Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 21, 2026
Your photos stay on your phone and are never uploaded. There is no account to create and the app shows no ads. To find bugs and see which features get used, the app sends crash reports and basic usage statistics. If you turn on the weather on the home screen, it also sends your approximate location to a weather service. That is all it sends.
This policy explains how Wallpaper Shuffler (“the App”) handles information. The App is published by Box of Otters. It applies to the Android and iOS versions.
Information we collect
We operate no servers for this App and never receive your photos, your name, your email address, your phone number, your contacts, or your precise location. The App uses three services that send limited data:
- Crash and error reports (Sentry). When the App crashes, freezes, or hits an error, it sends a report with the error details, the App version, device model, and operating system version. Reports are set not to include personal information, screenshots, or the screen layout, and file paths that could point to your photos are removed before anything is sent.
- App usage statistics (Google Analytics for Firebase). The App records events such as the App being opened, the purchase screen being shown, or a purchase or tip being completed, along with general information like device model, operating system, App version, and approximate country. Firebase assigns a random app instance ID. On Android, Firebase may also read the device's advertising identifier. We use these statistics only to understand how the App is used and to improve it, never for advertising.
- Weather (Open-Meteo), Android only, off until you turn it on. The App's home screen can show the current weather. It stays off until you choose to show it and allow location. Then the App reads your approximate location from your phone, rounds it to about 1 km, and sends it to Open-Meteo, a free weather service, about every 30 minutes while the home screen is open. Open-Meteo returns the temperature and conditions. Nothing else is sent with it, and we never receive your location. You can hide the weather or turn off location access at any time.
Home screen (Android)
On Android you can set Wallpaper Shuffler as your home screen. To work as a home screen it reads the list of apps installed on your phone so it can show and open them. Some features ask for extra access, only when you turn them on, and everything they read stays on your phone:
- Calendar. Shows your next event at the top of the home screen.
- Contacts. Lets search in the app drawer find people.
- Notification access. Shows dots and counts on app icons, and a preview of a notification when you long-press an icon. Notifications are read only to draw these and are never stored or sent.
- Accessibility service. Draws the battery style you design over the status bar, and runs the lock screen and Quick Settings gestures you set. It does not read what is on your screen, your messages, passwords, or typing, and it sends nothing off your phone. The App explains this and asks before sending you to turn it on.
- Fingerprint or screen lock. Locks hidden apps if you choose. The App never sees your fingerprint; Android checks it and only tells the App yes or no.
Your photos
On Android, the photos you choose are copied into the App's private storage on your device so it can set them as your wallpaper on a schedule. That copy is readable only by the App. It is never uploaded, never shared, and it is deleted when you remove the photo from an album or uninstall the App.
On iOS, the App saves your picks into a “Wallpaper Shuffler” album in your own Photos library so the system Photo Shuffle feature can rotate them. The photos stay in your library, under your control, and the App does not copy them anywhere else.
We never see your photos.
Settings and albums
Your albums, rotation interval, and preferences are stored locally on your device. Uninstalling the App removes them.
Permissions and why they exist
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Photos / media | So you can pick which photos to rotate. |
| Set wallpaper | The core function of the App. |
| Notifications | Optional. Shows the rotation is running, and lets you skip to the next wallpaper from the notification. |
| Run at startup | Resumes your rotation schedule after you restart your phone, so it does not silently stop. |
| Foreground service | Keeps the scheduled change reliable when the App is not open. |
| Internet | Used to contact the app store for purchases and restores, to send the crash reports and usage statistics described above, and to fetch the weather if you turn it on. Your photos are never sent. |
| Approximate location | Optional, Android home screen only. Used only for the weather, as described above. |
| Calendar, Contacts | Optional, Android home screen only. Read on your phone to show your next event and to find people in search. Never sent. |
| Notification access, Accessibility service | Optional, Android only. For notification dots, the custom status bar battery, and home screen gestures, as described above. Nothing is sent. |
| Set alarms and timers | Lets search hand a timer such as “timer 5 min” to your phone's Clock app. |
| Network state | Part of Google's billing library. Lets it see whether you are online before it tries to reach the store. |
| Vibrate | Declared by Google's billing library. Wallpaper Shuffler itself never vibrates your phone. |
| Prevent sleeping | Declared by Google's billing library so a purchase can finish. The App never holds your screen or processor awake on its own. |
The last three come from Google Play Billing, which the App includes so you can buy unlimited albums or leave a tip. They are listed here for completeness rather than because the App uses them directly.
Purchases
The App offers optional in-app purchases: unlimited albums, and tips of several sizes if you want to support development. Payment is handled entirely by Google Play or the Apple App Store. We never receive, see, or store your payment card or billing details.
The App asks the store which products you own so it can unlock what you paid for, and it records that answer on your device. Google and Apple process purchase data under their own privacy policies: policies.google.com/privacy and apple.com/legal/privacy.
Third-party services
The App contains no advertising SDK. It uses these third parties:
- Google Play and the Apple App Store, for purchases.
- Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.), for crash and error reports: sentry.io/privacy.
- Google Analytics for Firebase (Google LLC), for app usage statistics: firebase.google.com/support/privacy.
- Open-Meteo, for the optional home screen weather: open-meteo.com/en/terms.
Children
The App is not directed at children under 13. It does not knowingly collect personal information from children, and the crash reports and usage statistics described above contain no name, email address, or photos.
Data sharing and sale
We do not sell your data and do not share it for advertising. Crash reports and usage statistics are processed by Sentry and Google only to provide those services to us. If you turn on the weather, Open-Meteo receives your approximate location only to answer the weather request.
Your rights
Crash reports and usage statistics are not linked to your name or email, so we cannot look them up by person. To remove everything the App stores on your device, delete your albums in the App or uninstall it. If you have questions about your rights under the GDPR, the CCPA, or a similar law, email us and we will respond.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted on this page with a new date at the top. If a future version of the App ever collects data, we will say so here before that version ships.
Contact
Box of Otters · wallpapershuffler@boxofotters.com