Privacy Policy
Effective 1 August 2026 · Last updated 1 August 2026
The short version
- Your audio never reaches us. It travels directly from your phone to your PC across your own Wi-Fi, encrypted. There is no server in the middle.
- There are no accounts. No sign-up, no email, no password.
- We run no analytics and no crash reporting. The apps make no network calls to us, because we operate no servers.
- Google's ad service is the one third party. The free Android app shows ads, and Google receives data as described below.
- Everything else stays on your own devices, where only you can reach it.
Contents
1. Who we are
HibiNex is developed and operated by Jibran, an independent developer based in India. For the limited personal data described in this policy, Jibran is the data controller.
You can reach us at support@hibinex.com. We answer privacy questions at the same address.
This policy covers the HibiNex Android app and the HibiNex Windows app, and this website.
2. Your audio
HibiNex exists to send sound from your phone to your PC. It is worth being precise about how that works, because it is the most sensitive thing the app touches.
- Android's playback-capture system hands the app a copy of the audio your phone is already playing. HibiNex compresses it and sends it straight to your PC.
- That transfer happens over your own local network — your Wi-Fi, or a hotspot shared between them. It does not travel over the internet.
- The stream is encrypted with AES-256-GCM using keys created fresh for each session, derived from a key exchange between your devices.
- The audio is never written to a file, on either device. It is played and discarded.
- We never receive it. We operate no servers, so there is nowhere for it to go.
HibiNex captures only what your phone is playing. It does not use your microphone — see section 5 for why Android still asks for microphone permission.
3. What is stored on your devices
HibiNex keeps a small amount of information so that you do not have to re-enter a PIN every time you connect. All of it lives on your own devices. None of it is transmitted to us, and we have no way to read it.
On your phone
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| A random device identifier generated on first run | Lets a PC recognise the same phone across reconnections. It is not your advertising ID and is not linked to you. |
| Pairing keys for PCs you have connected to | Lets you reconnect without typing the PIN again. Stored in Android's encrypted preferences, protected by the Android Keystore. |
| A short list of recent PCs — display name, identifier, last known local address and ports, and when you last connected | Powers the one-tap reconnect button. The address is a private network address such as 192.168.x.x, meaningful only inside your own home network. |
| Your app settings, such as audio quality | So your choices persist. |
On your PC
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| An identity file holding a random PC identifier, the display name you chose, and the current pairing PIN | Identifies your PC to your phone. |
| A list of paired phones | Lets a known phone reconnect without re-pairing. |
| A Windows startup entry, only if you enable "start with Windows" | To launch HibiNex at sign-in. Removed when you turn the option off. |
| A setting recording that you ticked "don't show this again" on the system-tray notice | So it stays dismissed. |
Uninstalling either app removes its data from that device.
4. Advertising
The Android app is free and is supported by ads served through Google AdMob. This is the only place where a third party receives data. The Windows app contains no ads and no tracking of any kind.
To serve ads, Google may collect and process information including your advertising identifier, IP address, device and operating-system information, approximate location inferred from your IP address, and how you interact with an ad. That processing is governed by Google's own policies, not ours:
We do not receive this data, and we cannot connect it to you. We see only aggregate counts of how many ads were shown.
Your choices
- In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, a Google-certified consent form appears when you first open the app. You choose there whether to allow personalised ads, and you may decline. Declining does not restrict any feature of HibiNex.
- On any Android device, you can reset or delete your advertising ID in Settings → Privacy → Ads. Deleting it stops apps receiving an advertising identifier at all.
- Ads are only requested while the app is open and on screen. When HibiNex is running in the background, no ads are fetched.
5. Permissions and why they exist
Android lists permissions by their technical name, which can be alarming without context. Here is each one and what HibiNex actually does with it.
| Permission | What it is really for |
|---|---|
Microphone (RECORD_AUDIO) | HibiNex does not record from your microphone. Android requires this permission for its playback-capture feature — the mechanism that copies the sound your phone is already playing. It is the only reason the permission is requested. |
| Screen capture / media projection | Android routes playback capture through the same consent screen used for screen recording. HibiNex captures audio only; it never records or transmits your screen. |
| Notifications | To show the ongoing "Streaming Audio" notice while a stream is running, as Android requires for background audio work. |
| Network access, Wi-Fi state, network state, multicast | To find your PC on your local network and send audio to it. Multicast is what makes local discovery work. |
| Keep device awake | To stop the phone suspending an active stream mid-listen. It applies only while audio is actually streaming; when you turn the screen off, HibiNex pauses capture and releases it so your phone can sleep normally. |
| Ignore battery optimisations (optional) | Offered, never forced. Android throttles background apps, which audibly degrades live audio. You can decline and HibiNex still works. |
| Advertising ID | Required by Google Play for apps that show ads through AdMob. |
6. What we do not do
Stated plainly, because "we may collect" language usually hides these:
- We do not run analytics or telemetry of any kind.
- We do not use crash-reporting services.
- We do not have accounts, logins, or email lists.
- We do not collect your name, address, phone number or payment details. HibiNex takes no payments.
- We do not sell, rent or share personal data. There is none to sell.
- We do not track you across other apps or websites.
- Neither app contains any tracking SDK other than Google's ad service described above.
7. Children
HibiNex is a general-audience utility. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided personal data through our apps, contact support@hibinex.com and we will act on it.
8. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or object to the processing of your personal data, to restrict it, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time. This includes rights under the EU/UK GDPR and India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
In practice, exercising them is unusually simple with HibiNex, because we hold nothing:
- Data on your devices is under your direct control — see section 9. You do not need our permission or our involvement.
- Ad-related data is held by Google, not by us. Use the controls in section 4, or contact Google directly using their privacy policy.
- Anything else: write to support@hibinex.com and we will respond within 30 days.
Where we do process data, our legal bases are: legitimate interests in providing the app's core function, and consent for personalised advertising where consent is required.
If you are in the EEA or UK, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. If you are in India, you may raise a grievance with us at the address above.
9. Deleting your data
- Forget paired PCs: in the Android app, open Settings → Forget paired PCs. This deletes all stored pairing keys and remembered PCs.
- Remove everything on the phone: uninstall the app, or clear its storage in Android settings.
- Remove everything on the PC: uninstall the Windows app.
- Advertising data: reset or delete your advertising ID in Android settings, and use Google's controls linked in section 4.
There is no server-side account to close and no data for us to erase on your behalf.
10. Security
- Pairing uses a key exchange between your phone and PC, confirmed by a PIN shown on the PC screen. Both devices derive shared keys independently; the keys themselves are never transmitted.
- Control messages and audio are encrypted with AES-256-GCM, using separate keys generated per session.
- Captured packets cannot be replayed against a live session.
- Pairing keys on the phone are held in Android's encrypted preferences, protected by the Android Keystore.
- Nothing is exposed to the internet: HibiNex listens only on your local network.
No system is perfectly secure, and we make no absolute guarantee. But because nothing is stored with us, a breach of our systems cannot expose your data — there is none there to expose.
11. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If a change materially affects how your data is handled, we will make it clear in the app or on this site before it takes effect.
12. Contact
Questions, requests, or complaints about privacy: support@hibinex.com.
Jibran · India