Legal
Spacely Privacy Policy
This policy covers the Spacely Android application. A Simplified Chinese translation is available at 隐私政策（简体中文）. If the two versions differ, this English version prevails.
Short version: Spacely is free and supported by advertising, so it connects to the internet. Its advertising and telemetry components collect a limited set of technical identifiers and app-usage data, listed in full in section 3. They do not collect your files, photos, videos, file names, paths, thumbnails or scan results — that content is read and analysed on your phone only, and the parts of the app that talk to the network are built without access to it.
What changed: earlier releases of Spacely (1.3.x) declared no internet permission at all and contained no advertising. That is no longer true of this version. We have rewritten this policy rather than leave the old statement standing. If you are reading this because you remember the older promise, section 2 explains exactly what is different.
1. What this app does
Spacely helps you see where your device storage went and reclaim it: a storage map, a recycle bin you can restore from, swipe-through photo review, junk and large-file cleanup, duplicate detection and an app manager. All scanning, hashing, blur scoring and size measurement happen on your device.
The app is free. It is paid for by advertising, and it reports a small amount of anonymous usage and stability information so that we can find and fix problems. There is no account, no sign-in, no subscription and no in-app purchase.
2. Our core commitments
- Your file content never leaves your device. We do not collect, upload, sell or share your files, photos, videos, file names, file paths, folder names, thumbnails, EXIF data or scan results.
- Those things are not merely withheld from our SDKs — they are structurally out of reach. The parts of the app that host the advertising and messaging SDKs are compiled without our file model on their classpath: file paths and media identifiers are types those modules cannot even refer to, and an automated check fails the build if that boundary is crossed. This is not a claim that a third-party SDK is technically incapable of touching a filesystem. It is a claim that Spacely never passes it one, and that the claim is enforced mechanically rather than by good intentions.
- No file is ever uploaded by the app for any purpose. There is no cloud backup, no cloud sync and no server that holds your content.
- Nothing is deleted without you. Deletion goes through Android's own confirmation dialog, and deleted items go to a recycle bin you can restore from.
- No subscriptions and no paywall. Every feature is available to every user.
3. Data collected by the app and its third-party components
The table below lists everything collected, why, and whether it is shared with the third party that provides the component. We keep no server of our own for this app: the data below flows to the third-party services named in section 4, not to us.
| Data | What it is | Why | Shared with a third party |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising ID | The resettable Android advertising identifier (AAID). | To request and measure ads. | Yes — the advertising provider. You can reset or delete it at any time (section 6). |
| Installation identifier | A random identifier generated by the messaging/telemetry component on first run. It is not the Android ID, not the advertising ID and not a hardware identifier, and it changes if you reinstall the app. | To count devices and sessions for stability and usage statistics. | Yes — the provider of that component. |
| Device and app information | Device model and brand, Android version, app version and build, SDK version, language and time zone. | Diagnostics, compatibility and ad delivery. | Yes. |
| App activity | Anonymous in-app events — for example that a scan started or finished, how many bytes were freed, that an ad slot was reached, session and launch records. Values are numbers and fixed keywords from a fixed list. | To understand where the app fails or confuses people, and to measure ad performance. | Yes. |
| Approximate location | A coarse region inferred from your IP address by the advertising provider. Spacely requests no location permission and does not read your GPS. | Ad delivery and regional compliance requirements. | Yes — the advertising provider. |
| Diagnostics | Performance and failure counters (for example how long a scan took, how many deletions failed). | Stability. | Yes. |
| Files, photos and videos | File contents, file names, paths, folder names, thumbnails, media identifiers, scan results. | — | Never collected and never shared. Read on the device only, to draw the screens you are looking at. |
| Personal information | Name, email address, phone number, account identifiers. | — | Never collected. The app has no account system and no sign-in. |
| Contacts, messages, calendar, health, financial data | — | — | Never collected. The app requests none of the corresponding permissions. |
Event data that the app itself reports is passed through a filter that only permits numeric values and a fixed list of keywords. Free-form text cannot be attached to an event, which is how we prevent a file name or a path from ever being carried out with an event by accident.
4. Third-party services
Spacely integrates the following third-party components. Each is an independent controller or processor of the data it collects. Where a component publishes its own privacy terms, they are linked below; where it acts only on our instruction, this policy is the governing statement.
| Component | Purpose | Its privacy terms |
|---|---|---|
| Google AdMob and the Google User Messaging Platform | Serving the two in-app ad slots, and showing the consent form where one is required. | How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services |
| A third-party notification and telemetry component | Local reminder notifications and anonymous usage/stability telemetry. Its telemetry is uploaded over HTTPS to servers located in Singapore. What it sends is limited to the items listed in section 3 — no files, file names, paths or scan results. | It processes data on our instruction, so this policy covers it. To have that data deleted, see section 9. |
5. What we process locally on your device
The following stays on your device and is used only to provide the features you use. None of it is transmitted:
- Storage and file information — file size, type, last-modified date and containing folder, used to list cleanup candidates, large files and the storage map. We do not read file contents for any purpose other than duplicate comparison.
- Photo and video information — to detect screenshots, possibly blurry photos and duplicates, the app reads images locally and computes perceptual hashes and SHA-256 content hashes. Neither the images nor the hashes leave your device.
- Installed app information — app name, storage size, days since last use and cache size, used by the App Manager and the “other apps' cache” guidance screen. Held in memory only; never persisted, never uploaded.
