Gesture Volume
This policy explains what Gesture Volume ("the app", "we", "us") does with information: what stays on your phone, what leaves it, who receives it and why, and the choices you have. It replaces the policy dated 24 May 2023.
1. The short version
- No account, no sign-in, no servers of our own. We do not run a backend and we do not receive your data, except an email you choose to send us.
- Your settings, notes, checklist and quick-dial entries stay on your phone.
- The optional accessibility service is off until you turn it on. It does only the jobs listed in section 3, and nothing it sees is sent anywhere. It does not capture text you copy.
- The free version shows ads. Ads are served by AppLovin and its partner ad networks, which collect device identifiers and similar data (section 5.1). Buying Pro removes ads, and the ad SDK is then not started at all.
- The app does not ask for your location and does not read your clipboard.
2. Information kept on your device
The app stores the following in its private storage on your phone. It is not sent to us or to anyone else.
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| Settings: appearance, gestures, positions, panel styles, Deck and Quick slider settings | So the app works the way you set it up |
| Notes and checklist items you type into the Deck | So they are there next time |
| Quick-dial names and numbers you add | For the one-tap call buttons |
| Pinned apps and the apps you hide the bar in (package names) | For the Deck and for Visibility |
| Whether Pro is unlocked, and ad-timing counters | To remove ads and space them out |
Android backup. If Android's backup is on for your Google account, Android may include the app's storage — including the items above — in your device backup, which Google stores encrypted for your account. You control this in Settings › System › Backup. We cannot see those backups.
Deleting it. Clear the app's storage (Settings › Apps › Gesture Volume › Storage › Clear storage) or uninstall the app. You can also delete individual notes in the Deck.
3. The accessibility service
Gesture Volume includes an optional Android AccessibilityService. It is off by default. Before you are sent to Settings › Accessibility to turn it on, the app shows a screen listing what the service does. You can turn it off there at any time, and the app keeps working with a notification instead.
When on, it is used only for these purposes:
- System actions you assign to the bar — lock screen, screenshot, Back, Home, recent apps, notification shade, quick settings and power menu. Android offers no other way for an app to perform these.
- Volume keys, only if you set the Quick slider's volume keys to Instant: the service looks at presses of the two volume keys, to open the Quick panel straight away. While a Volume down press is waiting, it also notes whether the system's screenshot screen has come up (its package name only), so a screenshot taken with the buttons does not open the panel. Every other key is passed straight on and is not recorded.
- Hiding the bar in apps you choose, only if you pick any: the service notes which app is on screen (its package name) so the bar can step aside, and reads nothing inside that app.
The service is configured so it cannot read the content of your screen. It does not capture text you copy or type, does not keep a log of the apps you use, and nothing it observes is transmitted off your device.
4. Permissions
| Permission | Used for | When it is asked |
|---|---|---|
| Display over other apps | Drawing the bar, the Deck and the Quick panel (required) | When you start the service |
| Accessibility service | Section 3 | When you choose a feature that needs it, after the disclosure screen |
| Notifications | The service's control notification (Show/Hide, Settings, Stop) | When you first start the service |
| Foreground service | Keeping the bar on screen while you use other apps | Automatic, no prompt |
| Modify system settings | Brightness gestures and the brightness slider | When you pick a brightness action |
| Do Not Disturb access | The Do Not Disturb toggle | When you pick that action |
| Contacts | Finding people by name in the Deck's search — searched on the device only | When you turn on contact search |
| Phone | Placing a call straight from quick dial or search | When you turn on direct calling |
| Camera (through Google's code scanner) | The QR scanner tile | When you open the scanner; handled by Google Play services |
| Vibrate, wake lock, run at start-up, internet | Haptics, keeping gestures responsive, restoring the bar after a restart, and ads | Automatic, no prompt |
The app works without the optional permissions; only the feature that needs one is unavailable.
