Privacy policy
Last updated 20 October 2026
The Wee Bin App needs to know your address to show your bin days and remind you. There are no accounts or analytics, and we never sell your data. The app is free because it shows a small number of adverts from Google; Google receives some information about your device to show them (see Adverts), and you choose whether they're personalised. Your address, bins and searches are never used for advertising.
Who we are
The Wee Bin App is made by Kyle Boyce, who is the data controller for the information described here. Contact: support@theweebin.app.
What we collect and why
| Information | Why | Where it's kept |
|---|---|---|
| The postcode or street you search for | To find your address in your council's address list. | Sent to your council (see below). Searches and results are cached on our server for up to 30 days so repeat searches don't load the council's service. |
| The address you choose, with your council's reference for it | To fetch and keep your collection dates up to date. | On your phone and on our server, linked to your app install. |
| A random install code | So our server knows which saved address and reminder belong to your app, without an account. It isn't linked to your name, email, phone number or device ID. | On your phone; our server stores only a scrambled (hashed) version and the date it was last used. |
| Your reminder settings (on or off, which day, what time) | To send reminders at the time you chose. | On your phone and on our server. |
| A push notification token, and whether your phone is iPhone or Android | To deliver reminders to your phone. Only if you allow notifications. | On our server. |
| Your IP address | To limit how often the service can be called, which protects council services from abuse. | Used as each request arrives; not stored in our database. Our hosting provider's request logs may include it (see below). |
| Your location, only if you tap “Use my location” | To fill in your postcode and council for you. | Not sent to us. Your phone’s own location service (Apple’s on iPhone, Google’s on Android) turns it into a postcode, and only that postcode reaches our server, just as if you’d typed it. Nothing is stored, and the app only uses location while it’s open. |
Your phone also keeps a copy of your schedule and bin guide so the app works offline.
Who we share it with
Your council
To look up addresses and collection dates, our server sends your search text, and later your council's reference for your address, to that council's own website or service. The request comes from our server, not your phone, so the council doesn't receive your IP address, install code or anything else about you.
postcodes.io
When you use “Use my location”, our server sends the postcode (and nothing else about you) to postcodes.io, a free public service, to find out which council it belongs to.
Cloudflare
Our server and database run on Cloudflare (database stored in Western Europe). Cloudflare processes requests on our behalf. Request logs, which can include your IP address and the text of address searches, are deleted automatically within 7 days.
Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) and Apple
Reminders are delivered through Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging and, on iPhone, Apple's Push Notification service. They receive your push token and the text of each reminder (for example "Bin day tomorrow: Blue bin. Put out by 07:00."), which may include the names of your bins but not your address. Google and Apple process this as our service providers, and may do so outside the UK under their own safeguards for international transfers.
Google (AdMob adverts)
Adverts are provided by Google AdMob. Google receives information directly from your phone through its advertising software, described under Adverts. We don't send Google your address, bins, reminders or searches.
We don't share your information with anyone else unless the law requires it.
Adverts
The app shows a few adverts, each clearly labelled as an ad: one on the Home screen below your upcoming collections, one below the results of a “Which bin?” search with several results and, occasionally, a full-screen advert when you close a bin's page in the Bin guide. Full-screen adverts are shown at most once a day, and never in your first few days using the app. There are no adverts in notifications, widgets, address setup or missed-bin reporting.
The adverts come from Google AdMob. To show and measure them and to prevent fraud, Google's software in the app collects your IP address (which gives an approximate location), identifiers for your device (on Android, the advertising ID and app set ID; on iPhone, an app-specific identifier), information about the adverts you see and tap, and app performance and crash information. Google uses this under its own policies, which explain how Google uses data from apps that use its services: policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
- Your choice: when you first use the app in the UK (and other places where the law requires it), Google's consent message asks whether adverts can be personalised and whether information can be stored on or read from your phone for advertising. You can change your answer at any time in Settings → Privacy & ads → Privacy choices.
- If you don't consent, the app may show no adverts or only limited, non-personalised ones, as Google's rules allow. Everything else in the app works the same.
- On iPhone the app doesn't ask for permission to track you across other companies' apps and websites, so Google can't use your phone's advertising identifier (IDFA).
- On Android you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings.
How long we keep it
- Change address or forget your address in Settings: the link between your install and that address, and its reminder, are deleted from our server (your phone needs to be online).
- Push tokens are deleted when Google or Apple tell us they no longer work (for example after you uninstall the app), and 30 days after an install no longer has a saved address.
- Installs that haven't used the service for 13 months and can't receive notifications are deleted, with their saved address link and reminder.
- Records of reminders sent are deleted after 90 days.
- Cached address searches are deleted after 30 days.
Collection dates for an address are public information published by the council. When no install has the address saved any more, we stop updating it and it is no longer linked to anyone.
Your choices and rights
- You can turn reminders off in Settings, or turn notifications off in your phone's settings.
- Deleting the app removes everything stored on your phone and stops reminders.
- Under UK data protection law you can ask for a copy of your information, have it corrected or deleted, or object to how we use it. Email support@theweebin.app. As we don't have your name or email, tell us your address and roughly when you set the app up so we can find the right records.
- If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Our legal basis for using your information is that it's needed to provide the service you ask the app for, and our legitimate interest in keeping the service and council systems secure. For adverts, we rely on your consent where the law requires it (for example, personalised adverts and storing or reading information on your phone), collected through Google's consent message and changeable in Settings.
Children
The app isn't aimed at children under 13.
Changes
If we change how we use your information, we'll update this page and the date at the top.