Last updated: 23 September 2026

Buffering Britain is a campaign to improve mobile signal and mobile infrastructure delivery across the UK. This policy explains what personal information we collect through the Buffering Britain Android app (the “App”), why we collect it, who we share it with, and what rights you have.

Who we are

For the purposes of UK data protection law, Buffering Britain is responsible for personal information processed through the App and its related services.

You can contact us by email at contact@bufferingbritain.com.

What information do we collect?

The App does not require you to create an account or sign up. It records signal tests on your device so you can see your own results and decide whether to share them with the campaign. Your saved test history stays on your device unless you choose to share it. The network requests needed to run tests and display maps are explained below.

For location, the App records the coordinates of a test when you have given the App location permission. Those coordinates help show exactly where mobile signal is failing. The App does not collect or add your full street address to your saved history, exports, or prepared case-study email.

When you run a test, the App may create and save the following information on your device:

  • the coordinates of the test, if you have given the App location permission;
  • internet speed test results, including download speed, upload speed, latency, whether the test completed or failed, and the reason for a failed test where available;
  • the radio type (such as 4G or 5G), and – where you’ve set it – the mobile network you told us you’re on and the network it runs on (for example a Giffgaff user runs on O2); and
  • the time and date of the test.

Recording a journey

The App includes a “journey” mode that maps signal as you travel. When you start a journey, and only while a journey is recording, the App:

  • follows your location continuously to draw the route you travelled, saving that route as a trail of coordinates on your device;
  • runs a series of signal tests along the way, each one saved with its coordinates, just like a single test; and
  • can keep mapping with your phone locked, using a foreground location service with an ongoing notification, after you grant location permission and start recording.

Recording a journey is always something you start and stop yourself. The route and tests are saved on your device so you can see the recap. You choose whether to send individual test records to the campaign.

You do not need to grant “Allow all the time” location access. A journey that you start can continue with the screen locked while its recording notification is active. You can pause or end recording in the App or from the notification. The continuous route trail stays on your device; sending journey evidence to the campaign sends the individual test records and their locations.

Information you choose to send to us

By default, your saved history stays on your device. Buffering Britain receives a test only if you choose to share it, for example by:

  • using the App’s “Send to the campaign” option, which sends that test’s details – the information listed above, including its coordinates but not a full street address, together with any context you add (such as what the mobile data stopped you doing) and an optional note – to Buffering Britain over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection, where it is stored on our own server to support the campaign’s evidence base. You can separately choose whether Buffering Britain may quote your story in campaign materials and add an optional first name for that purpose. Sending a test does not give this permission by itself. If you have no usable mobile data when you send, the App saves the submission on your device and sends it automatically once a connection is available; or
  • reviewing and sending the case-study email prepared by the App. If you send a case-study email, we may receive the test details listed above, your email address, your name if it appears in your email account, signature or message, and any additional information you choose to include. The prepared email includes coordinates for the test location, not a full street address.

When we receive a campaign submission, our server also saves its receipt time and the IP address of the submitting connection. Submitted tests include the App version and technical measurement details, such as bytes transferred, test duration and failure information, to help us interpret the result and investigate faults.

The App also lets you export your data from your device. If you export or share that file with someone else, that sharing is controlled by you. Diagnostic exports may also contain device and operating-system information, App events and technical logs. These remain on your device unless you choose to share them.

Contacting your MP

After you send a poor result to the campaign, the App offers an optional next step: contacting your MP. If you choose this, the App prepares a short message draft on your device using the test you have just sent – its speed and quality figures, the network type, the test’s coordinates (not a full street address), and any context or note you added. That draft is placed on your device’s clipboard so you can paste it.

To help you find and reach the right MP, the App can open WriteToThem, a service run by mySociety, in your browser. On the WriteToThem website you enter your postcode, review the message, add your name, and send it yourself. The App does not send the message, your postcode or your name to Buffering Britain through this feature, and it does not pass them to WriteToThem on your behalf – what you do on the WriteToThem website is between you and WriteToThem, under WriteToThem’s own privacy policy. Using this feature is always your choice; if you prefer, you can copy the draft without opening WriteToThem.

The public “Dead Miles” map

Tests that people send to the campaign feed a public map of where signal is failing. Before anything appears on that map, the reports are aggregated and location-coarsened: individual locations are snapped to a grid roughly 100 metres across and only ever shown as the centre of a grid cell, a cell is only shown once enough separate reports exist within it, and the map never shows a raw location, your notes, the time of a test, or any identifier. In other words, the public map shows patterns, not people. The App fetches this aggregated map to display it; it does not send your location in order to do so.

Speed tests and our servers

To measure download, upload and latency, the App transfers test data to and from Buffering Britain’s own servers. As with any internet connection, our server receives your device’s IP address and the test traffic needed to run the measurement. Connection IP addresses and request logs are used to operate the service, investigate faults and limit abusive requests. We do not use this to build a profile of you, and your saved history is never sent to our server unless you choose to share a test as described above.

If a test cannot reach our servers, the App makes a standard connectivity check to Google (“connectivitycheck.gstatic.com”) to tell a temporary problem with our servers apart from a genuine lack of signal, so a service outage is not wrongly recorded as a blackspot. As with any connection, Google receives your device’s IP address and the request needed to perform the check; the request carries none of your saved test data or history.

