HalfKey Privacy Policy

The main points

• HalfKey processes typing, swipe typing and suggestions on your device. It does not upload your typing, learned vocabulary, personal dictionary or clipboard history to us.
• Personal learning and optional clipboard history can save information locally. You have controls to stop new learning and delete saved information.
• Google Play handles purchases and restoration separately. These operations can use Google's connection even though HalfKey's typing features work offline.
• There is no HalfKey account to create. HalfKey does not include advertising or analytics that track your use of the keyboard.

Typing and the app you are using

HalfKey uses your key presses, swipe movements and the text context made available by the app you are typing in to enter text, suggest words, correct spelling and move the cursor. This processing takes place on your device.

The text you type or paste is delivered to the app you have chosen to use. That app may store or send it under its own privacy policy. HalfKey's privacy controls do not control what other apps do with that text.

HalfKey does not keep a general log of everything you type or save raw swipe paths. Personal learning can retain individual words and adjacent word pairs, and optional clipboard history can retain complete copied text as described below. Practice text is not saved or used for personal learning.

Personal dictionary and learning

Personal learning starts off on a new installation. During setup you can choose to turn it on or keep it off, and change your choice later in Settings → Privacy & learning → Learn words I use. Built-in suggestions, spelling correction and swipe typing remain available with learning off. When upgrading from an earlier version, an explicitly saved privacy-mode preference is preserved; an existing pause remains active. HalfKey can store learned words, their usage information, adjacent word pairs and spellings you choose to keep instead of an autocorrection. Words you manually add to your dictionary are also stored locally. These records help personalise suggestions and corrections. They can include names or short combinations of words with personal meaning.

The current storage limits are 2,000 learned words, 4,000 word pairs, 1,000 manually added dictionary entries and 256 kept spellings. These limits bound the stored records; they do not mean every record expires after a fixed number of days.

Turning personal learning off, using Private mode (the global learning pause), or taking a temporary learning pause stops new automatic personal learning. They do not erase information already saved and do not necessarily stop existing personal suggestions. The per-app option to use only the built-in dictionary also excludes personal suggestions when you next enter that app's text field. You can remove personal words and related learning through the dictionary controls, or clear all personal words.

HalfKey suppresses personal learning when the receiving app identifies a protected field, such as a password field, or requests that personalised learning be disabled. These protections depend on the information Android and the receiving app provide.

Optional clipboard history

Automatic clipboard history is off unless you enable it. When enabled, HalfKey can save text made available through Android's clipboard while an eligible keyboard input view is active. It keeps up to 10 recent entries and 20 entries you explicitly pin, with up to 20,000 characters per saved entry. You can explicitly pin a current clip even while automatic history is off, when the field's privacy rules allow saving. Copied text may include a complete message or other personal information.

Private mode and protected input conditions pause new history capture. Items marked as sensitive by Android are excluded. Android and your device manufacturer also control which clipboard information HalfKey can access.

Turning history off clears recent entries but preserves pinned entries. Clear non-pinned removes recent entries only. You can delete pinned entries individually using the clipboard controls. Deleting HalfKey's saved copy does not clear the system clipboard or copies held by other apps.

Tapping the current clipboard preview pastes the text available from Android's clipboard, subject to input-field protections. This is separate from automatic history capture and does not require saved history to be enabled.

To prevent a cleared or dismissed current clip from immediately reappearing, HalfKey can keep a local hash of the clip text and its Android timestamp. This is a fingerprint used to recognise that clip, not another saved copy of its text. The marker can be replaced by a later dismissal or removed by clearing the app's data.

Settings and per app rules

HalfKey stores settings such as your chosen layout, dimensions, colours, named themes, haptic preferences, privacy rules and tutorial progress on your device so it can remember your choices.

When you choose privacy rules for particular apps, HalfKey can display the names and package identifiers of launchable apps on your device. It stores the rules you select and uses the current input app's identity to apply them. This is not a history of every app you use, and HalfKey does not upload an app inventory to us.

Trial and Google Play purchases

HalfKey stores a trial start time and timing information locally to administer the trial. If you purchase the permanent unlock, it stores the signed purchase receipt and verification signature so it can verify your entitlement and support offline access. A receipt may include a product identifier, purchase token, order information, purchase time and purchase state. HalfKey also keeps a pending purchase-confirmation token when needed to finish acknowledgement with Google Play, removing that marker after confirmation.

