VIN Decoder & Car Recall Check
Effective date: October 17, 2026
Application ID (package name): com.vindecoder.carrecall
Contact: support@vehiclevincheck.net
Government Disclaimer
VIN Decoder & Car Recall Check is an independent automotive utility app developed for informational purposes. It is NOT affiliated with, associated with, authorized by, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), or any other government agency.
All vehicle technical specifications and safety recall notices are sourced directly from public databases provided by the U.S. government via https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov and https://api.nhtsa.gov.
1. Information We Collect and Process
We are committed to maintaining a strict privacy-first approach:
- No personal data collection: We do NOT collect, harvest, store, or sell names, email addresses, phone numbers, location data, or device identifiers.
- No user accounts: You can use all features anonymously without creating an account or signing in.
2. Permissions Used and Why
The App requests only permissions strictly required to perform its core functions:
A. Camera (android.permission.CAMERA)
- Purpose: Allows real-time scanning of vehicle VIN barcodes (Code 39, Code 128, DataMatrix, QR) and printed 17-character VIN text from windshields or door jamb stickers.
- On-device only: All camera frames are processed exclusively on your local device using Google ML Kit. Camera images and video streams are NEVER recorded, stored to disk, or transmitted to any external server.
B. Internet Access (android.permission.INTERNET, android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE)
- Purpose: Queries the public U.S. NHTSA vPIC and Recalls APIs over encrypted HTTPS to fetch vehicle technical details and safety recalls.
- What is sent: Only the VIN you enter or scan (or the year, make and model you choose) is sent to these public NHTSA services to return the results. We do not operate our own servers and do not store your lookups. NHTSA’s own website policies apply to requests sent to its services.
3. Local Data Storage (“My Garage”)
Vehicles saved in “My Garage” are stored locally on your device in secure, sandboxed storage via Android Jetpack DataStore. This data is never sent to any external server and is permanently deleted when you uninstall the application or clear app storage.
4. Third-Party Libraries and Services
- Google ML Kit: On-device barcode scanning and optical character recognition (OCR).
- NHTSA public APIs (
vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov,api.nhtsa.gov): Public U.S. government vehicle and recall databases.
5. Children’s Privacy
Our service does not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children.
6. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with a new effective date.
7. Contact Us
For any inquiries or feedback regarding this Privacy Policy:
Email: support@vehiclevincheck.net