Privacy Policy

1.Information stored only on your device

Your game library is stored in a private database on your device. That includes titles, platforms, ownership, playtime, ratings, notes, wishlist, cover art, themes and settings. We cannot see it, and it is not uploaded to us except for the specific pieces described in sections 2 to 5.

Because your library is stored only on your device, we hold no copy of it and cannot restore it for you. If your device is lost, broken or reset, or the app is uninstalled, your library goes with it unless you have a backup kept somewhere else (section 6). Keeping a backup is your responsibility.

The app explains this during setup and asks you to confirm that you understand. The date you confirmed is stored only on your device.

2.Game information and recommendations

PixelShelf uses our server to look up game details from the IGDB game database. No account, name or contact details are sent with any of these requests.

• Searching and adding games: the text you search for is sent to our server, which returns matching titles, cover art and details.
• Refreshing game details: the app sends the IGDB ID numbers of games in your library so it can fetch up-to-date details for them. It may also send a game's title to find its Metacritic page.
• Recommendations: when you ask for recommendations, the app sends a summary of your taste. That summary contains the IGDB IDs, genres and themes of games in your library, any ratings you have given them, your wishlist and dismissed games (as IDs), and your platforms. The server uses it to work out suggestions and sends them back. It does not save this information.

Cover art and other images are loaded from IGDB's image servers.

3.Linking Xbox and Steam accounts (optional)

You can import your library, playtime and achievements from Xbox and Steam if you choose to link them. The app works fully without linking any account.

• Xbox: linking uses your own personal API key from xbl.io (OpenXBL). This is a third-party service, independent of Microsoft and of us, that provides access to Xbox Live data. Your device talks to xbl.io directly to fetch your gamertag, gamerscore, avatar, games, playtime and achievements. Please see xbl.io's own privacy policy for how they handle that data. When you import Xbox games, the app sends their titles to our server, the same way as a search, to match them against IGDB and find their cover art. Your gamertag, API key and account details are never sent to our server.
• Steam: linking uses your own Steam Web API key and Steam profile. Your device sends these directly to Valve's official Steam Web API to fetch your owned games, playtime and achievements. This exchange happens only between your device and Valve. To match imported games against IGDB, the app sends their titles to our server, the same way as a search. Your Steam API key and profile are never sent to our server. Please see Valve's privacy policy for how they handle it.
• API keys are stored only on your device, encrypted with Android's secure storage. We never receive them. They are not included in backups.

4.Collection Leaderboard (optional)

If you choose to join the public leaderboard, the app creates a random ID on your device. This ID is not linked to your phone's hardware or to any account. The app sends that ID, a username you choose and your total game count to our server.

Your username, game count and rank are publicly visible to other PixelShelf users. You can delete your entry from our server at any time (see section 13). Entries that stop syncing are removed automatically after 90 days.

Usernames must follow our Terms of Use: ones that are offensive or impersonate someone are not allowed and are removed. Anyone can report a username from the leaderboard screen. A report is sent to us the same way as feedback (section 5), with the category "report" and the reported username as the message. When we remove a username for breaking the Terms, we keep that username (and nothing else, not even a device identifier) on a block list so it cannot be claimed again. The app that used it is told the name was removed and can claim a new one.

5.Feedback and the contact form (optional)

You can send us a message from Settings > Send Feedback. Nothing is sent unless you write a message and tap Send. Along with your message, the app sends:

• the category you pick for it (for example Bug or Feature idea), so we can sort feedback
• the app version, your phone's make and model, and its Android version, to help us track down bugs
• the random ID the app creates on your device (the same kind of ID described in section 4). Our server stores only a scrambled (hashed) form of it, and uses it only to stop one device sending too many messages
• an email address or other contact detail, only if you choose to enter one so we can reply

The contact form on our website (pixelshelf.uk/contact) sends only what you type into it: your name if you give one, your email address so we can reply, the topic you pick and your message. Like any request to our server, it appears in the server logs described in section 9, and your IP address is used for a short time, in memory only, to limit how many messages can be sent. It is not stored with your message.

Feedback never includes anything from your collection. Our server forwards each message, from the app or the website, to our own email inbox (hosted by Google) so we can read it. We use it only to read and act on it, and to reply if you asked us to. Feedback and contact form messages, including the email copies, are deleted automatically 12 months after they were sent. To have it deleted sooner, contact us using the email below.