Purchase, product-information, restoration and acknowledgement requests are handled through Google Play. Google may process account, transaction and device information for those services under its own terms and privacy policy. HalfKey does not receive your payment-card number or bank details through this purchase flow, and typing data is not included in purchase requests.

Google's privacy policy is available at https://policies.google.com/privacy. Deleting HalfKey's local data does not delete Google's transaction records, cancel a purchase or issue a refund.

Storage and security

Personal vocabulary, saved clips and other personal app records are held in Android's private app storage. On Android 7 and later, personal words, saved clips and named themes remain in credential-protected storage until the first unlock after a restart. Only essential allowlisted keyboard settings are made available before that unlock.

HalfKey relies on Android's storage isolation and device security. It does not add a separate encryption layer to these local records. Keeping your device updated and protected helps protect information stored on it.

HalfKey does not provide cloud synchronisation for personal vocabulary or clipboard history. If you enable Android backup, Android may back up the trial start and latest recorded dates and selected keyboard preferences, and may restore them when you reinstall or move devices. Eligible preferences include layout, size, colours, saved theme names, learning and per-app privacy rules (including the app identifiers you selected), and tutorial progress. Only these selected stores are included. Learned words, word pairs, manual dictionary entries, kept spellings, clipboard contents, purchase receipts, purchase tokens and device-specific timing checkpoints are excluded from HalfKey's Android backup and device-transfer rules. A restored trial keeps its original start date; a restored preference does not restore excluded personal vocabulary or clipboard contents. Backup is managed by Android and your device's backup provider under your system settings, not by a HalfKey server. You can manage or disable it in Android settings. These controls do not govern copies made by other apps or device-management tools.

How long information is kept and how to delete it

Local information is retained while needed for the relevant feature, subject to its storage limits and your deletion choices. Learned records may be replaced as those limits are reached. Recent clipboard entries roll out as new entries replace them; pinned entries stay until you delete them. Settings and manual dictionary entries stay until changed or deleted.

You can use HalfKey's controls to remove dictionary entries and learning, delete saved clips, reset privacy rules, delete named themes and reset tutorial progress. Stopping learning is different from deleting previously saved learning.

Android's Clear storage function or uninstalling HalfKey removes its local app data. A previously created Android backup may remain with your backup provider and may restore eligible preferences and original trial dates on reinstallation. Manage backup copies and their deletion through Android and your backup provider; HalfKey cannot remotely delete them or promise a fixed provider retention period. An eligible purchase can be restored separately through Google Play. These actions do not delete text already entered into another app, your Google Play records or messages you have sent to our support address.

We delete ordinary support correspondence six months after the issue is resolved, allowing time to handle related follow-up questions. Where particular records are needed for an ongoing dispute or a legal obligation, we retain only the necessary records for as long as that purpose requires. Google manages retention of its own payment records under its policies.

Support messages

If you email halfkey.dev@gmail.com, we receive your email address, any name shown with your message, its contents and any attachments you choose to send. We use this information to respond, investigate problems and handle your request. Please avoid sending passwords, payment-card details or unrelated private conversations.

Our support inbox uses Google's Gmail service, which processes messages and associated technical information to provide the email service. Support messages are separate from the keyboard's local data; the app does not automatically attach your typing, dictionary or clipboard history. We do not use support correspondence for advertising.

The privacy policy website

This policy is hosted using Cloudflare Pages at https://halfkey-privacy.pages.dev/. Opening the page sends a website request to Cloudflare. This is separate from using the keyboard offline and does not send your keyboard vocabulary or saved clipboard history to the website.

Cloudflare processes technical information such as your IP address, request and traffic information, and system information to deliver and protect the website and operate its services. Cloudflare may also derive network statistics and security information from this traffic. The policy page contains no forms, advertisements or added analytics scripts.

Cloudflare retains information according to its service purposes and legal obligations, taking account of the nature and sensitivity of the information and whether less data would meet the purpose. Its published policy does not specify one fixed retention period for all website traffic data. Details are available at https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/.

