We do not collect your data.

Searcho is a search-bar launcher. Everything it does happens on your phone. Not “we collect it but anonymise it”, not “we collect it but don't sell it” — we do not receive it at all, and the sections below explain the technical reason we could not receive it even if we wanted to.

1. What we collect

Nothing.

• No account, sign-up, or login.
• No analytics, telemetry, or usage statistics.
• No crash reporting.
• No advertising, ad IDs, or third-party tracking SDKs.
• No profiling, and no automated decision-making about you.

We do not have a server. There is no database anywhere with your name in it.

2. Why this is verifiable, not just a promise

Searcho does not hold the INTERNET permission. It is explicitly removed from the app's Android manifest:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" tools:node="remove" />

Android enforces this at the operating-system level. An app without that permission cannot open a network socket at all — any attempt fails instantly, whatever the code tries to do. So Searcho cannot upload your contacts, your messages, your files, or anything else, because it cannot talk to the network in the first place.

You do not have to take our word for any of this. Install any permission viewer from the Play Store, or check the app's page in Android Settings, and confirm that no internet access is listed.

3. What stays on your device

Searcho reads certain things on your phone so it can show them in search results. All of it is read on demand, held in your device's memory or in Searcho's private app storage, and never transmitted.

Uninstalling Searcho deletes all of it. There is no copy anywhere else.

4. Permissions, and exactly what each one is for

Searcho asks for a permission only at the moment a feature needs it, always after an on-screen explanation, and every feature that needs one is off by default. Declining costs you that one feature and nothing else.

Runtime permissions

• Contacts (READ_CONTACTS) — matches names and numbers as you type so contacts appear in search. Used only to build results on screen.
• Phone (CALL_PHONE) — places a call when you tap the call button on a contact result. If you decline, Searcho hands the number to your dialler instead and the feature still works.
• Calendar (READ_CALENDAR, WRITE_CALENDAR) — shows upcoming events on the Calendar widget card. Write access is used only when you create an event yourself from inside Searcho.
• Music, photos and video (READ_MEDIA_AUDIO, READ_MEDIA_VIDEO, READ_MEDIA_IMAGES, READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE on older Android) — indexes file names and metadata only so media turns up in search. Searcho never opens, reads the contents of, copies, or uploads your files.

Special access, granted on a system settings screen

• Notification access (BIND_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SERVICE) — powers Message Search, the side-panel notification list, and the music card's playback controls. Notification text is stored in Searcho's private storage so it remains searchable, and is deleted when you turn the feature off. Searcho deliberately does not use the SMS permission. Reading the SMS database would place the app under Google Play's SMS and Call Log policy; notifications carry the same messages without it.
• Accessibility service (BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE) — Android offers no other way for an app to lock the screen, and a launcher needs to know which app is in the foreground for gestures to work. The service performs the lock action and reports the foreground package name. It does not read screen content, form fields, passwords or keystrokes, and nothing it observes leaves the device.
• Do Not Disturb access (ACCESS_NOTIFICATION_POLICY) — lets the Quick Actions tiles switch ringer mode and Do Not Disturb. It reads and sets the ringer mode only. It does not grant Searcho the ability to read your notifications.
• Modify system settings (WRITE_SETTINGS) — lets the Quick Actions tiles change screen brightness, auto-rotate, and screen timeout. Searcho writes those three values and no others, and only when you tap the tile.
• Usage access (PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS) — optional, used to sort your most used apps to the top of search. The counts are read from Android and used on screen; they are not recorded or sent.

Permissions granted automatically at install

These require no prompt because Android considers them non-sensitive.

• QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES — the standard launcher permission for listing installed apps. A launcher cannot show your apps without it.
• SET_WALLPAPER — applies a wallpaper when you choose one.
• EXPAND_STATUS_BAR — opens the notification shade on a swipe gesture.
• REQUEST_DELETE_PACKAGES — shows Android's own uninstall dialog when you uninstall an app from search. Android performs the uninstall, not Searcho.
• ACCESS_WIFI_STATE, CHANGE_WIFI_STATE, BLUETOOTH, BLUETOOTH_ADMIN, BLUETOOTH_CONNECT, ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE — read whether Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on so the Quick Actions tiles render correctly, and open the system panel when you tap them. Searcho does not scan for networks or devices, and cannot see what you are connected to.

You can review this same list, with the same explanations, inside the app at Settings → Transparency, and revoke anything from there.

5. Children

Searcho is not directed at children and collects no data from anyone, including children under 13 (or the equivalent age in your country). Because we collect nothing, there is nothing to delete on request.

6. Third parties

Searcho contains no advertising SDKs, no analytics SDKs, and no cloud services. It has no in-app purchases and no subscriptions — it is a one-time paid app.

The only outbound links in the app are ones you tap yourself: the “buy me a coffee” link, the support email, the studio website, and the community links in Settings. Tapping one hands off to your browser or mail app, and from that point the destination site's own privacy policy applies, not this one.

7. Data sharing and sale

We share nothing, because we hold nothing. We have never sold user data and have no mechanism to do so.

8. Your rights

Privacy laws such as the GDPR and CCPA give you rights to access, correct, export, or delete the personal data a company holds about you. Bract Studio holds no personal data about Searcho users, so there is nothing for us to return or erase.

All the data Searcho touches lives on your own device and is under your control: revoke any permission in Android Settings, or uninstall the app to remove everything at once.

9. Google Play compliance

Searcho complies with Google Play's Limited Use requirements. Data accessed through sensitive permissions is used solely to provide user-facing features that are prominent in the app's interface, is processed locally on the device, is never transferred to any server, and is never used for advertising, profiling, or credit assessment. It is never sold.

10. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the “Last updated” date above changes with it, and the revised policy ships with the app update that introduces the change. Since Searcho cannot reach the network, a policy change can only ever arrive through an app update you choose to install.

11. Contact

Questions about privacy, or anything else:

• Email: searcho@bractstudio.com
• Studio: Bract Studio — bractstudio.com