NtfsForge lets your Android phone open NTFS-formatted USB drives in the Files app and in any app that opens files through Android's file picker. It can also copy files off the drive, convert the drive to exFAT, and, with the optional Pro unlock, write to the drive. It is published by ByteHaven Studios LLC. This policy describes what the app does with your information. It is short because the app does very little with it.
The short version
NtfsForge does not collect or share any user data. It has no account system, no analytics, no advertising, no crash reporting and no tracking. Reading, copying and converting a drive never use the network.
The drives you connect
NtfsForge reaches a USB drive only after you allow it in Android's USB permission prompt, which Android shows for each device. It then reads that drive so that the Files app and the apps you choose can show its folders and open its files. Another app sees a file on the drive only when you pick it, through Android's own file picker.
NtfsForge never uploads anything from a drive. File names, folders and file contents are read from the drive when an app asks for them, used on your phone, and not kept by NtfsForge.
Writing to a drive is off unless you turn it on, for each drive, after buying the Pro unlock and accepting the writing terms. Converting a drive to exFAT erases it, so the app first shows the drive's name and size, warns you that everything on it will be erased, and waits for your confirmation.
Network access
The app's own code makes no network requests. It contains no web client, no analytics or crash reporting SDK and no ad SDK.
- The app's manifest lists the INTERNET and ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE permissions only because the Google Play Billing library adds them. NtfsForge does not use them itself.
- The only traffic in connection with the app is Google Play Billing, for the optional Pro unlock. It runs between the Google Play Billing library inside the app and the Google Play Store app, and Google may receive technical information about those billing requests. Google's privacy policy governs it.
Purchases
NtfsForge Pro is an optional one-time purchase, processed by Google Play, that turns on writing to drives. Reading, copying files off and converting to exFAT are free and never ask for it. Your payment details are handled entirely by Google and are never seen by NtfsForge or by ByteHaven Studios. The app only asks Google Play whether the Pro unlock is owned.
Permissions
- USB access: Android's per-device permission, granted by you for each drive. NtfsForge asks for no storage permission and does not request "all files access" (MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE).
- Foreground service for a connected device (FOREGROUND_SERVICE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE_CONNECTED_DEVICE): while a drive has a write in progress, so that Android does not stop the app in the middle of it and leave the drive needing repair. It runs only while a drive you turned writing on for is being written to.
- Notifications (POST_NOTIFICATIONS): to show the "Writing to your USB drive" notice while that service runs. The app asks for it when you turn writing on. You can refuse it; writing still works.
- Billing (com.android.vending.BILLING): so Google Play can process the Pro purchase.
- Internet and network state: added by the Google Play Billing library, as described above.
What the app stores on your phone
Only two things, both in the app's private storage on your phone: which drives you accepted the writing terms for (recorded by the drive's volume serial number), and whether the Pro unlock is owned. No other app can read them, and none of it is sent anywhere. The app is excluded from Android's automatic cloud backup (allowBackup="false").
Uninstalling the app, or clearing its data in Android's settings, removes everything it stored.
Notifications
NtfsForge uses one notification, shown only while it is writing to a drive, to tell you not to unplug the drive yet. It sends no other notifications.
When data leaves your device
Only when you send it. Files you copy off a drive go where you choose to put them. If you email us, we receive what you write.
Children
NtfsForge is a general-purpose utility. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone.
Your rights
Because we hold none of your data, there is nothing for us to disclose, correct or delete. If you email us, we keep that conversation only to answer you, and you can ask us to delete it.
Changes
If this policy changes, the revised version will be posted at https://ntfsforge.bytehavenstudios.com/privacy/ with a new effective date.
Contact
support@bytehavenstudios.com
ByteHaven Studios LLC · Wyoming, United States
