Zapwick Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 7, 2026

Zapwick ("the app," "we," "us") is a remote control for smart TVs, including LG webOS televisions, Sony and other Google TV / Android TV models, Vizio SmartCast televisions, and Roku devices. This policy explains what the app stores and what leaves your phone.

What Zapwick stores on your device

All of this stays on your phone and is deleted when you uninstall the app:

• Each TV's network address, name, and brand
• Each TV's hardware (MAC) address, used to power it on with Wake-on-LAN
• The pairing credential your TV issued when you first connected — this is what lets the app reconnect without asking you again
• Your preferences: pinned apps, volume limit, sleep timer, and similar settings

What leaves your phone

• Commands to your TV. Button presses and similar requests go directly from your phone to your television across your local network. They do not pass through us, because there is no "us" to pass through — Zapwick has no server.
• Photo Beam. When you send a photo or video to your TV, the app briefly serves that single file from your phone so the television can fetch it. It is reachable only by devices on your own network, only while the beam is active, and it shuts itself down once it stops being used. The file is never uploaded anywhere.
• Sharing TVs with another phone. If you share your TV setup — by QR code or by offering it to a nearby phone — the app sends your TVs' addresses, names, hardware addresses, and brands to that phone over your local network. Pairing credentials are deliberately never included, so the other phone still has to pair with each TV itself. Sharing happens only while you have that screen open.

Advertising

The free version of Zapwick shows ads through Google AdMob. To provide ads, Google may collect and process certain information, including your device's advertising ID. This is Google's collection, not ours — we never see it. You can review Google's practices at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your Android settings.

A single one-time purchase removes ads permanently. Purchases are handled entirely by Google Play; we never see your payment details.

Permissions and why they are needed

• Network and Wi-Fi access — to find your TV and send it commands. This is the core function of the app.
• Nearby devices / location — Android requires this permission to search the local network for televisions. Zapwick does not use it to determine or record your location, and never stores it.
• Phone state — only if you turn on Call Hush, so the app can pause the TV when a call arrives. Zapwick reads whether a call is ringing; it does not read numbers, contacts, or call history.
• Camera — only if you scan a family-setup QR code. Nothing is recorded or stored.
• Photos and video — only for a file you explicitly pick to send to your TV with Photo Beam.

What we do not collect

We do not collect your name, email address, account information, contacts, location, or viewing history. Zapwick has no analytics and no crash reporting, and we have no way to identify you or your household.

Children

Zapwick is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date above will change with it. Material changes will be noted in the app's release notes.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or about anything the app does: zapwickremote@gmail.com — a real person answers.

Zapwick is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by LG Electronics, Sony, Vizio, Roku, or Google. All product names are used only to describe the televisions Zapwick works with.