In short

Backlight is a player for the .gba files you already own. It is designed to need nothing from you but the games. It has no account, shows no ads, and contains no analytics or third-party trackers. SavvyLabs Ltd, the developer, does not collect any personal data about you, and there is no Backlight server that receives your information.

No account and no sign-in.
No ads and no advertising IDs.
No analytics and no trackers.
No personal data collected.
Your saves never leave your device.
The one optional network feature is off by default.

Everything you do in the app happens on your device. This policy explains what that means, and the single, optional feature that makes a network request.

What stays on your device

The following are stored only in Backlight's private storage on your phone or tablet, and are never sent to us or to anyone else:

The .gba game files you import (copied into the app's private storage).
Your battery saves and save states, and their thumbnails.
Screenshots you capture in-game.
Cheats, per-game settings, and your playtime.
App settings and control layouts.

You can delete any of this at any time — see the "Delete your data" page for Backlight. Uninstalling Backlight removes all of it.

The one time information leaves your device

Backlight has a single optional feature that uses the network: "Fetch box art", found in Settings → Library. It is off by default, so with a fresh install the app makes no network requests at all.

When you turn it on, Backlight looks up cover images for your games from a public artwork database (the open-source libretro-thumbnails project, hosted on GitHub). Each request contains only the game's catalogue name so the right cover can be found. As with any web request, the host can see your device's IP address. No information about you is sent, and we store nothing — the artwork is simply downloaded and cached on your device. Turn the feature off to stop all network requests.

All network requests use HTTPS; Backlight does not send anything over an unencrypted connection.

What Backlight does not do

No tracking. Backlight does not track you across apps or websites, and uses no advertising identifier (no IDFA on iOS, no Advertising ID on Android).
No analytics or crash SDKs. There are no third-party analytics, advertising, or crash-reporting SDKs in the app.
No accounts. There is nothing to sign up for and no profile.
No games or BIOS. Backlight never includes, finds, downloads, or uploads games or a console BIOS. You play files you already own; any BIOS is one you supply, and it stays on your device.

Children

Backlight is a general-audience utility rated 12+ / Teen. It is not directed at children under 13 and knowingly collects no data from anyone, including children.

Your rights and choices

Because Backlight collects no personal data and holds nothing about you on a server, there is no personal information for us to access, correct, export, or delete on your behalf. You remain in full control of the data on your device and can remove it at any time — see the "Delete your data" page.

Changes to this policy

If Backlight ever adds a feature that changes how data is handled, we will update this policy and the effective date above before that feature ships, and describe the change plainly.

Privacy and copyright contact

Questions about privacy, or a copyright/DMCA notice, can be sent to emma@savvylabs.co.uk. Please mark copyright notices for the attention of the copyright agent and include the information required by your jurisdiction's takedown procedure (identification of the work, the material at issue, your contact details, and a good-faith statement).

Privacy Policy