Effective 2026-11-07 · Applies to the ChinaPath Android app (package com.chinapath.app) and this website.
ChinaPath is an independent guide for international students who are choosing and applying to Chinese universities. This page explains, in plain language, what we collect, why, where it is stored, and how you can delete it.
1. What we collect
Account data — email address, display name, and an account identifier. Used only to sign you in and sync your data across devices.
Your saved items — universities you favourite, message read state, and your application-document checklist. Used to sync your shortlist and progress.
Product analytics — anonymous events such as “detail page opened”, “favourite added”, “apply link tapped”. Used only to understand which parts of the app are useful.
Crash diagnostics — the technical error message and app build number when the app crashes. Used only to fix bugs.
Update subscriptions — if you subscribe to updates for a university, we store that choice to send you the updates you asked for.
We do not collect: your location, contacts, photos, microphone or camera data, advertising identifiers, or payment information. The app shows information only; it never submits an application on your behalf and takes no payments.
2. How we use it
To operate your account and sync your shortlist across devices.
To understand which universities and scholarships people actually look at, so we can improve the data and the app.
To fix crashes and technical problems.
To send you update notifications you explicitly subscribed to.
We do not sell your personal data, share it with advertisers or data brokers, or use it for profiling.
3. Where it is stored
Data is stored in Google Firebase (Authentication and Cloud Firestore) on Google Cloud infrastructure. Servers may be outside your country, including the asia-east1 (Taiwan) region and the United States. Small amounts of data (such as your sign-in state and cached university data) are also stored locally on your device so the app works offline.
4. Third parties
Google Firebase — authentication, database and hosting infrastructure. Firebase privacy.
Expo — the app framework used to build and update the app; it does not receive your account data.
Wikimedia Commons — some campus photos are loaded from Wikimedia’s public CDN and credited in the app. No personal data is sent.
We do not use advertising SDKs or third-party analytics SDKs.
5. Retention and deletion
We keep your account data while your account exists. You can delete everything yourself:
In the app: Profile → Delete account. This permanently removes your account, favourites, message state and analytics events from our servers and clears local data on the device.
By email: write to wy1608946283@gmail.com from the address you registered with, and we will delete the account within 30 days.
Anonymous crash records are kept for up to 90 days and then deleted.
6. Security
Traffic is encrypted in transit (TLS). Access to our database is restricted by Firestore security rules so that each account can only read and write its own user document. No system is perfectly secure; please use a unique password.
7. Children
ChinaPath is intended for people aged 16 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.
8. Changes
If we change how we handle data, we will update this page and the effective date above, and where appropriate notify you in the app.
数据存储于 Google Firebase（Authentication 与 Cloud Firestore），运行在 Google Cloud 基础设施上。服务器可能位于你所在国家/地区之外，包括 asia-east1（台湾）区域与美国。少量数据（登录状态、院校数据缓存）同时保存在本机，以支持离线使用。