Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 10, 2026

RealWage ("the app", "we") is a free calculator that converts gross earnings, whether from gig work, hourly or freelance work, or a salary, into an estimated net take-home wage. It has no login, no user accounts, and no backend server that stores your information. This page explains exactly what that means in practice, and the two Google services (AdSense and Analytics) that are involved.

The short version

Everything you type into the calculator (payout, hours, distance, fuel price, region, currency, tax rate, and so on) is saved only in your own browser, on your own device, using a standard web feature called localStorage. RealWage has no server to send that data to, so those numbers never leave your device, are never seen by us, and are never sold or shared with anyone, Google Analytics included. RealWage uses two outside Google services: AdSense, to show the ads that keep the app free, and Analytics, to see aggregate traffic and engagement trends (how many people visit, which pages, roughly how they arrived) so we know whether the app is actually useful to anyone. Neither ever receives your calculator inputs or results.

What RealWage stores, and why

RealWage saves a few small pieces of information in your browser's localStorage, so the app remembers your setup the next time you visit:

• realwage.driverInputs.v1: the calculator inputs you've entered (income type, pay frequency, region, currency, units, payout, hours, distance, fuel price/efficiency, and any custom rates you've typed in for the Global region).
• realwage.shiftLog.v1: if you use the optional Shift Log tab, the individual shifts you log (gig driving, hourly/freelance work, or a salaried job, whichever you choose per shift), including income source, date/time, region, pay figures, and, for gig driving, distance/dead miles/commute-miles/fuel numbers and any parking & tolls you type in, plus an optional zone label and notes. See "Shift Log & location" below for how the optional zone-location feature works.
• realwage.activeView.v1: which tab (Calculator or Shift Log) you last had open, so RealWage can return you to it.
• realwage.adConsent.v1: whether you've accepted or declined ad and analytics cookies, if you were shown the choice (see below). This only exists so we don't ask you again on every visit.

All of these are stored only because they make the app work better for you specifically: remembering your own numbers and logged shifts so you don't have to re-enter them, and remembering your own ad preference so we don't nag you. None of them is transmitted anywhere, since RealWage has no server to send them to, and clearing your browser's site data for realwage.app deletes all of them permanently. Exporting your shift log (via the Export button in the Shift Log tab) creates a JSON file you download and control yourself, and the separate "Mileage Log (CSV)" button creates a CSV file the same way, for your own tax software or accountant; RealWage never sees or receives either file.

Shift Log & location

The Shift Log tab is entirely optional and lets you track individual shifts of work (gig driving, hourly or freelance work, or a salaried job with overtime) by income source, zone, and time, so RealWage can show you which one has actually paid you best. Everything you log there follows the exact same rule as the rest of the app: it's saved only in realwage.shiftLog.v1 in your own browser, and is never transmitted anywhere, because RealWage has no backend to send it to.

To help group nearby shifts without typing a zone name every time, the Shift Log form has an optional "Use My Location" button next to the zone field. A few things are true about it:

• It only runs when you tap it. RealWage never requests or reads your location automatically, on page load, or in the background. It only runs in direct response to that specific button press, and your browser will ask its own separate permission question first.
• The coordinates are rounded before they're ever saved. RealWage rounds latitude and longitude to two decimal places (roughly a 1 km, neighborhood-sized area) before writing anything to localStorage. The precise coordinates your browser reports are never stored.
• It's never transmitted. Like every other number in the app, the rounded location only ever reaches your own browser's localStorage. It isn't sent to RealWage, to Google Analytics, to AdSense, or anywhere else.
• It's always optional. You can type your own free-text zone label instead of (or in addition to) using location, and if you deny the browser's permission prompt, the rest of the form still works normally; you'll just be asked to type a label yourself.

Google AdSense

RealWage shows ads through Google AdSense to stay free to use. When AdSense ads load, Google may set cookies or similar identifiers in your browser to deliver and measure those ads, and, depending on your region and settings, to personalize them. RealWage does not control what Google does with that information; Google's own Privacy Policy and how AdSense uses cookies explain this in detail. You can review or change your ad personalization settings directly with Google at myadcenter.google.com.

