Privacy Policy

Hillcrest PAC app · Last updated 15 October 2026

The Hillcrest PAC app is published by Hillcrest PAC (the school's parent advisory council). It shows announcements, events and community information to parents and guardians of the school, from a private set of records that the PAC maintains. This page explains what the app does with information, and how to contact us.

What the app does not collect

• No account, name, email address or phone number is required to use the app.
• No advertising, analytics or crash-reporting service is built into the app. There are no third-party trackers and no advertising identifier.
• No access to your location, contacts, photos, camera or microphone.

Information stored on your device

• The school access code you type, kept in the device's encrypted secure storage so you aren't asked for it again.
• A cache of the content you have viewed (announcements, events, contacts and similar), so the app works offline.
• Your app settings, such as which notifications you want.

All of this stays on your device and is removed if you delete the app.

Information sent to the PAC's server

• The access code, with each request, to confirm you belong to the school community.
• A push notification token and your device model — only if you turn on "New Announcements". The token is what lets the PAC's server send a notification to your device; the device model helps us understand which devices are subscribed. Turning the toggle off unregisters it.

The app talks to a single backend built on Google Apps Script, which reads from a private Google Sheet and the school's Google Calendar. Those records are maintained by the PAC and are not public.

Contact details you may see in the app

The app displays contact information that the PAC publishes for its volunteers — for example a class representative's email address. This is information the PAC holds about its volunteers and shares within the school community; the app does not collect it from you.

Who processes this information

• Google — hosts the backend (Google Apps Script, Google Sheets and Google Calendar) that stores the app's content.
• Expo — the push notification service that delivers announcements, which in turn passes messages to Google FCM (Android) or Apple APNs (iOS) to reach your device.

We do not sell or rent anyone's information, and we do not share it for advertising.

How long it is kept

• Push tokens are removed when you switch "New Announcements" off, and the PAC's server automatically discards tokens that are no longer valid.
• When the school access code is rotated, devices that no longer have current access are removed from the notification list.
• Cached content on your device is cleared when the app detects the access code is no longer valid, or when you delete the app.

Your choices

• You can turn announcements, event reminders and event updates on or off individually in the app's Settings.
• You can request access to, correction of, or deletion of information the PAC holds about you by emailing us. We will respond as promptly as we can.

Children

The app is intended for parents and guardians. It is not directed to children, and it does not knowingly collect information from children. Content is published by the PAC for the school community.

Permissions the app requests

• Notifications — to deliver announcements and reminders.
• Calendar — only to add specific school events you choose to save. The app looks at your list of calendars solely to pick one to save them in; it never reads or changes your existing events.
• Start on device boot (Android) — so scheduled reminders are not lost after a restart.

Changes to this policy

If the app's behaviour changes in a way that affects this policy, we will update this page and change the date at the top.

Contact

Questions about this policy or the app's data: pacapp@randomidea.org.