Feint Privacy Policy
Plain-language summary
- No account, no sign-up. Feint doesn't ask who you are.
- No developer-run server. Your phone and Mac talk directly to each other over your own local network — nothing passes through servers we operate, because we don't operate any.
- Location data stays between your two devices, except when a route needs a road network to snap to, in which case coordinates go to a routing provider (OpenStreetMap's OSRM by default, or Google/Mapbox only if you supply your own API key).
- Crash reports go to Firebase Crashlytics (a Google service) so we can fix bugs — this is the only thing turned on by default that leaves your two devices.
- No ads, no data sale, no tracking beyond what's described below.
01. About this policy
Feint is a development and testing tool made up of two paired apps — Feint for Mac and Feint for Android — that let a developer simulate a device's GPS location for testing location-aware software. This policy explains what information the apps handle, why, and who it's shared with. It applies to both apps and to the pairing between them.
Feint is built and published by The Devs Tools. If anything here is unclear, see Contact Us below.
02. Information we collect
2.1 Location data
This is the core of what Feint does, so it's worth being precise:
- Simulated location you set: Coordinates you enter, click on a map, or plan as a route are used to feed Android's mock-location provider on the paired phone.
- The phone's real location, in one specific case: When the Mac app asks "where is this phone right now" and nothing is currently being mocked, the Android app reads the device's real last-known GPS/network location and sends it back to the paired Mac. This happens only in response to that request, only to the Mac you've paired with, and only over your local network.
- Search and route queries: When you search for an address or plan a route, the text you type or the coordinates you place are sent to whichever place-search or routing provider is active (see 2.4) to resolve them into a location or a road-snapped path.
2.2 Device & pairing information
To pair a phone with a Mac and keep that connection alive, the Android app shares with the paired Mac: the phone's model name, Android version, a per-app device identifier (ANDROID_ID, not linked to any personal or Google account), and its local network IP address for discovery. None of this leaves the pairing between your own two devices.
2.3 Crash & diagnostic data
The Android app uses Firebase Crashlytics to automatically report app crashes — stack traces, device model, OS version, and app version at the time of the crash. This is sent to Google's Firebase infrastructure, not to us directly, and is used solely to find and fix bugs. See Google's Firebase privacy and security policy for how Google handles this data.
2.4 Optional third-party map & routing services
Feint's map, search, and routing features are backed by one of a few providers, depending on your setup:
- Apple Maps / MapKit: Used for the map display and address search on the Mac app, subject to Apple's privacy policy.
- OpenStreetMap: The Android app's map tiles come from the OpenStreetMap community tile server; route planning defaults to the free OSRM routing service (router.project-osrm.org), which receives the coordinates of the stops in a route you plan.
- Google Maps Platform / Mapbox: Only used if you (the user) supply your own API key for one of these in Feint's settings. If enabled, relevant search or routing queries go to that provider under your own account and their respective privacy policies (Google, Mapbox).
03. How we use this information
Everything in Section 2 is used for exactly one purpose: making Feint's core feature — simulating and driving a device's GPS location for development and testing — work. We don't use it for advertising, profiling, analytics beyond crash diagnostics, or any purpose unrelated to that.
04. How information is shared
We do not sell, rent, or share your data with third parties for their own marketing purposes. Data flows only as follows:
- Between your own paired phone and Mac, directly, over your local network.
- To Firebase Crashlytics (Google), automatically, for crash diagnostics.
- To OpenStreetMap/OSRM by default, or to Google/Mapbox if you've configured your own key, for map tiles, search, and routing.
We do not operate a backend server for Feint, so there is no developer-controlled database of your location history.
05. Data retention & deletion
Favorites, location history, and saved routes are stored locally on your phone and/or Mac only — never uploaded anywhere. You can delete individual entries in-app, and uninstalling either app removes all of its locally stored data. Crash reports are retained by Google under Firebase's own data retention terms, described in the policy linked in 2.3.
For step-by-step instructions on how to clear these items, visit our dedicated Delete Your Data guide.
06. Android permissions, explained
| Permission | Why Feint asks for it |
|---|---|
| ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION | Required by Android to register a mock-location provider, and to read the real location for the fallback described in 2.1. |
| ACCESS_MOCK_LOCATION | Legacy declaration for the mock-location feature that is Feint's core purpose. |
| FOREGROUND_SERVICE (+ subtypes) | Keeps GPS simulation and the Mac connection running reliably while the app isn't on screen, with a persistent notification so it's never hidden from you. |
| POST_NOTIFICATIONS | Shows that always-visible status notification. |
| INTERNET, ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, ACCESS_WIFI_STATE, CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE, CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE | Used to discover and connect to a paired Mac on the local network, and to reach the map/routing services in 2.4. |
| CAMERA | Only used to scan the QR code shown by the Mac app during pairing. Not used anywhere else. |
| RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED | Only if you enable "Resume location after restart" — lets the last set location resume automatically after the phone reboots. |
07. Children's privacy
Feint is a developer tool, not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13.
08. Security
Communication between the paired phone and Mac happens only over your local network. As with any local-network tool, both devices should be on a network you trust. We take reasonable measures to keep the pairing scoped to devices you've explicitly connected (via QR code or manual pairing), but no method of transmission is 100% secure.
09. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we'll update the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of Feint after a change means you accept the updated policy.
10. Contact us
Questions about this policy or your data can be sent to:
privacy@thedevstools.com