- Device status — storage capacity and free space, memory usage, battery level and temperature, used for the dashboard and the health score. Displayed locally only.
- Recycle bin records — which items you moved to the bin, their size and when they expire, stored in the app's private storage so that restore works. The files themselves stay where Android keeps them; nothing about them is uploaded.
- Local records — cleanup history (timestamp, bytes freed, item count), theme and language preferences, reminder and retention settings, stored in the app's private storage. They are removed when you uninstall the app.
6. Advertising, and the choices you have
Spacely shows ads in exactly two places: inside the home suggestion feed, after the fourth real suggestion; and on the cleanup complete screen, below your result and below the main button. Both are inline in the page and clearly labelled. There is no full-screen ad of any kind — no ad on launch, none during a scan or cleanup, none when you press back, none in the recycle bin, the storage map, a notification, a widget or on your lock screen. Those placements are not disabled by a setting; they do not exist in the app.
- Reset or delete your advertising ID in Android Settings › Privacy › Ads (the exact path varies by manufacturer). Deleting it stops personalised advertising on your device.
- Consent. Where the law requires it — including the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom — a consent form is shown before any personalised ad request. You can reopen it from the “i” button on any ad slot, where that form is available in your region. Declining changes only how targeted the ads are; every feature of the app keeps working.
- Ads are never rewarded or required. No feature is locked behind watching an ad, and there is nothing to purchase.
7. Permissions (each one is optional)
Every permission that requires your approval is requested only when the related feature needs it — never at startup. Declining one limits only that feature.
| Permission | Why we ask | If you decline |
|---|---|---|
Photos & videoREAD_MEDIA_IMAGES / READ_MEDIA_VIDEO / READ_MEDIA_AUDIO(storage read on Android 12 and below) |
Local scanning for gallery cleanup, swipe review, duplicate photos and large media files. | Those features are unavailable; everything else works. Android 14 “selected photos only” access is fully supported. |
Usage accessPACKAGE_USAGE_STATS |
Reading each app's storage size and last-used time. No usage content is collected. | App Manager shows partial information; cleaning is unaffected. |
Query installed appsQUERY_ALL_PACKAGES |
Listing installed apps to show size and days unused, and to start the system uninstall dialog. The list is rendered in memory only and is never uploaded or used for ad targeting. | — |
NotificationsPOST_NOTIFICATIONS |
Optional reminders — for example that items in your recycle bin are about to expire, or that there is junk worth clearing. Scheduled and composed on the device. | No notifications. |
NetworkINTERNET / ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE |
Requesting ads and sending the anonymous telemetry described in section 3. Not required by any cleanup feature. | Not a permission Android asks you about. Scanning, cleaning, the recycle bin and the storage map all work with no working connection. |
Advertisingcom.google.android.gms.permission.AD_IDACCESS_ADSERVICES_AD_IDACCESS_ADSERVICES_ATTRIBUTIONACCESS_ADSERVICES_TOPICS |
Declared by the Google advertising SDK so it can use the advertising ID and Android's Privacy Sandbox interfaces for ad measurement. | Not a permission Android asks you about. Reset or delete your advertising ID in Android Settings to limit its use (section 6). |
Spacely requests no camera, microphone, location, contacts, SMS or call-log permissions, and it runs no always-on foreground service.
Media deletions are executed through the Android system delete confirmation dialog, and app uninstalls through the Android system uninstall dialog. Spacely never silently deletes anything you have not selected and confirmed.
8. Children
Spacely is intended for users aged 18 and over. It is not directed to children and is not designed for children, and it is not enrolled in Google Play's Families programme. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has used the app on your device, resetting the advertising ID and clearing the app's data removes the identifiers described in section 3 from that device.
9. Retention, international transfer and deletion
On your device: local data (cleanup history, recycle-bin records, preferences) is removed when you uninstall Spacely, and you may clear it immediately via Settings › Apps › Spacely › Storage.
On third-party servers: the data listed in section 3 is held by the providers named in section 4, on servers that include locations outside your country — the telemetry component uploads to servers in Singapore, and Google operates globally. Google's retention practices are described in its own policy, linked in section 4.
Telemetry retention. The retention period for the telemetry described in section 4 is set by the provider that operates those servers, not by us, and we do not publish an estimate in its place. What we can tell you is what is sent (section 3), where it is stored (Singapore) and how to have it removed: email Spacely2026@proton.me and we will pass the request on and confirm the outcome back to you.
Requesting deletion: email Spacely2026@proton.me with the subject “Data deletion request”. Because we hold no account of yours, we will ask you for the information needed to identify the records held by our providers, and we will pass the request on and confirm the outcome to you. We aim to respond within 30 days.
10. Your rights
Where applicable law (such as the GDPR, the UK GDPR or the CCPA/CPRA) grants you rights of access, correction, deletion, objection, portability and withdrawal of consent, you may exercise them by contacting us at Spacely2026@proton.me. Where we rely on consent — personalised advertising in the regions that require it — you may withdraw it at any time using the consent form described in section 6. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising beyond the advertising described in this policy.
11. External links
The “Privacy policy” entry in the app's settings opens this page using the browser installed on your device. Your browser's visit to this page is governed by that browser's and this page host's privacy terms.
12. Changes to this policy
If we update this policy we will change the “Last updated” date on this page. Material changes — in particular any change to what is collected, to who it is shared with, or to where ads appear — will be announced in the app before they take effect.
13. Contact
Spacely2026@proton.me