Glimpse Launcher: Privacy policy

Last updated: 8 November 2026 (notes, hold actions, themes, text mode)

Glimpse Launcher is a home screen app for Android, made by Glimpse Media. This page explains what it does with your information. In short: it collects nothing and sends nothing anywhere.

What the app stores

Everything you set up is kept only on your phone, in the app's own private storage: which apps are on which screen, folders, tags, colours and themes (including any saved themes), clock choices, text mode's list, folders and widgets, the web addresses and phone numbers you give to hold actions, and (if you switch the Emergency button on) the one name and phone number you type in. Your notes are kept there too, with the app's own copy of any picture you add to a note. This information never leaves the phone, unless you save a backup file yourself (see Backups below). Uninstalling the app removes it.

When you change the wallpaper through Glimpse Launcher (a theme wallpaper, or a picture you choose), the app keeps its own copy so a saved theme can put it back. It cannot copy a wallpaper set by another app.

If you set a padlock PIN, the app does not keep the PIN itself: it keeps only a scrambled hash of it (salted PBKDF2), on the phone, which is enough to check a PIN you type but not to work out what the PIN is.

Backups

Settings > Backup can save your setup to one file: your settings, screens, text mode, notes with their pictures, saved themes, and your PIN (only as its scrambled hash). The file is saved only where you choose with your phone's own file chooser, for example your Downloads folder or a cloud drive you use. Glimpse Launcher never sends it anywhere. Restoring reads only a file you pick. Keep backup files private: they contain your notes.

The bug log

Settings > Report bugs has a Bug log, off unless you switch it on. While it is on, Glimpse Launcher records its own crashes and errors on the phone: when they happened, where in the app, the app version, and the phone model and Android version. It does not record app names, notes, contacts or numbers. It is sent only if you choose Email the bug log and send that email yourself. Clear the bug log, or switching it off and uninstalling, removes it.

What the app does not do

• It has no internet permission, so it cannot send or receive anything over the internet.
• It has no advertisements, no analytics, no tracking and no accounts.
• It does not read your contacts, the words in your messages, your location or your microphone. It never looks through your photos: a picture is added to a note only when you take one with the phone's camera app or pick one in the phone's own photo picker, and only that picture is copied.
• It does not share anything with anyone.

Permissions

• Make phone calls: used only by the optional Emergency button and by a "Call a number" hold action you set up yourself. The Emergency button first counts down, with Cancel; a hold action call counts down three seconds. Then the phone places one call to the number you chose. Glimpse Launcher does not listen to the call, record it or check whether it was answered.
• Notification access (optional, off unless you switch it on): lets Glimpse Launcher count how many notifications each app has waiting, to show a number on its icon. Only the count is used. It does not read, store or share what a notification says. You can switch it off at any time in the phone's Notification access settings.
• Set wallpaper: used only when you choose "Change the wallpaper" in Settings.
• Request uninstall: used only when you choose Uninstall for an app in All apps. The phone shows its own question before anything is removed.
• Expand the status bar: used only to open the notifications when you swipe down on the home screen.
• Set alarms: declared only because the phone's clock app asks for it before it opens its Alarms and Timer screens for the "Alarms" and "Timer" hold actions. Glimpse Launcher never sets, changes or reads an alarm or timer.

The app can see which apps are installed, so it can show them on your screens. That list stays on the phone.

If you forget your PIN, the app asks the phone to confirm your screen lock (your phone's own PIN, pattern, password or fingerprint). The app never sees that screen lock; it only learns whether you confirmed it.

Children

Glimpse Launcher is not aimed at children and collects no information from anyone.

Changes

If this policy ever changes, the new version will be on this page with a new date.

Contact

Questions: [email protected]