Privacy
FIDD Privacy Policy
Last updated: September 29, 2026
FIDD (Ferramenta Inteligente de Detecção de Danos, “Intelligent Damage Detection Tool”) is an Android app that uses the sensors in a driver's phone to detect potholes automatically and build a collaborative, anonymous map of road conditions. This policy explains what data the app and the website fidd.com.br handle, why, and what choices you have. It follows Brazil's General Data Protection Law (Law No. 13,709/2018, “LGPD”).
We never ask for your name, email, phone number or any sign-up.
Only the spot of each detected pothole is sent, never your route.
The public map shows where the problem is, never who reported it.
Your data is never sold or used to identify you.
1. Who is responsible
FIDD is developed and maintained by Ipiranga Tech, the controller of the data handled by the app and the website. For any privacy matter, use the contact in section 13.
2. Data we handle
Location
FIDD asks for precise location access because it needs to know exactly where a pothole was detected. Location is read only while detection is turned on. During that time Android shows a persistent notification, and you can pause detection at any moment from the app or from the notification itself. While detection is paused, the app does not track your location.
Location is also used, when you ask, to center the map on you and to show your city on the ranking screen.
Motion sensors
The accelerometer, gyroscope and gravity sensor are read during detection to recognize the jolt of a pothole. This analysis happens entirely on the phone, and raw sensor readings are not sent to our servers, unless you choose to help improve detection (below).
Helping improve detection (optional)
This option is off by default. If you turn on “Help improve detection” (in the app's menu on the Home screen, or when the app invites you), then for each pothole detected after you turn it on the app also sends the server the ~3-second snippet of motion-sensor readings around the jolt (accelerometer, gravity and gyroscope), the vehicle speed at that moment and a random identifier for the trip, generated anew for each detection session. The snippet contains no location: it is linked only to the anonymous report it belongs to. We use these snippets exclusively to train and evaluate the detection model, so the app can tell a pothole apart from other bumps and from the phone being handled. You can turn it off in the same menu at any time; snippets already sent stay linked to their report (see sections 7 and 8).
Pothole reports sent to the server
When a pothole is detected, the app sends the following to the FIDD server:
| Data | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Latitude and longitude of the pothole | Pin the pothole on the map and group reports of the same spot. |
| Impact intensity | Estimate how severe the pothole is. |
| Date and time of detection | Order reports and identify potholes that come back. |
| Random report identifier | Avoid counting the same report twice when a submission is retried. |
| Anonymous device token (see below) | Count how many different people confirmed a pothole and let only you delete your own reports. |
When you vote that a pothole has been fixed, the server records the vote with the anonymous token so each device votes only once per pothole.
When you mark one of your detections as a false alarm in the app's history, the app tells the server, which records it on your report only as an indication for improving detection; it doesn't change the pothole on the map.
Anonymous device token
The first time the app sends a report, it generates a random code and stores it on the phone. This code is not derived from any of your data or your device's (it is not the IMEI, phone number, Google account or advertising ID). The server does not store the original code: it keeps only an irreversible cryptographic digest (SHA-256 hash with a server-side secret), which recognizes reports from the same device without knowing whose device it is.
Map and ranking queries
To load potholes, the app sends the server the map area on screen or, for the list of nearby potholes and your city on the ranking, your current position. This data is used only to answer the query and is not stored.
Technical connection data
As with any internet service, the server receives the IP address of each connection. The IP address is kept in memory for a few minutes to rate-limit requests and protect the service from abuse, and it may appear in the server's technical logs, which are size-limited and overwritten automatically. The IP address is not linked to pothole reports.
3. What we don't collect
- Name, email, phone number, tax ID or any sign-up data: the app has no accounts.
- Your route or movement history: only the spots of detected potholes leave the phone.
- Contacts, photos, files, microphone or camera.
- The advertising ID for our own use: FIDD itself never reads it; only the ad network uses it to serve ads (see “Ads” in section 6).
- Anything that links usage statistics or crash reports to you or to your pothole reports (see section 6).
4. What stays on your phone
The app stores the following in its private storage:
- the history of potholes you detected (location, time, intensity and upload status);
- short snippets of sensor readings around each detection, used to improve detection, which only leave the phone if you turn on “Help improve detection” (section 2);
- the last location used to show your city on the ranking, so the app doesn't need GPS every time you open that screen;
- the anonymous token described above and your app preferences.
If Android backup is enabled on your device, this data may be included in the backup Android makes to your Google account, according to your settings and Google's privacy policy. Uninstalling the app or clearing its data in Android settings erases everything stored locally.
5. Purposes and legal basis
We use the data above exclusively to:
- detect potholes and publish them on the collaborative map;
- confirm potholes reported by different people and record when they are fixed;
- compute the city ranking by potholes, repairs and recurrences;
- keep the service running, secure and protected against abuse;
- understand in aggregate how the app is used and fix crashes, in order to improve it;
- train and evaluate the detection model, with the sensor snippets of those who chose to help;
- show ads that keep the app free, and stop showing them to those who bought “Remove ads”.
