saphid--frame-control/docs/privacy.md

Privacy and analytics

Frame Control sends anonymous analytics to PostHog (US cloud) so the maintainer can see how many people use it, which features matter and where installs fail. You choose how much in Privacy & updates, the last panel on the page. ui/frame_telemetry.py is the whole implementation.

The three levels

Level	Default	What it sends
Anonymous usage statistics	On, after a notice on first run	The events in the table below
Share compatibility results	Off	Your Android compatibility reports and tests
Send error details	Off	Scrubbed error messages and tracebacks

Nothing is sent until the first-run notice has been shown. The notice's Share more to help fix problems button turns on the second and third levels together. Either can be turned off later. Turning a level off deletes that level's events that haven't been sent yet.

Show what's been sent in the panel lists the last 50 events that left your computer, exactly as they were sent.

Anonymous

• Events carry a random id, made when Frame Control first runs and kept in its data folder (telemetry/settings.json). It isn't derived from your computer, account or network. To get a new one, delete that file.
• Events are sent without person profiles ($process_person_profile: false) and without location lookup ($geoip_disable: true). Each carries a placeholder address ($ip: 0.0.0.0), so PostHog stores that instead of yours.
• Every event includes the app version, OS name (macOS, Windows or Linux), CPU architecture and Python version.

Usage events

Event	When	Properties besides the common ones
app_installed	First run
app_updated	First run of a new version	from_version
app_opened	At most once a day
frame_connected	The first time a SteamOS build is seen	steamos_build, steamos_version
tab_viewed	The first click on each tab in a session	tab
install_finished	Any install finishes, working or not	kind (apk, flatpak, steam, title, web), ok, seconds, error_category (only when ok is false), installer_code, xr_layer_missing, and see below
update_offered, update_started, update_failed	The update banner	to_version, error_category

install_finished never includes a file name, path or error message. An error becomes one category from this fixed list, plus Android's own INSTALL_FAILED_… code (installer_code) when there is one: android_installer, apk_needs_newer_android, apk_wrong_abi, layer_missing, apk_repack_failed, tool_missing, apk_unreadable, cant_run_on_frame, steam_shortcut, frame_not_set_up, frame_auth, frame_unreachable, frame_disk_full, download_failed, flatpak, cancelled, lepton or other. A VR APK that installed without Frame Control's OpenXR compatibility layer, because this copy of the app is missing it, carries xr_layer_missing: true; otherwise that field is left out. It names what was installed only when that's already public:

• F-Droid catalogue apps: package. Never the version, since a local build can reuse a catalogue app's package name
• Flathub apps: flatpak_id
• Steam games: steam_appid
• A sideloaded title: only its runtime (Proton or Linux)

Any other APK is sent as catalog: false, with no name.

Compatibility results (opt-in)

Each report becomes a compat_report event with the fields the Report dialog shows: package, version, result or rating, your notes, how it was run, and the SteamOS and Lepton builds. Before sending:

• the notes, app name and version are scrubbed like error messages (see below)
• the APK's source is kept only if it's F-Droid or the public host name of a download link (https://example.com/…). File names, user names, passwords, ports, paths, IP addresses and local host names are dropped

When you turn this on, reports you made earlier on this computer are shared too.

The maintainer's python3 ui/frame_compat_db.py sync copies these events into the compatibility database, marked via=community…. It takes at most 30 per reporter per day.

Error details (opt-in)

$exception events carry an error message, the Frame Control file, line and function it came from, and the request that failed (for example POST /api/android install). Before anything is sent, the message is scrubbed:

• your home folder becomes ~, and any user name becomes <user>
• IP and MAC addresses, email addresses, .local, .lan and Tailscale host names, Steam ids, SSH and PEM keys, API tokens and long hex strings are replaced
• URLs are cut down to their scheme and a public host name, or <url>. User names, passwords, ports, paths and queries are dropped
• token=, key=, password= and similar values are replaced

The same error is sent at most once every 10 minutes. When ssh reports that it couldn't reach the Frame (asleep, away, or not set up yet), or that ssh and the Frame refused each other's keys (a changed host key, or this computer's key not accepted), that is sent at most once per kind each time Frame Control runs.

Report a problem

Report a problem is the warning-sign button in the header, also in the Privacy panel and under Help → Report a Problem…. It sends the report privately to Frame Control's PostHog project as a problem_report event, the same way as the analytics above, so only the maintainer can read it and nothing is published. It works whatever the analytics settings are, because the person sends it deliberately. The report has the kind, title and text you wrote, a short reference shown after sending, and the diagnostics below. Your email address goes with it only if you tick The maintainer may contact me with follow-up questions (the report then carries contact_followup: true); it's filled in from Contact email below when you've agreed there. It has its own random id, so it isn't linked to your analytics events. With that box ticked, the address also becomes your Contact email below with follow-up questions ticked, so you remove it there like any other. If it's a different address from the one saved there, it replaces it, and update notices stop until you turn them on again (they were agreed for the old address); the form says so before you send. The report then also carries this copy's contact id and change number (contact_id, contact_rev, see below), so removing or changing the address later takes back the follow-up permission given with the report too.

