Privacy Policy
Shunya Launcher (com.codeyantra.shunya_launcher) · Effective 25 October 2026
Shunya is a minimal Android home screen. It works fully without an account and without a network. This page says exactly what stays on your phone, the few things that can leave it, and why each permission and the Accessibility service exist.
- Summary
- What stays on your phone
- What can leave your phone
- Accessibility service
- Permissions
- Third parties
- Retention & deletion
- Children
- Contact
Summary
- No ads, no analytics, no tracking SDKs. We do not sell or share your data.
- Your contacts, call log, messages, notifications, installed apps, PIN and folders never leave your phone. They are read only to show them to you.
- Everything online is optional: weather, the place map, Google sign-in, Shield community reports and Premium. The launcher works without all of them.
- You can delete your community data and your account from inside the app.
What stays on your phone
This data is stored only on your device, in the app's private storage (secrets such as your PIN are kept in Android's encrypted storage). Android backup is switched off for the app, so it is not copied to Google Drive either.
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| App lock PIN | Stored only as a salted hash (PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, 600,000 rounds). The PIN itself is never stored or sent. |
| Locked and hidden app list | To ask for your PIN or fingerprint and to hide apps from the list. |
| Folders, nicknames, favourites, home widgets, theme, icon style | Your layout and preferences. |
| Profile (name, optional phone number you type) | Shown on Home. Your number is not verified and is not sent anywhere unless you choose a community feature that needs it. |
| Contacts, call log, SMS | Read live from Android to show the Phone and Messages screens, and to recognise a caller. Not copied to any server. |
| Notifications | Read from the notification listener to show them in Shunya's own notification centre. Kept on the device only. |
| Modes & Routines | Your rules, places (coordinates you pick) and schedules stay on the device and are evaluated on the device. |
| Shield decisions | Your blocked and allowed numbers and the local spam checks run on the device. |
What can leave your phone
Only when you use the feature, and only the data listed:
| Feature | Sent | To |
|---|---|---|
| Weather widget (opt-in) | Your city name, or your location rounded to about 1 km. | Open-Meteo |
| Place map in a routine (optional) | Map tile requests for the area you view (your IP address, as with any web request). | OpenStreetMap tile servers |
| Google sign-in (optional) | The sign-in itself. We receive your Google account id and email from Supabase Auth to hold the account. | Google, Supabase |
| Shield community (optional) | An anonymous user id, and for a report or lookup a keyed hash (HMAC) of the phone number. Raw numbers are not stored on the server. | Supabase |
| First anonymous sign-up | A captcha check so bots cannot create accounts. | Cloudflare Turnstile |
| Premium purchase | The purchase is handled by Google Play. We receive no card or payment details. | Google Play Billing |
A hash of a number is pseudonymous, not anonymous: someone who already knows a number could compute its hash. That is why we keep reports only for a limited time (see Retention).
Accessibility service: why Shunya asks for it
Shunya App Lock Guard is an optional Android Accessibility service. You turn it on yourself in Android Settings, and you can turn it off at any time. Shunya works without it; only the extra protection described below needs it.
What it is used for
App lock. When you lock or hide an app, Shunya asks for your PIN or fingerprint when it is opened from Shunya. Android also lets other places open apps: Settings, the Play Store, and the Recents screen. Only an Accessibility service can notice that an app was opened from those places, so Guard watches for it and shows the PIN or fingerprint prompt over the locked or hidden app.
What it can and cannot see
- It listens to one event type only: window state changed, which tells it which app is opening.
- It cannot read your screen: window content retrieval is switched off in its configuration, so it receives no text, no passwords, no messages and nothing you type.
- It does not click, type, gesture or change anything for you.
- It does not record, store or send what it sees. The app name is compared with your locked list on the device and then forgotten.
The description shown by Android is: "Shunya App Lock Guard asks for your PIN or fingerprint when a locked or hidden app is opened from Android Settings, the Play Store or Recents. It only sees which app is opening. It cannot read anything on your screen."
