DotGrid Privacy Policy

Last updated 21 October 2026

This policy explains how the DotGrid app for Android ("the app") handles information.

What the app stores, and where

Everything you enter — tasks, notes, events, collections, tags, habits and their daily counts, saved filters, links between entries, any URLs you attach, and your preferences — is stored in a private database on your device that only DotGrid can read. It is not sent anywhere by default.

We do not operate a server that stores, sees, or has access to your journal. If you uninstall the app or clear its data, your journal is removed from the device unless you have backed it up or exported it.

Backup: local folder, Dropbox and Google Drive (all optional)

DotGrid offers three backup destinations you can turn on in the app's backup settings. None is required to use the app. You choose to connect each one; once connected, DotGrid backs up to it automatically every night and whenever you tap Back up now. Restoring only ever happens when you start it.

Local folder

You can choose a folder on your device (or on removable storage) using Android's own folder picker, and DotGrid will save backup files there — daily and on demand — keeping the most recent copies and removing older ones. This file never leaves your device through the app; it stays in the folder you chose, in plain (unencrypted) JSON, so you can always open or move it yourself.

Dropbox and Google Drive

If you connect Dropbox or Google Drive, DotGrid can back up your journal to your own account there.

• Plain copies, in your own account. Backups sent to Dropbox or Google Drive are plain JSON files, the same as the local folder's. DotGrid does not encrypt them, so anyone with access to that cloud account — or to the provider — could read them. Keep that account secure. We never hold a copy and cannot read it.
• Older Dropbox backups. Backups made to Dropbox by earlier versions of DotGrid (before version 1.3.0) were encrypted with a passphrase you chose. They stay encrypted, and still need that passphrase to restore. DotGrid no longer asks for a passphrase or stores anything derived from one.
• Narrowest access available. DotGrid uses Dropbox's App folder access, a single sandboxed folder for DotGrid. For Google Drive it uses only the hidden "app data" folder, which is a place only DotGrid can read and write: it cannot see or change any other file in your Drive, and you will not see these backups in Drive's own file list.
• Direct connection. Your device talks to Dropbox or Google directly over an encrypted connection. Nothing passes through any server of ours.
• Your password stays with them. You sign in on Dropbox's or Google's own page and never share your password with DotGrid. The app receives and stores a refresh token — encrypted with a key that is generated on your device and never leaves it — and uses that token to request short-lived access as needed. Disconnecting in the app deletes that token from your device immediately; you can also revoke access from your Dropbox account settings or your Google Account's third-party access page.
• Backup, not sync. Restoring from a backup only happens when you start it, and replaces your journal only after you confirm. A safety copy of what is on your phone is saved first.

Backup files stored in your Dropbox account are also subject to Dropbox's Privacy Policy, and those in Google Drive to Google's Privacy Policy.

DotGrid's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. DotGrid uses that access only to store and read its own backup files for you, and does not share it with anyone.

Calendar

If you grant calendar permission, DotGrid reads events from your device's calendars so it can show them alongside your journal, and creates one calendar of its own on your device for events you create in the app, including all-day ones for events without a time. If you edit or delete one of DotGrid's own events in a calendar app, that change is brought back into your journal. It never edits or deletes events in any calendar it does not own. Calendar data is not sent anywhere by the app.

Reminders and notifications

If you allow notifications, DotGrid uses them to show reminders you set. Reminders are scheduled and delivered on your device. A reminder shows the title of the entry, or the name of the habit, it is about, including on your lock screen unless you switch on "Hide titles on the lock screen" in the app's Reminders settings; your phone's own notification settings can also hide it.

Biometric lock (optional)

If you turn on the app lock, unlocking is handled by your device's own fingerprint, face, or PIN system. The app never sees or stores biometric data — it only receives a yes-or-no result from Android.

Export, import and sharing

You can export your journal as JSON or Markdown and import it from JSON. The app reads or writes only the files and locations you pick. Exported files are unencrypted and fully under your control once saved.

When you share text or a link into DotGrid from another app, only what you share is saved, and it stays on your device like any other entry.

The "Share Dotgrid" row in Settings opens Android's own share sheet with a short message and a link to the app's Play Store page, so you can recommend it to someone. DotGrid sends nothing itself and does not track whether anyone installs the app.

Home screen widget

The widget shows your journal content on your home screen. It reads from the same on-device database and sends nothing anywhere. Anyone who can see your home screen can see what the widget displays.

What we don't do

• No account or sign-in with us — the app does not know who you are. (If you connect Google Drive, you sign in with Google, on Google's own page, only to let the app save backups to your Drive.)
• No analytics, advertising, tracking, or crash-reporting services.
• No selling, renting, or sharing of your information with anyone.
• No collection of your location, contacts, or device identifiers.

If the app crashes, any log is written only to your device. It is shared only if you choose to send that file yourself.

Permissions

• Internet — used only to reach Dropbox or Google Drive when you have connected one for backup.
• Calendar — to read device events and manage DotGrid's own calendar, as described above.
• Notifications — to show reminders you set.
• Exact alarms — so a reminder set for a specific time arrives on time, if you allow it in system settings; reminders still work without it, just less precisely.
• Run at device startup — to reschedule your reminders after your device restarts, since Android otherwise clears them silently.
• Biometric — to unlock the app, if you turn the lock on.

Keeping and deleting your data

Your journal stays on your device until you delete it. Uninstalling the app or clearing its data in Android settings removes it from the device. A local-folder backup remains in the folder you chose, a Dropbox backup remains in your Dropbox, and a Google Drive backup remains in DotGrid's hidden app-data folder in your Drive (you can remove it in Google Drive's settings under Manage apps, then DotGrid, then Delete hidden app data), until you delete it yourself. Because we hold none of your data, there is nothing for us to delete on our side.

Deleting an entry inside the app removes it from your live journal immediately, but a copy of it can remain inside backups already made until those backups age out. DotGrid keeps the 14 most recent backups per destination and removes older ones automatically as new ones are made — so a deleted entry does not disappear from every backup the moment you delete it, only once the backups holding it have rotated out.

Children

DotGrid is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect personal data from anyone, since it does not collect personal data from any user.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes — most likely because a new feature connects to a new service — the "Last updated" date above will change, and material changes will be noted in the app's release notes.

Contact

For privacy questions, email meliordevelopments@gmail.com.