About. Elsewhere they are on by default.

The app may occasionally ask whether you would like to rate it. The rating window is provided by Google Play and anything you enter in it is handled by Google Play under Google's privacy policy; the app does not see your rating or review.

The “Share” button opens your phone's own share menu with a short text containing your score and a link to the app. Nothing is sent unless you choose an app to share it with, and your answer is not part of the text.

Under each set of coach's notes there is a “Report” link, for when the feedback looks wrong or inappropriate. If you tap it and choose a reason, the app opens a draft in your own email app, addressed to us. The draft contains:

• the reason you chose;
• the question and the answer you typed;
• the coach's notes: the mark, the four points and the feedback;
• the app version, your Android version and your phone model.

You can read and edit the draft, and nothing is sent unless you press send. The app never sends a report by itself. (If your phone has no email app, the same text is offered to Android's share menu instead, and you choose where it goes.)

If you do send a report, we receive it as an ordinary email, together with your email address. We use it to review and improve the coach's feedback and to reply to you if needed, and for nothing else. You can ask us to delete it at any time.

The app saves a few things in its own private storage on your phone:

• your practice: every answer you have submitted, with its mark and the coach's notes, and your best score for each question;
• the question you are on, so you can carry on where you stopped;
• a count of the questions you have answered since the last full-screen ad;
• your consent choice, where one was asked for;
• the random identifiers that Google's software creates for ads, usage statistics and crash reports.

These stay on your device and we cannot see them. “Reset” on a question's page deletes every attempt at that question. You can erase everything at any time by clearing the app's data in your phone's settings, or by uninstalling the app.

If you have switched on Android's backup for your phone, Android may include this data in the backup stored in your own Google account, so it can be restored on a new phone. That backup is controlled by you and by Google; we have no access to it.

The marks, notes and tips are written by an AI model and can be wrong. Treat them as practice guidance, not as professional, careers or legal advice, and not as a prediction of how a real interview will go. If a note looks wrong or offensive, please use “Report” to tell us.

• Internet access and network state, to load ads, ask for consent and send usage statistics and crash reports.
• Advertising ID, used by Google for ads.

The app does not ask for your location, camera, microphone, contacts, files, photos or notifications.

The questions, the model answers and the coach are all inside the app, so practice and grading work without a connection. The app uses the internet only to load ads, to ask for consent where required, to send the usage statistics and crash reports described above, and to show Google Play's rating window. Without a connection the ads simply do not appear, and practice carries on as usual. Your answers are never sent.

We do not sell your personal information. Apart from the information that Google AdMob, Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics process as described above, the app does not share data with third parties.

What is saved on your device stays there until you reset a question, clear the app's data or uninstall the app. We keep no copy of it.

Reports you email to us are kept only for as long as we need them to look into the problem and improve the feedback, and are deleted sooner if you ask. Information collected for advertising is kept by Google under its own retention rules, which are explained in how Google retains data.

Google keeps usage statistics for up to 14 months and crash reports for 90 days, after which they are deleted.

• Change your consent for ads, usage statistics and crash reports with the “Privacy options” row under About in the app, where it is shown.
• Reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings, under Privacy, then Ads. This stops ads from being linked to that ID.
• Use “Reset” to delete your attempts at a question.
• Clear the app's data or uninstall the app to erase everything it has saved on your phone and to stop all collection.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask for access to, correction of or deletion of your personal data, or to object to how it is used. The only personal data we hold is any email you have sent us; write to us and we will show you or delete it. For the information Google collects for advertising, usage statistics and crash reports, we hold nothing that identifies you by name or contact details, but we will help you as far as we can, including pointing you to the right place at Google.

MCIQ is made for adults and older students preparing for job interviews. It is not directed at children under 13 (or the age of digital consent in your country, where that is higher), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided personal information through the app, please contact us and we will help.

If the app changes in a way that affects your privacy, we will update this page and change the effective date at the top.

Questions about this policy or the app? Email Jalal Technologies at jalal.technologies@gmail.com.