Shunya does not use the Accessibility API to help people with disabilities; it uses it for a security feature, and says so before you enable it. Shunya itself is built for accessibility: it follows system text size, has labelled controls for screen readers, and a high-contrast black or matte white theme.
Permissions and why each is needed
Android asks for most of these only when you first use the feature. If you refuse, only that feature stays off.
| Permission | What it is used for |
|---|---|
| READ_CONTACTS | Show your contacts in Shunya Phone and search them; show a contact name for a caller or sender. |
| CALL_PHONE | Place a call when you tap a number or contact, without leaving Shunya. |
| READ_CALL_LOG | Show your recent calls and missed calls in Shunya Phone. |
| READ_PHONE_STATE | Know when a call is ringing or active so Shunya's call screen is correct, and to see your SIM details for dual-SIM calling. |
| READ_SMS, RECEIVE_SMS, RECEIVE_MMS, RECEIVE_WAP_PUSH, SEND_SMS | Shunya Messages: read your conversations, receive new messages while Shunya is the default SMS app, and send replies. Spam is judged on the device. |
| USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT | Show the incoming-call screen over the lock screen, like the system dialer does. |
| POST_NOTIFICATIONS | Show call, message and routine notifications. |
| Notification access (listener service) | Collect your notifications into Shunya's notification centre and the Home indicator. Kept on the device only. |
| Do Not Disturb access (ACCESS_NOTIFICATION_POLICY) | Let a Mode or Routine silence or restore the phone. |
| WRITE_SETTINGS | Let a Mode or Control Center change brightness. |
| ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION | Weather for where you are, and "when I arrive" routines. Used only if you turn those on. |
| ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION | Only for place-based routines, so they can run when Shunya is closed. Location for routines is checked on the device and is not sent to our servers. |
| BLUETOOTH_CONNECT, BLUETOOTH (Android 11 and older) | Routines that react to a Bluetooth device (for example car audio) and showing Bluetooth's on/off state in Control Center. |
| ACCESS_WIFI_STATE | Routines that react to a Wi-Fi network, and showing Wi-Fi's on/off state in Control Center. |
| USE_BIOMETRIC | Unlock locked and hidden apps with your fingerprint or face instead of the PIN. The biometric data stays inside Android and is never available to Shunya. |
| SET_WALLPAPER | Apply the Shunya wallpapers you choose. |
| INTERNET | Only for the optional online features listed above. |
| RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED | Re-arm your routines and the app lock after the phone restarts. |
| Accessibility service (not a manifest permission) | See the section above. |
| Package visibility (queries) | Needed so a launcher can list the apps installed on the phone. The list stays on the device. |
Call and SMS permissions are used only to provide the Phone and Messages features you see in the app, as the default phone and SMS handler.
Third parties
- Supabase (hosting of the optional community and account service).
- Google (optional sign-in and Google Play Billing). Shunya's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use your Google account only to sign you in.
- Open-Meteo (weather), OpenStreetMap (map tiles), Cloudflare Turnstile (captcha).
Each of these receives only what the table above lists and handles it under its own policy.
Retention and deletion
- On the phone: everything is removed when you clear the app's data or uninstall Shunya.
- Community reports and de-duplication records: 90 days.
- Appeals, moderation records and score history: 180 days. Appeal evidence: 30 days after the case is resolved.
- Business claims: 365 days.
- Delete community data: Phone → Shield → Delete my community data. Your anonymous community identity and what is linked to it are removed.
- Delete account: Profile → Delete account. Your sign-in account and everything linked to it on the server are permanently deleted. This cannot be undone.
- Step-by-step guide: Delete your account and data, including how to ask by email if you no longer have the app.
Contributing to the community is voluntary. Reports must come from users whose account is at least 7 days old, to limit abuse.
Children
Shunya is a general-purpose tool and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. Community features require sign-in and are not intended for them.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is published here with a new effective date, and the app is updated if its behaviour changes.
Contact
Codeyantra Technologies
Email: support@codeyantra.in
Address: Punjab, India
For data access, correction or deletion requests that you cannot do inside the app, write to the email above.