Privacy Policy — Startlight Launcher
Provisional document (v2) — pending legal review. Targeted compliance: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and Google Play program requirements. Last updated: 2026-09-19.
1. In short
Startlight Launcher sells no data, shows no ads and does not track your usage. It is a home screen for Android TV: what it reads and saves stays on your TV. There is no account, no tracker and no usage analytics. The only things that leave the device are what the services you turn on require, and the check of a StartLight Pro purchase (section 4).
2. Data controller
Startlight Launcher is published by JOLABS40.
Contact: contact@jolabs40.net
3. Data saved on the TV
These items stay on your Android TV device and are never sent to JOLABS40:
| Data | Purpose | Storage |
|---|---|---|
| Rows, menu, top bar, side panel, theme, app at startup | Build your home screen | App internal storage |
| Background image or video you choose | Wallpaper | Copy in internal storage |
| Launch count per app | Sort “most used” rows | App internal storage |
| Parental code | Lock apps and time slots | Salted hash, encrypted with the Android Keystore |
| Your Home Assistant address and token, chosen entities | Show and control your devices | Encrypted with the Android Keystore |
| City chosen for the weather and its coordinates | Fetch the weather | App internal storage |
| StartLight Pro purchase: bought or not, and the signed license that confirms it | Unlock Pro features | App internal storage; the license, encrypted with the Android Keystore |
4. Network connections
The only outgoing connections follow a setting that you turn on, or a purchase you make:
| Destination | When | What is sent |
|---|---|---|
| The server of each address you add as a wallpaper source (for example Reddit or Wallhaven, which the app suggests) | If you choose an “online source” wallpaper and tick that source | An ordinary web request to that address |
| Open-Meteo (open-meteo.com) | If you enter a city for the weather | The name you typed, then the coordinates of the city you pick |
| Your Home Assistant instance | If you configure one | Requests for the chosen entities, with your token |
| The image servers of your TV apps | To show the artwork of the content they publish | An ordinary image request |
| Your phone, on your local network | While the pairing screen is open | A setup page, protected by a code shown on the TV |
| The JOLABS40 license server (startlight-license, hosted by Cloudflare) | After a StartLight Pro purchase, then about every two weeks | The purchase token Google Play gives the app and a Google Play integrity token, to check with Google that the purchase is real; in return, a signed license kept on the TV |
Like any web request, these connections reveal your router’s IP address to the services involved. No advertising or account identifier is attached.
The license server keeps nothing it receives: it checks the purchase with Google, signs the license and forgets it. Only a single-use number drawn for the check lives five minutes. Its host, Cloudflare, keeps technical request logs — IP address included — for a few days, as any host does.
Open-Meteo states that it keeps its technical logs — IP address and requests, city coordinates included — for at most 90 days, without linking them to any identity, then deletes them (Open-Meteo terms).
5. Android permissions and their use
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Internet, network state | The connections above; the network icon in the top bar |
| Read TV channels and programs | Show “Continue watching” and the rows your apps publish |
| Stop background processes, request uninstall | The task manager and app list buttons; uninstalling always goes through Android’s confirmation |
| Usage access (optional, granted in a system screen) | Screen time and storage per app |
| Notification access (optional, granted in a system screen) | Show your notifications and what is playing; nothing is transmitted |
| Shizuku (optional) | Process details in the task manager |
| HippieTV catalog (optional) | Read HippieTV’s rows on the device, if you allow it |
6. What JOLABS40 does not do
Startlight Launcher uses none of the following:
- no analytics service (Google Analytics, Firebase Analytics, etc.);
- no advertising network or third-party tracker;
- no user account or advertising identifier;
- no payment handled by JOLABS40.
The StartLight Pro purchase goes entirely through Google Play. JOLABS40 receives neither your name, nor your address, nor your payment method: Google Play processes the purchase under its own privacy policy. To make sure a purchase is real, the app sends the license server the purchase token Google Play gave it, with an integrity token; the server asks Google and returns a signed license, kept on the TV (section 4).
The “Data safety” section of the Google Play listing declares it as follows: approximate location (the weather city, sent to Open-Meteo) and purchase history (the StartLight Pro check), collected for app functionality, never shared or sold.
7. Data sharing
No data is sold, or shared for advertising. The only transmissions are those of section 4. A backup of your settings, if you ask for one, is sent to your phone through the pairing page; it contains neither your Home Assistant token nor your parental code.
8. Your rights
Since JOLABS40 keeps no data about you — the license server does not store what it receives —, there is nothing on our side to access, rectify or erase. You delete all local data by uninstalling the app or through Android settings (“Clear data”). For any question: contact@jolabs40.net.
9. Security
The Home Assistant token and the parental code are encrypted at rest with the Android Keystore. The pairing page is only served on your local network, while the screen that opens it is shown, and requires the code displayed on the TV; its traffic is not encrypted, so use it on a trusted network only. Exchanges with the license server are encrypted (HTTPS).
10. Children
Startlight Launcher is intended for a general audience and knowingly collects no data about children. Its parental code lets you lock apps and time slots from the home screen.
11. Changes
This policy may evolve with the app. The version in force is dated above. Any substantial change will be published on this page.
12. Contact
JOLABS40 — contact@jolabs40.net