Privacy

In short

• No advertising, analytics, crash reporting or tracking. The project does not sell personal data.
• subshell talks to Reddit for you. Your sign-in and Client ID stay encrypted on your device.
• Backups go to a folder you choose, and only contain what you allow.

Signing in

You sign in on Reddit's own page inside the app. The session is stored in app-private storage encrypted with the Android Keystore. Your Client ID is kept in encrypted no-backup storage. Neither is ever part of a settings backup, and Android's own cloud backup is turned off for subshell. When you sign in through Reddit's web page in the app, Reddit's web login is also kept in the app's private web storage so Direct Chat works. Logging out removes the session and that web login for that account.

Who the app talks to

• Reddit (oauth.reddit.com, www.reddit.com) for everything you read and do: feeds, posts, comments, votes, messages, moderation and account settings.
• Reddit's media servers (i.redd.it, v.redd.it, preview.redd.it and similar) for images and video. Images and videos you post are uploaded to Reddit's media storage on Amazon S3 (reddit-uploaded-media.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com).
• Reddit's chat server (matrix.redditspace.com) while Direct Chat is open. It is not used in the background.
• Known image hosts for images linked in comments, such as Imgur, Giphy, Tenor and Wikimedia. Images from other hosts stay links until you open them.
• RedGIFs (api.redgifs.com) only when you play a RedGIFs clip, which is only possible while Show NSFW posts is on. Nothing is asked of RedGIFs otherwise.
• GitHub Pages to check for a new version, about every 12 hours, and GitHub (github.com and its download server) when you tap Update. Neither request carries an account or device identifier.

Background work

While you are signed in and notifications are on, subshell checks Reddit's inbox about every 15 minutes to show notifications. It never marks anything as read in the background. The update check runs about twice a day. Both need a network connection and can be stopped by turning the feature off.

Permissions

Notifications, to show inbox and update notices. Install unknown apps, asked once when you first tap Update, so Android lets subshell hand over its own update. Biometrics, only if you turn on the app lock. Storage, only on Android 8 and 9, asked when you first save an image to Downloads.

On your device

For speed and offline reading the app keeps Reddit content, account details and settings in app-private storage. Diagnostics keep a local history of app events; a report is only created and shared when you choose to, and it contains no screenshots, typed text or Reddit content. Images you save go to Download/subshell. Export your Reddit data writes a ZIP there too; it holds your private messages, so treat it like them. Posts saved for offline stay in app-private storage until you clear them in Settings.

App lock, when you turn it on, uses Android's biometric or screen-lock prompt. subshell never sees your fingerprint, face or PIN.

Backups

Backups are written to a folder you pick, plus an internal history. They include your settings, joined communities, favorites and saved searches. Hidden and muted communities, post drafts, saved moderator responses and private user notes are included only if you turn them on. Your sign-in, Client ID and app lock are never included.

This website

This is a static GitHub Pages site. It uses JavaScript for the screenshot gallery and the optional dynamic colour toggle; that preference is stored in your browser under subshell.palette. There are no project analytics, advertising, tracking forms or project-set cookies. GitHub may process request metadata to host and secure the site.

Third parties

Reddit, RedGIFs and GitHub process information when the app or this site connects to them. Their own terms and privacy policies govern that processing.

Deleting your data

Logging out removes that account's session. Clearing the app's storage or uninstalling removes everything the app keeps. Backups and saved images are your files; delete them from their folders.

Questions

Ask through Support. Do not post credentials, tokens, private messages or other sensitive account data in a public issue.