Who receives information

HalfKey sends the text you choose to enter to the app you are using. Google Play handles the purchase flow, your Android backup provider handles eligible trial dates and preferences when system backup is enabled, Gmail handles messages you send to our support inbox, and the website host serves this policy page. Their roles are described above. We do not sell your personal information or share your typing with advertisers.

Where necessary, we may disclose information we actually hold, such as relevant support correspondence, to meet a legal obligation or establish, exercise or defend legal claims. This does not give us access to dictionary or clipboard records held only on your device.

Legal grounds for processing

The following explains the legal grounds for processing for which Jamie Hutton, trading as HalfKey, acts as the controller under UK data-protection law. Keeping information on your device does not, by itself, remove applicable data-protection obligations. Google and other providers also have responsibilities for processing they carry out independently under their own policies.

You can object to processing based on legitimate interests by contacting halfkey.dev@gmail.com. For information stored only on your device, you can also use the privacy and deletion controls described in this policy. Pausing learning does not erase previously saved learning, and turning clipboard history off preserves pinned entries until you delete them. We cannot remotely access or delete those local records.

Installing HalfKey or reading this policy is not blanket consent to process personal information. Where a particular use requires consent under applicable law, that consent must be obtained before the use begins and must be capable of being withdrawn.

Your privacy rights

Depending on applicable law and the processing concerned, you may have rights to access, correct or delete personal information, restrict its use, receive a portable copy, or object to processing. Where processing relies on consent, you can withdraw that consent without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

You can manage information held only in HalfKey through the app and Android controls described above. We cannot remotely retrieve or erase records that exist only on your device. For information we hold through support or other business activities, or for help with your rights, contact halfkey.dev@gmail.com. We may request proportionate information to verify a request.

You may complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ or to the relevant data-protection authority where you live. You do not have to contact us first.

International processing

HalfKey operates from the United Kingdom. Keyboard vocabulary and saved clipboard history stay on your device; they are not transferred to our support inbox or website host. Android-managed backups, support messages, Google Play transactions and visits to this policy website are separate activities that can involve processing outside the UK, including in the United States and other countries where Google, Cloudflare and their service providers operate.

Google describes its use of adequacy decisions, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK Extension, and standard contractual clauses where required in its transfer information: https://policies.google.com/privacy/frameworks. Those arrangements concern Google's processing; using our support address does not mean that you or HalfKey have entered into a Google Workspace agreement.

For Cloudflare's processing on our behalf, its Data Processing Addendum provides international-transfer terms, including the Data Privacy Framework where applicable and contractual safeguards with the UK Addendum for restricted UK transfers. These terms are available at https://www.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-customer-dpa/. Cloudflare also explains its own processing in its privacy policy.

You can contact halfkey.dev@gmail.com for more information about the arrangements relevant to information handled by HalfKey and how to obtain a copy of applicable safeguards. Provider links above explain their international processing and contact routes.

Children and younger users

HalfKey is a general-purpose keyboard. We do not impose an age restriction on its use. The local typing, learning and clipboard arrangements described in this policy apply to younger users as well as adults.

HalfKey does not require a HalfKey account or upload typing, learned vocabulary or saved clipboard history to us. It does not use keyboard data for advertising. Personal learning and automatic clipboard history start off on new installations. Setup offers a choice about learning, with a short explanation of what it saves. Local storage can still contain personal information: learning may save words or word pairs, and enabled clipboard history may save copied text. Younger users and parents or guardians can use the privacy settings and deletion controls described above to manage this information.

Text entered into another app is handled by that app under its own rules. Purchases are handled through Google Play and its applicable account, payment and parental-approval arrangements. A parent or guardian can help a younger user understand these settings and make purchase decisions.

If you are a younger user, or a parent or guardian with a concern about a child's privacy, contact halfkey.dev@gmail.com. You do not need to send private conversations or the child's dictionary or clipboard contents to ask for help. We will assess the request, explain the relevant local deletion controls and, where appropriate, delete personal information we hold through support. We cannot remotely retrieve or erase information held only on the device.

Changes and contact

We will update this policy when HalfKey's information handling changes and revise the last-updated date. Where a change requires an additional notice or consent, we will provide it before introducing the relevant processing.

For questions about this policy or a privacy request, contact HalfKey at halfkey.dev@gmail.com.