Privacy Policy
Last updated: November 14, 2026. This policy describes how Playdock (“the app”, “we”) handles information. The short version: your library, collections, and playtime stay on your phone. The app has no accounts and no backend.
1. Overview
Playdock is a game launcher for Android. On Google Play it is listed as “Playdock: Games Hub & Launcher”. It organizes the games installed on your phone, lets you build collections and favorites, optionally tracks playtime, and hands ROM files you provide to emulator apps installed on your phone.
The app is designed to work without sending your personal library anywhere. There is no account system, no sign-in, and no server that stores your game list. The only network communication the app performs is the optional analytics and crash reporting described in section 4, and the standard interactions with Google Play (for example, the in-app review prompt).
2. Information stored on your device
The following information is stored in a database and settings files on your device only. It is never transmitted to us or to any third party by the app, except as described in section 4:
- Your game library — the list of games the app discovers on your phone (app names, package names, and icons), and the ROM entries you add yourself.
- Collections and favorites — the collections you create, their order, covers, and backgrounds, and which games you mark as favorites.
- Playtime — daily playtime totals per game, computed on your device from Android usage statistics (see section 3). Totals are kept for up to 90 days and then pruned automatically.
- Settings and customizations — your theme, launcher icon, grid size, music preferences, custom names, custom emulator definitions, and other preferences.
- Custom images — cover and background images you choose are copied into the app's private storage so they keep working even if the original file moves.
Deleting the app's data in Android Settings, or uninstalling the app, removes all of the above.
3. Permissions and why the app asks for them
| Permission / access | What it is used for | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Usage access (UsageStats) | Reading how long each game was in the foreground so the app can show playtime totals and charts. All computation happens on your device. | Optional — the app works fully without it, except playtime features show no data. |
| Notifications | The optional “return to launcher” notification shown after you finish playing a game. Disabled by default. | Optional |
| File access (Storage Access Framework) | Only the specific files and folders you pick: ROM files, custom images, a custom music folder, and a library import file. The app cannot see files you do not choose. | Only when you use those features |
| Internet access | Analytics and crash reporting through Firebase (see section 4). No other network use. | No — the launcher works offline |
| Uninstall apps | The “uninstall” action in a game's menu, which opens Android's own uninstall confirmation. The app never uninstalls anything without your confirmation. | Only when you use that action |
| Default home / Quick Settings tile | Only if you choose to set Playdock as your default home screen or add its Quick Settings tile. | Optional |
The app does not request access to your contacts, photos, camera, microphone, location, call history, or SMS messages.
4. Analytics and crash reporting
The app uses Google Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics to understand how the app is used in aggregate and to fix crashes. This is the only data that leaves your device. The categories of data involved are:
- Analytics: anonymized usage events (for example, screens viewed and features used), device model and Android version, app version, language, and country. No advertising ID is collected — advertising-ID collection is disabled in the app.
- Crash reports: crash stack traces, device model, Android version, and app version, sent only when the app crashes.
This data is processed by Google as our service provider, under Google's own privacy practices. You can read more in Google's Privacy Policy and the Firebase Privacy and Security documentation. Analytics and crash reporting are inactive until the app is connected to its Firebase project; in builds without that connection, no analytics or crash data is sent at all.
The app contains no advertising SDK and shows no ads, so no advertising partner receives any data.
5. In-app review prompt
The app may occasionally ask whether you are enjoying it, and, if you respond positively, may show Google Play's in-app review prompt. That prompt is provided and handled entirely by Google Play; the app does not receive or store your review, rating, or response.
6. Import from The Arcade
If you choose to import a library from The Arcade, the app reads only the export file you select through the system file picker, parses your collections and game list from it, and stores the result on your device. The file is never uploaded.
7. Emulators and ROMs
When you launch a ROM, the app passes the file to the emulator app you selected, using Android's standard sharing mechanism with temporary read permission for that file only. Emulators are separate apps made by other developers; their handling of the files you open is governed by their own privacy policies, not this one. Playdock does not provide, download, or verify ROMs.
8. Data sharing
We do not sell, rent, or trade any information. The only sharing is the analytics and crash data sent to Google Firebase described in section 4, processed solely to operate those services. We do not share your game library, collections, or playtime with anyone, because that information never leaves your device.
9. Data retention
On-device data is kept until you delete it: clearing the app's storage or uninstalling the app removes it. Playtime totals are pruned automatically after 90 days. Analytics and crash data sent to Firebase is retained according to Google's retention settings for those services.
10. Your choices
- Usage access: grant or revoke it any time in Android Settings → Apps → Special app access → Usage access. Revoking it stops playtime tracking immediately; existing totals stay on your device until pruned or deleted.
- Notifications: turn the return notification off in the app's settings or in Android's notification settings.
- Everything else: because the app has no account, there is no account data to request or delete. Clear the app's storage or uninstall it to remove everything it stored.
11. Children's privacy
Playdock is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Because the app has no accounts and stores its data on-device, there is no personal information for us to collect from any user. If you believe a child has provided information through the app's support email, contact us and we will help remove it.
12. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new “Last updated” date. Material changes will also be noted in the app's Play Store listing. Continued use of the app after a change means you accept the updated policy.
13. Contact
Questions about this policy can be sent to support@playdock.app.