Maps and place names

The App displays maps using OpenFreeMap and OpenStreetMap. These services receive your IP address and requests for the map areas you view. The App also uses Android’s geocoding service to look up a place name for an approximate grid location; the provider depends on your device. These services process the requests under their own terms. The App does not send your saved test history, notes or complete journey trail to the map providers.

Local scores, badges and rewards

The App’s lifetime scores, badges and rewards are stored on your device and do not require an account. The Android app has no online leaderboard and does not use Google Play Games.

Analytics and tracking

The App contains no third-party analytics, advertising or tracking software. There is no Buffering Britain account or login, the App does not track you across other apps or websites, and it does not show you adverts. The only information that leaves your device is what is described in this policy: the speed-test traffic to our servers, the standard map, geocoding and connectivity checks described above, anything you choose to send to the campaign, and, if you choose to contact your MP, the message draft you send through WriteToThem.

How do we use personal information?

We use information processed by the App or sent to us to:

  • run speed tests, show your results, and save your history locally on your device;
  • record the coordinates of a test, and the route of a journey, where location permission is granted;
  • send a test to the campaign, or prepare a case-study email, when you choose to;
  • understand where mobile signal is failing people and inform further campaign research;
  • create maps, summaries, reports or campaign material using aggregated, anonymised, location-coarsened or semi-anonymised information where appropriate;
  • respond to messages or case studies that you send to us;
  • investigate faults, operate and secure our services, and improve the App and related campaign tools; and
  • comply with our legal obligations.

What legal basis do we have for processing your personal data?

Where the App uses your location to record test coordinates or to map a journey, sends a test to us when you choose “Send to the campaign,” records your separate choice to share a story, or prepares a case-study email, we rely on your consent and on the choices you make in the App. You can withdraw that consent by changing location permissions in your device settings, deleting saved tests or journeys in the App, deciding not to send a test or a case-study email, turning off story permission before sending, or contacting us at contact@bufferingbritain.com if you have already sent data to us.

We rely on our legitimate interests in operating and securing our services when processing connection information and request logs. Where you send us a case-study email, diagnostic report or other message, we may also rely on our legitimate interests in responding to you, investigating faults, running a public-interest campaign and improving mobile connectivity evidence, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.

Where we need to keep or disclose information to meet a legal duty, we rely on compliance with our legal obligations.

When do we share personal data?

We do not sell your personal data. We will only share personal data:

  • with the device and platform services needed to run a feature you use – for example OpenFreeMap, OpenStreetMap, Android geocoding, Google’s connectivity check, or your own email app when you send a case-study email;
  • with WriteToThem (operated by mySociety) if you choose the App’s “Contact your MP” feature, where you enter your postcode and send your message yourself under WriteToThem’s own terms;
  • with trusted service providers who help us host our servers or operate email, communications, research, analysis, mapping, hosting or campaign administration;
  • in campaign material, reports or the public map only in aggregated, anonymised, location-coarsened or semi-anonymised form, unless you have given clearer permission for more identifiable use; or
  • where required to comply with our legal obligations, protect our legal rights, or protect the security of our systems.

International transfers

Some of the services used to operate the App, website, email, research or campaign infrastructure may process personal information outside the UK. Where that happens, we expect those providers to use appropriate safeguards for international transfers.

How long do we keep your personal data for?

Technical service logs are kept only for as long as needed to operate and protect the service or investigate faults. Diagnostic reports and correspondence you send us are kept for as long as needed to deal with the issue or request.

Tests and journeys saved in the App stay on your device until you delete them, reset the App, uninstall the App, or otherwise remove the data from your device.

Where you choose to send a reading to Buffering Britain, we keep the individual submission only for as long as it is useful as live evidence for the campaign – in practice up to three years, or the life of the campaign, whichever is shorter – and we review what we hold at least once a year, deleting or anonymising submissions we no longer need.

Information we turn into the public map, reports or research is aggregated and location-coarsened so that it no longer identifies anyone. Once a submission has been aggregated in this way we may delete the original raw submission. Aggregated and anonymised information is not personal data, and we may keep it indefinitely.

Request deletion of App data

To request deletion of personal information you have sent through the Buffering Britain Android app, email contact@bufferingbritain.com with the subject “Delete my Android App data”. Tell us which tests, case study or diagnostic report the request concerns. Where available, include the test dates or record identifiers so we can find the information. We may ask for the information needed to identify your records and verify the request.

Your request can cover submitted test records, their locations and notes, the connection information stored with them, and case-study or diagnostic material you have sent us. We will explain any legal reason that prevents immediate deletion. The retention limits and review process described above continue to apply. Anonymous aggregate statistics that can no longer be linked to you may remain. Deleting saved results on your phone does not delete copies already sent to us; asking us to delete a submission does not remove the local copy on your phone.

Your choices and rights

You can choose whether to grant approximate or precise location permission, whether to run tests or record journeys, whether to keep or delete saved data, whether to export your data, and whether to send anything to Buffering Britain.

Under UK data protection law, you may have the right to access the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct inaccurate information, delete personal information, restrict or object to processing, withdraw consent, or receive an electronic copy of personal information you provided to us.

If you have questions or concerns about how your personal information is used, please reach out by email at contact@bufferingbritain.com.

If you remain unhappy with the way your information is being handled, or with the response received from us, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).

Your right to object

You can object to our processing of your personal information where we rely on legitimate interests. Contact contact@bufferingbritain.com and explain the processing you object to.

Changes to the privacy policy

If there are updates to this privacy policy, we will publish an updated version on our website and make the updated policy available through the App.