Privacy Policy

01Who we are

In short: TuneForge is an independent Android app. We’re responsible for the small amount of personal information described in this policy.

TuneForge is an independent app for Android, together with this website. In this policy, “TuneForge”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean the developer and publisher of TuneForge named on its Google Play listing, who decides how and why the personal information described here is used. In data protection law, that makes us the “controller” of that information.

If you have any question about this policy or about your information, you can reach us at any time using the details in Contact us.

02What this policy covers

In short: this policy covers the TuneForge app, this website and any messages you send us. Google Play and other services have their own policies.

This policy applies to:

• the TuneForge app for Android and all of its features — the tuner, the tuning library, the metronome, fret calculator, drone, string tension tool, transposer and chord library;
• this website, including this page and our Terms and Conditions; and
• any communication between you and us, such as email.

It doesn’t apply to third-party services you use alongside TuneForge, even where we link to them. In particular, when you download TuneForge from Google Play, Google handles your information under the Google Privacy Policy.

03Information we handle

In short: very little. The tuner processes sound on your device and your settings stay there too. We only receive information when Google Play shares app statistics with us, or when you contact us.

Sound from your microphone

To tune your instrument, TuneForge needs to hear it. With your permission, the app uses your device’s microphone while a listening feature, such as the tuner, is open. It analyses the incoming sound in real time to work out its frequency, the nearest note and how far you are from pitch.

This analysis happens entirely on your device. Sound is processed in short fragments that are held briefly in your device’s memory and discarded as soon as they’ve been analysed. TuneForge doesn’t record audio, doesn’t save it to your device’s storage, and never sends it to us or to anyone else. We can’t hear you, and we have no way of accessing anything your microphone picks up.

Settings and tunings on your device

TuneForge remembers your choices so it’s ready the next time you play. That includes your instrument and tuning, any custom tunings you create, your capo and A4 reference settings, metronome and tool settings, and appearance preferences such as your accent colour, launcher icon and background.

This information is stored only in TuneForge’s private storage on your device. It isn’t sent to us and we can’t access it. If Android’s backup service is turned on, your device may include this data in its backups, which are stored in your Google Account and handled by Google under its own privacy policy. We don’t have access to those backups.

Information from Google Play

Google Play distributes TuneForge. When you download, update or review the app, Google processes information about you under its own privacy policy. Google also makes some information available to us, as the developer, through the Google Play Console:

• Aggregated statistics, such as numbers of installs and uninstalls, and the countries, languages, device models and Android versions TuneForge is used on. These figures are combined across many people and don’t identify you.
• Crash reports and performance data (known as Android vitals), such as your device model, Android version and technical details of an error — but only if you’ve chosen to share usage and diagnostics data with Google. These reports are designed not to identify you, and we use them only to find and fix problems.
• Ratings and reviews that you publish on Google Play, together with the name and profile picture shown with your review. We may reply to your review publicly.

When you contact us

If you email us, we receive your email address, your name if you include it, the content of your message and anything you attach. We use this only to read, answer and follow up on your message, and to keep a record of our conversation.

When you visit this website

This website is a simple, static site. It doesn’t use cookies, analytics, advertising tags, tracking pixels or social media plug-ins, and it doesn’t store anything in your browser. Our fonts and images are served from the website itself, so visiting it doesn’t send requests to font, analytics or advertising services. The colour preview on our home page changes the page only while you’re looking at it; your choice isn’t saved.

Like every website, ours has to be delivered by a hosting provider. It’s hosted on GitHub Pages, a service provided by GitHub, Inc. To deliver pages and protect its service, GitHub processes technical information such as your IP address, the page you requested, your browser type and the time of your visit, and it logs visitors’ IP addresses for security purposes. We don’t use this information to identify you. GitHub handles it under the GitHub General Privacy Statement.

04Information we don’t collect

In short: no recordings, no account, no location, no contacts, no advertising ID and no payment details.

TuneForge is designed to work without knowing who you are. We don’t collect:

• audio recordings of any kind;
• account details — there’s no account to create;
• your name, email address or phone number, unless you choose to contact us;
• your precise or approximate location;
• your contacts, photos, videos, files or calendar;
• advertising identifiers, or information about your activity in other apps and on other websites; or
• payment information — any purchase is handled by Google Play, which doesn’t share your payment card details with us.

05How we use information, and why

In short: we use the little information we receive to answer you, keep TuneForge working well and meet our legal obligations — never for advertising or profiling.

The table below sets out each purpose, the information involved and, for people in the UK, the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland, the legal basis we rely on under data protection law.

We don’t use personal information to make decisions about you by automated means, to build profiles or to show you advertising. If we ever want to use information for a new purpose, we’ll update this policy first and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent.

06Your microphone and your controls

In short: you’re always in control of the microphone. You can allow, limit or remove access in Android’s settings whenever you like.

Android asks for your permission the first time TuneForge needs the microphone. Depending on your version of Android, you can allow access while the app is in use, allow it only this time, or refuse it.

You can change your mind at any time. Open your device’s Settings, go to Apps › TuneForge › Permissions › Microphone, and choose the option you prefer. The exact names can vary slightly between devices.

On Android 12 and later, an indicator appears at the top of your screen whenever an app is using the microphone, and the microphone access toggle in Quick Settings lets you turn off microphone access for every app at once.

If you don’t allow microphone access, the tuner can’t hear your instrument, but the features that don’t need it — such as the metronome, drone, fret calculator, string tension tool, transposer and chord library — are still available.

07How information is shared

In short: we don’t sell personal information or share it for advertising. It’s only shared with the service providers that help us run TuneForge, or where the law requires it.

