privacy policy
Metro Launcher is a home screen app for Android. It has no accounts, no ads, no analytics and no crash reporting service, and the developer runs no server. Almost everything the app reads stays on your phone. The one exception is the weather tile, described below.
Data that leaves your phone
Weather (only if you add a weather tile and set a place). To get a forecast, the app sends the coordinates of your chosen place to Open-Meteo, a free weather service. If you choose "use my location", the app takes an approximate (network-based) location fix and rounds it to about 1 km before sending it. It takes a new fix at most once an hour, and only while a weather tile is on screen. If you search for a city by name, the text you type is sent to Open-Meteo's place search. The forecast is refreshed about hourly while a weather tile is pinned. Open-Meteo's handling of these requests is covered by its own terms and privacy policy. No other data is sent with these requests.
Web search. When you open a web result from search, the app hands your query to your own browser, which sends it to the search engine you picked (Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo). Metro Launcher itself makes no network request while you type.
Data used only on your phone
| What | Why | When |
|---|---|---|
| Notifications | Unread counts, the latest message and the song now playing on tiles. Kept in memory only and never stored or sent anywhere. | Only if you turn on notification access in system settings, after an explanation in the app. |
| Contacts | Contact photos on the People tile. | Only if you allow the contacts permission. |
| Calendar | Your next appointment on the calendar tile. | Only if you allow the calendar permission. |
| Photos you pick | Backgrounds and the Photos tile. The app uses the system photo picker and keeps only references to the photos you chose. | Only when you pick photos. |
| Installed apps | To show your apps, their icons and shortcuts. | Always; this is what a home screen does. |
| Widgets | Widgets you add are drawn by the apps that provide them, under those apps' own privacy policies. | Only when you add a widget. |
Storage and backup
Your tile layout and settings are stored on your phone. If Android backup is turned on, Android may include them in your device backup to your Google account, as it does for other apps. If the app crashes, it saves the error report (the stack trace, the app version and your phone model) on your phone only. It is left out of backups and goes nowhere unless you press "share" in Metro settings. You can delete all of this data at any time by clearing the app's storage or uninstalling the app.
Sharing and selling
The developer does not collect, sell or share your personal data. Apart from the weather requests described above, the app does not send any data to anyone.
Children
The app is not directed at children under 13.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date.
Contact
Questions about this policy can be sent to the developer email address shown on the app's Google Play listing.