Processing is based on the legitimate interest of offering a public, collaborative map of road conditions (LGPD, art. 7, IX), limited to the minimum necessary and anonymized whenever possible. Usage statistics and crash reports rely on the same legitimate interest, to improve the app, and ads on the legitimate interest of keeping it free; ad personalization can be limited in Android settings. Sensor snippets are only sent with your consent (LGPD, art. 7, I), given by turning on “Help improve detection”, which you can withdraw at any time. Access to location and notifications depends on your permission in Android settings, which you can revoke at any time.
6. Sharing
We do not sell or rent data. Pothole information (location, severity, status and number of reports) is public and can be seen by anyone in the app and on the website, but it never identifies who reported it. Aggregated, anonymous data such as the city ranking may be freely published, including to public authorities.
We also rely on third-party services for the app to work:
- Google Maps SDK and Google Play services: display the map in the app and provide the device's location. Google may receive technical data such as the map region shown and device information, under the Google Privacy Policy.
- Hosting provider: the FIDD server runs on cloud infrastructure in Brazil, which stores the data on our behalf.
- OpenStreetMap: provides the maps shown on the fidd.com.br website. Your browser downloads map images directly from that service.
Usage statistics (Google Analytics for Firebase)
FIDD uses Google Analytics for Firebase to understand, anonymously and in aggregate, how the app is used. The app records only in-app events with no personal content: screens opened, onboarding finished, the answer to the location permission request, detection turned on and off (from the app or the notification, and for how many whole minutes), a pothole detected, marked as a false alarm or deleted, a fix vote, map and ranking actions, and the steps of the “Remove ads” purchase. Events never include coordinates, pothole identifiers, the anonymous device token or anything you type.
Along with the events, Firebase receives technical data such as the app version, device model, operating system, language, approximate region (derived by Google from the IP address) and a random app-installation identifier generated by Firebase. Collection of the advertising ID and of Android's device identifier (SSAID) is turned off, and these statistics are not used for ads nor shared with AdMob. See Privacy and Security in Firebase.
Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics)
When the app crashes, Firebase Crashlytics sends a technical report: where in the code the error happened, app version, device model, operating system, free memory and storage, time of the crash and a random installation identifier. We use it only to fix bugs. The report does not include your location or your pothole reports.
Ads
FIDD shows banner ads served by Google AdMob, which keep the app free. Ads are never shown during onboarding or while detection is on (that is, while you are driving). To choose and measure ads, the AdMob SDK receives directly from your phone the device's advertising ID, technical device and app information (such as model, operating system, language and IP address) and your interactions with the ads, under the policy on how Google uses data from partner apps. FIDD does not send AdMob your location, your pothole reports or the anonymous device token, and the ads are not linked to your reports.
You can limit ad personalization or delete the advertising ID in Android settings (Settings › Privacy › Ads or Google › Ads, depending on the phone).
Remove ads (in-app purchase)
You can remove the ads with a one-time purchase inside the app. Payment is handled entirely by Google Play, under the Google Play terms; FIDD never sees your card or payment data. The app only asks Google Play whether this device's account owns the purchase, to decide whether to show ads, and does not send this information to the FIDD server.
We may disclose data if required by law or court order. Since we hold no personally identifying data, what exists to disclose are the anonymous reports described in this policy.
7. Retention
- Pothole reports and fix votes: kept while useful for the map and the ranking history, including after the repair, to identify potholes that reappear in the same place.
- Sensor snippets and false-alarm marks: kept with the report they belong to and erased together with it.
- Location sent in queries: not stored.
- IP address: kept in memory for a few minutes; technical logs are size-limited and overwritten automatically.
- Usage statistics and crash reports: kept by Google on our behalf, crash reports for 90 days and usage statistics for at most 14 months.
- Data on your phone: until you delete it, clear the app's data or uninstall it.
8. Your control over your data
- Pause detection at any time: nothing is detected or sent while it is paused.
- Delete a report from the app's history: it is removed from the phone and the app asks the server to remove it as well.
- Turn off “Help improve detection” in the app's menu: from then on, no sensor snippet is sent. To also erase snippets already sent, delete the corresponding reports from the history.
- Revoke permissions for location and notifications in Android settings.
- Limit ad personalization or delete the advertising ID in Android settings, or remove the ads with the in-app purchase.
- Uninstalling the app erases local data, including the anonymous token. After that, old reports can no longer be linked to you, not even to delete them through the app, because the server only knows the token's irreversible digest.
9. Your rights
The LGPD grants you, among others, the right to confirm whether we process your data, access it, correct it, request its deletion, obtain information about sharing and object to processing (art. 18). Because FIDD does not collect identifying data, we generally cannot tell which reports are yours. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the address below and we will help as far as possible. You may also file a complaint with Brazil's National Data Protection Authority (ANPD).
10. Security
All communication between the app and the server is encrypted (HTTPS). The device token is stored on the server only as an irreversible hash, and the service has request limits and automatic checks against fake or abusive reports. No system is completely immune to failures, but we keep as little data as possible precisely to reduce the impact of any incident.
11. Children
FIDD is intended for drivers and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect data from children or adolescents.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the app changes. The date at the top shows the current version. If a change materially alters what we collect, we will let you know in the app before it takes effect.
13. Contact
Questions, requests or complaints about privacy: contato@fidd.com.br.