We share personal information only in these limited situations:

• Service providers. Google, for distributing the app through Google Play and providing app statistics and crash reports; GitHub, for hosting this website; and our email provider, for receiving and replying to your messages. They process information only as needed to provide their services, either on our behalf or under their own terms.
• Legal requirements. If we’re required to by law, regulation, court order or a valid request from a public authority, or where it’s necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of our users, the public or ourselves.
• Business changes. If TuneForge is ever sold, transferred or merged, information may pass to the new owner, who must continue to protect it as this policy describes. We’ll tell you before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
• With your agreement. In any other situation, only if you ask us to or agree to it.

We don’t sell personal information, rent it, or share it with data brokers or for cross-context behavioural advertising.

08International transfers

In short: our service providers may process information outside your country. When they do, it’s protected by recognised legal safeguards.

Google, GitHub and our email provider may process information in countries other than the one you live in, including the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

Where UK, EEA or Swiss law applies, we make sure transfers are covered by an appropriate safeguard, such as an adequacy decision — including the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and its UK and Swiss extensions, where the recipient is certified — or standard contractual clauses approved by the relevant authorities. You can contact us to find out more about these safeguards.

09How long we keep information

In short: only as long as we need it. Audio isn’t kept at all, and your settings stay on your device until you remove them.

• Audio: not kept. Each fragment is discarded as soon as it has been analysed.
• Settings and custom tunings: kept on your device until you delete them, clear TuneForge’s storage or uninstall the app.
• Emails: kept for as long as we need to deal with your message and any follow-up, then deleted within 24 months of our last exchange — unless we need to keep them longer to meet a legal obligation or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• Google Play statistics, crash reports and reviews: retained by Google in line with its own retention periods.
• Website server logs: retained by GitHub in line with its own privacy statement.

10How we protect information

In short: the best protection is not collecting information in the first place. What we do handle is protected with sensible safeguards.

Collecting as little as possible is our strongest safeguard. Beyond that:

• information TuneForge stores on your device is kept in the app’s private storage, which Android’s app sandbox protects from other apps;
• this website is served over an encrypted HTTPS connection; and
• we protect the accounts we use to run TuneForge with strong authentication, including two-step verification wherever it’s available.

No method of storing or transmitting information is completely secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a breach that affects your personal information, we’ll notify you and the relevant authorities where the law requires us to.

11Your privacy rights

In short: you have rights over your personal information wherever you live. Because nearly everything stays on your device, you can exercise many of them yourself, instantly.

On your device. You can delete everything TuneForge stores at any time by clearing the app’s storage in Android’s settings or by uninstalling the app. You can withdraw microphone access as described in section 6.

UK, EEA and Switzerland

Under the UK GDPR, the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection, you have the right to:

• be informed about how your personal information is used — which is what this policy is for;
• access the personal information we hold about you and receive a copy of it;
• have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected;
• have your information deleted;
• restrict how we use your information;
• object to our use of your information where we rely on our legitimate interests;
• receive your information in a portable format, where that right applies; and
• withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent.

You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority. In the UK, that’s the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk). In the EEA, you can contact the authority in the country where you live or work, and in Switzerland, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner. We’d appreciate the chance to put things right first, so please do contact us.

United States

Depending on where you live — including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and other states with comprehensive privacy laws — you may have the right to know what personal information we’ve collected about you, and to access, correct and delete it, or receive a portable copy. You may also have the right to opt out of the sale of personal information, its sharing for cross-context behavioural advertising, targeted advertising and certain kinds of profiling.

We don’t sell or share personal information, use it for targeted advertising or profiling, or use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you — so there’s nothing you need to opt out of. We won’t discriminate against you for exercising any of your rights. You may use an authorised agent to make a request on your behalf, and if we decline a request, you can ask us to reconsider by replying to our decision.

Everywhere else

Wherever you live — including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and beyond — you can ask us about the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct or delete it. We’ll respond in line with the law that applies to you.

Making a request

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in section 15. Making a request is free. We’ll respond within one month, or sooner where the law requires; if we need longer, we’ll tell you why. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request, and we’ll use the information you give us only for that purpose.

We can only act on information we actually hold. We can’t access, correct or delete settings that exist only on your device, or data that Google holds — but you can manage your device data directly, and Google provides its own tools for the data it holds.

12Children’s privacy

In short: TuneForge is for musicians of every age, and it works without asking anyone — including children — for personal information.

TuneForge isn’t specifically directed at children, but young musicians need tuners too, so we’ve designed it to work without collecting personal information from anyone. There’s no account, no chat, no advertising and no sharing of content with other people.

We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under the age at which parental consent is required where they live. If you’re under that age, please ask a parent or guardian before contacting us. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we’ll delete it promptly.

13Third-party services and links

In short: other companies’ services and websites have their own privacy policies.

The app and this website may link to services we don’t control, such as Google Play. When you follow those links, the other service’s privacy policy applies, and we aren’t responsible for its practices. We encourage you to read the privacy information of any service before you use it.

Android and Google Play are provided by Google LLC. How Google handles your information is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

14Changes to this policy

In short: if we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top and, for significant changes, let you know in advance.

We may update this policy from time to time — for example, if we add features to TuneForge, if the services we rely on change, or if the law changes. When we do, we’ll update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.

If we make a significant change, particularly to how we use personal information, we’ll give you notice before it takes effect — for example in the app, on our Google Play listing or on this website — and where the law requires your consent, we’ll ask for it. You can ask us for any previous version of this policy at any time.

15Contact us

If you have a question about this policy, want to exercise your rights, or have a concern about how we’ve handled your information, we’d like to hear from you.

We’ll reply as soon as we can, and always within the time limits set by law. If you’re in the UK, EEA or Switzerland and you’re not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to your data protection authority, as described in section 11.

This Privacy Policy is effective from 24 September 2026 and was last updated on 24 September 2026.