5. Information that leaves your device
5.1 Advertising (free version only)
The free version shows banner, native, interstitial and app-open ads inside the app's own screens. Ads are never shown in the bar, the Deck, the Quick panel or over other apps.
Ads are provided by AppLovin MAX, which may request ads from these partner networks: Meta Audience Network, Unity Ads, Liftoff (Vungle), Mintegral and InMobi. When an ad is requested or shown, these companies may automatically collect:
- your device's advertising ID (Android Advertising ID);
- your IP address, and an approximate location derived from it;
- device and app information — model, operating system version, language, screen size, network type, app name and version;
- ad interactions and diagnostics — which ads were shown or tapped, and error or performance data.
They use it to deliver, measure and limit ads, to prevent fraud and, where you allow it, to personalise ads. Their own privacy policies govern that use:
- AppLovin — https://www.applovin.com/privacy/
- Meta — https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/
- Unity — https://unity.com/legal/game-player-and-app-user-privacy-policy
- Liftoff / Vungle — https://liftoff.io/privacy-policy/
- Mintegral — https://www.mintegral.com/en/privacy
- InMobi — https://www.inmobi.com/privacy-policy
Consent. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, and wherever else the law requires it, a consent form (Google's User Messaging Platform, shown by AppLovin) asks you about personalised ads before they are used. You can decline.
Your choices. Where the consent form applies, you can change your answer at any time from Privacy choices on the app's About screen or in its menu. You can also delete or reset your advertising ID in Settings › Privacy › Ads (or Settings › Google › Ads), which stops ads being personalised to it. Buying Pro removes all ads, and the ad SDK is not started.
We do not receive the personal data these networks collect; we receive only aggregated ad revenue reports.
5.2 Google Play services
- Google Play Billing processes the Pro purchase. Google handles payment details; the app receives only the purchase status needed to unlock Pro.
- In-app review and in-app updates show Google Play's own review and update screens.
- Google code scanner runs the QR scanner through Google Play services.
- Voice search uses your phone's speech recogniser, normally Google's.
These are provided by Google under its privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
5.3 Things you choose to open
- Web and app searches from the Deck open in your browser or the chosen app — Google, YouTube, Maps, Play Store, Wikipedia, DuckDuckGo, Amazon, WhatsApp, Telegram or your SMS app — and are handled under that service's own policy.
- Feedback opens your email app with a message you can review before sending. It includes the app version, device model and Android version so a problem can be tracked down. We use your email only to reply to you.
6. What we collect
We, the developer, do not collect, store or sell personal information. There are no analytics or crash-reporting services in the app. The only personal information we receive is what you put in an email to us.
7. Retention and deletion
- On-device data stays until you delete it, clear the app's storage or uninstall the app.
- Ad data is kept by AppLovin and its partners under their own policies (section 5.1).
- Emails you send us are kept only as long as needed to answer, and deleted on request.
Because the app has no account, there is no account to delete. To ask about or delete anything we hold — in practice, emails — write to imamagun94@gmail.com.
8. Children
The app is not directed at children under 13, and it is not part of Google Play's Designed for Families programme. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
9. Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR, the UK GDPR or California's CCPA/CPRA), you may have the right to access, correct or delete personal information, to object to or restrict its processing, and to withdraw consent.
- We hold no personal information about you apart from emails you send; ask and we will act on it.
- For data collected by ad networks, change your answer in Privacy choices in the app, reset your advertising ID, or contact the networks through the links in section 5.1.
- We do not sell personal information. Ad networks' use of the advertising ID for personalised ads may count as "sharing" under California law; you can opt out by deleting your advertising ID or by declining personalised ads in the consent form.
10. Security
On-device data is kept in the app's private storage, which other apps cannot read. Network requests made by the app for ads use HTTPS. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we do not transmit or hold your personal data ourselves.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the app changes. The "Last updated" date above will change, and significant changes will be noted in the app's release notes. Continuing to use the app after an update means the updated policy applies.
12. Contact
Questions or requests about privacy: imamagun94@gmail.com