Policy
No personal data
leaves your device.
Last updated · 2026-06-14
Nerfify is built around a simple promise: Nerfify collects no personal data.
Data we collect
No personal data. Nerfify does not collect, store, sell, or transmit any personal or device data. There are no analytics, no crash reporters, no advertising IDs, no user accounts, and no telemetry.
The app makes only two kinds of network connection, and neither carries personal or device data:
-
DNS queries forwarded to public resolvers
(Cloudflare's
1.1.1.1, Google's8.8.8.8) exactly as your phone would normally — see below. -
Block-list updates. When it starts, Nerfify
fetches its list of video-CDN domains to filter from
api.nerfify.com. This request sends no personal or device data — only a public API key built into the app — and returns only the filtering rules. If it fails, Nerfify uses the list bundled inside the app.
Subscriptions
Nerfify offers an optional Premium subscription (monthly or yearly), purchased through Google Play. Payment is handled entirely by Google Play — Nerfify never sees or stores your payment details. Your Premium status is read from Google Play on your device; Nerfify keeps no account for you and stores nothing about you on any server.
Early-tester sign-up (this website)
If you submit your email address through the sign-up form on this website, we store that address and your chosen language in a database we run ourselves, and use it for exactly one purpose: contacting you about testing Nerfify. It is never sold, shared, or used for anything else, and you can have it deleted at any time by reaching out via the contact below. This form is the website's only data collection — the app itself still collects nothing.
How the VPN permission is used
Android requires apps that intercept network traffic to use the
system VPN service (BIND_VPN_SERVICE). Nerfify uses
this permission only to run a local DNS filter on
your own device. Specifically:
- Nerfify acts as the DNS resolver for your device while it is running.
-
For most domains, it forwards your queries to a public resolver
(Cloudflare's
1.1.1.1and Google's8.8.8.8) exactly as your phone would normally. - For a small list of Spotify video-CDN domains, it returns "no such address," which causes the Spotify app to fall back to audio-only playback.
- DNS queries are processed on your device. Nerfify does not log them, store them, or send them anywhere other than the public resolver they would have gone to anyway.
Nerfify does not route the rest of your traffic through any server. It is not a privacy VPN, a proxy, or a tunnel to a third party. It is a local filter that happens to use Android's VPN plumbing.
Permissions Nerfify requests
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| BIND_VPN_SERVICE | Required by Android to run the local DNS filter described above. |
| INTERNET | Forward non-blocked DNS queries to public resolvers. |
| FOREGROUND_SERVICE / FOREGROUND_SERVICE_SPECIAL_USE | Keep the filter running while you listen to Spotify. |
| POST_NOTIFICATIONS | Show the persistent "Music-only mode is on" notification while the filter is active. |
Children
Nerfify is not directed at children and does not knowingly process any data from anyone. Since no data is collected, there is nothing children-specific to disclose.
Changes
If this policy ever changes, the new version will be published at the same URL with an updated date at the top.
Contact
Questions: open an issue at codeberg.org/whirlwin/nerfify-site/issues.
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