Privacy Policy
Padiam Panel is a research app. It measures what a small, consenting panel of people in Pakistan watch on YouTube, so that audience figures for the Pakistani market can be reported to media agencies. It is not a consumer product, it is not advertised, and it cannot be installed by accident — every panel member is recruited in person and joins with a claim code issued to them individually.
The short version. The app records what you watch on YouTube and which apps you have in the foreground. It does not read your messages, your passwords, your keystrokes, or the contents of any app other than YouTube. Nothing we collect is sold or shared with advertisers. You can leave the panel and have your data deleted at any time, and you do not have to give a reason.
1. Who we are
Padiam is operated by Cincorios. For anything in this policy — questions, corrections, access requests, complaints — write to padiam@cincorios.co. A person reads that address; it is not an automated queue.
2. Taking part is voluntary, and stays voluntary
You joined the panel by choosing to. You can stop at any time, and stopping is not a negotiation — uninstall the app, or tell us, and measurement ends immediately. If you also want the data already collected removed, see section 9. We do not ask departing members to justify themselves and we do not retain anyone by making leaving difficult.
3. What the app collects
This table is the same set of declarations we have filed with Google Play under Data Safety. Where a row says optional, you can decline that permission during setup and the rest of the app still works.
| Data | What it actually is | Why | |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube viewing | The title and identifier of videos you watch, how long you watch, and the ads shown to you | The measurement itself | Optional |
| App usage | Which app is in the foreground and for how long — the app's name only, never its contents | To separate YouTube time from other time | Required |
| Email address | The Google account you sign in with | To link the app to your panel record | Optional |
| Approximate location | A coarse, city-level reading. Not a precise position, and not a movement trail | Regional context for viewing | Optional |
| Device identifier | An identifier generated by us for your device | To attribute sessions to one device | Required |
| Device profile | Make, model, Android version, memory | To interpret measurement correctly across hardware | Required |
| Crash logs & diagnostics | Technical reports when the app fails | To fix faults | Required |
4. The accessibility permission, stated plainly
Padiam Panel uses Android's AccessibilityService. We are describing this in detail because it is the most powerful permission the app asks for, and you are entitled to know exactly what it means rather than a reassuring summary of it.
Android does not offer a way to grant an accessibility service access to one app only. When you enable ours, the operating system grants it the technical ability to read on-screen content from any app on your phone. That is a property of Android, not a choice we made, and we will not pretend otherwise.
What our software then does with that ability is narrow, and it is the part we control:
- In YouTube, it reads what is needed to identify the video and any ads on screen — titles, video identifiers, ad labels, timing.
- In every other app, it records the app's package name and how long it was in front. It does not read, store or transmit anything you type, view, or receive there.
We do not collect keystrokes, passwords, message contents, photographs, contacts, call logs, microphone audio, or the screen contents of banking, messaging or any other non-YouTube app. The accessibility permission is never used for advertising, profiling you as an individual, or any purpose other than the audience measurement described here.
5. Information collected when you joined
Separately from the app, our field team recorded information when you enrolled: your age band, gender, city, province, language, education, household size, the occupation and education of your household's chief earner, and which household durables you own. This is standard audience-research practice — panel results are only meaningful if the panel's composition is known. It is held against your panel member identifier, not your name.
Panel members aged 13–17
Where a panel member is a minor, we additionally record a parent or guardian's name and contact details, and we do not enrol that member without the guardian's consent. A guardian may withdraw their child from the panel at any time on the same terms as any other member.
6. How your data is used
Your viewing is combined with that of other panel members to produce audience estimates — reach, watch time, ad exposure — for the Pakistani market. What is reported to clients is aggregate. Media agencies who buy Padiam's reports receive audience figures for channels, videos and demographic groups. They do not receive your name, your email address, your device identifier, or a record of your individual viewing.
7. Who else sees it
We do not sell your data, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. Two Google services process data on our behalf as part of the app working at all:
- Google Sign-In — used to confirm which panel member a device belongs to.
- Firebase Crashlytics — receives crash and diagnostic reports so that faults can be found and fixed.
We may disclose data where the law of Pakistan requires it. If that ever happens, we will tell affected panel members unless we are legally prevented from doing so.
8. Storage, security and retention
Data is transmitted over an encrypted connection (HTTPS/TLS) and stored on access-controlled servers. Measurement data is retained while you are an active panel member and for up to 24 months afterwards, because audience research requires stable historical comparisons. After that it is deleted or irreversibly aggregated so that it can no longer be connected to you. If you ask us to delete it sooner, we do.
9. Your rights
You may ask us, at any time, to show you what we hold about you, correct it, stop collecting it, or delete it. Two of these have their own pages:
- Delete your account and data — padiam.cincorios.co/deleteAccount
- Request a copy of your data — padiam.cincorios.co/requestUserData
Or simply write to padiam@cincorios.co. We respond within 30 days. Exercising any of these rights costs you nothing and will never affect any incentive or payment already owed to you.
10. Changes to this policy
If we change what we collect or why, we will update this page and change the date at the top. Where a change materially expands what is collected, we will tell panel members directly rather than rely on you noticing this page.
11. Contact
Padiam · Cincorios
padiam@cincorios.co