Privacy & permissions

Kolahal has no account, no analytics, no ads and no crash reporting service: a crash report stays on your phone until you share it. Its dependencies are AndroidX, Jetpack Compose, WorkManager, OkHttp and the two script engines (LuaJava and quickjs-kt). Your log, settings, scripts, feeds and notifications are stored in the app’s private storage on the phone.

What leaves the device

Kolahal itself makes network requests in exactly three cases:

1. Scripts you write or install, through http.* and rss.*. They talk only to the URLs in their code. The library scripts use wttr.in, Open-Meteo, CoinGecko, open.er-api.com, api.ipify.org, Wikipedia, xkcd.com, ZenQuotes, Reddit, GitHub and the feeds they list. Requests carry a User-Agent of Kolahal-Launcher/0.1 unless the script sets its own.
2. Feeds you subscribe to: one request per feed when it is due.
3. Currency conversion with = 100 usd in eur: a request to open.er-api.com for the base currency, cached for six hours.

Commands like search, yt, wiki, maps, play and url don’t make requests themselves. They hand a link to your browser or the matching app.

Plain http:// is allowed, because many feeds are still served without TLS.

Crash reports

new If Kolahal stops unexpectedly, it keeps a report on the phone: the app version and build, the Android version, the phone model, which part of Kolahal stopped, and the error with its stack trace (the code that was running). On Android 11 and newer it also notes when Kolahal froze (“not responding”) or crashed inside native code such as the script engines, from what Android recorded.

The next time you open home, a red line says Kolahal stopped unexpectedly; tap it to share the report with the share sheet (email, a chat, or paste it into a GitHub issue). crashes lists the reports, and crashes clear deletes them. Nothing is sent by itself, the newest 10 are kept, and they are left out of Android’s backup. An error message can contain a bit of what you were doing (a command, a file name), so read the report before you send it.

Android’s own backup

The app allows Android’s system backup. If device backup is on in your Android settings, Android may include Kolahal’s data in it, as it does for other apps. Kolahal’s own backup file is separate and is only written where you choose.

Permissions

Declared in the manifest:

Permission	Why
INTERNET	scripts, feeds and currency rates (see above)
ACCESS_LOCAL_NETWORK	new Android 17 and newer: scripts with @uses lan and feeds on your own network (a home server, a router page). Asked for with local-network; optional
ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE	the net item in the header and device.network()
READ_CONTACTS	call, sms and contacts name matching. Asked for on first use; optional
READ_CALENDAR	agenda lists upcoming events. Asked for on first use; optional; nothing leaves the device
SET_ALARM	timer and alarm hand the timer or alarm to your clock app
SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM	remind fires on time (Android 12+ lets you turn it off; reminders may then be a few minutes late)
RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED	pending reminders are set again after a reboot
POST_NOTIFICATIONS	notifications from scripts and feeds (Android 13+ asks at runtime)
REQUEST_DELETE_PACKAGES	uninstall and the Uninstall action open Android’s uninstall dialog
EXPAND_STATUS_BAR	swipe down on the header (or shade) pulls down the notification shade
ACCESS_HIDDEN_PROFILES	lets the default launcher see the Android 15+ private space
PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS	Usage Access, which you grant in Settings: accurate unlock counts and usage screen time
ACCESS_NOTIFICATION_POLICY	lists Kolahal on the Do Not Disturb access page, for dnd and ring silent (you still grant it)
WRITE_SETTINGS	“Modify system settings”, which you grant in Settings: brightness, rotate, screen-timeout
ACCESS_WIFI_STATE	whether Wi-Fi is on, for toggles

torch needs no camera permission: it only switches the flash.

Kolahal also asks Android for the list of launchable apps (a <queries> entry for launcher activities). That’s needed to show your apps at all.

Special access you can grant

These are off until you enable them, usually from the setup checklist:

Access	Why	Without it
Default home app	opens on Home; pausing/resuming profiles, app shortcuts, private space	works as a normal app
Usage access	accurate unlocks, usage	unlocks counted while the launcher runs; no usage
Notification access	notifications in the log, notifs, notifications.recent(), media and the header’s now-playing line (reading media sessions)	none of these
Do Not Disturb access	dnd, ring silent	those print a tappable line to grant it
Modify system settings	brightness, rotate, screen-timeout	those print a tappable line to grant it
Accessibility service Kolahal screen lock	double-tap / lock locks the screen. It can’t read window content and receives no events	no lock gesture
Local network (Android 17+)	scripts with @uses lan, feeds on a home server	those requests fail with a line to tap and allow it
Battery unrestricted	timers and feeds run on time	Android may defer them

Notification text read through notification access stays on the device: it goes into the log and an in-memory list, and a copy of the 50 most recent is kept so scripts can call notifications.recent(). A script you write could send that data somewhere, the same as anything else it can read, so only install scripts you trust and read the code of ones you get from others. Scripts imported from a backup file arrive disabled for that reason.