6.Backups

Backups are made by you and kept by you. Backup files are encrypted by the app and go only where you choose. We never receive a copy, and we cannot recover a library that has not been backed up.

• Manual backup: you can save a backup of your library to a file, or use Send Backup to share it with another app on your phone, such as an email or cloud storage app. A temporary copy made for sharing is deleted from the app shortly afterwards.
• Automatic backup (Premium): if you turn this on, you choose where the backup file is kept. That can be a folder on your phone or a cloud storage app installed on it, such as Google Drive. The app then updates that file in the background on the schedule you set, and you can limit this to Wi-Fi or to while your phone is charging. If a backup fails or the location can no longer be reached, the app tells you with a notification and a warning in Settings.
• Cloud storage apps: if you send or save a backup to a cloud storage or other app, that app stores or uploads the file under its own provider's terms and privacy policy. PixelShelf hands the file to the app through Android. It does not sign in to your cloud account and cannot see anything else in it.

PixelShelf opts out of Android's own automatic cloud backup and phone-to-phone transfer. Your library is not copied to Google Drive or to another phone unless you choose that as your backup location or move a backup file there yourself.

7.Premium purchases

PixelShelf is free to use, with an optional Premium upgrade sold as a subscription or a one-off purchase. Purchases are handled entirely by Google Play. We never see or store your payment details, and Google does not give us your name, email address or card information.

To unlock Premium, the app asks Google Play on your device whether your Google account owns it. That check happens between your device and Google. Your purchase is not sent to our server. Google handles purchase information under its own privacy policy, and subscriptions are managed and cancelled in Google Play.

What a Lifetime purchase includes, and what happens to online features if our server ends, is set out in our Terms of Use.

8.App news and server status

To show you news about the app (for example that an update is available) and whether our server is working, the app downloads two small public files that we publish on GitHub, a third-party hosting service owned by Microsoft. It does this occasionally: when the app opens, when you open Settings, and during its daily notification check if you have news notifications turned on.

Nothing about you, your device or your collection is sent with these downloads. As with any internet request, GitHub's servers see your IP address, which GitHub handles under its own privacy statement. We are not told who downloads the files. Which messages you have read or removed is stored only on your device.

9.Server logs

Like almost any web server, ours records basic technical details of each request it receives: your IP address, the time, the address requested and the response. We use these logs to keep the service running and secure, for example to spot faults or abuse. They are deleted automatically after 30 days at most.

We also use them to produce a daily summary of totals for ourselves, such as how many devices used the app and how many searched for games. We use it to see where the service needs improving, for example which features are busiest and whether the server needs more capacity. The summary contains only counts. It includes no IP addresses or anything else that could identify you, and it is not shared with anyone.

10.What we don’t do

• No ads and no advertising ID.
• No third-party analytics, tracking or crash-reporting services, and no tracking of what you do in the app.
• No selling or sharing of your data with anyone.

11.Security

All of the app's network connections use encrypted HTTPS. Account keys are kept in Android's encrypted storage, and backups are encrypted.

12.Children’s privacy

PixelShelf is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you think a child under 13 has claimed a leaderboard username or sent us feedback, contact us and we will delete it.

13.Your choices and deleting your data

You can use PixelShelf's core library features with no account and without linking anything. At any time in the app you can:

• disconnect a linked Xbox or Steam account
• turn automatic backup off, or change where it saves
• delete your leaderboard entry
• delete all of your data using Reset Database

Your library: it is stored only on your device, so we hold nothing to delete. Reset Database in Settings, or uninstalling the app, removes it from your device.

Deleting your leaderboard entry in the app: open the Leaderboard, tap Reset next to your username and confirm. Your username, game count and rank are deleted from our server straight away. Reset Database does the same.

Asking us to delete your data: if you no longer have the app, or would rather we did it, email hello@pixelshelf.uk with the subject “Delete my data” and the leaderboard username you used. We will delete your leaderboard entry, and any feedback or reports we can link to you, within 30 days and reply to confirm. We may ask you something to check the username is yours.

Once deleted, your entry is removed from the leaderboard and our live database straight away. Copies may remain for a while in our private backups, which we keep only to recover the server after a fault. We never use them to bring back a deleted entry. Server logs (section 9) are deleted on their usual 30-day schedule.

14.Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app changes. The effective date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised.

15.Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: hello@pixelshelf.uk