Privacy policy
Whittle Launcher contains no analytics, no tracking, no advertising and no user accounts. Your data stays on your device. The only network requests the app makes are the optional weather requests described in section 3.
1. No analytics or telemetry
The app does not include any analytics, crash-reporting, or telemetry frameworks, and it does not transmit usage data, device identifiers, or personal information to the developer or to anyone else.
2. Data stored on your device
The following data is created and stored only on your device:
- Launcher settings (theme, fonts, layout, gestures, and similar options)
- Your favorites, hidden apps, renamed app labels, Quick Targets, Open Challenge and Focus configuration
- The optional screen-time overview: the launcher itself measures how long apps that were opened from it stay in the foreground. This is stored in a local database, is automatically deleted after a short retention period, never uses the Android “usage access” permission, and never leaves the device.
- If weather is enabled: your chosen location, a cached copy of the last weather response, and any API key you entered for the selected provider.
3. Weather (optional)
Weather is off by default. If you enable it, the app sends requests to the weather provider you select: WeatherAPI.com, Open-Meteo, or Visual Crossing. Requests contain only your chosen city or your approximate coordinates (rounded to roughly 1 km). WeatherAPI.com and Visual Crossing require a user-supplied API key. Open-Meteo’s public endpoint does not require an API key; its customer endpoint uses the Open-Meteo API key you enter. Responses are cached locally. Links to detailed weather pages open in your browser; those sites are operated by third parties and have their own privacy policies.
4. Location (optional)
The app requests the coarse (“approximate”) location permission only if you explicitly choose automatic location for weather. Location is read in the foreground only and is used solely to build the weather request. Choosing a city manually, or leaving weather off, never triggers a location request.
5. API key storage
Weather API keys you enter are stored only in the app’s private storage on your device. They are excluded from Android system backups and from the app’s own settings-backup files, and they are never shown in exported data.
6. Local settings backup
You can export your launcher configuration to a file you choose through the Android system file picker, and import it again later. Backup files are created only on your explicit action, are stored wherever you choose, and never include weather API keys or your screen-time history. The app does not upload backups anywhere.
7. Android system backup and device transfer
Android cloud backup is disabled for Whittle app data. Android device-to-device transfer may copy ordinary launcher configuration, such as favorites, hidden apps, renamed app labels, Quick Targets, Open Challenge and Focus rules, to your new device. It excludes weather API keys, weather caches, screen-time history, widget IDs, temporary runtime state, and developer-only state.
8. Notifications
The app can only show local notifications on your device. It contains no push-notification service. The notification permission (Android 13+) is never requested during setup.
9. Permissions
- Query installed apps: required for a launcher to list and open your apps.
- Set wallpaper / bind widgets / uninstall requests: used only for the corresponding launcher features you invoke.
- Private Space permissions: used only to show and lock/unlock the Android Private Space profile on supported devices.
- Internet: used only for the optional weather feature and for links you explicitly open.
- Approximate location: optional, see section 4.
- Notifications: optional, see section 8.
10. Data sharing and sale
The app does not share, sell, or transmit your personal data to third parties. The only outbound traffic is the optional weather request described in section 3, which you control.
11. Children
The app does not collect personal data from anyone, including children.
12. Changes to this policy
Changes to this policy will be included with app updates and noted by the “Last updated” date above.
13. Contact
Questions about this policy can be sent to: whittlelauncher@gmail.com