Google Analytics

RealWage uses Google Analytics to understand traffic and engagement at the level of the whole site: roughly how many people visit, which pages they look at, what kind of device they're on, and which country they're visiting from, not to build a profile of any individual visitor. A few things are switched off specifically to keep it that way:

• Google Signals is off. This is the feature that would otherwise let Google link Analytics data to a visitor's signed-in Google identity for cross-device reporting and remarketing. With it off, RealWage's Analytics data isn't tied to your Google account or usable to build ad audiences.
• Ad-personalization signals are off. RealWage's Analytics data cannot be used for ad personalization, independent of any AdSense cookie choice.
• Your calculator numbers are never sent to Analytics. Only an automatic page-view signal fires (the page's URL, its title, and the page that referred you); it's the same thing any static page would report. Your income, mileage, or wage figures live in localStorage only, exactly as described above, and nothing in RealWage's code ever attaches them to an Analytics event.
• Google doesn't keep your IP address. Google Analytics 4 discards the full IP address before logging any data, for every visitor, and does the coarse location lookup (country/region) on its own servers first; see Google's own explanation at support.google.com/analytics/answer/12017362.

Like AdSense, Analytics sets cookies in your browser to distinguish return visits from new ones, so it's covered by the exact same consent choice described below; there isn't a separate toggle for it.

Cookie consent, for both AdSense and Analytics

If our locale-based detection places you in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland, or Nigeria, RealWage asks for your consent before any request to Google's ad servers or Google Analytics is made at all. Neither script loads, and no related cookie can be set, until you choose Accept. If you choose Decline, or you're outside those regions and later change your mind, you can update that choice any time via the "Ad & Analytics Preferences" link in the footer of the calculator page. Note that if either had already loaded before you declined, we can stop our own requests for future page loads, but we cannot reach into your browser and delete cookies Google's servers already set. Clearing your browser's cookies for the google.com, googletagmanager.com, google-analytics.com, and doubleclick.net domains does that.

Nigeria was added to this list on 2026-09-01, following the Nigeria Data Protection Commission's 2025 General Application and Implementation Directive, which requires a consent banner for non-essential cookies like the ones AdSense and Analytics set.

This detection is a best-effort guess based on your browser's language/locale settings, not real geolocation. RealWage has no server, so it has no way to check your IP address or true location. It's the same technique the calculator itself already uses to guess a starting currency and units for you.

Hosting

RealWage is hosted on Firebase Hosting (Google). Like virtually any web host, Firebase's infrastructure logs standard request metadata (such as IP address and timestamp) to serve pages and protect against abuse. RealWage doesn't have separate access to those logs beyond what Firebase's own dashboard provides, and doesn't use them for anything beyond ordinary hosting operation.

What RealWage does not do

• No account creation, login, or password of any kind.
• No forms are submitted anywhere. Every number you type stays on your device.
• No tracking pixels or analytics beyond the AdSense and Analytics integrations described above (no Meta Pixel or similar), and neither of those two ever receives your calculator inputs, Shift Log entries, or results.
• No automatic or background location access. The optional "Use My Location" button in the Shift Log tab only runs when you tap it, and the location it reads is rounded and never leaves your device; see "Shift Log & location" above.
• We never sell or share your information, because we never receive it in the first place.

Your choices

• Calculator and Shift Log data: clear it any time via your browser's site settings ("Clear cookies and site data" for realwage.app), or delete individual logged shifts directly in the Shift Log tab.
• Ad and Analytics cookies: use the "Ad & Analytics Preferences" link in the calculator's footer to accept or decline both, at any time.
• Ad personalization generally: manage this directly with Google at myadcenter.google.com, independent of any single site.
• Analytics specifically: Google's own Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on blocks Google Analytics tracking across every site that uses it, not just RealWage.

Changes to this policy

If RealWage's data practices change again, this page will be updated first, with a new "last updated" date above.

Not legal advice

This page describes RealWage's actual data practices as plainly as possible. It isn't a substitute for professional legal advice about your own rights under GDPR, CCPA, or any other law.

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