DESKPrivacy policy
DeskTransfer : File Transfer · last updated 4 October 2026
In short: DeskTransfer sends your files, notes and messages between your own devices and nowhere else.
We run no servers for it. We collect nothing, we see nothing, and there are no ads and no tracking.
What DeskTransfer does
DeskTransfer links your Android phone with the DeskTransfer program on your own Windows PC. Files, apps, notes, links and messages travel directly between those two devices, over your home network or over a private network you run yourself (for example Tailscale).
What we collect
Nothing. DeskTransfer has no account, no sign-up and no cloud storage of ours. The app contains no analytics, no advertising and no crash-reporting service, and it sends no information to us or to anyone else.
Where your data is
- On your PC: the stream (messages, links, files you sent), your notes, the list of linked devices and your settings are kept in the program's data folder and in the folder you chose for received files.
- On your phone: a copy of the recent stream and your notes (so you can read them when the PC is out of reach), the link to your PC, and the files you chose to download.
You can remove all of it at any time: delete items in the app, unlink the device, or uninstall the app and the PC program.
How data travels
Everything sent between your phone and your PC is encrypted (TLS), and the phone only talks to the PC it was linked with. The one exception is the question a device asks to find the PC on your network ("is a DeskTransfer PC here?"); the answer carries the PC's name and no user data.
If you use Tailscale or a similar service to reach your PC from outside your home, that service handles the connection under its own terms and privacy policy.
Permissions on Android
| Permission | Why the app asks for it |
|---|---|
| All files access | The Files section is a file manager: it shows the folders and files on your phone so you can copy or move them to your PC and back, rename them and delete them. You turn this on yourself, and the app works without it for everything except the phone side of the Files section. File names and contents are sent only to your own PC, and only when you ask. |
| Camera | Only to read the pairing QR picture from your PC's screen, when you press "Scan". No picture is stored or sent. |
| Install apps | To open the installer when you tap "Install" on an app file (.apk) you sent to the phone yourself. Android still asks you before anything is installed. |
| Network | To reach your PC. |
What your PC shares
A linked device can reach the DeskTransfer folder on your PC. It can reach other folders only after you turn on "Allow linked devices to reach all PC files" on the PC. Only devices you linked with the pairing code can connect, and you can remove a device at any time.
Children
DeskTransfer is a general tool and is not directed at children. It collects no data from anyone.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is published at the same place with a new date.
Contact
Questions about this policy: contact@desktransfer.app