With Include diagnostics ticked (the default), the report adds:

• the app version and whether it's a built app
• the OS, its release and CPU, and the Python version
• the Frame's SteamOS build, if it has connected since the app started
• which analytics levels are on
• a short connection summary, so "the app can't find the headset" can be diagnosed. It is made of fixed words and counts only; no text from an error message or from ssh, and no name you chose, goes in it:
  • the connector's state (idle, connecting, connected or failed), the stage it failed at (network, find, ssh, identity or login), the attempt number and why it started (such as "Starting up" or "Trying again")
  • how many headsets are saved; whether the active one's ssh alias is the default frame or a custom one (a custom alias itself is never named); whether it's saved or a bare ssh alias; and its number of addresses
  • for the current error and the last failure: the stage and an error category (the same fixed names as error details, such as frame_unreachable, frame_not_set_up, frame_auth or other), and how long ago the last failure was. The category is decided when the failure happens
  • for each address tried, only its kind (.local, ipv4, ipv6, ipv6 link-local, tailscale, hostname, alias for one read from ~/.ssh/config, and what a name resolved to, such as .local->ipv6 link-local) and how the try went (answered, unresolved, timeout, refused, unreachable, sshfailed). Never the address itself
  • when connected, the kind of address used and its round trip in ms
  • whether this computer has a network gateway, and whether Tailscale is on, off or not installed
  • which kind of ssh the app runs (Windows OpenSSH in System32, OpenSSH in Program Files, Git for Windows, MSYS2/Cygwin, Homebrew or /usr/local, Nix, the system one, or "other"), never its path; its version, rebuilt from the numbers in the banner ssh -V prints (such as OpenSSH for Windows 9.5p1, LibreSSL 3.8.2; anything that isn't a plain OpenSSH banner is reported as unknown); and the kinds of any other ssh on the PATH. This is looked up once in the background after the app starts, so a report sent straight away may say "still being checked"
  • whether ~/.ssh/config exists, whether it has Set Up Connection's managed block for the active alias, how many managed blocks it has, and whether a hand-written Host line also names the alias (yes or no; the alias isn't named)

Also include recent activity and the server log is off by default, because those lines can name files and apps. When ticked, it adds the newest Activity lines and server log lines, without the request lines. The server log has a line for each failed connection attempt: its stage, the message shown on the connection pill, ssh's last line about it, and the address kinds above. That free text is scrubbed when the line is written: the addresses, ssh alias and display name of the headset being tried (whole, whatever their case), and then any name ssh gives after "hostname", "host" or "to", become <host>; a Windows home folder's whole name (spaces and apostrophes included) becomes <user>, and ssh's whole user@host: field (spaces, DOMAIN\user and full domain names included) becomes <user>@<host>:; then the scrubbing below. A host name ssh mentions in some other wording can still get through, so check the log lines in Show exactly what's included before sending. A failure that repeats on every retry is written at most once every 5 minutes.

Everything is scrubbed like error details and limited to what fits in the report. Environment details are kept first, then the newest lines. Show exactly what's included shows the snapshot that will be sent, and later activity isn't added to it. If PostHog can't be reached, Copy report puts the whole report on the clipboard.

The maintainer reads reports on the Frame Control dashboard in PostHog, or with python3 ui/frame_report.py inbox [days], which uses the same personal API key as frame_compat_db.py sync.

Contact email (optional)

Frame Control never needs an email address. If you'd like to leave one, there are two separate choices, both off until you tick them:

Choice	What it's for
Email me about Frame Control updates	Occasional notices about new releases and updates
The maintainer may contact me with follow-up questions	Questions about problem reports you send, mostly

You're asked once, in a bar at the top of the page, after the Frame has connected for the first time, and never in the same visit as the first-run privacy notice. No thanks hides it for good, and it isn't shown again even if you ignore it. Contact email in Privacy & updates is where you add, change or remove the address and either choice at any time.

What's sent, and where. The address and the two choices go privately to Frame Control's PostHog project, the same place as problem reports, as a contact_consent event with email, updates, followup, action (set or withdraw) and the common properties above. Only the maintainer can read that project, and nothing in it is published or shared. It's sent only when you save, or when you send a problem report with follow-up questions ticked, whatever the analytics settings are, because you chose to. With a report, the address and choices are saved before the report is sent and stay saved if it fails; like any change, they're sent as soon as PostHog can be reached. It carries its own random contact id, not the analytics id, so it isn't linked to your usage events, and a rev number that goes up with each change, so the newest choice always wins. Like everything else sent, it's listed under Show what's been sent. On this computer the address and choices are kept in contact/contact.json in Frame Control's data folder. An address is only kept with at least one choice ticked.

Removing it. Remove my email (or clearing the address and saving) deletes it from this computer, including from the Show what's been sent log (in earlier contact events and problem reports), and sends a withdraw event with no address in it. The maintainer's list only uses the newest event from each copy, so from then on the address isn't listed for either choice. Unticking one choice works the same way for that choice. This also covers problem reports you sent from this copy with follow-up questions ticked: if your newest choice since the report (by change number, not the clock) no longer agrees to follow-up questions at that address, the maintainer's inbox shows the permission as withdrawn and leaves the address out. If you're offline, the change waits on this computer and is sent when PostHog can be reached. The earlier event stays in PostHog until its data retention removes it; to have it deleted sooner, ask the maintainer (for example in a problem report).

Nothing sends email yet: this only records who agreed to what. The maintainer lists the addresses with python3 ui/frame_report.py contacts [updates|followup], which uses the same personal API key as inbox.

Turning it all off

Untick the boxes, or set DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or FRAME_CONTROL_TELEMETRY=0 in the environment that starts Frame Control. A copy run from a source checkout never sends analytics unless FRAME_CONTROL_TELEMETRY=1 is set.

These switches cover the analytics above. A problem report or a contact email is sent only because you pressed its Send or Save button, so those still go when you choose to send them (a contact change saved while offline is sent by itself once PostHog can be reached); if you don't, nothing is sent.

Update checks

The desktop app asks GitHub for the latest release shortly after starting, then every 6 hours: the latest release's update.json on GitHub, or api.github.com/repos/saphid/frame-control/releases/latest if that fails. Those requests carry no id. To stop it, set FRAME_CONTROL_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1. See releasing.md.