Shellvana privacy policy

Last updated: 2026-08-20

The short version

Shellvana collects nothing. There are no accounts, no analytics, no advertising, and no server that I operate. Everything the app stores stays on your device, encrypted. The only network connections Shellvana makes are the SSH connections you ask for, straight to the hosts you configure.

If you read nothing else, that is the whole policy. The rest of this page spells out the specifics, because a client that holds the keys to your servers owes you the detail.

Who this covers

This policy covers the Shellvana app for iOS and Android, published by Paul Reioux (faux123). If you have a question about anything here, write to fauxapps@gmail.com.

What Shellvana does not collect

Shellvana does not collect, transmit, or receive:

• Your name, email address, phone number, or any other identifying information.
• Your server hostnames, usernames, passwords, or private keys.
• The contents of your terminal sessions.
• Usage analytics, event telemetry, feature counters, or session recordings.
• Advertising identifiers, device fingerprints, or location.
• Contacts, photos, calendar, microphone, or camera. Shellvana never asks for those permissions.

The app contains no analytics SDK, no advertising SDK, and no crash-reporting SDK.

On Android, Shellvana declares these permissions and no others:

• INTERNET, to reach the servers you configure.
• USE_BIOMETRIC and USE_FINGERPRINT, for the optional unlock check described below. The operating system performs the check; the app only learns whether it passed.
• com.android.vending.BILLING and ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, required by Google Play’s billing library for the one-time Pro purchase.
• DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION, an Android guard that keeps one of the app’s internal components private to the app. It has no user-facing effect.

None of these reach your contacts, photos, calendar, location, microphone, or camera. Shellvana never asks for those.

What stays on your device

Shellvana stores the following locally, and only locally:

• Host profiles. The hostnames, ports, usernames, and terminal geometry you enter.
• Pinned host keys. The public key fingerprint each server presented the first time you connected, so Shellvana can warn you if it ever changes.
• Private keys. Keys you import or generate. Software keys go into the platform secure store (iOS Keychain, Android Keystore). Hardware-class keys are generated inside the Secure Enclave or StrongBox and never leave it, which means the private half cannot be extracted, by Shellvana or by anything else.
• Session transcripts. The output of your sessions, so you can scroll back and search. This database is encrypted with SQLCipher, and its key lives in the platform secure store.
• Settings. Your reading font, text size, and per-host preferences.

None of this is ever uploaded. There is nowhere for it to go: no account, no sync, no backend.

How that on-device data is protected

• The transcript database is encrypted at rest with SQLCipher.
• Shellvana is excluded from operating-system backup on both platforms, so your transcripts and pinned keys are not copied into iCloud Backup or Google’s Android backup.
• The app obscures its own contents in the app switcher and blocks screenshots by default, so a task-switcher snapshot does not leak an open session.
• The composer asks the keyboard not to cache or learn from what you type, so commands and secrets do not end up in the system dictionary.
• You can require a Face ID, Touch ID, or device-unlock check before Shellvana opens a session on any host you mark.

The controls you have over stored data

• Clear this host’s history removes every transcript for one host.
• Clear all history removes every transcript on the device.
• Automatic purge. Transcripts older than 30 days are deleted without you doing anything.
• Incognito. Sessions run in incognito write no transcript at all.
• Uninstall. Removing the app removes the encrypted database, the settings, and the keys held in the platform secure store.

Network connections

Shellvana opens exactly two kinds of outbound connection, both to the host and port you configured in a host profile:

1. The SSH connection itself.
2. A short TCP reachability check to the same host and port, used to tell a dead network apart from a dead session before reconnecting.

There is no other outbound traffic. Shellvana does not phone home, check for updates, fetch remote configuration, or download fonts at runtime. The reading fonts ship inside the app under the SIL Open Font License.

Your SSH traffic goes directly from your device to your server. It does not pass through any infrastructure of mine, because there is none.

Biometrics

When you enable the unlock check, Shellvana asks the operating system to verify you, using Face ID, Touch ID, or your Android biometric or device credential. The app receives a yes or a no. It never receives, sees, or stores biometric data. That data stays inside the secure hardware on your device, where the operating system keeps it.

Opening links

When Shellvana detects a link in terminal output and you tap it, it shows you a confirmation sheet with the real destination, then hands the link to your device’s default browser. Shellvana never loads the page itself, never previews it, and never opens it in an in-app browser. Once your browser takes over, that website’s privacy policy applies, not this one.

Purchases

Shellvana offers a one-time, non-consumable Pro unlock. Apple and Google process that purchase entirely. I receive no card number, no billing address, and no name. Your entitlement is verified through the store’s own API and cached on your device so the app works offline.

Apple’s and Google’s handling of your payment is governed by their privacy policies, not by this one.

Crash reports and diagnostics

Shellvana includes no crash-reporting library. If you have turned on diagnostics sharing in your device settings, the operating system may send crash reports to Apple or Google, and the developer console may show me an anonymized stack trace. Those reports come from the platform, not from Shellvana. They contain no session content, no hostnames, and no credentials.

Children

Shellvana is a tool for server administration and is not directed to children. It collects no information from anyone, of any age.

Your rights

Laws in some places give you the right to see, correct, export, or delete the personal data a company holds about you. I hold none. There is no database with your name in it, no profile, and no record that you use this app, so there is nothing for me to hand over or erase.

To remove the data on your own device, use Clear all history in the app or uninstall it.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version appears on this page with a new date. This page lives in a public Git repository, so every past version and every change to it stays visible to you.

Contact

Questions, corrections, or a security report: fauxapps@gmail.com.