Anki Android Data Policy

AnkiDroid (Android) Help
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Hi,

I’ve noticed that the Anki app on Android states, “may share and collect these data types with third parties (personal info, app activity, audio, photos and videos, files and docs).” Could you clarify how data sharing works on Android? Specifically, who is the data shared with, and are there options to opt out of sharing or delete my information? I love your app, but I need more clarity on this issue, and I couldn’t find any answers on GitHub.

Thank you!

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Anki has access to your collection data if you sync to AnkiWeb. That is covered by the AnkiWeb Privacy Policy – https://ankiweb.net/account/privacy . The only other data I can think of that AnkiDroid collects directly would be crash/error reports and feature usage, both of which you can opt in/out of in Settings > General. Let me know if those don’t answer your questions and we can delve further!

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Thank you for getting back to me. The Android Anki app on the Play Store states under Data Safety, ‘This app may share these data types with third parties.’ Is this information incorrect?

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Here is AnkiDroid’s privacy policy.

This app may share these data types with third parties.

To AnkiDroid, AnkiWeb is technically a third party

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Great to hear, thank you so much for confirming. Maybe included those in either your Privacy Policy or Google Play Store might be good for user to know. Love Anki app!

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If I remember correctly FSRS (latest Spaced repetition algorithm) was researched using data from decks provided by the official Anki, perhaps this is statistics or review history and not included text or media files.

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  • We may extract the review history of your cards to share with others for academic research purposes. This will not include the contents of your cards (such as text or media files), and the data will not include any information that would personally identify you.

– From the AnkiWeb Privacy Policy

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I think the one at play store can’t be modified like that, so privacy policy is the way to go.

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Thank you for the transparency! What does the review history mean to the academic company? Is it related to the user’s study patterns or academic sharing?

Additionally, I recently ran a file through VirusTotal.

anki
anki2764×1562 364 KB

While I know Anki is safe, one of the flags indicates it’s malicious for both Windows and Mac. Do you have any insights on why that might be?

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False positive

A false positive is another way of saying “mistake”. As applied to the field of antivirus programs, a false positive occurs when an antivirus program mistakenly flags an innocent file as being malicious. This may seem harmless enough, but false positives can be a real nuisance.
VirusTotal Intelligence Introduction

I am experiencing a false positive, my file or site should not be detected.

VirusTotal simply aggregates the output of different antivirus vendors and URL scanners, it does not produce any verdicts of its own. As such, if you are experiencing a false positive issue, you should notify the problem to the company producing the erroneous detection, they are the only ones that can fix the issue. Please note that even if we were able to remove the flag, the users of such product would still be blocked from accessing your site.
I am experiencing a false positive, my file or site should not be detected.

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A recent example would be the 10K and 20K datasets that were made available to aid in the development of FSRS. open-spaced-repetition/anki-revlogs-10k · Datasets at Hugging Face

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Hi, I’ve added the following to update our Privacy Policy, please chime in with wording which would help explain away/bring to light your concerns

Current Privacy Policy: https://github.com/ankidroid/Anki-Android/wiki/Privacy-Policy

Unofficially (but probably correct):

  • AnkiWeb (third party) is an opt-in sync service, with your consent, we upload your Anki Collection (cards/media) here
    • You may define a custom sync server
  • We have opt-in crash reporting
  • We have opt-in analytics (this is currently broken)
  • Your cards may use JS to communicate with a third party
  • You may provide third-party apps access to your Anki collection via an Android permissions dialog
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That’s relieved, thank you!

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Awesome, thank you for the clarification!

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Hi, this is great—thank you! I’m no expert, but as a user, I wanted to share a few thoughts that might help clarify things further. Since Anki is already transparent, I think these points could still be helpful to include in the privacy policy for extra clarity:

1. Clarify AnkiWeb and the Google Play Store description

  • The current description in the Google Play Store could be misleading. It states that apps “may share and collect these data types with third parties (personal info, app activity, audio, photos and videos, files and docs),” which might lead users to think that AnkiWeb or AnkiApp is collecting personal data. To avoid confusion, it would be useful to explain that, while AnkiWeb may technically be considered a third party in the Google Play Store, it’s an official Anki service used for syncing data across devices.
  • Additionally, since other apps with the name Anki appear on the Play Store, linking to the official app could help clarify things.

2. “No Personal Identification Info Collected" section: To further clarify the types of data collected, it might be useful to include:

  • AnkiDroid and AnkiWeb do not collect personal identifying information (PII) unless you explicitly opt in (e.g., for crash reports or syncing with AnkiWeb).
  • The data shared is typically related to flashcard usage, app usage, and device configuration etc.

3. Third-Party Sharing:

  • It might be useful to link to third-party data sources, such as the link provided by Danika_Dakika above.