ApfsForge lets your Android phone open external drives, such as USB sticks, USB hard drives and card readers, in the Files app and in any app that opens files through Android's file picker. It reads drives formatted the Mac way (HFS+ or APFS) and exFAT or FAT drives. It can copy files off a drive, write to exFAT and FAT drives, and convert a drive to exFAT; with the optional Pro unlock it can also write to HFS+ and APFS drives and format a drive as APFS or HFS+. It is published by ByteHaven Studios LLC. This policy describes what the app does with your information. It is short because the app does very little with it.
The short version
ApfsForge has no account system, no analytics, no advertising, no crash reporting and no tracking. Reading, copying, writing, converting and formatting a drive never use the network, and nothing from your drives ever leaves your phone. The only thing the app sends us is a feedback message, and only when you write one and press Send.
The drives you connect
ApfsForge reaches a drive only after you allow it in Android's USB permission prompt, which Android shows for each device. It then reads that drive so that the Files app and the apps you choose can show its folders and open its files. Another app sees a file on the drive only when you pick it, through Android's own file picker.
ApfsForge never uploads anything from a drive. File names, folders and file contents are read from the drive when an app asks for them, used on your phone, and not kept by ApfsForge.
Writing to a drive is off until you accept the writing terms for that drive. exFAT and FAT drives can then be written for free; writing to an HFS+ or APFS drive also needs the Pro unlock. Converting a drive to exFAT and formatting it as APFS or HFS+ (Pro) all erase it, so the app first shows the drive's name and size, warns you that everything on it will be erased, and waits for your confirmation.
Network access
ApfsForge contains no analytics or crash reporting SDK and no ad SDK. It uses the network for three things only:
- Google Play Billing, for the optional Pro unlock. It runs between the Google Play Billing library inside the app and the Google Play Store app, and Google may receive technical information about those billing requests. Google's privacy policy governs it.
- Google Play's "rate this app" sheet, which the app may ask Google Play to show after a conversion or a write finishes well. Google decides whether it appears and handles any rating under its own policy; the app is not told whether you rated.
- Send feedback (About or Settings), only when you press Send. See "When data leaves your device".
Purchases
ApfsForge Pro is an optional one-time purchase, processed by Google Play, that turns on writing to HFS+ and APFS drives and formatting a drive as APFS or HFS+. Reading, copying files off, writing to exFAT and FAT drives and converting to exFAT are free and never ask for it. Your payment details are handled entirely by Google and are never seen by ApfsForge or by ByteHaven Studios. The app only asks Google Play whether the Pro unlock is owned.
Permissions
- USB access: Android's per-device permission, granted by you for each drive. ApfsForge asks for no storage permission and does not request "all files access" (MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE).
- Foreground service for a connected device (FOREGROUND_SERVICE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE_CONNECTED_DEVICE): while a drive has a write in progress, so that Android does not stop the app in the middle of it and leave the drive needing repair. It runs only while a drive you turned writing on for is being written to.
- Notifications (POST_NOTIFICATIONS): to show the "Writing to your drive" notice while that service runs. The app asks for it when you turn writing on. You can refuse it; writing still works.
- Billing (com.android.vending.BILLING): so Google Play can process the Pro purchase.
- Internet and network state: for Google Play Billing, the rating sheet and Send feedback, as described above.
What the app stores on your phone
Only these, all in the app's private storage on your phone: which drives you accepted the writing terms for (recorded by the drive's volume serial number, with its name so you can see and forget it in Settings), whether the Pro unlock is owned, and your settings (theme, language, whether to vibrate when a format or conversion ends, and whether you answered the prompt about opening the app when a drive is plugged in). No other app can read them, and none of it is sent anywhere. File names and file contents are never stored. The app is excluded from Android's automatic cloud backup (allowBackup="false").
Uninstalling the app, or clearing its data in Android's settings, removes everything it stored.
Notifications
ApfsForge uses one notification, shown only while it is writing to a drive, to tell you not to unplug the drive yet. It sends no other notifications.
When data leaves your device
Only when you send it. Files you copy off a drive go where you choose to put them. If you email us, we receive what you write.
Send feedback sends us what you type, the kind you pick (idea, problem…) and, only if you fill it in, an email address for our reply, together with the app version, Android version, phone model and language. It goes over an encrypted connection to ByteHaven Studios' own support system, never with a file, a drive's name or anything else about your drives. We use it only to read and answer it, and our system deletes it after 90 days.
Children
ApfsForge is a general-purpose utility. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone.
Your rights
We hold nothing from your drives. If you email us or send feedback, we keep that conversation only to answer you, and you can ask us at support@bytehavenstudios.com to see or delete it sooner.
Changes
If this policy changes, the revised version will be posted at https://apfsforge.bytehavenstudios.com/privacy/ with a new effective date.
Contact
support@bytehavenstudios.com
ByteHaven Studios LLC · Wyoming, United States
